I’m so excited for you to meet author Jeevani Charika.

Jeev is a fellow author in the U.K. Romantic Novelists Association with me, and I really enjoyed her book, Playing for Love, available here .

Playing for Love Blurb

When Sam’s not working on her fledgling business, she spends her time secretly video-gaming. Her crush is famous gamer Blaze, and she’s thrilled when she’s teamed up with him in a virtual tournament.

But what Sam doesn’t know is that Blaze is the alter ego of Luke, her shy colleague – and he has a secret crush too.

Luke has a crush on Sam.

Sam has a crush on Blaze.

How will this game of love play out?

My Review of Playing for Love

Loved this book! It was so good. The interplay between the game play between Bravura and Blaze and the deeply supportive, developing relationship at work between Luke and Sam was brilliantly done. And I also think someone needs to make Sam’s inserts idea a reality. I almost missed my subway stop because I was so engrossed in Playing for Love! My favorite read of 2022 so far! Highly recommend!

Meet Author Jeevani Charika and Let’s Talk about Playing for Love

Kathy: How did you come up with the idea of two gamers meeting each other in a game and also at work?

Jeevani: The story was inspired by a children’s TV show called Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir, which has a love square with only two people in it. I loved that dynamic, but I don’t write superhero stories, so I thought I’d move into online gamers who don’t talk about their gaming. 

Kathy: I also love the purse insert idea. How did you come up with that?

Jeevani: There are people who sell purse inserts on Etsy! I was thinking about the amount of hassle it is to change purses and went poking around on Etsy to buy one. At the time, I was thinking about something for Sam to do as a business. Suddenly the puzzle pieces fell into place.

Kathy: The backstory of Samadhi with her mother and her current relationship with her father is so emotionally powerful. Do you have any advice on creating back stories?

Jeevani: My characters tend to just show up and start saying things, so I don’t often have elaborate characterisation sheets (some writers do, and I’m always impressed with how organised they are!). I mostly get the backstory by asking why. Why was Sam interested in handbag inserts? Because she has a lot of bags. Why does she have a lot of bags? Inherited them from her mum … etc. Once you find one aspect, you expand on it and see if you can tie it to some other aspect of her character. For example, why is her relationship with her father so strained? How can I link that to the death of her mother?

Kathy: I loved how you did the in-game interaction. It felt so real. Do you game?

Jeevani: I absolutely loved writing the in-game parts. I don’t get to write fantasy/adventure very often, so it was great fun for me. I haven’t played any computer games since Tombraider in the 90s. But I have a teenager, so I know a bit about gaming. I watched a lot of YouTube playthroughs as research and I spoke to my friend’s son who is studying the psychology of gaming about how online relationships feel real to people in generations who’ve grown up with the internet. (I’m Gen X. I remember when life was analog).

Kathy: Do you have any pets? What’s your favorite habit of your current pet?

Jeevani: I don’t personally, but my daughter has pet rats. They’re very cute and very friendly. I have an old jumper that I wear when I play with them – one of them likes to climb into the pocket and just hang out in there. The other one likes to sit in the hood.

Meet the Author Jeevani Charika and Her Thoughts on Writing

Kathy: Do you have a writing routine? If so, what is it?

Jeevani: I don’t really have a proper routine. Between the day job, eldercare and childcare my days are all over the place. I do try to do something to do with writing every day, though. I do my best work sitting in bed at night.

Kathy: Are you a pantser or a plotter?

Jeevani: I used to be a pantser. Then I had to write Christmas At The Palace in 8 weeks, so I HAD to plot. I didn’t like plotting, but it did make the whole thing more efficient. So now I do a half baked plot – just one side of A4 before I start. If I plot in too much detail, I end up losing the enthusiasm to write it. I’ve told myself what happens, so … why bother?

Jeevani Charika’s Tips on Comedy Writing

Kathy: You’ve also written a book on Writing the Romantic Comedy with Jane Lovering. Can you explain the “juxtaposition of thingy”?

Jeevani: It all started with a talk that we did for an RNA conference. We were trying to find the thing that all these funny techniques had in common. It turned out to be the juxtaposition of expected outcome vs comedy outcome. Except, it was wider than that. So we started referring to it as juxtaposing your thingies … which sounds a bit rude, so we changed it to juxtaposition of thingy instead.

Kathy: You also talk about the rule of threes in that book. What is that?

Jeevani: The rule of three is a well known thing in comedy. Things are funnier in threes. The first sets the scene, the second sets up a pattern and so an expectation of what comes next, the third subverts the expectation and makes you laugh. An awful lot of jokes are structured like this.

Three is a number we’re naturally drawn to, so having a list of three is more satisfying than having a list of four or more.

My Favorite Question: If you could choose five writers to join you for a dinner party, who would you invite?

Kathy: And my favorite question: if you could choose five authors to join you for a dinner, who would you choose?

Jeevani: Aah, I hate this question. I’m quite shy (I know I don’t seem it!) so I’d be properly tongue tied and sit there quietly if I met my heroes. But … Terry Pratchett (obvs), PG Wodehouse, Julie Cohen, Agatha Christie, the guys who wrote Asterix, Renee Goscinny  (I assume I will magically be able to speak French at this party).

Kathy: That would be an amazing dinner party! And of course, you can magically speak French.

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I’m looking forward to reading your next book too, called Picture Perfect, available October 2022, and you can preorder here. Sign up for her newsletter and get a free book at jeevanicharika.com. And you can also follow Jeevani on Twitter @rhodabaxter (her other pen name).