Behind the Scenes of My Books

How I Incorporate Myself Into Every Book

One thing many writers do is piece a little bit of themselves into everything they write. I do the same thing.

There are minor spoilers, but they're mainly plot related. I will try to leave out specific details.

Let's start with my most popular, and one of my oldest books, Bye, I Guess.... In this series, I literally put myself in the book. While I don't specifically like to associate my name with this profile because of some of the topics I've written about, I will tell you that I'm on Hayley's gymnastics team while the girls are in Sarah's care. The teams are girls actually from my gym, and the levels they're on. I did change some things though. In the second book, I put my coach and my cheer teammates in Allie's cheer team. Some names were changed and new characters were created.

Next, let's do Baby Independent. I didn't put much of myself in this, but I do visualize Annie's house as my house, and Annie and Hayley's school as the middle school I would have gone to had I been in public school. The creepy/broken house Hayley lives in is an actual house in the woods across the street from my house. The windows are dirty and parts of the house are broken. The house got torn down recently though because there will be a new street put across from me.

Third, Bucket List. I don't remember too much about writing this story other than copying the basic plot from a Shaytards book, but I skimmed it and I used to play clarinet, so I guess when Annie learns to play Say Goodbye to Spring on clarinet, that's that.

Fourth, Somewhere Between. There isn't anything I incorporated in here other than getting the title from an ABC limited series I liked lol.

Fifth, Second Chance. The recess part where all the classes in their grade play games together was a thing that the sixth graders did when I was in seventh grade. I'm a grade ahead so they were my age, so I'd sometimes play the games with them. Also, Hayley and Cain's homeroom teacher is my English teacher from my freshman year.

Sixth, Coral but Deaf. When I was two, I couldn't hear anything behind me, so that's where I got that from. One of the comments on Addia's first YouTube video was my YouTube channel. Addia's guinea pig is named after my guinea pig, and I also have a love of photography. The Cardinal Classic meet at Cardinal Gymnastics was a meet my gym hosted each February, but as of last year, they no longer host home meets because they don't have the space.

Seventh, Christmas Day. The main character, Addie, has a panic attack in the first chapter. I don't get panic attacks a lot, but I have had one before. The technique she used to calm herself down was one I read in a Wattpad book. I researched other ways too.

Eighth, Camp Runaway. The camp itself is based on a church camp I've gone to almost every year since I was around four. Mariposa is a character I made when my friend and I used to play some game when we were younger. Julia is based on one of my friends, and so are Gavin, Ylsa, Alyssa, Dom, and Jackson.

Ninth, Project Runaway. I literally put myself as a character in the book, and three of my friends are going to be in it, and one has been introduced so far.

Tenth, Except For Me. Kenzie and Annie's history teacher was mine freshman year and I love him with my whole heart, he's this sweet super tall old man and he always gave us rice krispy treats.

Eleventh, In One Week. The school is modeled after my school, with a few changes, like the location of the science labs. The secret hallway exists in my school, and it's where the crew machines and extra desks are stored, and it also has an entrance to the electricity panel room.

Twelfth, Lost and Found. I don't know what I incorporated with this, but her face claim is Anna Pavaga, a little Russian model I follow on Instagram who was named the prettiest girl in the world a few years ago.

Thirteenth, Send. There's nothing I put in here apart from my love of Starbucks.

Fourteenth (wow this list is getting long), There's No Way. The two songs this book revolves around, Broken by lovelytheband and There's No Way (ft. Julia Michaels) by Lauv [Alle Farben remix], are two songs I really like. Broken not so much, but it's catchy and works with the theme, and There's No Way is probably on my top 10 favorites ever list. Both songs work with the theme and match the girls' portrayals in this story. I have both of Annie's disorders, but I don't have Katie's. SPD shares similarities with OCD, so that's how that came about.

Fifteenth, High Hopes. Nova is kind of like my inside self as a person. I can't say too much without spoilers, but her aesthetic is what I wish I could pull off. Her music taste is the opposite of mine. I love both EDM and alternative music, but what I'd rather make is alternative. Also, her phone a blue iPhone XR, is what I wish I had chosen instead of coral. We both generally obsess over Brendon Urie. He's a hottie 🥵🥵

Sixteenth, Waiting For Tomorrow. My plot for this book will get more complex as the book goes on. I have tons of ideas for this book. Julianna's dog, Emmy, was the type of dog I wanted. I ended up with a frisky bony rat dog that weighs six pounds. I still love her though. Jayden's creative writing skills have a crap ton of underlying meanings that even an English teacher couldn't pick out. This is a metaphor for how many problems and conflicts that take place in life. People don't always show them on the outside. I have quite the past and I've struggled with some crap that I wish I could get in a time machine and prevent from ever happening. The exact scenarios from my life are not in Jayden's, however, Jayden feels the same way about these events.

If I forgot any books, let me know, and I'll put those in a part two.