‘Nothing Like The Movies’ author Lynn Painter on breaking up the most green-flag couple ever
I’m not quite the target audience for rom-com author Lynn Painter’s young-adult books. Yet, reading Better Than The Movies made me fall for the green-flag leads Liz and Wes, their banter, and the rom-com movie quotes that open the chapters. And now, we have a sequel, Nothing Like The Movies, about life happening after the fantasy is over.
In Better Than The Movies Liz Buxbaum and Wes Bennett went from being teasing neighbors to friends to fake dating and finally being in love. So when the synopsis of the sequel, Nothing Like The Movies, suggested that our beloved ship WesLiz had gone kaput, it came as quite the shock! In conversation with The Mary Sue, author Lynn Painter talks about breaking up everyone’s favorite greenest flag couple, the themes of growing up and grief that she tackles in Nothing Like The Movies, her state of mind when writing her rom-com books, and how she goes about picking the most perfect movie quotes to complement every chapter in her book to make them look exactly like the movies.
The Mary Sue: When did you decide you wanted to write more of Wes and Liz, and was it always the plan to break them up?
Lynn Painter: I never intended on writing a sequel–I hate sequels (in romance)! In my opinion, if the couple ends up together at the end of a book, that is the end. So how did this happen? I blame BTTM readers–it’s their fault! It was because of their messages that I started thinking about if there was any way that I could write more Wes and Liz without just randomly wrecking their relationship. I didn’t want to do that for the sake of a second book, and I also didn’t want to just do a BTTM reboot in the college years.
But once I let my brain run wild, Wes’ story kind of took over. I think that was key for me. Even though it’s dual POV, the core of this story is Wes Bennett’s, which gave me a reason to write it that wasn’t just coming up with conflict so there could be a sequel. They break up, but the story isn’t just a breakup, it is LIFE happening to Wes (and Liz, of course).
TMS: How was it stepping into Wes’ mind?
Lynn: Shortly after finishing BTTM, I wrote a few bonus chapters of Wes and Liz’s college road trip, their journey driving from Omaha to LA as they go away to school. It was a dual POV, and I fell in love with being in Wes’s brain. I imagine it’s partly because I enjoy writing the way I want a man to think, but Bennett’s brain is my favorite place and I can’t stay out of it.
TMS: Did you have to do any unlearning of your own emotional biases when you were writing NLTM considering modern dating and relationships are, in fact, nothing like the movies, and often don’t survive a breakup like Liz and Wes’?
Lynn: Like Liz, I am a silly little love lover. I am 100% guilty of refusing to look at the true realities of dating because I want it to be like the movies.
TMS: Did you ever play around with the possibility that Wes and Liz had just grown up to be different people who might not end up together?
Lynn: No, no, never, no! I know they’re young and in real life might have a different outcome, but I am a romance writer; Wes and Liz are endgame.
TMS: Wes Bennett is such a green flag. Who were your inspirations when writing him?
Lynn: Wes was originally going to be a bad boy, more of a Jess Mariano [Gilmore Girls] kind of quiet smartass, but the second he started taping up her windshield, that boy took on a life of his own. I honestly have no idea where he came from; he was a dark-haired, faceless handsome boy in my mind when I started drafting the book! But yes, Wessy is the greenest of green flags. And I wanted him to stay the same in the sequel, even after going through a lot of trauma. I wanted him to have the same Wes energy, only now he’s painfully aware of how fleeting things are. He has a second shot and he’s desperate to make everything happen because he’s had the rug pulled out from under him before.
TMS: In NLTM, Liz matures into a different person and her career ambitions help her overcome a difficult period; it’s something many would relate to. Did you have any non-negotiables when writing a female character for young readers, something that you felt was missing in the rom-coms you read or watched?
Lynn: I really wanted us to see Liz in control of her life. She’s always known what she wanted to do, career-wise, and she’s gone after it. Her goals—and her focus on achieving them—remained steady, regardless of the trajectory of her romantic relationships. Liz would’ve been landing the internship and nailing the camera work with or without Wes in her life.
TMS: I was moved by the way, through Wes and Liz and their relationships with their families, you’ve written about grief and the guilt that children carry over the passing of a parent. The graveyard scenes especially made me emotional. What prompted you to tackle this as one of the themes in your books?
Lynn: I have no idea! When BTTM was a tiny idea, Liz’s relationship with her late mother was created to serve as the motivation for her romantic behaviors. But then Liz started running to the cemetery and talking to her mom, it became so much more to me. I couldn’t stop thinking about the way grief can mellow with time and hurt less, yet the absence of that person you love, in pivotal life moments, re-sharpens the pain and can kind of attack out of nowhere.
In Nothing Like The Movies, we see Wes experiencing grief in its rawest form because it’s fresh. The pain is new and far more aggressive, and he’s still trying to figure it out.
TMS: I liked that Wes and Liz’s first date back is an utter disaster on paper but for them, it’s perfect and they really are a match made in pop-culture nerd heaven. What is your favorite chapter or moment from NLTM that you are particularly proud?
