Pippa Grant wanted to write books, so she did. In her Accidentally Infamous series, three women whose lives implode in spectacularly viral fashion retreat to a secluded winery to escape the spotlight, only to discover that falling in love is even harder to avoid than internet fame.
Before she became a USA Today- and #1 Amazon-bestselling romantic comedy author, Grant began writing as self-therapy while a young military spouse, turning her love of romance novels into a career with more than 50 knee-slapping titles. When she's not writing, she's navigating life as a mom, wife, and mountain woman.
We spoke with the author about the inspiration behind her new series, balancing humor with heart, and her advice for aspiring romance authors.
What was the original spark for a series about people going viral and becoming accidentally infamous online?
Do you remember that meme that went around with the little girl smiling in front of a burning building? Or the “Charlie bit my finger” kid? (Haha, I’m dating myself.) I was always curious what happened to them later in life, how being a viral sensation when they were young might have influenced who they became later in life. Seriously, the inspiration had been simmering in my brain for YEARS before I finally found the right plots for the Accidentally Infamous series, and it’s been so fun to see it come to life and find readers.
Did you know from the beginning that Cricket, Ginny, and Mabel would become the emotional center of three separate books, or did the series grow organically as you wrote it?
I haven’t historically been a planner, but in this case, I intentionally built the series to be three books long with one woman who’s new to the winery, one who’s been there for a while, and one who runs the whole show. I wanted readers to come into Makepeace Cellars with Cricket and get to know what Mabel and Ginny and the crew were doing there right along with Cricket, and then for readers to follow along for the rebrand to Accidentally Infamous Wines and the launch of the winery back into a functioning place where they could continue their mission.
Did you learn anything about how you work best or settle into any specific creative rituals during this writing process? Any behind-the-scenes stories about creating the characters or drafting particular scenes?
I’ve been writing for over 20 years now, with How to Troll a Guy in Ten Days being my 55th currently published book. As I get further into my career, I realize more and more that while I want to walk into my office every morning, ready to fly by the seat of my pants, I’m still able to deliver the funny scenes when I have a rough outline in front of me. And that rough outline makes the writing process faster and helps me hit reader expectations better. When I skip that rough outline, it takes me longer to write, and I get more frustrated when I can’t see where I’m going.
For the Accidentally Infamous series in particular, I almost made a massive mistake. In book one, You’ve Got Hate Mail, we meet Pip (named Pip because of what her namesake wine eventually became, not because I’m Pippa), who’s an 85-year-old nudist who regularly carries her late husband’s urn everywhere she goes, always threatening to do something terrible with the old bastard’s remains. On Cricket’s first day at the winery, she saves the urn from shattering on the ground. The urn almost goes up in flames at the beginning of book two, While You Were Trending, and then, when I got to book three, How to Troll a Guy in Ten Days, I literally almost forgot to do something with the urn. I’m glad I remembered though, because the urn scene turned out to be one of my personal favorites as far as funny scenes go.
Why did you choose to set these books at a winery? What does a winery give you narratively that another kind of small-town retreat wouldn’t?
Another thing I’ve wanted to do for a long time is to set a series of romance novels at a retreat for women, in a place where they can rest and relax and heal while getting a second chance, be that second chance in life or in love. And wineries are just so pretty with the rolling hills of grapevines, the multiple buildings that give you opportunities for more settings for secret interludes, the ready availability of a glass of wine while watching the sun set in a beautiful location… it just felt romantic. And it was special to give the winery itself a second chance as well. Rebuilding a business while the characters rebuilt their lives fit.
Your books can go from completely absurd to surprisingly emotional within a few pages. How do you know when a scene needs another joke and when it needs to let the emotion breathe?
It’s pure instinct at this point to find that balance and know when to lean harder into a joke and when to pull back and remind readers that while the situation might be absurd, the people are real. I can’t tell you how many times something has happened in my life where I’d be like, “I write some pretty unrealistic things in my books, and if I put THIS in, no one would believe it. That would be the line.” So I believe real life is weirder than we give it credit for, and also that people like to be seen in the books that they’re reading.
