25 Facts About SUPERHEROES ANONYMOUS (the series)
1. Gail's original last name was actually Petersen. It didn't change until I submitted the manuscript to Impulse during the open submission. It was between Godwin and Goodwin, and those choices were because I wanted her to have an alliterative name.
2. I picked Muncie IN as Gail's hometown because my best friend went to grad school there. I've spent a few weekends in Muncie. Sorry to residents, but I can see why Gail wanted to escape so badly.
3. Gail does have a backstory and a mom, but she doesn't think about them. I borrowed them from a now defunct series of mine. I don't think they'll ever show up in the series itself. My next series, however, I made the deliberate choice to have more than one mother as part of the picture, as nobody in SUPERHEROES ANONYMOUS seems to have actual parents.
4. Guy's original last name was Bookerton. I changed it because boogers. Enough said.
5. Jeremy was originally Jamie. I like Jamie Orcutt in SECRET SOCIETY GIRL too much to give him such a jerk of a name twin.
6. Guy's birthday is the same as another best friend's. It's October 28th. You can see all of the birthdays listed on the profiles I posted when SUPERVILLAINS ANONYMOUS came out.
7. Gail's hobbies in high school were working three jobs and playing softball. She's always been a workaholic and lacking in self-esteem, but damn if she can't knock you out with a beer bottle from 20 feet away if she should choose to.
9. I finished SUPERHEROES ANONYMOUS the day before Nikki was born.
10. Naomi Gunn was created on the second draft and replaced a reporter who only existed for one scene. She is biracial. Her mother is white and her father is black. If anybody in my series is truly Lois Lane's spiritual successor, it is her and not Gail, even though I describe the series as "Lois Lane becomes Supergirl."
11. Between drafts of SUPERHEROES ANONYMOUS, I amped up social media use by 300%. Portia and Naomi's texts are my favorite to write. Neither capitalizes. I hope I haven't driven my copy-editor or Maximus to drink.
12. There was originally a secret baby plot. I dumped this when I got rid of a character named Layla.
13. Spoiler: Kiki originally had Villain Syndrome. Cooper was going to be a fall guy and not the villain.
14. Writing Gail 'porting for the first time was terrifying because it meant I had to commit to her changing powers, which I wasn't 100% sold on.
15. Vicki's middle name is from the Babysitters Club. Kristy was my fave, but I liked Dawn because like me she'd just moved from CA to the east coast. North Carolina instead of Connecticut for me, and we moved because of Papa Dunne's work and not divorce. BUT IT STILL COUNTS. Babysitters Club actually remains a strong formative influence on my life. I brought it up at a panel at PHXCC.
16. Portia's powers were a very late addition and had me outright crying with laughter every time I wrote about them. She is, by the way, pansexual and she is not the only queer character in my series.
17. Kiki and Angélica were inspired by real people. "Kiki" has an identical twin. "Angélica" is a bodybuilder. You can't make this up.
18. My mental image for Eddie Davenport is always Aaron Eckart. You can blame Thank You for Smoking.
19. I wrote the first draft of SUPERHEROES ANONYMOUS while living in the Hamptons in the winter. You know what there is to do in the Hamptons in the winter? Absolutely nothing. Hence writing the book.
20. My working title for HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD was SUPERPOWERS ANONYMOUS. Not as great as SUPERHEROES ANONYMOUS 2: ELECTRIC POWERS BOOGALOO, which is probably took us several people and a lot of time to come up with the title. And yes, I'm sad that "Not a Guide" doesn't appear on the cover.
21. HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD is not a guide.
22. It is, however, available in e-format on October 4th and in mass market paperback on November 1st.
23. It's not Gail on the cover but Angélica. I figure with everything she's done to save Gail's butt, she deserves her own cover. Isn't she great? I love Angélica.
24. Pre-ordering gets you more SUPERHEROES ANONYMOUS the series.
25. All of my readers are fantastic people. It says so right here on my fact sheet.
Stay sexy!
Lexie
0 comments:
Please keep it PG. My mom reads this blog.