Writing A Novel: Remembering College Life And Psycho Roommates

One of the best parts about writing a novel that's set in college is that I get to recall my own college experience which began -- gulp -- 20 years ago. Overall, I had a blast at school and am still close with almost all of my college pals (one friend is now my sister-in-law!). However, my freshman year sucked. It was so terrible, in fact, that I considered transferring out of schools. I'm really glad that I stuck things out and stayed because I would've missed out on meeting some wonderful people, not to mention my husband.

My freshman roommate was not one of these people. She wasn't a bad person at all; she could actually be very sweet at times, but she was extremely immature and inconsiderate. She'd graduated from high school early so she began college at 16; though she was three months younger than I was, she was already a junior by the time I began. She didn't want to bother moving and had been in the same room for three years, so when I moved in, she viewed me as merely being a guest. In her mind, this was her room and she was going to do whatever she wanted.

In general, she was a decent, clean kid. She rarely drank, never did drugs, didn't smoke and was pretty religious, so she didn't date. I never had to worry about coming home to find a sock on my door (the universal signal to get lost because your roomie is gettin' busy). But she was loud. Extremely loud. At all hours of the night.

She had a very specific method for studying, which I guess worked for her because she had a 4.0 GPA. Basically, she'd do an all-nighter right before an exam and cram all the information into her brain at the very last minute. This was a problem for me, though, because she insisted on studying in our room with the lights and radio on. Our dorm had a very nice study basement just for this purpose, but no, she didn't like the basement; she liked her bed. So the nights that she stayed up meant I had to stay up, too.

She was annoying even when she wasn't studying. Sometimes she left the radio on all night because it helped her sleep. The good news is, she liked R.E.M. The bad news is, she especially this novelty song (I forget who sang it) called "Fuck You." When she was in the mood for that, I got to listen to a CD playing "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck over," over and over again. Sometimes she'd bring friends over at weird hours, like 3 a.m., and then be upset with me for being asleep. FYI, we lived in a suite so we were fortunate enough to have a private common area for the six of us, which she could've used. But again, this was HER room and she wanted it RIGHT THEN. Sometimes she'd just sort of huff and close the door leaving me be, but other times she'd march right in and flip on the light as if I weren't there. I wanted to kill her. My sleep was so fragmented during the first semester that I ended up getting sick. I actually had to show her a note from the school medical center saying that I needed to have a steadier sleep schedule.

Now you're probably wondering why I didn't do something about her, like go to our R.A., sit her down for a talk or even call her parents. The answer's simple: I was a big, ole wuss. I've never been very confrontational, anyway, but I was even less so at 18. I was an only child who'd never dealt with siblings or roommates (whereas my roomie had five brothers and sisters), was extremely shy and honestly, I'm not sure that I was really ready for college. It was such an overwhelming experience for me and really was a baptism by fire sort of situation. That said, I didn't know how to approach and deal with her. Since she'd lived in our dorm for three years, she knew everyone and kind of ruled the building. I feared that if I dared to tell her off, I'd be persona non grata. And so, I stayed mostly silent.

Anyway, I wanted to present a realistic view of a college freshman's life in my book and having a psycho or inconsiderate roommate is a common ordeal. Only my narrator, Sadie, deals with her roomie (who is way more psycho than mine ever was) in a much different way than I did. One of the great things about writing is that you get to "relive" certain life experiences and give them a different outcome. I certainly wish I'd been more like Sadie because I could've had a better freshman year.

When I think about college, I rarely think about my first year or even my classes. I mainly remember the good times I had, the nights that friends and I stayed up talking over pizza, the parties, the lifelong relationships that I forged. It's these things that shaped me as a person and I'm trying to show this in my book, as well.

I may be 39 in a few days, but writing my latest novel makes me feel as if I'm taking a trip back in time -- and is keeping me young at heart.

Please read and review my first novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Writing A Novel: "Innocent" Characters

One of the most surprising and frequent praises I've seen of BAND GEEK is that it's "wholesome" and "not too racy." I certainly don't mind the praise and am glad that parents feel comfortable letting their kids read my work. Truthfully, though, I had fears that my novel would be written off by the YA audience -- no pun intended -- for being too mature in certain parts.

