Teen Writers Bloc

One of the greatest lessons I ever learned came courtesy of Dr. Seuss.

When I was a wee little lad, the book that had the biggest bang for me was Dr. Seuss’ Because A Little Bug Went Ka-Choo! Essentially, the book is about a little bug who sneezes, and because of its sneeze, a seed drops on a worms head and the worm gets mad and kicks a tree from which a coconut drops and hits a turtle and so on a so forth, each setting off a wild chain events that causes a city to erupt into chaos. “That started something they’ll never forget. And as a far as I know it is going on yet. And that’s how it happened. Believe me. It’s true. Because…just because…a small bug went KA-CHOO!”

This was my introduction to the idea of a ripple effect. Because of one action, no matter how small, inconsequential or unintentional, there’s always a reaction. Whenever something happens in my life or around me, I always think of the original action that caused that event. I trace back the ripples to the source and analyze it. I guess that’s what makes me a writer.

Applying this concept and philosophy to my own writing has greatly benefitted me. Before I start to write an important scene, I tend to map out in my head how every one of the characters will react. I envision their stories playing out and I think about how each one is affected. I spend a lot of time doing this, and in my head I always envision a pond and throwing a rock into the water and watching the ripples. It’s important to think about:

A)   How strong the ripples are.

B)   How far they stretch.

C)   How big the pool is. Do the ripples keep rebounding and creating waves? Or do they ebb and stop flow? How long does it take until all is calm again? What will everything look like in the aftermath.

And all of this came from a little bug who sneezed. The ripple effect from that I Can Read Dr. Seuss book continues to affect me today. I look at the back of my worn-out copy, where I scribbled my name, and think about how far I’ve come and how much I think about that little bug on a day-to-day basis. And it that sense, I guess it’s had the biggest bang or impact in my life.

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When I think about “books with a bang”, my mind goes to that particular brand of book that you cannot put down, because the action/suspense/intrigue is so intense. This is tough for me, because though I love a page-turner, my tastes in general skew towards quieter novels.

But then I remembered childhood Corey, and what SHE liked to read. I was a voracious reader from a very early age, so it took a lot of books to keep my happy. Which meant that I read a lot of unexpected and atypical books just to satisfy my hunger.

A book I would LOVE to return to that made a huge, big bang impact and is completely outside my genre is Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card. I don’t remember much about the plot, but I remember everything about my love of the novel, my speedy devouring of its contents, and my insistence that it was my favorite book for a year or two (a huge honor, given how much I loved EVERY book).

I was a sucker for a good Lurlene McDaniel book about dying girls, and found those, also, impossible to put down. And if life or death survival is what classifies a book as being a page-turner, than Hatchet has to be at the top of the list as well.

As far as recent reads go, I think I’m realizing how much I miss the speedy, engrossing reads. I want to be shocked by a novel, and a lot of authors I’m reading these days are playing it safe (Hunger Games being the obvious exception, but how many times can I prostheletize about that series before I am redundant? Already there? Oops!)

Two novels that I would consider “crossover” fit the bill this year: Never Let Me Go and Room. As I do most of my non-work “reading” via audio book (my eyes can’t handle any more than my six hours of reading manuscripts in the office), the sign of a great page-turner for me is when I don’t take off my headphones even after I have gotten off the subway. Both of these books made me walk in the door and sit on my couch as if I was still trapped on the F train. If that’s not an endorsement, I don’t know what is!

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The book has made the most bangs and sirens and fireworks and yelps and screams and general noise crash around my brain was definitely Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. I am a huge fan of stories — or actual situations — in which kids from totally different backgrounds are forced to face each other’s culture head on.

Junior, Alexie’s principal character, finds the high school on his Indian Reservation lacking. He yearns to learn more than he can there, and at the urging of one of his white teachers, he goes after his education. This comes with consequences. He has to go to an all white school very far away from the reservation. Sometimes he has to hitchhike or even walk to get there depending on who in his family is around, is sober, and has gas in his car. But the logistical problems Junior faces are tiny compared to the cultural ones.  He finds it difficult at first to deal with the bullies at school — that is, until, in one of the most honest and “bang” moments in the book, Junior punches the white boy who is three times his size.

