What Inspired Sparkle Prep?

I don't tend to get inspired in the traditional sense. My stories don't "Come from the headlines" or anything like that. They just come from my brain. :::POP::: New idea!

I knew I wanted to write something LIGHT and FUN... which was the exact opposite of what I was writing/reading at the time. My first novel is pretty dark (bullying/murder/angst/revenge), and I was reading a lot of darker fantasy and thrillers. No one was ever happy or having a good time. It was all tension and despair. And that gets old after a while.

A lot of my stories start with a title, and the idea for the plot follows—not always, but more than 50% of the time. When SPARKLE PREP came to me, I knew it was the one I'd been looking for, and I immediately wrote the first five chapters. From there, I actually put the book down for over a year as I rewrote my first novel, but I did eventually pick it back up again. And now I have a beautiful 80k word novel-baby.

SPARKLE PREP is my ode to gay boys. I had a few friends who knew I was gay in high school, but I always wondered what it would be like to be unapologetically, unequivocally, fuck-you-I'm-gay GAY. And that's what I decided to write. None of my characters have any angst about their sexuality or gender identity (they encompass most of the LGBT* spectrum... except the L, obviously, because it's an all-boys school). And for the hell of it, I decided to make some of their parents billionaires. But once I did that, it took on this whole other dimension. As I started to look further into each character and the rest of the plot, more personal issues came to light... family dynamics, money issues, relationships with parents/siblings/boyfriends and, most importantly, each other. What I intended to be a GAY GAY GAY story turned into a STORY STORY STORY with characters who happened to be gay. And the latter works much better.

I've come to love these characters and, with any luck, I'll get to live with them for a good long time. SPARKLE PREP is only the beginning.

Check out what inspired my fellow Mentees!

• Amanda Rawson Hill
• K. Kazul Wolf
• Vanessa Barger
• Michelle Tran
• ES Wesley
• Cindy Baldwin
• Ashley Martin
• ichella Domenici
• Tracy Gold
• Brian Palmer
• Julie Artz
• Joan He
• Ashley D. MacKenzie
• M.C. Vaughan

Pitch Wars Mentee Bio

So, what is Pitch Wars and why am I writing a bio about myself for it? Well, it's a writing competition organized by the amazing Brenda Drake, were established (agented and published) writers offer to mentor wishing-to-be-established (unagented and unpublished) writers (me), to try and get their manuscript up-to-snuff and in a submittable state for agents. It's also a really great way to meet new people in the writing community. It's only been a couple of days and I've met some truly fantastic people! For more information on Pitch Wars, click HERE.

Anyway, this post is supposed to be ALL ABOUT ME. Make sure you have some tissues ready, because this is going to be quite a ride*...

• I did NOT always want to be a writer. When I was younger I REALLY wanted to be an Astronomer. Then I found out how much math was involved and I said EFF THAT. I'll just look up instead.
• I was born in Frankfurt, Germany, but have also lived in Louisiana, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, though I currently reside and work in Boston, MA. Boston has become my home in the nine years I've lived here and I can't imagine being anywhere else right now!
• It's a good bet that I see more movies in theaters than you do. How many did you see last year? Oh, that's adorable. I saw 75. THAT'S RIGHT. Seventy-five movies. In theaters. (Not to mention the handful of films I saw more than once.) If I could go to the movies every day, I would. 
• One day I'll write one. (A movie. I have a lot of ideas and not enough time in the day.)
• My hair is currently turquoise and purple.
• This list is already much less tearful than I'd intended.
• I'm gay and I like to write gay characters. That was unintentional—me writing a lot about gay characters... though I guess me BEING gay was unintentional as well—but just happened to work out that way with my first two books. You'll also never see me write about characters that don't accept their sexuality. I know people DO struggle with it, but I want my readers to know there's nothing wrong with them.
• I started my first book in 10th grade and have completely rewritten it about 4 times. I finally "finished" it two years ago (after putting it down and picking it back up every few years).
• I ship Sterek, Stucky, and Newtmas.

#Sterek

#Stucky

#Newtmas — SO CLOSE!

• I may also have a thing for Dylan O'Brien.
• My Death-by-Cheese Baked Ziti has been known to give people what can only be described as a religious experience. Praise Cheesus.
• I actually quit reading for pleasure when I was younger. Didn't like that school had turned it into a chore. But then I discovered Piers Anthony and the world of fantasy, and it was all downhill from there.
• If you're still reading, I'm sorry. This list has been really stream-of-consciousness and I never intended it to get this far.
• Make me stop.
• Oh god.
• Okay, I'm stopping.

If I'm one of the lucky ones to get picked as a Mentee, I guarantee you won't regret it! I work hard and write hard. I'll probably even DIE H... I can't finish that sentence...

Thanks for reading! And thanks to Christopher Keelty for organizing this #PimpMyBio!

Until next...

~Kyle

*No guarantees of emotion or need for tissues. I can't help it if you're heartless.