For one thing, my characters talk like teens. And by that, I mean they swear. Josh, in particular, has a bit of a potty mouth and often uses the F-word. He even uses it to address his school's principal at one point. Meanwhile, Melinda curses at her mom during a major argument. Mind you, I don't have them cursing all that much; I felt that if every other word was a swear word, my dialogue would get pretty boring. Still, I didn't want to whitewash my kids' speech. Having them say, "Oh, golly gee, what the heck?" in 2012 just didn't feel realistic in my opinion.

On that note, there is also a big scene that features underage drinking. I don't paint it in a great light, but I don't condemn it, either. Let's just say that some characters handle their liquor better than others. In real life, I'm not a big drinker myself and wouldn't encourage my friends' teenagers to do it. But teens do drink and I wasn't going to pretend that they don't.

As for those other things that teens do, there are no actual sex scenes in BAND GEEK, but there's plenty of talk about it, some graphic makeout scenes and some very naughy band locker room behavior. My characters also say some pretty bawdy things, especially Mel's friend Lana. There is also bullying (both in person and cyber) and some minor violent acts beween students. I mean, my title is REVENGE of a band geek gone bad...

I guess my book is being called "wholesome" because compared to a lot of other YA stories out there, like the GOSSIP GIRL series or the BRENNA BLIXEN trilogy, it is pretty tame. But compared to some of the books that I grew up with, I think it's kind of edgy. Besides, I'm always surprised to see which books get knocked for having "inappropriate" content; the ALICE books, for instance, are often maligned because Alice and her friends have very frank discussions about sex. Yet Alice herself rarely cusses or does anything that out of line. Judy Blume's JUST AS LONG AS WE'RE TOGETHER also has some reviews with complaints about its "racy" content, which I find ridiculous. I LOVE that book, but the 13-year-old girls in that story from 1987 are BABIES compared to today's 13-year-old's who have exposure to so many more things.

I think what perhaps people are reacting to in my story is that there are consequences for the bad behavior and that ultimately, BAND GEEK is a tale of redemption. I don't know if I'd call my work wholesome, but I do think that there are some lessons to be learned from it.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Writing A Novel: When Characters Come To Life

When outlining a story, I put a lot of thought into my main characters so that I can make them seem as realistic as possible. However, sometimes a secondary character will surprise by taking on a life of its own.

In BAND GEEK, this happened with the characters Ken and Lenny. Ken was originally meant to just be mentioned in passing and did something very bad to Lana, but ended up becoming a pivotal part of the story. He also turned out to be very likeable as time went on. Lenny was written as a comedic character, but he ended up having a lot of heart ... and he has one serious scene, which gives him a bit more depth.

In my latest novel, I'm really starting to like the character Rachael, who's one of Griffin's sisters. He has three younger sisters -- Rachael, Deborah and Judith, named for my cousin and two sisters-in-law, respectively -- and I originally intended for them to have very small roles in the book. As I wrote for Rachael, though, she developed more and more of a personality -- as is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

What I like about her is that she's strong, outspoken and opinionated, even though she's only 14. She's not the oldest sibling in her family, but she is the oldest girl and is extremely protective of her loved ones. She's a bit of an idealistic and will stand up for what she believes in.

Though I'm an only child, I have plenty of friends with siblings and in most cases, the oldest girl has a certain role in the family. The sister of my childhood friend, Lani, is seven years older than her and seemed like an adult to me when we were growing up. Now that I'm 38, a seven-year difference isn't that big of a deal, but at 15, she'd babysit for us and was so maternal. She was almost like a second mother to Lani and readily accepted the responsibility of looking out for her little sister.

One of my other friends has three sisters and though she's technically not the oldest in terms of age, she's the "oldest" in regards to attiude. My friend is the one who helps organize family dealings, handles family crises and has the shoulders that everyone cries on. Again, she's very maternal and take-charge, and is deeply protective of her siblings.

I guess I was thinking of these women as I wrote Rachael since she has some of their traits. I know that it may seem strange to say that a character "takes on a life" of her own; after all, she's my creation. But even your own writing can surprise you and go in a different direction than what you'd planned. Most writers have experienced this at some point and if you spend a lot of time writing, you probably will, as well.

I'm really pleased with how my recent chapter turned out because it covers a significant event in my novel. I just hope that I can find more motivation in the coming days so that I can continue!

Please read and review my first novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Publishing A Novel: Cover Model?

