In writing the characters for Every Girl Does It, I wanted to play with the line of love and hate and see if I could add a heavy dose of humor to go with it.
My favorite stories are ones where the main characters fall in love inspite of themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I love stories where people fall in love like normal human beings, but the type of romance that gets my blood pumping is the kind where the two main characters can’t stand each other. Usually, this dislike stems from characters that are extremely independent and confident, not to mention stubborn.
My main character Amanda is a control freak. She’s the girl that you’re friends with because she brings you out of your shell and makes you laugh. Her inappropriate remarks and self-deprecating humor are what draw you in—even if some of the things she does make you cringe. We’ve all had friends like this; the type of friends that you can only take in very small doses, but also the same type of friend that you know would go to prison for you.
Amanda is cute, smart, funny, and unapologetic. Her comments are usually the things you think of saying but don’t have the guts to repeat out loud. The strong desire to channel her personality comes when in traffic, standing in line at Starbucks, or when sitting on plane.
Preston on the other hand is the type of character that had to rise up from the ashes. He lived as a nerd all the way through high school only to grow up into a very fine male specimen. Preston’s character was bullied and teased in High School by our main character Amanda.
Preston rose up and didn’t let the stigma of the past make a permanent mark on the future. It is the story of the ugly duckling only for the male lead. A nice twist don’t you think?
Even though he secretly still loves Star Wars, Preston is now tall, dark, wickedly handsome and self-assured. He’s the type of character that no matter how much you want to be on Amanda’s side in her desire to punch him—you fall in love with him anyway.
Now that you know my characters, it’s easy to see how they would walk that thin line of love and hate only to fall off the cliff of love. What makes the story so fun is the pursuit of Amanda by Preston because let’s face it, what girl doesn’t love to be pursued? With witty humor, sarcastic banter and a naked cat this story truly fulfills all my favorite elements of a great romance.
Love and hate are both powerful emotions. Both stir very passionate responses making it easy to mistake one for the other. My characters realize early on in the story that sometimes a little passion goes a long way even if the passion started with extreme dislike, and a mistake made back in high school.
Rachel Van Dyken
Amanda turned down Preston's prom invitation in front of her entire high school, but that was eight years ago.
Somehow, her past mistakes always have a way of catching up with her, and making her pay. Amanda's sarcastic wit mixed with Preston's insufferable ego make sparks fly in more than one way.
Preston, against his better judgment can't fight the desire to get under Amanda's skin and mercilessly tease her, but when that teasing becomes flirting, and flirting becomes something dangerously more, neither of them are prepared for the adventure that follows. Every Girl Does It sounds like a funny, romantic contemporary read. One for the TBR... check! You had me at the Amanda is a bully and sealed with the words "naked cat."
It's certainly a lot more powerful to have two polar opposite characters fall for one another. Just look at stories like Dirty Dancing. Great insight.
ReplyDeletefor me you had me at Preston and pictures of a naked cat! ROFL
ReplyDeleteWould LOVE to read this story! It looks awesome!