Oh, to be in love in New York City! The big apple is alluring to all sorts of romance: movies and TV shows, music, novels and, of course, real life. If you’ve never visited New York yourself, Rhys J. Freeman does a wonderful job of replicating the steamy skyscraper-enclosed streets in his latest release, A New York Night.

We caught up with Rhys to talk with him about what lead to him writing this book, how he settled on his two protagonists, and what it was like to tackle a New York based love story.

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Have you had any prior writing experiences to A New York Night? If not, what lead to you writing your debut novel?

A New York Night was essentially my first big writing venture. At the time of starting to write it, I was beginning to hone my craft in screenwriting which has led me into the career of Film Production I am in now. As I was working on my skillset in screenwriting, I thought what was transferable to me, could be brought across into trying to write a novel. The idea of planning and structure stuck out to me when wanting to write a debut novel, I felt it to be a good test of my tenacity to stick by it and follow the plan I sought out to follow.

Your two leads are a New York Times journalist and a Wall Street Financial Consultant. What drew you to these characters?

The idea of grandeur associated with New York City, played a big part in the decision making of where Lauren and James would work. I also didn’t want to play into the stereotype of the environments they were working in, so I decided to craft both Lauren and James as two individuals who don’t necessarily feel as if they fit in the environments they work in. Through their lens we get to see the aspersions that may be cast upon a certain type of people who work in the elite section of the socio-economic ladder.

New York City is one of the most written about and romanticised cities in the world. Why did you want to write a book set in such an iconic place?

Without sounding too cliche, the decision really was heavily driven by how New York is so popular in stories and for the fact that it is greatly romanticised. I knew that common ground of some sort with an audience could be found on this idea alone, and would possibly help draw people to the book. Having visited New York City a few times now, I have felt first-hand what it can do to you as a person, how it can be mesmerising, and how you would like to romanticise that. What I feel for New York, ultimately, I wanted to capture on the page, and create something in which people can get lost in.

Do you have any identifiable and standout inspirations for your work?

I have always been inspired by literature coming out of the 1920s, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald & Virginia Woolf. The techniques of modern literature have always struck me quite deep. Reading their work at the time I set out writing A New York Night, really inspired me to adopt the techniques they paved the way for the use of a hundred years ago. I saw it as a challenge, one that I relished.

And finally, what are your future creative plans?

At current, I have the early workings of a second novel that I will slowly get to developing further, which I am excited about. Other than that, I have some big projects with work coming up which will really require a lot of my creative output, which is equally exciting!

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A New York Night is available now in paperback.