Category Archives: Author Musings

I get asked questions as an author that suddenly make me very self-aware. When people ask me if I’ve started writing the sequel to Otherside: The Serenity, I’m always tempted to say yes — except when they ask this question, they want to know if I have a tangible copy written, with paper and letters formed by ink, and everything. What they don’t mean is, “Have you written the sequel in your mind?”

I’ve been writing the second book in my head for a couple years now actually. It’s all there, abstract and kind of floating in space. I did put about 30,000-words on paper while I was in grad school, and much of that I intend to still use…but some of it will be scrapped entirely.

The thing about writing for me is that it’s very difficult for me to just sit down and start. I know people probably have this image in their mind of their favorite writer sitting diligently at a desk, pounding out the great novel, with a cigarette in their mouth and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s or something (and sometimes it probably looks like that). But more often it looks like me wandering around my house eating a cheese danish contemplating how to get from Point A to Point B in a way that makes sense and is emotionally satisfying, all while my kids run around me screaming and playing, and someone has flung a diaper into the air.

I’m just kidding about the diaper….sort of.

But last night, I suddenly had the urge to sit down and write an official abstract of the second book. I started planning out the plot and structure of Otherside: The Betrayal. One of the major issues I’ve been having is how to write the book. With Otherside: The Serenity I had an original draft to work off of, one I’d written when I was 16, then later when I was in college, and then another draft after that. But the sequel is new territory. In addition, the tone is changing. With Otherside: The Serenity the emphasis was on loss and how to move on from that loss. With Otherside: The Betrayal, much time has passed, and that separation between Alanis’ previous life and her current circumstances is much more pronounced. It has to be. And so I’ve been contemplating how to make the reader feel that separation through structure and form in the writing. In the same way that I wanted the reader to feel slightly unsure and Dali-esque in the first book, I want them to feel the distance Alanis feels in the second.

I have a good feeling that the way I’m planning to write Otherside: The Betrayal will achieve this objective.

I am so looking forward to getting back to this world, and taking you with me for the ride.

Otherside: The Serenity is currently available on Amazon. You can get the book in both Kindle and Paperback versions. Reviews of the book are MUCH appreciated, you can do so on Amazon, and Goodreads.

I took a bit of a break from posting, as you may have noticed…or not frankly, because this is a small site and I doubt I get more than two visitors a day. It’s because of this that I have other jobs I do, so I can you know…feed my children and such. But this week is actually a pretty exciting week because I will be going on the Better To Podcast. I don’t know yet when the podcast will air, but I will be on there talking about my experience in grad school at a Buddhist-Inspired University as a Christian, and how I used Otherside as my creative thesis, which gave me the opportunity to create a richer world. So stay tuned for that!

Last time I wrote, I talked about Benny Pates, and it’s hard to talk about Benny without talking about Alaska, because the two of them are so in sync with each other. Both of them have such big hearts, and they have a great love for one another. Their friendship is quite special I think, especially in a world that tends to believe that guys and girls cannot just be friends.

In the same way that Alaska is protective of Benny, and Benny is protective of Alaska, I feel protective of the two of them. Benny really honors Alaska’s emotions, and is sensitive to her. Alaska is protective of Benny in a physical sense, but I’m happy to say that I don’t believe it’s an overbearing kind of protectiveness. She holds his arm when she walks with him, less because he’s blind, and more just for that reassurance that she’s at his side if he needs her. They have a sweet friendship.

Alaska is my shy character. She’s the unsure one in the group, compared to Aimee who is super confident, and Alanis who is sort of in the middle. Alaska doesn’t like conflict, and she’s not really sure how to speak up for herself. She’s introspective, and likes to ask big questions, especially with Benny, about philosophical things. This book isn’t focused on one specific faith or spiritual thought process, so Alaska and Benny kind of serve as my vehicle for exploring these topics within the plot of the book. Alaska is the one who ponders existence and meaning.

That’s what she brings to the table in this book, I feel. It’s that desire all of us have to know and understand why we’re here, and what life is about.

In the band, she’s their drummer…so the backbone of the band, which is kind of ironic when you consider that she doesn’t like conflict, if you think of “backbone” in terms of actually having one. It’s kind of funny.

