Anna E. Collins Loves a Sunshine/Grump Trope

In which Em & EJ interview Anna E. Collins, author of LOVE AT FIRST SPITE! Listen in for talk about where the idea for the novel came from, her love of underdogs, and the satisfaction of a good old fashioned Happily Ever After.
Thank you for listening to Troped Out. If you like what you heard—review and subscribe! To stay up to date on Troped Out, SFF+Girls, and the forthcoming ADHD Creative, follow our production team Typo Productions and @TypoPodcasts across all platforms. Links at the bottom.
  • Today we are talking with rom-com and women’s fic author, Anna E. Collins.
  • Emma reads Anna’s bio and encourages listeners to check out Anna’s Instagram to see her golden-doodle, Archie.
  • Anna’s book, LOVE AT FIRST SPITE, released on January 4th. 2022.
  • Anna shares details about her book, including tropes, such as grump & sunshine, revenge on an ex, and more.
  • Emphasis on the revenge plot. (Check out LOVE AT FIRST SPITE for full synopsis of story).
  • The book is a romance between jilted interior designer Dani and hunky architect Wyatt. Of course, when Dani makes plans to get back at her cheating, no-good ex-fiancé by building a spite house, Wyatt was the only one available to take on the project.
  • Besides the romance of the story (which is the main point of the book) there is the revenge, which centers around the idea of a spite house. Em asks Anna where she got the idea to use the construction of a spite house for her rom com.
  • Anna keeps a running list of ideas for future projects. In 2020 she was looking through her list of ideas for her next project. After tackling some pretty heavy themes in her women’s fiction novels, she was ready to write something lighter and fun. The words spite house: someone builds a house to get revenge, was on the list. Her imagination ran with it.
  • Anna did not create the idea of a spite house—if you google spite house—you will find some very interesting things. However, this book was 1000% all Anna E. Collins. 
  • EJ points out that building a spite house is a long term commitment to your hate—you have to keep that pettiness going for long enough to build a house. Em agrees—but says that it’s enough time to fall in love.
  • Anna gives examples of why someone might go through with the construction of a spite house. Things like divorce, one person getting a house one person getting land. Or brothers with an inheritance—there are tons of stories. Anna points out that when you read stories about what caused spite houses to be built—you rarely get info on what happens afterward.
  • Em asks what drove Dani to a place where she devoted time and money to revenge (building of a spite house).
  • Anna explains what drove Dani to the place of investing in a long-term revenge project such as a spite house. (No spoilers in podcast).
  • Dani’s fiancé doesn’t listen to Dani and then she finds out that her fiancé is a cheater. The problem is—after she calls things off, Dani is the one that is greatly impacted, even though she didn’t do anything wrong. And Dani can’t have that! 
  • Em and EJ ask Anna to explain the tropes in her book in detail. Anna says that Wyatt is the grumpy one and even though Dani is the one who wants the spite house built—she is still the sunshiney one. She is bright and dynamic.
  • Wyatt is gruff and a know-it-all, and isn’t the best socializer. When Dani began at the firm where she works as a designer (and where Wyatt works as an architect), Wyatt was the only one to not welcome her to the new job.
  • Wyatt is the only architect open to helping Dani with the spite house. As they work together, Dani begins to wonder if maybe she was wrong about Wyatt.
  • Em asks, “What is it about a grumpy hero? Do you watch Ted Lasso?”
  • Anna loves Ted Lasso. EJ finally got to watch. 
  • Em says, “Roy Kent, amirite?” 
  • The women talk about grumpy heroes. It’s not all grumpy characters. It has to be the characters—like Roy Kent—who are only grumpy on the surface. There has to be layers.
  • EJ points out that this is a great example of where tropes differ from stereotypes. The stereotypical grumpy character is flat and mean. But when it is the grumpy hero in a trope—it is almost inevitable that you are going to see something that makes you realize that he is actually a little soft underneath (like Roy Kent and his niece).
  • EJ says there has to be something that is almost like “Alert alert! Peel back the layers!”
  • Em asks Anna if, as a reader, she has a favorite trope that is an insta-buy.
  • Anna says she loves enemies to lovers. She also likes opposites attract. She likes fake relationships and forbidden love. She says that there is a small section of LOVE AT FIRST SPITE that has the sneaking around aspect. Not really forbidden—but frowned upon.
  • Anna says she really loves underdog stories—someone who is counted out by society, and they prove everyone wrong.
  • Em asks if Anna notices a common thread in her writing—not necessarily trope wise but possibly theme wise—when she writes in different genres.
  • Anna says yes. She is drawn to underdog stories also in her women’s fiction writing, as well as a redemption story, or inner makeover.
  • We discuss the expectations in both the romance genre and women’s fiction genre.
  • Anna explains what she needs as a reader to feel satisfied at the end of the book.
  • EJ asks, as a reader, if there are different tropes that Anna finds herself drawn to depending on the genre?
  • Anna says that she feels that in general, women’s fiction is less tropey, but she loves including strong female friendships in all of her stories.
  • Em asks Anna, if outside of her own genres, if there is a trope she loves in movies or books? Example: apocalypse movies. 
  • Anna says she isn’t sure that she has that—except possibly under dog stories. 
  • EJ asks, the opposite question—is there a trope that Anna doesn’t care for as a consumer?
  • Anna says yes. She said way back when she first read romance, she loved the alpha-hole stories but as time has gone on—she’s kind of fallen away from those stories. Though, she thinks it is because often the women in those stories are portrayed as weak and she doesn’t care for that. If it is an alpha-hole story with an equally strong female—then maybe she would like that.
  • Anna plays Troped Out. We learn her favorites.
  • The women chat about THE LIFEBOAT (by Charlotte Rogan), GONE GIRL (by queen Gillian Flynn), and Machiavellan characters.
  • You should purchase LOVE AT FIRST SPITE by the great Anna E. Collins. You can get it wherever books are sold—including our Troped Out Bookshop! (Links below). 
  • You can find Anna E. Collins across all social platforms as @AECcreates or visit her website at www.AECollinsBooks.com. All links included below! 
Links from this episode:

To stay up to date with Troped Out and more—follow the team on social media (Instagram is their favorite—but they brave twitter from time to time.) You can find them on most platforms Typo Productions: @TypoPodcasts 
And always—you can find us at www.TypoProductions.com

A huge thank you to our guest, Anna E. Collins. You can find her on twitter and Instagram at @AECCreates. On Facebook you can search for Anna E. Collins, author—or follow the links below:
And of course, her website: www.AECollinsBooks.com 

All of our guests’ books are available on our Troped Out Bookshop.org page. We’d appreciate it if you gave it a look. You might stumble across our future favorite author! www.bookshop.org/shop/TropedOut

Please subscribe and leave a review!


2021 Typo Productions