But at the heart of this book is the loss of Junior’s friendship with Rowdy. The Reservation does not adjust well to Junior’s new ambitions and when Rowdy refuses to go with Junior to the new high school, Junior realizes he is leaving his best buddy behind.

Alexie beautifully sets Junior’s story parallel to both the white bully who cannot and will not understand Junior’s struggles, and to Rowdy who cannot and will not try to escape them. There is a genuine humanity, depth and “boy-ness” to each of these characters that sends them screaming into your brain. It is an absolute must-read.

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When I first heard about The Hunger Games, I thought, hmm, that’s been done! Of course, I ended up reading the trilogy and finding that The Hunger Games took its own fantastic approach to the concept. Still, if you like the idea of kids forced to kill each other at the whim of an oppressive future government, you’d be missing something if you missed this book!

In Koushun Takami’s Battle Royale, first published in 1999, the oppressive government is in a future Japan, where each year, a junior high school class is picked by lottery to be taken to an island, where they’re each given a weapon — some more effective than others — and forced to kill each other until one kid remains. The author begins each chapter by telling us how many kids are left, and the writing is sparse and brutal. We mainly follow a single hero, but we learn about a wide variety of characters, from cold-blooded future mobsters to soft-hearted teens experiencing first love. How will the different personalities in the class deal with their situation? Who will be ruthless and who will band together to escape?

If you’re not not faint-hearted and can handle a little blood with your bedtime reading, pick this up!

Cover Image courtesy VIZ Media LLC

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Debut author Jesse Karp wrote what would become his first novel, Those That Wake, more than eight years ago — so it’s no wonder that his advice for writers on the road to publication is “don’t give up!” We caught up with the New York City-based school librarian to talk technology, writing while parenting two girls, and, of course, perseverance!

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you became a writer?

I grew up in New York City and work there still as a school librarian. This is a fine example of my urge towards storytelling, which I can’t remember ever not having. The moment I could listen to and understand stories, I wanted to tell them, too.  I’ve been writing for real since I was in college, for all anybody cared to notice. I had piled up ten manuscripts before someone showed interest in Those That Wake. As it is my first published work, I’ve not launched myself into writing fulltime just yet. There are lots of ways to express yourself in stories and writing is a great one, but reading to kids is pretty fantastic, too.

Can you give us a quick synopsis of Those That Wake? How did you come up with the concept for the book?

Those That Wake is about two teenagers who stumble onto a hidden machinery that secretly runs our world and must pay the price for this knowledge.

The concept grew out of three things for me: 1) My love of cinematic paranoia/conspiracy thrillers, movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Parallax View, Marathon Man and All the President’s Men, which suggest that the world does not actually work the way it appears to. 2) Reading a book called Dark Nature: a Natural History of Evil by Lyall Watson, which introduced me to a fascinating theory about how ideas are transmitted. 3) Looking around me and seeing how we are giving more and more of our attention and resources to electronic media and communication technology, which sometimes works to our advantage and sometimes really, really does not. 4) Underlying all of this was the fact that I was writing Those That Wake as my first daughter was about to be born. I was trying to distill a single, powerful message that I would like to pass along to her and I came to one which I think is of great value these days: don’t give up.

Why did you decide to set your book in New York City versus other American cities?

Having lived in New York City all my life, I know it well and it’s close to my heart, two elements that are crucial to creating a sense of realism in setting, I think. New York is also an ideal representation of the modern urban world and so served as a good microcosm of how, it seems to me, much of society is developing technologically and socially.

You incorporate an interesting message about technology in Those That Wake. What inspired this?

Just looking around, really. Once upon a time, we envisioned the future as an exploration of the vast reaches of space, moving outwards to meet our potential. We have, in fact, gone exactly the opposite way: into the digital innerspace of the internet and focusing back inwards on ourselves through social networking and communication technology.

Those That Wake appears to have a very extreme stance on technological progress, which is not altogether analogous to my own. Writing suspense, conflict and speculation is, of course, partially dependent on exaggerating things. I absolutely see the extraordinary advantages we’re getting out of our technological evolution, but I think these technologies are changing us psychologically, socially and culturally in ways we’re not even aware of. Imagine hurrying down the street without looking in front of you. Could be dangerous, right? It’s the same thing with rushing headlong down the pathway that technology has opened for us. That’s the message about technology I hope Those That Wake manages to convey: look where you’re going.

