Congrats on the launch of Big Feelings! How was the experience of writing your second book compared to your first?
It was so challenging and rewarding – I spent ten years writing my first book, Mistakes and Other Lovers, then I had less than two years to write Big Feelings after I signed a two-book publishing deal. Early on, I had many moments of wondering if I could do it! With Mistakes, I never intended to sit down and write a novel… it just slowly became a novel over many, many years of writing and re-writing and editing and expanding. With Big Feelings, it was very intentional. I had the idea, and (loose) narrative arc, and then I just had to apply bum-glue and sit down to do it. It was tough, and not always fun, but I loved every moment and I’m so proud of what I’ve produced with this second book.
The setting of the book adds so much and will probably feel somewhat familiar to a lot of local readers – without revealing the location (unless you want to), can you tell us why you decided that this place would be Sadie’s home?
Big Feelings is set on the mid north coast of NSW, on Gumbayggnirr Country, which is a place really close to my heart. My partner and I almost bought a bookshop there right before the pandemic, we travel there several times a year and we even got married there. Just like my first book was a love letter to Newcastle, this is a love letter to that small town – it’s thirty minutes from the coast, surrounded by mountains with the most glorious sparkling river running through. I knew, long ago, that I wanted to write a book set there, so it was a no-brainer for it to be Sadie’s hometown. She’s always craving to leave and explore the world (like many young people!), but constantly feels a spiritual and familial pull back home.
What kinds of readers do you think will enjoy reading Big Feelings?
The tagline on the cover is ‘An anti-romantic comedy’ and I’ve dedicated this book to ‘the cynics and the die-hards’, which sums up the audience of the book! Rom-com readers and lovers of nostalgia will adore Sadie’s story, but as she’s also a little cynical and afraid of commitment, her sassy and quirky nature will appeal to people who think happily-ever-after can be an unrealistic pipe-dream.
“I think of Big Feelings like a mystery novel, but with a break-up instead of a dead body. So you know the relationship has ended, but you don’t know exactly why, or what happened, until the end.”
The book starts with the breakdown of a relationship – did you always plan to reveal that at the very start?
Yes – I wanted it to be a break-up story, where the main character is kind of taking a scalpel to past relationships to figure out what keeps going wrong and why she can’t seem to make love work. High Fidelity was a huge inspiration for me, which starts with the protagonist Rob going through his desert island, all-time, top five heartbreaks. It’s one of my favourite books. I think of Big Feelings like a mystery novel, but with a break-up instead of a dead body. So you know the relationship has ended, but you don’t know exactly why, or what happened, until the end. Sadie is a slightly unreliable narrator, too, which will keep readers guessing throughout and was really fun to write.
One of the things I loved about the book is how real it felt – the relationships, the struggles and just life in general. Is it safe to assume that there’s a fair bit of lived experience coming through?
Writers are the ultimate observers of life, relationships and emotion – we need to feel and experience the world in order to bring through authenticity in fiction. We want to connect with readers, make them feel seen and heard through the experiences of the characters they’re reading. Let’s just say I laughed and cried a lot while writing the book, because I was constantly putting myself in Sadie’s shoes wondering how she’d think and feel and react to certain situations. You really become entangled with your characters when writing a book! In terms of actual lived experience that inspired parts of the book, there are a few elements: my wife Laura and I used to run a bookshop in Newcastle, and Sadie works in a bookshop; I met a bartender in America who had the words READ MORE tattooed across his knuckles, so that inspired the character of Blue, and of course there’s the setting of the book – a place I know and love so well. I spent a lot of time there during the Black Summer bushfires of 2019/2020 and that time period forms part of Big Feelings, so there was some personal experience drawn upon during that section too.
“Dear readers of Big Feelings… I hope you laugh and cry all the way through this book! You might hate me a little in certain parts, but I hope you’re satisfied with the ending and that the story of Sadie stays with you long after the final page.”
Big Feelings is not a rom com, but it does make a lot of references to them. You’ve listed Sadie’s favourite rom coms at the end – how do these compare to your own favourites?
The rom-com glossary at the end of the book was so fun to put together, because Sadie makes a lot of references to her favourite 90s and 00s films throughout the novel. Rom-Com Fridays was a tradition she had with her beloved single dad since childhood, so she’s kind of obsessed. Sadie and her dad’s top five films align partially with mine – for example, I love Notting Hill and When Harry Met Sally – but I didn’t want to insert my own tastes too much! I’m much more a fan of quirky anti-rom-coms, like 500 Days of Summer and Marriage Story.
Anything else you’d like the Swell community to know about the book?
Dear readers of Big Feelings… I hope you laugh and cry all the way through this book! You might hate me a little in certain parts, but I hope you’re satisfied with the ending and that the story of Sadie stays with you long after the final page.
Big Feelings by Amy Lovat Newcastle Launch
Thursday 17 July, 2025 • Newcastle City Library
6:00 – 7:00pm
Registration is free
