Sophie isn't exclusively gay, but when you're voted Ms Lesbian Oxford in your first year at university, it does put you under a certain amount of pressure.
Her university life is characterised by passionate love affairs, liberal activism and boundary-pushing theatre.
Nine years later, Sophie returns to her hometown in Cornwall, where girls are friends with girls, boys are friends with boys, and queer is an experience felt when you drink too much cider.
Sophie falls for John, a sensible, conservative male man with a fondness for cardigans, but can they overcome their cultural differences?
Interview:
Fentonton: Tell me a bit about Straight Out of University.
Rosen: It's a story about a bisexual woman suspended in the
liberal university bubble for the best part of a decade. She's then thrown back
into the real world with a jolt.
Fentonton: Any similarities between you and the MC, Sophie?
You know … Were you ever voted Ms Lesbian Oxford?
Rosen: Ha ha! No, I wasn't. I did win a worst-dressed
competition once in Oxford
Fentonton: Do you ever write while intoxicated, or always
stone-sober?
Rosen: Sometimes there is a bag of chocolate next to me when
I start writing, and when I stop, it's miraculously gone.
Fentonton: Do you think your story could be improved with
the addition of vampires? Vampires still seem unreasonably popular, like goat
cheese.
Rosen: Vampires are usually a vehicle for a bad-boy romance
story. The leading man in my story wears a cardigan - even fangs couldn't make
him edgy.
Fentonton: Do you like goat cheese?
Rosen: Yes, especially blended with whipped cream to make a
mousse, then served with a little fresh basil pesto.
Fentonton: If you could choose between Katie Price, Justin
Bieber and Louie Walsh, which one would you have killed?
Rosen: Well, I'm a pacifist so I shouldn't really kill
anybody. However, Louie Walsh is on X-Factor, which is an enemy of the indie
world, so he's asking for trouble...