It's been a little over three months since BAND GEEK came out on Amazon and I'm thinking of doing something very drastic: I'm debating whether I should change my book's cover.

I'm very, very torn about this because I spent a lot of money to have my cover professionally designed. Moreover, I absolutely LOVE the cover. The designer, Damonza, did an amazing job and came up with something that's fun, mysterious, cool and interesting. It's received many compliments from readers and is definitely different than many of the young adult book covers that are out there:

The problem is, I don't think that this cover is attracting the audience I really want to get: teen/20-something girls.

While browsing online and on Kindle, I realized that most of the best-selling YA books have something important in common: they have people on the cover. There will either be a close-up of a girl, a shot of a cute guy or a shot of a couple. I doubt that this is what makes these books best sellers; a great story and writing is, of course, necessary, but I do think that the packaging helps. For instance, a really cute book that I recently read is Lacey Weatherford's Crush. As you can see, there is a smokin' hot guy on that cover; he really does get your attention! And based on many reviewers' comments, this is what made them purchase the book. Don't get me wrong; it's a great story and many readers agree with me, but many also admit that it was the cute guy who drew them in. Weatherford must be aware of this, too, because her soon-to-be-released sequel, Smitten, has yet another close-up of the same hottie.

I shouldn't be too surprised by this because now that I think about it, most of the teen books that I've read do have people on the cover. Judy Blume always had a pensive or happy girl (or boy in some cases) on the front of her books. The Sweet Valley High series featured shots of the twins, Jessica and Elizabeth, or their friends. The Alice series always has Alice the character front and center. Even the Harry Potter books have kids on the covers. In fact, the only seriously popular YA books that I can think of off the top of my head that DON'T have cover people are The Hunger Games and Twilight. But they cross over into other genres. BAND GEEK falls right into the contemporary fiction/romance slot where cover people dominate.

People seem to be enjoying BAND GEEK; it's getting great reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, and most of the bloggers who reviewed it during my last book tour gave it positive write-ups. Right now, it's at 4.5 stars on Amazon and 4.09 stars on Goodreads, for which I'm very proud. But despite the good press, it's not selling as well as I'd like and I suspect that I chose the wrong type of cover for my coveted audience.

As of now, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. If I switch up my cover, I'll have to once again plunk down a hefty chunk of change and I can't guarantee that a new cover will indeed boost sales. On the other hand, if a change DOES work, it could be worth it. I don't know. But I do know that with my next book, there will definitely be a face on the front.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A AND GEEK GONE BAD.

Writing A Novel: Deciding Your Novel's Theme

Yesterday I wrote about my friend Amy's advice: that a writer needs to find the conflict in a story. Another thing we discussed during our time together was our novel's themes.

In BAND GEEK, the main theme was revenge: what can drive a person to want to seek vengeance, just how far will a person go, do the ends justify the means? Most of my characters were seeking revenge on some level so that theme repeated throughout my story.

But there were other themes present, as well. One was redemption. Josh starts out as a typical "bad boy" but realizes that he has to eventually grow up. Melinda learns some lessons, too, when it comes to taking on the role of "bad girl." Lana's ex-boyfriend, Ken, betrays her in a major way, but becomes more likeable as the book goes on. Melinda's parents have issues, but they, too, attempt to redeem themselves when it comes to dealing with their daughter. Even the novel's villains, Kathy and Mr. Francis, show different sides of themselves over time.

When it comes to my latest novel, I'd say that the main theme is identity. Griffin has only recently begun telling people that he's gay and has to figure out what this means for him: where does he fit in with his friends? In the dating world? At school? On his sports team? With his family? With his religion? He has a lot of decisions to make, all which center on him deciding who he is. The same goes for Sadie, who for years, has merely identified herself as "The Fat Girl." She's let her weight imprison her, physically and mentally; once she begins to come out of her shell, she realizes that she's been trapped in this version of herself for so long, she has no idea who she is. So both characters have to go through a lot of self-exploration and maturing. This is why I set the story to take place during their freshman year of college. It's a time when most new college students go through many changes and explore their identities; they're living away from home for the first time and are exposed to different types of people and experiences. That theme of identity is there on a micro and macro level.

Of course, as I continue with my story and flesh it out, more themes will come up. I want my book to be as detailed and complex as possible and am still in the process of putting it together. Having an overriding theme, though, at least gives my tale a direction. I plan to use this "map" as I forge on ahead in my writing.

