Indie Support Sunday: Sophie Thomas

3 days ago
8 min read

Even though Sophie Thomas didn’t find success in the querying trenches, that didn’t stop her from writing the stories she wanted to. Inspired to write these books by Helen Hoang’s The Kiss Quotient, she currently has four books available right now. And she’s just getting started! With many half-written manuscripts and a plethora of ideas, it’s safe to assume Sophie’s got a lot of incredible stories for us in the future.

Strong female friendships are a cornerstone of her books and as someone who loves seeing women supporting women everywhere, this makes me so happy! While Sophie has two books out in two series right now, she’s got so much more in store for us—including a tennis romance, and a Christmas romance.

You can find all of Sophie’s books in Kindle Unlimited!

BEING AN AUTHOR

Who or what inspired you to write?

I’ve always written in some capacity. Creating stories is something I’ve always found second nature. There were a lot of half-written manuscripts in long lost notebooks and Word documents (almost all of them fantasy books) to my name before I finally managed to write a book from start to finish. As for what inspired me to write, a lot of it is down to The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. I read that book at the right time in my life and it changed my brain chemistry and I wondered to myself ‘what if romance is the genre I was supposed to write’. When I let myself think that, the idea for Summer of Love came to me pretty quickly and now here we are.

What’s the best and worst part about being an indie author?

The best part is being in control of what I release and being able to put the brakes on something if it’s not working. I like that flexibility. The worst part is the marketing - nothing exhausts me more and I’ve had to do a lot reminding myself that I don’t need to break myself in order to talk about a book.

Why did you choose to self-publish instead of going the traditional route?

I queried Summer of Love initially and the one thing I’d seen a lot of people say was that when you’re in the querying trenches work on something else just for yourself. So I wrote Looks Real Good Now and the rejections rolled in and I was at a crossroads. I didn’t want to repeat the querying process with a new book because I didn’t have it in me to deal with yet more rejection so I started thinking about self-publishing. Within about a week of me having that thought I saw an Instagram post from my now-editor and that was that.

When you’re not writing, what do you do to get the creative juices flowing?

Go for a walk. That’s where most of my ideas come from. I read a lot. Go to the theatre which is an activity that really fills my cup.

If you were to recommend books to me (in any genre), what would they be?

Obviously The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is one of my faves. The Pairing by Casey McQuiston, Anna Maria and the Fox by Liana De la Rosa, The Losers Duet by Harely Laroux and Legendborn by Tracy Deonn.

What are your top 5 tips or pieces of advice for aspiring authors?

First drafts don’t need to be good they just need to be done
If something isn’t working, take a step away from it, usually it sorts itself out
Focus on your own lane—it can be so easy to let comparison steal your joy
Back yourself - what you have to offer is unique because it’s yours
Write what feels fun to you, not what seems to be on trend

ROMANCE AS A GENRE

Why did you choose romance as the genre to write in? What is your favorite thing about the genre?

I think it was what I was always supposed to be I was just resisting it because doing an English Literature degree when you’re barely an adult and Fifty Shades of Grey is having its moment will really have you internalise a lot of terrible takes on romance and erotica that you really have to unlearn.

My favourite thing about the genre is the ability to explore some more vulnerable/sensitive topics whilst being safe in the knowledge that there is a happy ending.

If not romance/subgenres of romance, what genre would you like to write in?

There is a part of me that still wants to write a full on, second world fantasy.

What are your most and least favorite tropes?

I will always love enemies/rivals to lovers. I also like a good friends to lovers and a second chance romance. My least favourite are anything to do with bullies or stalkers and surprise/accidental pregnancy.

What are some tropes you want to write in the future?

I want to write an actual enemies to lovers—I’ve flirted with some rivals to lovers before but I want to make them hate each other more in the beginning. I also want to write a Domme/Sub dynamic.

What are some topics (sensitive and otherwise) that you think should exist more in romance?

Mental health. There has been an increase, but there can still always be more.

If you write open door romance, why did you choose that and what inspires your sex scenes?

