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Saving Amy is a novel about depression, despair, friendship, love, and hope. It examines issues humanity faces far too often
through the eyes of two young women who find love in the most unlikely of places. Emma is barely seventeen and taking her first steps into the world of independence when cancer robs her of her mother,
her support system, and the world on which her life is based. Now living in a strange city with a man she doesn’t even
know, Emma unwittingly allows herself to fall into a world of darkness and gloom, a black hole in her spirit she fears she
may never escape. Then she meets Amy, beautiful, kind, stunning Amy, who is everything Emma
thought she wanted in a friend—and so much more. She is fun, charming, intelligent—and her interest in Emma and
her life helps forge one of the most genuine friendships Emma has ever had. But Amy’s world doesn’t
fit the innocent façade her human form portrays–she’s a vampire, a demon, and harbors in her heart many dark secrets
that slowly work their way into the open as her feelings for Emma grow. As she and Amy become more and more passionate about
each other, Emma realizes just how dark Amy’s world really is—and just how much they’ll have to rely on
love to save their lives, their relationship, and their newfound hope.
On writing Saving Amy
Saving Amy began as a tiny impulse in the back of my mind one night shortly before Halloween. It was a calm, sunny
Satruday, and I was just chilling out at home when my best friend called me and invited me to go to a theatrical performance
of Dracula with her family that night. Before that, I'd never really known nor cared much about vampires--I'd always kind of
brushed them off with zombies, ghosts, all the rest of the fantastic (in the most literal sense of the word) and sci-fi stuff
that was just never really me. I was excited to be attending the play,
but I didn't expect much out of it, for seldom had I seen a play that had managed to capture my interest for more than a few
minutes.
The first thing that really struck me about
the play was the set--it appealed very much to the darker side of me, the side that would create much of the setting for Saving Amy.
As I watched the play, I was very struck by the sensuality
and symbolism in the story, and especially liked Dracula's gothic vampire-wives. I left the theater wondering what a story
would be if one of those women were good-natured (Amy was born) and became friends with a human being (say hello to Emma).
It
wasn't for another three months that I actually began to write the book. I spent the many weeks in between dreaming up the
plot, the characters--really outlining the story. I don't remember planning on the story being so heavily lesbian--I certainly hadn't expected there to be as much sexuality as there turned out to be. On Christmas
Day 2004, I dreamed up what I thought was a great end to the story as I sat in the car during a Christmas drive with my family,
and sat down at my laptop (which I had received just the night before, and was the first personal computer I'd ever owned)
to start.
The actual first draft only took five months
to write. The other thirty-four were devoted solely to editing--and I mean that in the roughest of senses. The book was rewritten,
cut, pasted, torn apart, chewed up, spit out, and accidentally deleted in those two and a half years--and I had one point
where I had such awful writer's block I almost gave up. Fortunately, I got past that, and eventually reached the just-going-through-again-and-again-to-make-the-sentences-sound-better
stage. If I had not had my editor to yank me off the manuscript, I'd still be trying to improve it. Sometimes, I got really down because I went through so many agents and publishers trying to market
the book. I really began to wonder if my writing was any good at all, or if I was just too inflated by an overly-adoring family
and needed a serious reality check. A little of both,
I suppose. Right when I had given up hope for Saving Amy being my debut
novel, Vanilla Heart and my lovely publisher came along, and I regained some of my confidence. So if you are like me, someone
who loves to write but is in a rut, my advice to you is this: DON'T PANIC! Just keep writing, no matter how poor you think you are, and it will all be worth it in the end. I promise.
Saving Amy Art
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