SIX DEGREES OF INSPIRATION

I'd love to claim that my book How to Date Dead Guys was inspired by a classical piece of literature, like Austen's Pride and Prejudice or Alcott's Little Women. If I had majored in anything English-related, this would probably be true.

But I didn't. I graduated with a Biology Major/Math Minor.

This is probably why my book was inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer and NPR.

I stumbled upon the Smiley Face Murders Theory during a late night NPR program.

That started the "ball rolling."

Everything else just kept the ball in motion.

BUFFY AND WILLOW

I LOVED the long-running TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character I most empathized with was Willow. Who wouldn't root for the shy, awkward bookworm everybody took for granted and expected to stand to the side?

How exciting when she became a witch and rose to power, a power which stole away from her as much as it gave. 

But Willow's despair wasn't the only thing that inspired me.

COLLEGE LIFE

I thought back to college, and all it entails.

The first real taste of freedom.

The first real risk of falling and failing.

The unreality of campus lif--as if those four (or so) years are all that is important in this world.

So many majors that don't prepare the graduate for the real question of: "What the hell am I going to do with the rest of my life?"

All the drinking, the bad decisions, the uncertainty, the longing, the fear. At least, that's how I remember college.

I'm sure some people don't remember much at all. J

DEAD PEOPLE

Both Emma and I find the following people inspiring (they also happen to be dead):

    The actor Cary Grant (isn't he charming?)

-       The author C.S. Lewis (Aslan, need I say more?)

OTHER BOOKS

Despite the fact that I can't claim my writing style is patterned after any of the greats (except for perhaps Dickens' tendency to connect every character in the most unexpected, Kevin-Bacon-Six-Degrees-of-Separation way), every single book I've ever read has helped me write my own.

A great big thank you to all the other authors. I owe you big time.