Bad Words: A Guest Post from Ríoghnach Robinson

This clever story of ambition, success and sincerity follows debut novelist Parker and literary critic Selina, whose feud goes viral after a scathing review. The two form an unexpected bond as their lives intersect in this will-they-won’t-they rom-com. Read on for an exclusive essay from Ríognach Robinson on writing Bad Words.

Sometimes a book idea hammers on your door in the middle of the night and demands your attention. Sometimes it sneaks up quietly, so that by the time you notice it tapping you on the shoulder, it’s already been in the room with you for years.

Bad Words was the latter kind of book for me. It’s an unlikely love story between a novelist and the critic who destroyed his promising career with her brutal reviews of his books. The pair strike up a bitter public feud, which becomes increasingly complicated as—behind the scenes—they begin to fall for each other.

Bad Words is a story about judging art, judging character, and how the two influence each other; it’s about how writing connects and disconnects us. It also features many of my favorite things: acerbic retorts, chaotic group chats, romantically charged emails, jokes about IKEA assembly kits, and characters I had to crack open like oysters to get to the soft bits.

Inspiration-wise, I could point to the publishing industry’s rapidly changing landscape, or to historical literary feuds, or to various books and movies and scathing reviews. But there was no single lightning-strike moment of genesis. I do know that by the time I started drafting the book in early 2023, the main characters—Selina, my critic, and Parker, my author—felt like people I was excavating rather than people I was inventing. I had the feeling they were all there, waiting, and they had the grace not to hide themselves from me too aggressively.

I loved writing this book. For me, a love story is always a joy to write; romance as a subject is endlessly regenerative and fun. I love how much you can tell about a person from their romantic behavior. I love the vulnerability and volatility of love on the page, and how a true connection, no matter how slender or delicate, can toy with a character’s lifelong priorities, with their views of their pasts and their visions of their futures.

In short, while I love a romance’s ability to contain warmth, joy, and lightness, I guess I do feel that a love story is serious business. For romantic heroines and heroes, as well as in reality, a person’s choice of long-term partner is no less than a clear-eyed declaration of what shape they envision for the rest of their life. In Bad Words—a story that begins with deep acrimony and gleeful bad behavior—I had such pleasure in ushering these characters from incomprehension to understanding, so that they could make their choice in full knowledge of themselves and each other.