1

The story is a prequel for my adventure series, and I wanted to explore the past of one of the characters. My series follows around five brothers, and one of them (the oldest), namely Kyle, grew up away from his family for *reasons*. I wanted to explore how he handled it and how he found the girl he fell in love with. Once I decided to do that, I wanted to create a love story that is actually healthy and doesn't rely on all that toxic good girl- bad boy dynamic. Once I started it, it got a life of its own, lol

2 ?

Since I began writing it after I've already written first drafts of four of the books in the series, I had trouble with Kay. Specifically calling her Kathy and having her be so weak in the beginning of the story. But in the end, I'm happy with her growth.

3

Honestly, the banter between Kyle and Kay and making sure their friendship stayed positive. Then there were the scenes that hinted at the overall mystery of the series. But my favorite has to be the scene before the prom when Kay gets drunk and throws herself at Kyle. That scene is very special to me :)

4

Most readers really enjoyed the slow burn romance. Even if they keep yelling at my characters who insist for a very long time that they're actually friends when they're obviously head over heels about each other. Then they almost unanimously hate Danny, Kay's douchebag ex.

5

As I mentioned, it's a prequel, which makes it very easy to read as a stand alone (especially since it's the first timeline wise). But, it also opens a whole new world to readers in case they want to dig deeper into the story of Kyle's family.

6

I want my readers to feel. To get to know the characters. Love, hate and cringe with them. I want them to see that love can be beautiful and there is always room for growth. I want them to have hope and to want to be better selves. Of course, not sure you can take all that from high school romance, but I can try

7

My advice is to get it done. Once you have a conclusion, you can see the story as a whole, they can tweak accordingly. Also, get inside your character's head as much as possible, and pay special attention to their motivations. They need to act like human being. Good characters are what makes a story unique.

Not really. Sure, you can see some of my views on the world and some issues (like bullying), but as a whole, we're pretty different.

I guarantee a crush on Kyle OR Kay. And I also think new readers will enjoy discovering my characters and see a romance in which the MCs aren't douches or toxic to each other. If there's one thing that makes me happy, it's when readers tell me they like how healthy the relationship between Kyle and Kay is. I think teens need to read stuff like that to balance out all the skewed views of relationships.

10

I'm working on finishing my series actually (so more Kyle and Kay, yay). I have two books left to go and I couldn't be more excited about it. I really hope my readers are ready for the conclusion of the master plot. Will my characters get their happily ever after, or will I be tossing a brick and ending the series in misery? Only time will tell.