I think I mentioned in the post on Alanis that the bar they perform at is called Sparrows Spirits, and it’s Alaska’s parents that own the bar, and live above it. So, Alaska has an interesting home life. I won’t go too deep into that because well…it’s nice to leave SOMETHING for you all to read and connect with her on, but what I wills say is that, like Benny, Alaska is a character I intend to explore with more depth in the sequel. I’m excited for you to see how her character develops over time and how she changes.

Otherside: The Serenity is currently available on Amazon. You can get the book in both Kindle and Paperback versions. If you have read the book, and would like to review it, you can do so on Amazon, and Goodreads.

“Don’t panic.” (1)

My favorite part of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is when it’s discovered that the question to the answer of life, the universe, and everything is found in a giant computer called Earth, which of course, gets destroyed right before the computer can spit out the question. The irony of that whole scenario was hilarious to me. HHGG is hands down one of the quirkiest sci-fi books I’ve ever read, and if you haven’t read it yet, not gonna lie, I feel a little sorry for you.

As I make my way through the core characters of Otherside: The Serenity, I find myself thinking a lot about who I was when I started this book, and who I am now. The book deals with a strange combination of beliefs, or thoughts, revolving around life, death, and the afterlife…and in the same way that it’s a journey for Alanis and her friends, it was a journey for me.

I won’t go into my faith journey here simply because I think that would be enough for a blog post all by itself, and I want to talk about another character today, but I will say this — it’s been strange. Which is, I think, an adequate way to describe my next character, Benjamin Pates (Benny).

I have a real soft spot for Benny. I don’t really know why, I just do. Maybe it’s because he’s weird, and I’m kind of weird, so I identify with the weirdness.

Benny is my ethereal character. He has a tendency to say things that make others go, “Okaaay…that’s an…interesting thing to say.”

He’s quirky, and he’s secure in the fact that he’s quirky. He doesn’t really worry or seem to care that other people may find him odd. Which again, I relate to because as a teen I spent a good portion of my time getting strange looks from people for saying weird stuff or doing odd things. He’s also quite mellow, and carefree. Very zen-like.

His parents, who we don’t formally meet in this book, run a hippie shop in downtown Sable, and also maintain the lighthouse, which is attached to their house.

The other thing that I think makes Benny an interesting and engaging character is that he’s blind, and has been blind since birth. So, writing Benny, and especially when it’s from his point of view, is always such a refreshing challenge as a sighted person because I have to imagine the world without my sight, and how one would experience it. When I describe how he moves through a room, for instance, I don’t use any descriptive words that a sighted person would use, because I want the readers to experience the way Benny walks through the world.

In the band, he plays the keyboard, and he loves to read. His introductory scene features him describing a book for a friend, who asks him to read it to her later because it’s in braille (you might notice there’s a slight nod to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy/Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency here).

One of my biggest pet peeves when there’s a character who has some kind of disability is when they’re either (a) written completely helpless and hindered by their disability, or (b) the opposite, that they are perfect people who never make mistakes. I never want to portray Benny in either of these ways; he’s just a quirky kid, who like the rest of the group, loves his friends, and loves music. Because Benny is not a main-focus character, there are areas of his personality I’m looking forward to expanding on in the sequel that I didn’t get to in this book. I mentioned how much I love flawed characters in both my posts on Alanis and Aimee, and this is an area I’m really looking forward to exploring more with Benny.

I hope that in this book I captured Benny in such a way that you enjoy his wanderings, musings, and general oddities.

Next week, I’ll discuss the final character of Alanis’ core group of friends — Alaska Tension. Until that time, don’t panic, and don’t forget to bring your towel.

Otherside: The Serenity is currently available on Amazon. You can get the book in both Kindle and Paperback versions. If you have read the book, and would like to review it, you can do so on Amazon, and Goodreads.

(1) The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglass Adams, 1979

“20, 20, 20, 20, 4 hours to go,

I wanna be sedated

Nothing to do, Nowhere to go,

I wanna be sedated” (2)

I had a vision of myself in high school as being more against the establishment than I probably actually was, but I don’t think that’s uncommon for a teenager. I wore converses and an army jacket to school and somehow this made me believe that I was counter-culture. A more accurate representation of me going against the grain likely lies in the fact that I was a theatre, choir, Harry Potter nerd, and damn proud of it.

But I digress.

If you haven’t been able to tell from talking about Alanis, Josh, and Aimee, I have this love for writing characters who are different than myself. I also enjoy surly, unlikeable characters, who have a big heart. I think this may be the way I’d describe the next character from Otherside: The Serenity, Paul Peterson.

