In Rebecca Serle's new book āExpiration Dates: A Novel,ā the protagonist, Daphne, knows when her relationships will end. A slip of paper always shows up with a name and a number for how long they will date.
We meet Daphne on her way to a blind date with Jake ā whose paper doesn't have a number. This must mean he's the one. Or is he? Is it helpful or a hinderance to have the answers?
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"I was thinking about fate and free will and which one wins," Serle said recently over Zoom from her home in Los Angeles. āHow much is within our control and how much is going to happen regardless of the decisions we make and the choices that we make?ā
Serle's recent novels have blended fantasy and realism. In her last book, āOne Italian Summer,ā a woman meets a younger version of her mother while on vacation.
In āExpiration Dates,ā Serle, who married in 2023, was inspired by her own dating history.
āI was single for a really long time," she said. āI remember relationships would end and I would feel like, āThis again? Didn't I already learn this lesson?ā Looking back, I see who I had to become before I met my husband, but itās hard to see in the moment. Thatās where the wish fulfillment of āExpiration Datesā comes in. There is something so compelling about the idea how you might see a relationship if you werenāt entering into every one, as I did, thinking āThis could be the one.ā"
Serle spoke to The Associated Press about philosophy, what she tells her husband about her books, and why running and writing are a lot alike.
Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.
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AP: What inspired you to start adding fantasy elements to your books?
SERLE: In college I would write magical realism short stories. I read a lot of Aimee Bender and Haruki Murakami and enjoyed the way they would open up a universe and not explain it. Something about that just sparkled. I published four young adult novels before writing my first novel for adults which was āThe Dinner List" in 2018. With that, I went back to how I began by writing magical realism.
AP: Did you by chance study philosophy in school?
SERLE: I was actually obsessed with philosophy in high school. I remember reading Plato's āThe Allegory of the Cave" and being blown away.
AP: Your readers enjoy the magic elements in your book. Do you ever feel pressure to continue to include those?
SERLE: Iām working on a book right now that might be the last book that has some kind of magic in it. I want to keep reinventing myself as a writer and growing. But Iām also aware that I have an audience that for whatever reason, lovingly and wonderfully and surprisingly really likes what I do. We'll see. Once the thing is no longer interesting to me, the books are not going to be interesting to read. Thatās just the truth.
AP: What has it been like introducing your husband to your writing?
SERLE: I said to my husband early on, and I remind him all the time, āHappy marriages doesn't make interesting books.ā He's going to inevitably recognize himself in everything that comes next, because the fabric of our lives are now woven together. We live together. We share a life together Heās going to recognize details of himself in a husband character. Of course he is. Iām writing it. But just because that person you know, has an affair doesnāt mean that thatās how I feel about him. Thatās a hard thing sometimes for non-writers to understand.
AP: You've recently started running regularly and say running is like writing. How so?
SERLE: By the way, by running I mean like, 3 miles. Iām not marathoning, OK? But I never ran a mile in my life. I really had never run five minutes in my life. I recently started running because it was something I really wanted to learn how to do. My knees would hurt when I ran for five minutes, but they donāt hurt now that I run for half an hour. Your ability to keep moving and your lung capacity adapts, but I think what really adapts is your brain. Your brain says, āI know I can do this; I know I can complete this.ā I think that is exactly what it means to write a book. Every time I sit down to do it, it gets a little bit easier, because Iāve done it before, and I know I can do it again You keep on and eventually something gets built.