If you love laugh-out-loud humor, unforgettable banter, quirky found family, and swoony happily-ever-afters, the Accidentally Infamous series is perfect for you!
In the series, the romantic relationships seem to grow alongside the larger found family rather than replacing it. Why was it important to you to make that community such a central part of the romances?
For my entire life, I’ve seen women constantly being pitted against each other. If a man cheats, we’re told it’s the fault of the woman he’s cheating with. If a woman gets a promotion, we’re told it’s because she slept her way to the top. Remember the monologue in the Barbie movie? We women are constantly told that we’re both too much and not enough. So it’s critically important to me not just in this series, but in every book I write, to be incredibly cautious about ever making a woman the villain, and to make sure that I’m elevating female friendships. I’m writing the world I want to live in when I write romances where the community is as important as the romance itself, because I believe that the happiest happily-ever-afters give a broad, full life, rather than just a romantic conclusion.
As a prolific romantic comedy author, what is the key to writing a great rom-com? Do you have a holy grail rom-com book, film, or TV show?
This is the hardest question I’m ever asked, haha. Being funny comes naturally to me, so much so that I couldn’t actually tell you how to be funny. I love leaning into the unexpected, but also the things that are real but could go wrong. And when two characters have good crackling tension, the banter writes itself. As for a holy grail rom-com, I became a writer as I was devouring Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series and Jennifer Crusie’s romcoms. I’ll rewatch Ted Lasso over and over again for the heart mixed with the humor, and while I wouldn’t classify it as a rom-com, my holy grail movie is Ever After, the Drew Barrymore Cinderella adaptation.
What would you tell another author who is considering self-publishing through IngramSpark?
My favorite thing about self-publishing with IngramSpark is that it makes it so much easier to get my books into independent bookstores, and thus to partner with and promote independent bookstores. Also, I love the option with IngramSpark to do duplex cover printing, where you can print illustrated artwork on the inside cover.
You've written characters whose lives are dramatically changed by going viral. As someone who writes for an audience that lives online, has your own relationship with social media changed while writing this series?
I launched my first book as Pippa Grant in 2017, and back in the early Pippa days, I was so much more open with my readers and willing to share more stories about things happening in my personal life and with my family. But even before writing this series, I’ve pulled back a lot, both to give my family more privacy, but also because people have gotten meaner in general. I haven’t looked at my Facebook feed in probably a year, and I only pop onto Facebook occasionally to chat with my reader group and check a couple author groups. An hour before answering this question, I was blocking dozens of trolls who had commented on my Instagram ads overnight.
Social media is a double-edged sword—it has both given me and many of my friends a platform to promote our books, while also being incredibly bad for our mental health. I miss the old days of social media when you could connect with people you wanted to connect with and not wonder how many people in your comment section were actually bots.
What did you most want readers to feel when they reached the final page of How to Troll a Guy in Ten Days?
My dream is that every reader who finishes How to Troll a Guy in Ten Days finishes the book with a smile on their face and a glow in their heart, and a little bit of optimism that today might be better than yesterday. Technically my job is writing, publishing, and marketing books, but my mission is to spread joy in the world, and I will always be so grateful to live in a time when writing books that make people happy gets to be my day job.
What advice do you have for aspiring romance authors?
Being a published indie romance author is a lot of work. You’re not just an author anymore, you’re also a business person. So cling to how much you love writing, cling to the joy that you get when you nail a scene, and cling to knowing that if you’re not already, one day, you’ll be someone’s favorite author.
What are you most looking forward to personally or professionally right now?
I’ve just finished the very rough outline of a six-book romance series that I’ll start writing in the new year, after I’ve finished writing all of my 2027 books (which I teased in 2023-2024, so my readers are READY for these!!), and it’s been so much fun putting the puzzle pieces of a brand new world together, with a concept that I giggle about every time I think about it.