Paul is the bassist of White Clover. He’s my “angry” character. His favorite bands are of the punk persuasion: The Ramones, The Runaways, The Clash, and on the post-punk rock side, Nick Cave.

He has a real problem with authority, and he’s adamant about the band being true to who they are, and true to what rock music should be. He’s got this idea that they should rough it as a band, so that they don’t sell out. He’s that kind of musician.

He’s my darker character of the group — very sarcastic. You might even say he’s a borderline jerk, but I like him.

I like that he’s rough around the edges. Of the core characters, he’s the one I would say is the most withdrawn.

As far as his personal life is concerned, he doesn’t really talk about his parents. He doesn’t even like them much, because they’re the, “leave it to Beaver type,” and he’s not down with that kind of existence. This is where he aligns with Alanis and Josh, in that he believes music is their way out, and he’s determined to make it happen.

He just wants to do it on his own terms. And I think sometimes he doesn’t realize that there are other people in the band, too. He has to compromise, and that’s hard for him.

It’s not always going to look the way he thinks it should. The dynamic between Aimee and Paul was enjoyable to write, because they are stubborn and prideful, and want to make their own rules. There’s some great banter in the book I think you guys will enjoy. At least I think it’s funny, which I know is probably not saying a lot because I wrote it. So, you’ll have to let me know.

Otherside: The Serenity is currently available on both Amazon and online at Barnes and Noble. You can get the book in both Kindle and Paperback versions. If you have read the book, and would like to review it, you can do so on Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes and Noble.

(1) “Please Kill Me” is not a request by the author, so don’t be alarmed. It’s a reference to the book, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain

(2) “I Wanna Be Sedated,” Road to Ruin, The Ramones, 1978

“Moments before sleep are when she feels most alive, leaping across fragments of the day, bringing each moment into the bed with her like a child with schoolbooks and pencils. The day seems to have no order until these times, which are like a ledger for her, her body full of stories and situations.” (1)

I got to meet Michael Ondaatje back in college. In case you don’t know, Michael Ondaatje is most famous as the author of The English Patient, which was also made into a movie, though he has written many other beautiful, wonderful works.

I was standing in line at the Starbucks on campus, and this older man was in front of me, taking his time. I was a young, very impatient college student who didn’t want to be late to class, because we were going to meet the author of the book we’d just read, a book I had fallen in love with. I kept shifting my weight and sighing irritably. Finally, he got to the register and ordered his drink, then stepped out of line.

I got to class and sat down next to my friend, complaining about the slow guy in front of me. A few minutes later, he walked in. It was Michael Ondaatje.

Needless to say, I wanted to crawl under my chair and stay there forever.

Fortunately for me, he either didn’t notice I was the impatient girl behind him at Starbucks, or he didn’t care. Either way, I got to sit in the presence of an AMAZING author and poet, one who I aspire to be like. There are still several Michael Ondaatje books I haven’t had the chance to read, but so far I’ve read The English Patient, Divisadero, The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, and Coming Through Slaughter.

His books often shift from time and place in a fluid motion, which for me is such a nice change of pace from the typical linear model of story telling.

One of the things I love most about Michael Ondaatje is the way he writes women. They are beautiful, complex beings, with immense depth. I also appreciate the way he writes their sexual agency, in that his descriptions are poetic, which makes sense, since he’s also a poet. It’s been my experience that men who can write women’s sexuality in a tasteful, beautiful way are rare. Unfortunately, most male writers I’ve read are more along the lines of THIS (Apparently, our breasts can react to a variety of situations, and we have a hard time peeing.)

I can’t give Ondaatje credit for Aimee Jonson though. While his books have certainly inspired me to write female characters in a different way, I always had a sense of who Aimee was when I started Otherside: The Serenity.

Aimee Jonson is Alanis’ best friend. She is so much fun to write because she’s who I identify with when I’m feeling a little snarky. But mostly, she’s the opposite of who I am as a person. So, it’s always fun to write a character who is the opposite of yourself. Aimee is unabashed — she’ll just say what she wants to say. She doesn’t hold back. She’s fearless and she loves to have fun.

