The Importance of Making Stories Personal, a guest post by Amy Christine Parker

Write what you know. It’s advice every writer gets at some point in their career. But what does that really mean? When I first started out, I thought it meant you could only write about what you had actual experience with—like a particular job or town or something, but as I’ve grown as a writer, I’ve started to develop my own ideas. To me, write what you know isn’t so much about how great an expert I am on certain people, settings, or plot points. It’s more being vulnerable enough to weave myself into my stories—the truth of my lived experiences—but also the quirkier bits that make me who I am. I’ve discovered that the more I do this, the richer my stories ultimately become.

For You’re Dead to Me, I was intentional about trying to do this as much as I could. There are facets of me infused into every page, every piece of dialogue, and every situation my character, Ruby, finds herself in, particularly my fears. Her sessions with a Ouija board are proof. I grew up in a fairly religious household where I was warned never to use one because they attracted evil and were dangerous. The one time I rebelled against this to fit in at a party, the lights flickered, streamers fell from the ceiling, and everyone screamed and ran outside. I nearly had a heart attack. I actually slept with a cross underneath my pillow for a week! In the book Ruby’s best friend, Anton, has similar beliefs about the board and hangs crosses everywhere for protection. By tapping into my own fear my hope is that I gave Anton a layer of authenticity that I don’t think I could fake if it weren’t personal to me.

Another piece of me that keeps finding its way into my books is my love of movies and television—particularly horror. Ruby’s ghost was heavily influenced by the Bent Neck Lady from The Haunting of Hill House TV series and Samara from the movie The Ring. Both gave me absolute chills and have stuck in my head ever since I first saw them. And there are more than a few references to movies in the book itself—particularly in a certain dress-burning scene. Not to mention a healthy dose of slasher-style violence that comes from my own version of a Michael Myers-type serial killer, the Mannequin Man.  Anything I’ve watched that has deeply affected me becomes part of my own mental pantry, a stockpile of ingredients I keep to help me create new fictional recipes.

Maybe the most uncomfortable way I allow myself to be vulnerable in my fiction is through the romantic scenes I write. In interviews or on panels I’ve always told people that I hate writing them the most. This is not completely true. What I hate is being vulnerable when it comes to love—in person or on the page. To me it’s always felt so risky exposing my heart. I don’t know why. Even if the scenes I’m writing are about two characters, not me in real life, I am still imagining how these two people will show their love for each other. How I write them is a combination of what I’ve experienced in relationships and what I think sounds real and sincere and special enough to make readers’ hearts skip a beat. I have to expose my romantic side to do it and it’s sort of terrifying. What if my version of what’s romantic is just plain weird to everyone else? In You’re Dead to Me, Ruby’s romance with Alexander is admittedly light and not a major plot point, but for me, it’s the most real I’ve gotten when it comes to romance so far. And I know the story is better as a result.

There are also pieces of my personal history scattered across the pages of my novels too. Like my character Ruby, I don’t come from a wealthy family. In fact, there were times when my family struggled pretty hard. I went to public school and worked at my family’s business after school and on weekends. Like Ruby’s mom, my dad ran a restaurant—though it was fast food. And like Ruby, I had a very nice guy ask me to his fancy private school’s prom (at a very swanky hotel in Philadelphia)—where I stuck out like a sore thumb because all the other girls were in very classy dresses and pearls while I chose violence—by way of polka dots. Don’t believe me? Here’s the proof. My dress and hair are terrible, I know, but it was the eighties, okay?

I have lived in Florida for the past twenty years, so the setting of my novel is very personal to me. I share Ruby’s love of the wild beauty of the Everglades and Anton’s distaste of the sweltering heat and humidity. Like him I carry around a battery-operated fan too. I’m fascinated by places like Palm Beach where there is big wealth and even bigger secrets and have a special place in my heart for old timey tourist attractions. I’ve been to Cassadaga, the Florida town teeming with psychics and mediums and I’ve had tarot card readings on several occasions—I even had one for this book. The tarot scene in You’re Dead to Me was created with the help of a tarot reader here in Florida who helped me develop the card spread so it directly related to Ruby’s impending murder.

Being vulnerable on the page hasn’t been easy. Opening myself up to judgement—both good and bad is terrifying. There is always the possibility that readers might not relate to my stories or not find the bits and pieces of me I’ve added compelling or relatable. And that rejection can feel personal. But at its core, writing is an act of bravery, a willingness to be seen. If I chicken out, the story suffers and so does any connection I try to build with my readers. So, I will continue to put myself out there, on the page for everyone to see and I know my novels will be richer for it.

Meet the author

Amy Christine Parker is the author of Flight 171, Gated, Astray, and Smash & Grab. She writes full-time from her home near Tampa, Florida, where she lives with her husband, their two daughters, and two very mischievous cats.

https://www.amychristineparker.com

https://www.instagram.com/amychristinepar/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/AmyChristineParker

https://www.tiktok.com/@amychristineparker

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/723039/youre-dead-to-me-by-amy-christine-parker

About You’re Dead to Me

Gossip Girl meets Happy Death Day in this YA horror novel following high school outcast and anonymous social media gossip Ruby, who comes face-to-face with her own ghost dressed in a blood-splattered prom dress. With less than a week until the dance, Ruby must unmask her killer–or die trying.Ruby is a scholarship senior at elite Oleander High School with a chip on her shoulder and an attitude to match–which she puts to good use as the infamous local anonymous gossip blogger ReputationKiller. When she’s outed as the voice behind the account, the entire town turns against her.But after she’s scared witless by a vision of her own ghost dressed in a blood-splattered prom dress, she is faced with an awful truth. Someone out there doesn’t just hate her–they want her dead.With less than a week until the prom, Ruby starts investigating. Turns out Oleander Bay isn’t the picture-perfect resort town it appears to be. With so many secrets, scandals, and people hell-bent on covering them up at all costs, the murderer could be anyone. Can Ruby beat the clock counting down to prom–and her death–and survive the night?

ISBN-13: 9780593650936
Publisher: Random House Children’s Books
Publication date: 12/10/2024
Age Range: 12 – 17 Years

Filed under: Guest Post