What does a typical writing day look like for you?

As a father of two girls, a husband and a guy with a day job, I’m sorry to say that a typical writing “day” for me begins after my family has gone to bed. I can get anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour done per night, which works pretty well if I’m disciplined about it and supplement it with lots of focused writing on days when I’m not working.

Where I write is pretty much always at home, though occasionally I’ll head out to a public library if I need to assure myself of quiet and have absolutely no distractions.

When I travel for work (to conferences and conventions), I can get a LOT of writing done.

Inspiration, I suppose, comes from everything I see, hear or do, though the truth is I barely think about that anymore. My head is so filled with ideas now that I’ve had the validation of getting a book published, the trick is in slowing the inspiration down so that I can write enough to catch up with it. I’ve also found that, once I get going on a story, the characters and situations begin demanding their own paths and resolutions, and it becomes easier to lay that out before them.

What has your path to publication been like?

I wrote Those That Wake just before the birth of my first daughter nearly eight years ago. Like my other manuscripts, it collected dust and rejection letters for a good long time before, in trying to get a short story published, I was asked whether I had a manuscript with a similar tone. That was how Those That Wake found an agent.

Two things have been a great surprise to me. First, how much can change about a story while the nature of the characters, the basic structure and the essential themes remain intact. This is a tribute to a truly talented editor (who, in this case, was my agent – he and I went through extensive revisions before it ever saw an actual editor’s desk).

The second thing that surprised me was just how powerful certain forces in the book market are. Barnes and Noble, for example, has an extraordinary amount of influence on everything from the cover that’s chosen for a book to the way the book is actually sold. Much of a shopper’s experience is very carefully guided within the stores by the by where and  how certain books are displayed. There’s a great deal more going on behind the marketing and selling of a book than most of us ever know.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever gotten? What advice would you yourself give aspiring authors?

The best writing advice I ever got is, possibly, the best plain old advice I ever got: “Don’t complain.  Work harder.”

I would add to that the very simple to say but very hard to do “don’t give up.” Seriously, it took me twenty years to get a book published.  It CAN happen. Do. Not. Give. Up.

What was your favorite book when you were a kid/teenager? What are you reading now?

The House of Stairs by William Sleator was hugely influential in my reading life and in how I viewed the world. I didn’t even realize how much my view of things and my early ideas about Those That Wake owed to Sleator’s book until I reread it just recently. It’s a riveting and relevant piece of work.

I just finished Among Wolves by Scott O’Connor, about a boy who starts to believe that his family has been replaced by impostors; a fast, clever and chilling read. I’m about to go back to some of Thomas Ligotti’s short stories, which capture a disturbing tone and a sense of the deeply (and darkly) weird unlike anything else I’ve ever read.

What’s next for you writing-wise (and otherwise!)?

I have a non-fiction book coming out in October called Graphic Novels in Your School Library, which is about using graphic novels in an educational context (I teach a graduate class on the history and analysis of comics and graphic novels when I’m not working with little kids or writing).

I’m also finishing up the first draft of the sequel to Those That Wake.

Do you believe in being part of a “bloc” of writers? Are critique groups and writing communities helpful to you?

The only community of writers I’ve ever really belonged to were the one or two writing classes I took in college. I do find constructive criticism very helpful (necessary, even), if sometimes difficult to hear. If ego can be kept out of the exchanges, I find the idea of writing communities absolutely agreeable, though as I said, this is sheerly in the abstract as I have no real experience with them.

Photos courtesy Houghton Mifflin and Jesse Karp

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As a child, I loved reading anything by Beverly Cleary. Ramona Quimby was her most well known character, but Cleary also wrote several other books. Henry Huggins, a character in the Ramona books, had his own series, which I would search for in the library. There were also the lesser known books, such as Ellen Tebbits, Otis Spofford, Mitch & Amy, Socks and Emily’s Runaway Imagination. Henry’s dog Ribsy even had his own story to tell. I read them all.

The characters in Beverly Cleary’s stories focused on every day regular problems that all kids had to deal with. Did you ever feel misunderstood by your family and wanted to run away? Ralph the mouse did that in Runaway Ralph. Leigh Botts in Dear Mr. Henshaw would record his life frustrations in his journal, but would pretend they were letters he was writing to his favorite author.