She is more affluent than the rest of the group. Her parents have a big house outside of town. She’s also academically driven, and she has big dreams of going to a top college, of becoming a scientist. In this book, it’s mentioned that she wants to go to college, and in the sequel, I will explore more about the process of her making this decision, and how it affects her relationships with her friends.

She takes AP classes and she has extra curricular activities. Plus, she’s in the band with Alanis, Josh, and the others. She is the other guitarist in the band, and she sings back up.

Aimee’s got this punk rock spirit to her. I would also say she’s my most sex positive character. She’s very open about her sexuality, and she’s straight, but she’s not ashamed of the fact that she likes to have sex. I wouldn’t classify it as her defining characteristic, but it puts her in her own category, aside from the other girls in the group. It introduces a conversation about what it’s like to be a girl in a small town who has a strong personality, and you get the reaction from her friends and the people around her because of her openness. I think there’s some good conversations that can come from that.

Next week, I’ll tell you about Paul Peterson, White Clover’s bassist and rebel, along with some other rebels who I’ve always been fond of reading.

Otherside: The Serenity is currently available on both Amazon and online at Barnes and Noble. You can get the book in both Kindle and Paperback versions. If you have read the book, and would like to review it, you can do so on Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes and Noble.

(1) The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje, 1992

“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness.” (1)

I’ll be honest…I forget exactly when I discovered Howl by Allen Ginsberg. I want to say it was in high school, but I don’t remember if I found it in the school’s library, or if I went to the local library and found it there. Either way, I read Howl, and was blown away. At the time, I didn’t understand most of what was being said in the poem. Mostly, I loved the rhythm of it, and the fact that there were cuss words in the poem that made me feel like a rebel for reading it, but eventually as I learned about the Beat Generation, and about Allen Ginsberg specifically, much of it started to make more sense.

Allen Ginsberg is a big reason why I looked into Naropa University, where I earned my Master’s degree in Writing. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about going there; it’s a Buddhist inspired university, focusing on mindfulness and expanding consciousness, as well as activism, emphasizing contemplative learning — but I wasn’t sure the style of learning would be beneficial to me, or how this would impact me since I’m a follower of Jesus. Basically, I was quite ambivalent.

I ultimately prayed about it and received an answer that I should go, for even Jesus’ disciples walked in places with non-believers, and why should I be any different? Some of the best ways we grow in our faith is by being challenged in circumstances outside of our comfort zone. A chance to challenge what I believe about myself as a writer and believer. A chance to grow in my identity.

While “Howl” addresses topics some people might find offensive (and actually they did, so much so that Allen Ginsberg was put on trial for this poem), the poem is ultimately a reflection of how disoriented an entire generation felt, grappling with identity and questioning everything they’d been led to believe.

When we’re faced with a paradigm shift, it’s difficult to process. There’s a level a grief that exists between who were were before the shift, and who we might become if we keep moving through it, and eventually beyond it.

I think in some ways this is what Joshua Linestone is dealing with in Otherside: The Serenity. He experiences a profound shift in his life, one that he feels responsible for, and he isn’t sure how to move forward through it.

Josh is the lead guitarist for White Clover, and he’s Alanis’ boyfriend. I talked about Alanis more in my previous blog post. Josh and Alanis have much in common, having grown up together, and they’re very compatible. One place where they identify with each other is that their home lives are similar, though with Josh, his relationship with his dad is much more amicable.

Like Alanis, Josh dreams of the band making it big and of getting out of Sable. If I had to pick his most defining feature, I would say it’s his desire to leave with Alanis. More importantly though, he is sweet, he loves Alanis, and they’re kind of silly together.

He takes care of her. I think that he’s probably like a lot of 16 year old boys in that his first love is a BIG DEAL and he’s quite protective of her, which is probably obnoxious at times. You get to see the effects of that in their relationship, and it’s really hard.

The challenge for Josh comes when things don’t go the way he had envisioned and planned, and he has to adjust to a world that has completely shifted. In this first book, the storyline between Josh and Alanis is very interwoven. If I had to pick another main character in this book after Alanis, it would probably be Josh. We get a lot of the story from his perspective.

Next week, I’ll tell you about Alanis’ best friend — Aimee Jonson, also a guitarist of White Clover! And I’ll talk about one of my favorite authors — Michaeal Ondaatje.

Otherside: The Serenity is currently available on both Amazon and online at Barnes and Noble. You can get the book in both Kindle and Paperback versions. If you have read the book, and would like to review it, you can do so on Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes and Noble.