Lynn: I really had fun writing Wes’s first attempt at “wooing” Liz by attempting to create a sweeping gesture out on her balcony. It’s probably the only scene that made it through all three versions of the sequel. I loved the idea of Wes being wildly-overconfident that he could sweep her off her feet because he knew her so well, and then failing epically.
TMS: I’m curious whether your research and process for writing a YA rom-com differs from when you’re writing contemporary romances for adults? Which challenges you more?
Lynn: I don’t really approach them differently, and I think that’s because they’re rom-coms; I’m shooting for THAT story arc, the whole ‘these-two-must-eventually-and-hilariously-fall-in-love-and-end-up-together’. The only intentional difference, when I start writing, is that one is a rom-com with an 18-year-old protagonist, and the other is a rom-com with a 28-year-old protagonist. Once I start writing, natural differences present themselves because of things like parental rules, laws, school—young adults don’t have the full autonomy that adults do, right? So the YA factor emerges kind of organically.
But my goal when I write a rom-com is for it to feel like a cinematic rom-com. And when we watch on-screen rom-coms, the differences between YA and adult are slight. For example, when I think of 10 Things I Hate About You, I don’t think of it as a YA rom-com—it’s just a rom-com with teen characters.
TMS: Your main characters are teenagers and young adults, and at times do things that might make them unlikeable; most of us judge our younger selves harshly as “cringe” or “too much.” How open were you to criticism about these characters and their stories?
Lynn: Here’s the thing—I know there are often criticisms of YA characters for acting like teens (how dare they?). But I also know myself—I’m freaking soft. I could see a 5-star review of my book, but if it had one tiny criticism, my day would be completely ruined. So I avoid reviews. Reviews are for readers anyway—not authors—so I do my best to pretend they don’t exist. (I know, delusional much?)
TMS: The movie quotes you open your chapters with and the playlist at the end feel like a nice little reward for reading. I found myself turning the page eagerly to see if my favorite movies or songs make an appearance. I was surprised to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn in there! How do you pick them and at what stage of writing do you incorporate them?
Lynn: It’s one of the last things I do before turning in a draft to my editor. I usually start with a list of my favorites, and then add/subtract to that list when I start inserting them. It was hard to narrow them down for BTTM because there were so many good ones, but then I was able to use the ones that didn’t make the cut in NLTM.
TMS: Your books are quite popular on BookTok. But there’s this whole side of BookTok and Bookstagram that’s very quickly dismissive, and reduces books to simply tropes. As an author with skin in the game, how do you feel about this phenomenon?
Lynn: I don’t overthink BookTok and Bookstagram because I’m not foolish enough to think I can control the narrative. I have been SO BLESSED by the word-of-mouth that comes from these platforms, and the amazing content produced by talented creators, so I just appreciate the positive and don’t dwell on the uncontrollable negative (again—delusional).
TMS: What were some of the books, movies, and pop-culture phenomena that you credit for making you the writer you are today? What’s on your current TBR pile?
Lynn: I’m grateful for being exposed to good banter; I feel like Nora Ephron (When Harry Met Sally, You’ve Got Mail) and Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls) re-wired my brain and gave me an obsession with snappy back-and-forth dialogue. My current TBR is a chaotic mix of Stephen King, Sally Rooney, Ali Hazelwood, and Kelly Bishop.
TMS: Is there pressure to churn out new content, whether as books or bonus chapters, or updates on social media, and get novels picked up for screen adaptations to stay relevant in the space amidst all the competition? How have you been tackling it all?
Lynn: Hi—have I mentioned I’m slightly avoidant and severely delusional? I update social media when I can but don’t get too caught up in the details of it all (my IG feed is a chaotic mess.) I actually love writing bonus chapters; it scratches my creative writing itch and lets me play with my characters outside of contractual constraints. And regarding screen adaptations, I don’t worry about what I can’t control. Do I want every one of my books to get picked up and made into movies? Heck, yes. Do I know how to make that happen? Definitely not. So I just do what I’ve always been good at—daydream about it happening!
TMS: I’m sure there have been lots of readers fan-casting Liz and Wes if an adaptation is made. Who do you imagine in your head when you think of them?
Lynn: I’ll leave that to the experts. In my experience, readers have way better suggestions (and a wider knowledge of actors) than I ever do; I simply nod and say “Yes, please!” to every amazing fancast I see.
TMS: What’s next for you? And would you consider revisiting Liz and Wes a few years later in their lives?
Lynn: I have four books coming out in 2025; two adult rom-coms (Accidentally Amy and Maid For Each Other), one hockey YA (title TBA), and an MG (The Wish Switch), so next year is going to be busy! And I fear I shall never tire of revisiting Wes and Liz. I don’t think they’d get another book (I simply could not throw more conflict at my babies,) but I’m already writing bonus chapters for Nothing Like The Movies as we speak (I just can’t let them go)!
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