Book Review: Reasons I Fell For The Funny Fat Friend

I've been writing a lot lately about plus-sized heroines in books, especially since my latest novel deals with a main character who's not just plus-sized, but morbidly obese. I'm writing about an extreme example, but most women are NOT a Size 2; having dealt with a lifetime of weight issues myself, I appreciate when a story features a curvy character who's portrayed as being beautiful, smart and loveable.

Author Becca Ann does a wonderful job in creating such a heroine in her YA novel REASONS I FELL FOR THE FUNNY FAT FRIEND. Hayley is described as being "not fat, not thin," but has many insecurities about her weight, thanks to her belief that she's just the "Funny Fat Friend" (or FFF). Interestingly, the story is told from the guy's POV; through a smitten Brody, we learn how terrific and gorgeous Hayley really is.

I really enjoyed getting the guy's side of the story because girls tend to be harder on themselves -- and each other -- than boys. When I was in high school, I was SKINNY, dangerously so at times, but I seriously thought that I was fat. I remember my guy friends telling me that I was too thin and was very surprised by this; but most of them agreed that they liked girls to have curves.

I was also drawn into Hayley's very toxic relationship with her mother, who has rather unrealistic expectations for her daughter. For anyone who thought the mom is critical in BAND GEEK, this one is far worse! I do wish that we'd seen more of this relationship because the mother came off as being one-dimensional and I feel as if we got only a glimpse into a serious issue. But again, this was told from Brody's POV, so he'd only have so much access to the mother and Hayley's home life.

I also would have liked to have had some more detailed scenes. We never get much information about characters' appearances or even what the town looked like. I had to fill in most of those blanks on my own. But, in a way, the limited descriptions made sense for a male narrator because most of the guys whom I know, including my husband, tend to be less visual than females. If Jon needs directions, for instance, he can just look at coordinates on a map and figure out where he's going. I, on the other hand, prefer directions like, "Turn left by the gas station and blue house." I'm not saying that ALL men think in a more linear than visual way, but a lot do so this felt realistic to me.

What I really loved, though, was the meat of the story which was Brody and Hayley's relationship. They go from being friends to more over the course of the book and Becca Ann did a geat job in showing this progression. Both mains are extrmely fun and likeable, and you can't help but root for them to get together.

Overall, I give this sweet read four stars and highly recommend!

Meantime, please read my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now only 99 cents!

Writing A Novel: Role Call

One of the concerns that I have with my work-in-progress novel is that it has too many characters. There are the two main characters; their family members ... and then everyone they deal with at college, including Sadie's suitemates, Griffin's teammates and their various new friends/romantic interests. So a lot of people are involved in this story!

BAND GEEK had many characters, too, since it took place in a high school, but the challenge with this novel is that it takes place in two environments: college and the characters' hometown (which, by the way, is also the fictional 'burb of Sequoia, NY where BAND GEEK is set). I suppose that I could have this book set only at college and just skip over school breaks and such, but I feel like I wouldn't be giving an accurate portrayal of someone's freshman year if I did that. When you attend a school that's away from home, as I did, it can be very jarring to go back and forth from one place to the other. Part of me was always glad to return home, back to my old room, homecooked food and old friends. But as time went on and i grew used to college life, those breaks at home became more difficult to deal with. All of a sudden, I was back under my parents' roof and had to follow their rules. In college, I was 18 going on 19 and got to be independent and act like an adult, but at home, I was still treated like a teenager. Many of my high school friends had changed, as well, so our reunions were a little awkward. And it was kind of lonely being back in my parents' big house when I'd grown used to having other students all around. Overall, it was a very confusing feeling and I felt as if I were torn between these two worlds. I want to show what that's like for my characters, as well.

This is why I have so many side characters. College just wouldn't be college without the other students. When you live in a dorm, they become your family -- even if you hate them -- and you're constantly meeting new people, even in senior year. Some of my best memories are when almost everyone from our floor (at least 20 of us, anyway) would go to the dining hall en masse, push a few large tables together and enjoy a huge family-style dinner. On my 20th birthday, we took our dinner party to TGIFridays, where everyone tied balloons to my chair -- and to me. Was I best buddies with all of these people? No, of course not. But even the acquaintances had an impact on my life.

I'm trying to edit down the number of characters and only keep the ones who are important to the story. But I'd still like to give as realistic a picture of college as possible.

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

Writing A Novel: College Band Memories

Before I started work at Soap Opera Digest I had dreams of becoming a music critic. I got my start writing for the Arts section of my college's newspaper.

Our paper's Editor-In-Chief had this idea that there could be no such thing as a completely positive review. His argument was that everything has flaws and that it was up to us as reporters to reveal those imperfections. He had a point, but I think he just enjoyed reading and writing negative reviews. The meaner a write-up was, the more he liked it.

In order to assure that I'd give him bad reviews, he'd have me cover uh, eccentric, events. There was the one-woman show about drowned prostitutes where the performer lifted up her skirt and shouted "Whore" at the audience. There was the art gallery exhibit where the painter specialized in creating portraits of smashed-up cars. And then there was the band, Superaction C--- Modified.

Yep, you read that correctly. That was their name, which I "bleeped" for the sake of this blog because I really don't want to say or write the whole word. They did not bleep it. In fact, they called themselves "The C---" in casual settings.

I didn't want to attend this concert alone so I brought my now sister-in-law, Debbie, with me as my plus-one. She and I are more into classical or jazz so we weren't sure what to expect from this alternative band. Still, we figured that it would be an interesting evening.

We were right. The C--- indeed gave a memorable performance, mainly because they were loud. Seriously, all these guys did was scream. I can appreciate good punk music like The Sex Pistols, but I don't think this band hit an actual note during the entire performance. They just screamed and shouted, "We're Superaction! Modified! We're Superaction! C--- Modified!" over and over again. At one point, two of the "singers" -- and I use that word reluctantly -- sang together, one in a low-pitched voice and the other in a high-pitched wail. "What on earth are they doing?" asked Debbie. "I think they're harmonizing," I told her.

By the end of the night, we'd moved to the second story of the student union so we could listen to them from a distance and not get headaches. Plus, we were laughing so hard that we were crying. No, we didn't like the music AT ALL, but we did have a good time. And though I didn't entirely agree with my editor's review policy, I did appreciate the fact that I was getting some new experiences on campus.

When I'm writing, I often borrow from my real-life experiences and create new ones for my characters. In the case of my latest book, though, I just pulled right from this memory when my main characters, Sadie and Griffin, attend a concert for a group named Superaction Dick Modified. I had a blast writing this chapter because it took me right back to that night with Debbie during our sophomore year.

I'll have to ask my SIL if she remembers seeing Superaction C--- Modified with me. If she doesn't, maybe this chapter will jog her memories of this fun time in our lives.

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

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.