This comment made me grin so hard. You really made my day. I'm sorry I took so long to respond, but I wanted to make sure I had a moment to sit down and really thank you for all your kind words.
When I got the idea for this story, my primary goal was to get Tim undercover as Kon's date, somehow. It grew from there, and developed a plot and a bunch of secondary characters that I kind of fell in love with, and it just turned into this great big monster thing, with themes and issues. It's not quite like anything else I've ever written. I'm glad it all came together so well for you. ^_^
I'm so glad you liked the characterization, both original and otherwise. Kon's growth was really the center of this story, to me, even more so than the plot or the romance. He's been in limbo for so long, and when I started writing this we were all pumped for his upcoming return without much of any idea where his character would be going. I wanted to show him growing up and changing without changing at his core, if that makes any sense.
I've lived in cities all my life, but growing up, I spent a lot of time in small towns and on farms, visiting relatives. I tried to bring some of that experience into the story. As for technical research - I actually didn't have to do all that much, because the most political parts of the story are semi-autobiographical. I wasn't in Kon's or Clarence's role, exactly, and no one died at my school, but the general sense of being under siege was something I started living with at 14, when Matthew Shepherd was killed. I ended up involved in a district-wide youth-based movement of sorts, as a friend in another school literally fought all the way to the supreme court for his right to found a GSA at his school. The whole sub-story of the kids at school came about because I couldn't imagine any other reaction to a hate crime on campus that made any sense to me. When we (my high school friends and I) felt threatened, we reacted by banding together. I watched the same thing play out here recently with the Jena Six. Getting mad doesn't do any good unless you get organized, and teenagers can make a difference.
Thanks so much again for taking the time to leave such a lovely note. ^_^ I can't tell you how happy I am that you got so much out of my story.
no subject
When I got the idea for this story, my primary goal was to get Tim undercover as Kon's date, somehow. It grew from there, and developed a plot and a bunch of secondary characters that I kind of fell in love with, and it just turned into this great big monster thing, with themes and issues. It's not quite like anything else I've ever written. I'm glad it all came together so well for you. ^_^
I'm so glad you liked the characterization, both original and otherwise. Kon's growth was really the center of this story, to me, even more so than the plot or the romance. He's been in limbo for so long, and when I started writing this we were all pumped for his upcoming return without much of any idea where his character would be going. I wanted to show him growing up and changing without changing at his core, if that makes any sense.
I've lived in cities all my life, but growing up, I spent a lot of time in small towns and on farms, visiting relatives. I tried to bring some of that experience into the story. As for technical research - I actually didn't have to do all that much, because the most political parts of the story are semi-autobiographical. I wasn't in Kon's or Clarence's role, exactly, and no one died at my school, but the general sense of being under siege was something I started living with at 14, when Matthew Shepherd was killed. I ended up involved in a district-wide youth-based movement of sorts, as a friend in another school literally fought all the way to the supreme court for his right to found a GSA at his school. The whole sub-story of the kids at school came about because I couldn't imagine any other reaction to a hate crime on campus that made any sense to me. When we (my high school friends and I) felt threatened, we reacted by banding together. I watched the same thing play out here recently with the Jena Six. Getting mad doesn't do any good unless you get organized, and teenagers can make a difference.
Thanks so much again for taking the time to leave such a lovely note. ^_^ I can't tell you how happy I am that you got so much out of my story.