(1) “Howl,” Allen Ginsberg, 1956

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth” (1).

I was a freshman in high school when I first discovered the iconic introductory line from J.D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. I was hiding in the library because girl friendships suck sometimes, and I wanted to find a new book to take my mind off things. I liked going to the library to sit on the floor in a corner and just hide between the shelves, and as I contemplated the meaning of our collective existence, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted this small, plain, white book. I picked it up and looked at the black letters of the title, shrugged my shoulders, opened it up, and read this first line. I had never read anything that reflected my mood so accurately. And as I plowed through Catcher in the Rye, I had never read anything like it before, if you want to know the truth (see what I did there?). I loved the rebellion, the confusion of Holden Caulfield. I related to his feeling of hating fake people, but also not knowing how to honestly engage with them without feeling misunderstood.

As I grew out of that whole “I’m so misunderstood” phase, and went to grad school, I did an independent study on J.D Salinger, figuring that since Catcher in the Rye was my favorite book, I should know more about him. I was also drawn to how reclusive he was throughout his life, and how he shunned society almost completely until the day he died. This course opened my eyes to just how many of Salinger’s early works were pretty much exactly the same, and how his later stuff was far more intriguing. Seriously kids, if you ever have an author, or historical figure you admire, do an independent study course on them. Nothing will simultaneously burst your bubble and open your eyes quite like that experience.

But I suppose you could say these kinds of experiences influenced my own writing. Which brings me to the main protagonist of Otherside: The Serenity: Alanis Laundale.

In my last blog post I talked about how Otherside evolved over the years. This is true of Alanis as well. One of the most fun parts of writing her was developing her personality into someone who is relatable. The book takes place in a fictitious town called Sable, set in Massachusetts. In Sable, the main industry is fishing, so Alanis and her friends live on the side of town near the ocean where the majority of adults work as fishermen/women. It’s a rougher side of town, a little more rundown. There’s not a lot for them to do except hang out, and there’s a few shops, and a bar.

The beginning of the book centers around Alanis’ main group of friends. Alanis is 16 years old and she’s lived in Sable her whole life. She wants to get out as soon as she graduates high school. Alanis and her friends have a band called White Clover, which has a punk rock/classic rock influence. Their group is more into that style of music — they like vintage things. So, music is what brings them together. They’ve known each other their whole lives.

Alanis is the lead singer of the band. She has a boyfriend, named Josh Linestone, and I’ll probably talk about him next week.

Alanis is kind of a plain girl in some ways. She does okay in school but doesn’t have a whole lot of interests outside of music, and being with her friends. I’ve always liked writing characters who are ordinary, and then end up doing extraordinary things. Which, let’s face it, is a main theme within the YA Fantasy genre.

Alanis is the kind of person that people come and talk to about stuff. She’s there to make them laugh, or be their shoulder to cry on. She’s rebellious at times, especially against her dad — they have a rough relationship. It’s complicated. So, her friends are a refuge for her in a lot of ways. And I like to think that’s true for many teenagers. I know it was for me at times growing up.

Alanis longs for adventure and meaning in her life, and she thinks getting out of Sable, and becoming a famous band with her friends is the way to do that. But her plans get derailed, so to speak. She does get adventure, just not in the way that she was expecting. She goes on a wild ride, and hopefully you will take that ride with her.

I hope Alanis is a character that people relate to who is both flawed, and also redeemable and relatable. One of the earliest pieces of critique I received about Alanis from an early draft of the book was that she was too safe. She was too plain, and didn’t have a whole lot of depth. And it was because I was afraid of people not liking her as the main character. That was probably one of the best pieces of advice I ever got because it made me take more chances, and put more flaws in her.

And flaws are fun. I’ve grown to really love flawed characters so much in my writing, and sometimes the more flawed the character, the more fun they are to write. Looking back on it, maybe that’s why I had such an affinity for Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caulfield isn’t particularly likable — in fact, he’s kind of douche. And yet, for some reason, we find ourselves rooting for these characters anyway. We want to see them redeemed. Having said that, I’d like to think Alanis is much more likable than Holden Caulfield, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Next week, I’ll tell you about Alanis’ boyfriend, Josh Linestone — lead guitarist of White Clover! And in keeping with writers who impacted me with the spirit of rebellion, I’ll tell you about falling in love with the poem “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg, and how that influenced my decision to choose where I studied my Master’s degree.

