Lily Joseph: Read As Many Books As You Can Get Your Hands On
In this interview, author Lily Joseph discusses how her personal brush with fate helped inspire her new romantic comedy, The Near Miss.
Lily Joseph is a romantic fiction writer from North East England, a setting which appears regularly in her writing. Her work has been shortlisted for the Lindisfarne Prize, an award for northern authors and her debut novel The Near Miss was a contender for the Joan Hessayon Award. She lives in North Yorkshire with her partner, two teens and two cats, none of whom are interested in books whatsoever. At least the cats have an excuse. Follow her on X (Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram.
In this interview, Lily discusses how her personal brush with fate helped inspire her new romantic comedy, The Near Miss, her advice for other writers, and more.
Name: Lily Joseph
Literary agent: Clare Coombes (Liverpool Literary Agency)
Book title: The Near Miss
Publisher: Grand Central
Release date: May 27, 2025
Genre/category: Romantic comedy/women’s fiction
Previous titles: Stuck Together
Elevator pitch: Wren and Nick have never met, but they’ve almost killed each other many times over. How many near-misses will it take before they meet and save each other’s lives.
What prompted you to write this book?
The idea for this book came from an unnerving personal experience! In the first scene the main female character, Wren, is almost flattened by a window frame dropped from the second floor above. This actually happened to me several years ago when I was leaving work—the window shattered a few feet in front of me and I was covered in glass, wondering what could have happened if I’d left work a few seconds earlier. I thought about it a lot over the years, and it occurred to me that if fate saved me from serious injury (or worse) then maybe we’re sometimes pushed in the right direction too. Perhaps the person who dropped the window and I were meant to share catastrophe after catastrophe until we met and fell in love. Of course, the romance didn’t happen in real life, so I enjoyed writing that for Wren and Nick instead.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
From idea to publication, it was about 18 months. It was a complex structure that required Wren and Nick and the supporting characters to be in the right place at the right time while switching between the two points of view, so that was challenging at times! I had to unpick the plot more than once and it was the kind of story where if you pull at one thread the whole thing falls apart and needs to be put back together again. It was also tricky to weave the emotional arc into the narrative too, especially as Wren and Nick have lots going on in their family lives as well as following the path to romance. But it was fun to write, and as a planner it gave me the excuse to move lots of Post-Its around!
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
This was my debut novel, so there are probably too many to mention, but I loved the process of working with an editor and the wider publication team. Working collaboratively on something that had only belonged to me for a long time was a really positive experience, and instead of feeling too precious about changes and edits I welcomed the advice and expertise. I was also pleasantly surprised at how approachable everyone is—the world of publishing can feel quite daunting to a debut author, so attending my first author party in London was nerve-wracking but turned out to be a wonderful experience.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
There were certainly surprises in my research. Part of the plot concerns Nick’s elderly grandmother who runs a venue that serves food to homeless people, and I based that on a real place in Newcastle upon Tyne. When I looked further into it, I discovered that it was founded by a lady called Alison Kay who used to take food to people living on the streets and she then went on to create The People’s Kitchen, which now serves over 250 meals a day and provides support and friendship to those in need. It was a privilege to base the character of Edie on her.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope that readers will enjoy figuring out how Wren and Nick are going to accidentally endanger each other next! I also hope that they’ll be rooting for the two of them to finally meet and fall in love, although the book will keep readers guessing.
The Near Miss is set mostly in the North East of England, which is a location not featured in romantic novels very often, so I’m excited for readers to discover it for the first time. There is also a brief departure to Capri in Italy, which should be good for those who like a bit of sun.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
My advice would be to read as many books as you can get your hands on, whether they’re in your chosen genre or not. There’s a lot to gain from undertaking courses and tuition, but unless you read widely it’s harder to get a feel for the flow and nuances of a novel. I think there are some wonderful writing craft books out there too, such as Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody, and I particularly like On Writing by Stephen King for an insight into his journey to publication and the processes that work for him. But mainly, read, read, read!