Of course, now that I’m older, my reading choices have matured and they’ve moved from kids with normal problems to kids with abnormal problems. A fun book I’ve recently read is Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. When Jacob Portman was young, his grandfather would tell stories about a home for children who possessed strange powers. Grandpa Portman knew because he had once lived with them and he had pictures to prove it. But now, at the age of 16, Jacob assumes these stories were exaggerated and the photos must have been altered. Then strange things start happening and Jacob realizes that his grandfather’s stories may be true after all. The book is filled with great vintage photos from the author’s personal collection, as well as ones borrowed from other collectors and The Thanatos Archives, which add to the eeriness of the story. Miss Peregrine’s is recommended for anyone who wants to add a little creepiness to their summer reading.

Photo courtesy of  Avon Camelot Books

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Once classes were over, I began looking forward to all the free time I would have to read whatever I wanted. When Teen Writers Bloc asked for book suggestions for summer reading, I immediately thought of two YA books I recently read: Matched by Ally Condie and Unwind by Neal Shusterman. Both stories are set in dystopian futures, where the teenage protagonists rebel against what society considers “normal” by deciding their own futures.

In Matched, Cassia Reyes lives in a world where the leaders of society make the decisions for their citizens to ensure the best choices are made. Every detail – from what jobs they will have to what they will eat and who they will marry – are all made by the officials. At the age of 16, each person is matched with their ideal mate. When Cassia turns 16, she discovers she has been matched with Xander, her childhood friend. But when she views the information chip, a different boy’s face appears on the screen. This makes Cassia wonder if the choices the Officials make for her are really the ones she wants.

Unwind focuses on three teenagers, Connor (16), Risa (15) and Lev (13). Pro-life and pro-choice activists have reached an agreement. Instead of aborting unwanted pregnancies, teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 can be taken away and have their body parts harvested to be transplanted into other people, a process known as “unwinding.”  Once the unwinding contract is made, it can’t be undone. Connor’s parents decide that Connor’s behavior is beyond their control, so they sign a contract to have him unwound. Risa is a ward of the state who has practiced all her life to be a professional musician. Unfortunately, she was deemed not quite good enough to play professionally and will not be able to earn her keep. Since orphanages are expensive to run, Risa has been chosen by the State to be unwound. Lev is a tithe, a child who was born for the sole purpose of being unwound. Lev’s parents view him as their way of donating to the Church. In the end, Connor, Risa and Lev decide their own fates instead of what conforming and doing what has been chosen for them.

After reading Matched and Unwind, it really made me think about how every decision I make affects my future. For example, something as simple as choosing to read Matched increased my interest in reading other stories about choice in dystopian futures and this led me to Unwind. If I had chosen to read Judy Blundell’s Strings Attached instead, would that have led me to read more stories set in the 1950s or about showgirls? Matched and Unwind are two great summer reading books that I would definitely recommend.

Photo courtesy of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing

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With summer finally upon us, we now have time to read the fun and powerful literature that school work and work obligations may have kept us from over the course of the past year. Here are a few suggestions for your summer 2011 reading experience.

Bloom by Elizabeth Scott: This book isn’t new. In fact, it came out in 2007. But I just discovered it about a month ago and I loved it. Scott’s writing is fresh and the plot is oh-so relevant and relatable. Lauren has the perfect boyfriend — or at least everyone around her thinks that she does. Girls stare at her with jealousy in the hallway at school whenever they’re together and each time she notices this she reminds herself just how lucky she is that he picked her. But then a friend from her past shows up again, disrupting the present. She begins thinking about him more than her perfect “other half” and in the end she has to make a decision: adhere to social expectation and obligation or take a risk on something as fragile as true love? It’s a must read, for sure.

