G. F. Miller: On Romance in Middle-Grade Fiction
In this interview, author G. F. Miller discusses revisiting old characters in her new middle-grade romance, What if You Fall for Me First.
G. F. Miller absolutely insists on a happy ending. Everything else is negotiable. She is living her Happily Ever After with the love of her life, three kids, two puppies, and some chickens. She cries at random times. She makes faces at herself in the mirror. She believes in the Oxford comma. And she’s always here for a dance party. Follow her on Instagram.
In this interview, G. F. discusses revisiting old characters in her new middle-grade romance, What if You Fall for Me First, her practical advice for other writers, and more.
Name: G. F. Miller
Literary agent: Kim Lionetti, Bookends Literary Agency
Book title: What if You Fall for Me First
Publisher: Aladdin
Release date: June 10, 2025
Genre/category: Upper middle-grade rom-com
Previous titles: Not if You Break Up with Me First; Glimpsed
Elevator pitch for the book: A girl determined to ditch her goody-two-shoes image and the cool guy classmate she enlists to help her get more than they bargained for in this relatable and swoon-worthy middle-grade rom-com.
What prompted you to write this book?
This is a spin-off to the book Not if You Break Up with Me First. In writing that one, I ended up with oodles of imaginary friends that I just wanted to keep hanging out with! One character in particular, Holden, was behaving really badly in the first book. I wanted to get to know him a little better and find out what was going on with him. I had the sense that there was a lot of room there for a redemptive character arc.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
The idea always changes during the process! Whenever I go back and read my original synopsis for any book, I end up shaking my head at how few things I got right and how much the story grew up from those first baby ideas. Typically, I take my first ideas and start writing, and by the time I’ve got a decent draft of Act 1, I know my characters much better—I understand what’s at stake for them and what choices they would organically make. It’s so important to me—as a reader and therefore as a writer—that character’s choices not feel forced. If I can tell that the author had predetermined plot points and jammed their characters into them, it completely breaks my trust in the story. So, as an author, I have to let my characters lead, and they inevitably create a different story than the one I thought of.
I wrote the original synopsis for What if You Fall for Me First in February 2024. That’s 16 months from idea to publication, and it felt fast. Like “Holy cow, what just happened?!” fast. (Especially considering my first book took something like four years from idea to publication!)
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?Of course, I am always finding out new things I didn’t know about the publishing industry. There are many mysteries—contract negotiations and clauses, marketing plans, how Intellectual Property rights work, and I just found out what a managing editor does...kind of...I’m fuzzy on the details. I entrust heaps of these things to my agent or the Aladdin team, because a huge reason I chose the traditional publishing route was so that I could focus on creating stories and not have to become savvy at every aspect of the publishing process.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
The writing process is constantly full of surprises. Every book baby has its own personality and path for coming into the world (not unlike human babies). What if You Fall for Me First is told in dual POV, and the first draft was all about me getting to know Holden and discovering his story. Meanwhile, poor Sofia was a neglected child—a fairly flat character. But I didn’t realize that in the throes of drafting, of course. That’s why I’m so thankful for an awesome editor! Jessica Smith helped me give Sofia the love and attention she needed in the second draft.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
The world is full of setbacks, sorrows, confusion, anxiety, and self-doubt. I hope readers can pick up my books and experience those things vicariously through my characters with the safety of a happy ending. I always want readers to get to the final page of a G. F. Miller book feeling joyful and delighted, reassured that, whatever struggles they’re facing, everything will be okay in the end.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Because our production schedule had such a jaunty pace, a lot—I mean a lot—of issues and edits got caught in the final proofread. Authors can be very tempted to skim or even skip that final pass because we’ve looked at these pages so much that we’re going cross-eyed. I’m so glad I read carefully that final time (I actually went back to front because I couldn’t face chapter one again). The book is much better for it.
The advice I’d offer my fellow writers is: Don’t assume someone else will clean up your book. Whether you are self-publishing or have a whole team of amazing professional editors, ultimately it falls to you as the author to make sure that what you’re putting into the world is the best it can be.
