Childhood sweethearts? Love at first sight? A meet cute in the hallway? Sadly, romance in the real world rarely comes to people as easily as that. In the 21st century, romance is oftentimes blossomed in the digital world of dating websites – or as Sece Garrett lays out in her book, oftentimes these sites make you lose any and all hope of a romantic future.

All The Wrong Men follows Emily, a woman recovering from a recent bad breakup and now on the search for a sense of accomplishment. Having been in a relationship for the past decade, Emily wonders, how much could the dating world have changed in a short ten years? The answer – well you’ll have to find out!

We spoke with Sece about her own dating research that went into Emily’s story, balancing the comedy and drama of this realistic work of fiction, and how real-world experiences and examples snuck their way into the narrative.

This is a contemporary story concerning a generational problem – dating. Although amusing, this tale could be a little too-close-to-home for some readers. Therefore, how did you manage to strike the perfect balance between drama and comedy?

Life today is challenging for most. When I curl up at night with a book, I don’t want to read about violence against women. Nor do I want a book that is so complex that I need to stop to look up words or re-read a paragraph several times to grasp its importance. I want a book that is easy to read, possibly with a lesson or two thrown in, and that leaves me with the feeling that there is hope.

And as they say, laughter is the best medicine. We need to laugh at ourselves so that we don’t carry our trauma around with us for the rest of our lives.

It was very important to me to produce a novel with those qualities.

Emily’s journey is not-too dissimilar from your own, in relation to the both of you experimenting with the treacherous world of online dating. What surprised you most when it came to researching this novel? Did you find anything particularly concerning?

I could honestly talk about this subject for hours. I was shocked at how many younger men are interested in much older women! When did that happen? The rest didn’t surprise me too much since I did expect to meet scammers, married men, and catfish. Sadly, it would appear that they outnumber the legitimate daters.

It does cause me concern that so many people who are online dating do not honestly represent themselves.

Following on from our previous question, with two children who may utilise dating sites in their own lives, did you find your writing – in lack of a better word – important for those seeking relationships, to warn readers of the pitfalls in online dating?

What I hope is that they find some camaraderie with Emily and Amy, and that they don’t feel like they are all alone. The reality is that, while fun and entertaining, online dating can be dangerous. I have known women who had quite awful experiences while online dating, but they don’t talk about it because they are made to feel like it is their fault. Maybe in some way I am hoping to better prepare women who enter the online dating world for the first time.

In a strange twist of fate, my daughter met her husband from an online dating site, and he is absolutely lovely. Good people are out there!

Now we don’t mean to pry by asking this, but many people do have funny relationship stories – or at least know somebody or does. In a cathartic literary release, did any such examples sneak their way into your writing?

Oh yes!

I referenced ‘The Firefighter’ as a cautionary tale after hearing a horrific story about a woman who let someone she met online move in, who then turned out to be a very dedicated coke-head.

The relationship between Emily and Amy was inspired by the very powerful relationship I have with my best friend. And the younger man character was inspired when I had a couple of dates with men much younger than myself.

I wrote about Karen because I had two ‘Karens’ in my life at the time and they were both causing me a great deal of stress. I wanted to create a ‘good’ Karen so that when I hear the name Karen, I now have happy thoughts.

As All the Wrong Men is your first novel, we imagine that you are enjoying the fact you’ve got a completed book and can now call yourself a published author – and rightfully so! However, we loved your work and would really love to know where you’re headed next…

Thank you so much for loving my work. Hearing positive feedback really motivates me.

I am totally enjoying this experience! It still seems strange to refer to myself as an author, rather than a writer. I have so many ideas for my next novel and have outlines completed for a few. That said, I did gravitate towards one and it is about 50% complete.

With the working title of The Dogs of Tuscany, it follows the lives of several dogs as they find themselves in the foster care of the book’s protagonist. This story is based on my experiences fostering dogs and I will be including pictures of the real dogs of Tuscany.

All The Wrong Men is available now in paperback.