It wasn’t a conscious choice, it just felt right when I was working on my first book. That’s kind of my basis for any sex scene I write, does it serve the story and if it does it goes in (sometimes for the plot and sometimes because I think it would be rude not to include a scene where my FMC gets railed with some new bling dangling around her neck). My characters inspire the sex scenes, they somehow let me know exactly what they want (and sometimes it’s pegging).

YOUR BOOKS

What inspired your published stories? How and when did you come up with these stories and plots?

I don’t come up with ideas or plots so much as they arrive with me and then kind of ask to be dealt with. They come to me when I’m half asleep or when I’m walking and not thinking about much else. I’m not a planner as such, but I do need a handful of key scenes to have made themselves known to me so I can set them up as pillars I need to reach. Sometimes they come to me quickly and I can crack on with a new book and sometimes they take a while to piece themselves together.

Can you briefly tell me about your books?

This is my least favourite question in the world…so this is just the short blurb I use for each book.

Summer of Love is a friends to lovers, contemporary romance set in the South of France with a meddling bride and some swoon worthy moments.

Change My Mind is a contemporary romance novel set in London. Two former secondary school rivals find themselves moving into the same flat. When the sexual tension between them gets too much they agree to just ‘’get it out of their systems” only that doesn’t quite scratch the itch enough so they enter a roommates with benefits situation. As the lines between friends with benefits and love blur, they have to decide if they are ready to fall in love or run away from it forever.

Looks Real Good Now is a fake dating, friends to strangers to lovers, Christmas contemporary romance about how some roads can’t be taken until the timing is right

Marry Me A Little is a married in Vegas, friends to lovers contemporary romance about fighting for yourself even when the odds feel stacked against you

Do you already have a favorite character from the stories you’ve written?

When Rachel first showed up in Summer of Love there was something about her that demanded more and that was how it became the first book of an interconnected standalone series. There is just something about her that I really love writing (even though her book still remains ever elusive, I know who she ends up with, I know the general gist of it, but there is still too much I don’t know. I do know, the cover is a stunner).

Overall though, Alana is my girl. Whenever I’m in her head or she has to interact with another character it comes to me like second nature. She is a dream to write. The friendship between her and Teddy in Marry Me A Little was the easiest and most fun thing to write in that whole book.

If you were to cast your book for a movie/television show, who would you cast in the lead roles?

I only have a few that I know for sure—Jonathan Bailey and India Amarteifo were my face casts for Addie and Eli in Change My Mind. Logan Lerman for Jesse and a side character in Marry Me A Little is Jordan Fisher (spoiler, me knowing that may suggest his time is coming).

How much of yourself do you put into these characters?

I try to keep it to a minimum, but there are always things that trickle in there without me noticing. A lot of the time it’s for the better; if I hadn’t given Maxxy a bit more of myself then Marry Me A Little wasn’t going to work (believe me, I tried to avoid doing it but when it came back from my editor I had to accept that I needed to commit)

What is a story/stories that you really want to tell?

I’ve had a fated mates story in my head for coming up to fifteen years that I would love to write. A small version of it ended up in Summer of Love and there is a part of me that has accepted that it may only exist in that form. But one day, I really hope I can figure it out.

Is there one common element that readers can find in all your stories?

I love a solid female friendship and they are probably always going to find a way into my work. Even a self-professed loner girl in an upcoming book is going to find herself with an unexpected female friend she would end up killing for.

What’s next on the bookshelf for you? Anything you can tell us about a future project?

In terms of releases, my next one is coming in the summer and it’s a tennis romance. Oh and it’s also the first book in a new series called Road to the Olympics. I’m currently in a Christmas state of mind in terms of writing. But because I am incapable of having one thing on the go, I’ve also got a swimmer/coach project I’m working on (the second book in the Olympics series) and in the background I have book in three in both the Detroit Panthers and The Love You Want series simmering away slowly trying to figure themselves out. (Why yes, my creative brain is a mess.)