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen: Alright, I’m sure none of you are too surprised at this next pick. Sarah Dessen recently came out with a new novel and it is fantastic, of course. The protagonist, Mclean, has an unconventional lifestyle as of late. Her parents are recently divorced, and she lives with her dad, a chef-turned-restaurant consultant. Always on the move with her dad, who rehabilitates troubled restaurants around the country at the whim of EAT INC., a restaurant conglomerate, Mclean doesn’t just change locations; she also changes her name and identity with each move to a new place. From Eliza, the popular girl in Montford Falls, to Lizbet, the edgy new girl in a town called Petree, Mclean shifts her persona and keeps friendships artificial, knowing that its easier that way, and that if she doesn’t make attachments no one will get hurt, especially her. Of course, when she and her dad move to their newest location, Lakeview, and she begins to settle down, her positive outlook on this ever-changing lifestyle gets complicated, and things start to change. Add in a complex relationship with her mom and the fact that there’s also a strong dose of teenage romance included, and you’ve got a perfect summer read.

Well, those are my top two picks. I highly recommend them. Some other good choices are (in no particular order): Matched by Ally Condie, The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd, We’ll Always Have Summer (and the previous books in the series) by New School MFA grad Jenny Han, and Abandon by Meg Cabot.

Enjoy!

Photo Courtesy of Viking Juvenile/ Amazon.com

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Way back in the day, when I was an intern at the much-missed Teen People magazine, this fun chick named Cara Lynn Shultz was one, too. Our paths crossed again every so often at People, but I didn’t know that, like myself, Cara’s long been toiling away at a novel or two. And now we finally get check out Spellbound, Cara’s first effort. TeenWritersBloc.com caught up with her to chat about paranormal pursuits, marketing yourself and making time to write.

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you became a writer?

I’ve always been a writer/editor, just in a different capacity. I was the Editor-in-Chief of my college newspaper, the Fordham Observer, and after college I worked in magazines as an entertainment journalist and editor. But I didn’t write fiction professionally, just recreationally.

When I was fresh out of college, I used to email my friend Vanessa little stories about characters I came up with who lived in New York. The characters were seniors in college, named Claire and Alex, and Vanessa would read these tales during her commute between Manhattan and the Bronx. Years later, Vanessa moved and she found print-outs of the stories in an old purse, and gave them back to me. I was reminded how much fun I had with these characters, so I took them back out and began playing with them at the end of 2008. So that’s when I “officially” became an author.

Can you give us a quick synopsis of Spellbound? How did you come up with the concept for the book?

After a rough couple of years, Emma Conner moves to New York to live with her aunt and start over at a new school, a posh Upper East Side prep school. As she’s learning to navigate the somewhat shark-infested waters, she finds herself drawn to a classmate, troublemaker Brendan Salinger — and strange things start happening. Streetlamps explode over her head. She has disturbing dreams of herself in another time, and her late brother appears to warn her to stay away from him — or else.

About the concept, I had the characters already, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with them. So, I just started writing with a rough idea of what I wanted to do. I don’t really write with an outline; I kind of let the characters do what they want to do and see where it goes. I knew I wanted to do something paranormal since personally, I’m drawn to that kind of entertainment. And I knew I wanted a romance, since I was a newlywed and my head was filled with hearts and flowers and lollipops at the time. I’ve always been interested in past lives and reincarnation. So I just kind of put that all together.

Do you think kids and teens are especially interested in fantasy these days?

With fantasy, there’s all this possibility and unpredictability. Anything can happen — and anything usually does. It’s fun and unlimited and I think that’s attractive to teens and adults.

Can you talk a bit about your process, from conception to publication? What does a typical writing day look like?

Spellbound, originally, was a stand-alone book — writing a sequel came later. So, after I got my deal, I tweaked things in the first book to set up a sequel. I have a day job, so I don’t start writing in this capacity until night. I start writing around 8 or 9 p.m., and write until about 2 a.m. I’m a better writer at night; I’ve always been that way. On Fridays and Saturdays, I stay up until about 6 a.m., then sleep until noon, then it’s back to writing. There’s so much that inspires me; for this book, I drew heavily on my own teen experiences — and they’re ones that I think, for the most part, are pretty universal. The mean girls who you persecute you for no reason. The all-consuming crushes. Feeling awkward and out of place.

When I write, I write with my headphones on, so music plays a big part in my writing. It’s a huge influence, actually. As I write, I listen to songs that resonated with me in high school — it helps put me back in the headspace of being a teen — and some more current stuff, things I think my characters would like.

What has your path to publication been like?