Please read and review my first novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Writing A Novel: Finding The Conflict

One of the great things about having writer friends is that they'll help you view your own work in another way. Take my good friend, Amy. She's a really talented middle grade novelist and always have something constructive to tell me about my books.

We met earlier this week and shared some issues and concerns that we're having with our latest works in progress. One of her characters plays flute so she had a lot of music questions for me. I then read aloud the beginning of my most recent chapter.

"That sounds like a lot of information, a lot of exposition," she noted as soon as I'd finished reading. "I think that it would work better if you wove that information into a conversation between the main character and her mom."

At the time I wasn't so sure that I agreed, but decided to try it. And you know what? She was absolutely right! The section flows a lot better, plus I added in a really nice scene that highlights the close relationship between Sadie and her mother. In this case, Amy was right on the money.

Amy also had some general advice for me that's really made me think. She explained that whenever she comes up with a plot or situation, she tries to deepen the conflict; she doesn't want an easy answer. In other words, she doesn't want stuff to happen without examining how each character is affected; she really gets into the personal aspects of each situation and keeps from making things plot-driven.

I think that I do this in my writing, as well, but I liked the way that she put it. I also liked that she asked me all of these nitty-gritty questions about my characters, such as why I decided to call the male lead "Griffin" -- and I was able to answer everything! We're similar in that we put a lot of thought into our characters and their backstory and motivation. That's probably why she and I have been such close friends for so many years; because we think alike.

It's one thing to get an opinion from a friend, but I so appreciate having someone who can dissect my writing and force me to examine the details. I'm looking forward to our next brainstorming session!

Meantime, please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Love At First Sight? Bah, Humbug!

True confession: I'm not a big believer in love at first sight. I enjoy stories about love and romance, and especially like a good RomCom ... but I'm just not into "epic loves" that take place over the course of one meeting. West Side Story is one of my favorite musicals because I love the songs and dancing, but Tony and Maria kind of bore me. Titanic was a great movie and beautiful to look at, but Jack and Rose barely knew each other. Call me a cynic. But I'm more into a When Harry Meets Sally-type love -- one that changes and matures, and endures over time.

I was thinking about this today because I saw the movie version of Les Miserables with some friends. I thought that it was a wonderful film: it was beautifully shot, the acting and singing were fantastic and the I adore the music. But I just couldn't get into Cosette and Marius' "great" romance. I mean, they briefly saw each other across a crowd and then had ONE little conversation before declaring the other the love of his/her life. Huh? I just don't understand it.

I guess I feel this way in my real life, too. I believe in lust at first sight -- I certainly think that you can be attracted to someone whom you've first met -- but wanting to see someone again is very different from wanting to die for that person. I first saw my husband in a photo that my now sister-in-law had with her in college. I thought that Jon was cute and asked if I could meet him, but I wasn't ready to race across continents to find him. He and I were then friends for several years before we decided to date. Come to think of it, I've always been friends first with a guy before dating him. So I'm consistent.

I know that some people really do fall in love at first sight and I say, good for them! If your love is true and it works out, that's rare and wonderful. Enjoy it. But for the sake of entertainment, I prefer TV, movie and book couples who take their time. For me, the romance is in the build up of the relationship. I love when a couple whom I'm rooting for finally goes on a date and then finally kisses and then finally sys the L word. Where is there to go storywise if the couple is instantly bound together for life? I want to savor those milestones and feel that when a fictional couple hooks up too quickly, it's robbing me of one of my favorite parts of a storyline. Granted, it can be difficult to take the time with a couple in a 90-minute movie, but you can still move things along a little bit more slowly.

When writing my own novels, I try to take my time in building up my characters' friendships/romances. In BAND GEEK, most of the story centers around Melinda and Josh's friendship; it takes them a very long time to reach the next stage. But readers are treated to all sorts of fun situations between them and I hope that they're cheering by the time my characters move to the next level. My work in progress follows the platonic relationship between a straight girl and gay guy, but it's still a love story of sorts ... and I'm still taking my time with them. They don't become close friends right away. While they do share a connection, their closeness comes later on.

Of course, for me the most romantic couples are those who've beaten great odds and have stayed together for years and years. Love at first sight may seem like a romantic ideal, but those couples will have a long road ahead of them -- and that's when things get interesting.

Please read and review my young adult romance REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.