The early pandemic years are often noted as a time of isolation. But for Paula Rogers, they were a time to explore the nature of relationships and connections through her web comic, “Blind Data.”
It was a project she says she had a lot of material to source from.
“I had been using dating apps for a while and getting frustrated and feeling like it wasn’t a good use of my time,” Rogers said. “So to kind of process my experiences and also find something else to do since I was single, I didn’t have anything else in my time, I started the comic, and the comic is all based on true stories of first dates that I went on.”
The web comic featured numerous retellings of first dates Rogers had been on – in the comic, the men are drawn with cat heads to protect their anonymity. But while humorous and, at times, she says, embarrassing and painful, Rogers says she was drawn to the project from a basic thesis she was working from.
“Even first dates, even when you meet someone just for coffee on a Wednesday night, they stick with you,” Rogers said. “There would be dates that, yeah, were like three hours, seven years ago that I still thought about, and I never saw that person ever again. They leave a mark and that’s kind of the point I wanted to make, is that these interactions are meaningful even if we kind of treat them as throwaway interactions.”
Rogers wrapped up the comic – for now – in May, but now has taken the leap into the realm of rom-com fiction with her debut novel, “Swiped.”
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Rogers says the story originally began as a screenplay during her time in the UT Radio-Television-Film graduate program – even before she had started up “Blind Data” and arising from her frustration with dating apps.
Studying classic rom-coms in her program, she thought up an experiment for herself.
“Could I write like a fun and flirty traditional rom-com that had its foundations in our modern world in dating apps, in like the era of like ‘ghosting’ and ‘bread-crumbing’ and ‘zombieing’ and all of that?,” Rogers said. “Could it still be fun or had technology just doomed us completely?”
The story centers around Natalie “Nat” Lane, a coder and creator of a popular dating app who refuses to use her product herself. At a tech conference, she meets and has an immediate connection with Rami – who feels apps have ruined romance.
So the two make a bet. Who can find land a date first? Nat using her app, or Rami meeting someone organically in real life?
“If they don’t fall in love with each other along the way,” Rogers said.
Like with “Blind Data,” Rogers drew from her own experiences, and hopes that helps the story to feel relatable to readers.
“I feel people who are single and are in the scene of how difficult it can be to find someone these days will appreciate – I hope appreciate – how modern the story is,” Rogers said.
“I feel like if you love classic romantic comedies with characters who are too smart for their own good, then you’ll like this book.”