My media background highlighted the importance of social media, and I’m really active on Twitter and Facebook. I think I’ve been pretty lucky — the YA community is really supportive, smart and dedicated community, and I’ve gotten to know a fair number of bloggers through Twitter.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever gotten? What advice would you yourself give aspiring authors?

Keep writing. It’s the best advice I’ve gotten, and the advice I’ve give an aspiring author. Even if you don’t have an idea for a novel, start a blog. Start a Twitter feed. Just stay active.

What was your favorite book when you were a kid/teenager? What are you reading now?

When I was a really little kid, I loved the Little House books. As I got older, I was crazy about The Baby-Sitters Club, Sweet Valley High, Sweet Valley Twins. Then I went through phases: Agatha Christie, Stephen King. Now I’m reading Got Junk? by Tom Acox and Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.

What’s next for you writing-wise (and otherwise)?

Right now I’m writing the sequel to Spellbound, Spellcaster, which is due next year.

Thanks Cara! Can’t wait to read it!

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Once upon a time, long ago and not so far away, I lived on this magical street called Library Place. And yes, it had an actual library on one end of it.

I was about eight, and my parents (don’t call DYFUS!) used to let me and my sister (Meena, a year-and-a-half younger) walk down the block by ourselves and idle the hours away at the library, which back then was my favorite place to be. Summer was particularly fun, because without the weight of school and required reading on our slim shoulders, we could really indulge in those stacks of super-exciting reads of our own choosing.

I remember at the time that this particular library, the one on Library Place, had all these summer reading contests to motivate kids to read as many they could through that three-month break — with the prizes being a free book, a personal pie at Pizza Hut, or even just the simple gold star. I always loved having that record of all those books I devoured over the course of the summer, piles of Baby-Sitters Club monthlies that had built up during the school year, Judy Blume’s Fudge series, The Secret Garden, Bridge to Terabithia, Anne of Green Gables. (Yes, I know, I’m obsessed. But they were so good!)

Sadly, after third grade, we moved away from the magical Library Place, and while we still spent many summer hours at the library in our new town, it was never quite the same.

Recently, though, I’ve rediscovered my passion for the library, in particular the stately, long-standing Jefferson Market branch of the New York Public Library, which sits primly on Sixth Ave., not far from school. I spend hours before or after class perusing my options (and when I’m home, downloading eBooks and audiobooks from NYPL.org), and have managed to build up a fun summer reading list for myself. Here are my picks:

Go the F**k to Sleep, by Adam Mansbach
With his first “kids’ book,” novelist and poet Mansbach serves up a deliciously wicked take on the picture book, complete with lovely kid-friendly illustrations and a rhyming lyrical voice. Your little one will never be the wiser, but this sure will make that bedtime story a hell of a lot more fun.

The Grand Plan to Fix Everything, by Uma Krishnaswami
Okay, so I’ll admit it: I haven’t actually read this yet. But boy were Dhonielle and I excited to see it when we came across it in Barnes & Noble the other day. And it’s at the top of my kid lit list. In the book, Bollywood-obsessed Dini, 11, is not happy about her family’s move from Tacoma Park, MD, to sleepy Swapnagiri, India. But maybe it will all be worth it if she can meet her favorite matinee idol, Dolly Singh.

How I Saved My Father’s Life (And Ruined Everything Else), by Ann Hood
In this middle grade tome by the author of The Knitting Circle and The Red Thread, young miracle-worker (at least that’s what she thinks) Madeline Vandemeer deals with divorce and dashed hopes — but can she keep the faith? A fun, flavorful read for middle-graders and grown-ups alike.

We’ll Always Have Summer, Jenny Han
The final installment in New School alum Jenny Han‘s delicious Summer series, book three sees beautiful Belly finally having to choose between her childhood pals Conrad and Jeremiah. If you haven’t read the first two, definitely start from the beginning — but all three will fit very nicely into your summer beach bag.

The Art of Forgetting, by Camille Noe Pagan
When her best friend Julia suffers from a brain injury, magazine editor Marissa learns how fragile the ties that bind can be. Fellow freelance writer Pagan knows of what she writes: a magazine writer who focuses on health and nutrition, she was inspired to write the story while researching an article on brain injuries. But science aside, Pagan deftly touches on the nerve-filled center of a friendship, loved and lost.

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