Otherside: The Serenity is currently available on both Amazon and online at Barnes and Noble. You can get the book in both Kindle and Paperback versions. If you have read the book, and would like to review it, you can do so on Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes and Noble.

^{(1) “Catcher in the Rye,” J.D Salinger, 1951}

This week has been a wonderful week. I’ve been taking some time to chill, and let Otherside: The Serenity hang out on Amazon, but it turns out talking about your book after it’s been published is just as important as talking about it before it was published, and I know, it’s like…who knew?

I think most authors would agree that marketing does not come naturally to us. We like the writing process (well, I mean, we TOLERATE it…there’s usually some hair pulling involved), but we aren’t really into sales. If we had been into sales, then we would have gotten a business degree like everyone told us we should. But alas, we are dreamers, and creative, and so goes the territory of reconciling our creative desires with the capitalist grind. C’est la vie.

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, this book is my baby, and I’m super proud of it. I’m even more excited this week because the eBook of Otherside: The Serenity went to #1 on the Bestseller list for all its categories! It’s hard to believe that a book I first wrote when I was 15 years old has made it to this point, and I’m excited to see how much further it goes. Most of all, I hope people who read it are impacted by it.

And while this is my hope it occurred to me that maybe I should re-introduce myself, so people who haven’t discovered me before get a chance to know me, because this is the internet, and everyone is clamoring for attention to the point that it feels a little like piranhas after the same food. I prefer to order take-out, but my book marketing person says I need to put myself out there, so here I am.

I’m H.J VandeRiet, and I’ve been a writer since I was nine years old; this is the age when I crafted my first cheesy story of 27-pages, which was both imaginative and highly embarrassing as I grew and got better at writing (I mean, in the book my friends and I get lost in the mountains for a whole month and when we get back to camp my parents are just relaxing as if this is no big deal…but it was the 90’s, so anything is possible). In any case, a love of writing was born, and since then I’ve written books and short stories over the years. Some of my poetry has been published in small presses and online zines. But this is my first NOVEL for sale, so it’s a big deal. I actually went to school for writing, so I have a Master’s degree in it, and I write in other aspects as well. I do content writing (including copy and blog writing), as well as poetry, but ultimately fiction is my bread and butter. Fiction is what I love.

I tend to write a lot of different stuff, but I do have an affection for YA Fiction specifically. One of my favorite series is the Great and Terrible Beauty series. I, of course, was a HUGE Harry Potter fan when it was popular (I actually created my own quill by taping a giant feather to my pen). These days I read everything from poetry, to eco nonfiction, to faith based books, to YA Horror and Fantasy. Currently I’ve started about 6 books, but I’ve been enjoying The Haunted by Danielle Vega.

When it comes to the YA genre specifically, I love what it has done for teenagers. I love how it speaks to them, and the issues they’re dealing with. I relate to the awkward feeling of being misunderstood, the desire to be invisible and at the same time well-liked. And I especially love the direction that the genre has taken the last few years, with more diversity and more vividly flawed characters, and I’m so excited to be part of that. Hopefully Otherside will speak to some people the way other YA books have spoken to me.

Otherside: The Serenity has gone through several changes over the years, off and on as I’ve worked on it. I didn’t work on it consistently the whole time (I think that would have been a little unhinged to be honest.) No, the book just kind of came in and out of my life. I remember going back to the first draft during a dry spell in my writing. I wanted to see if anything I’d written in the past was worth fleshing out and exploring. When I looked at it, I felt it had potential in a way the other books didn’t. I felt a connection to the material, and I felt like people would enjoy it; that they would love the characters. That they would identify with them.

What was most enjoyable though was taking the world I’d created and filling it out. The first draft had very little in the way of backstory as to HOW the world of the Otherside came to be, and that was something I got to dig into. I researched about angels and demons, and as my faith changed over time, aspects of that got put into the story as well.

Next week, I’ll dive into a little about my main character, Alanis Laundale, and tell you about the time I discovered my first book about teenage rebellion, and how that led to the disillusionment one eventually finds when they actually research about the artists they admired as teenagers.

Otherside: The Serenity is currently available on both Amazon and online at Barnes and Noble. You can get the book in both Kindle and Paperback versions. If you have read the book, and would like to review it, you can do so on Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes and Noble.