Playin' Hard (Original version)

Playin' Hard Extras

Author's Note (2014)

The Ending: Big question I'm seeing: Why did I skip ahead? Besides the point that I wanted to, I would've ended it at 33 if I didn't go the Epilogue route. My favorite writer has done this and I generally like it. Why didn't I elaborate or show their relationship? There's a lot of reasons why. One, the book is too long, 120k in words, there's no way in hell that's publishable—I'm talking the traditional route with an agent and publisher, my goal / dream. I don't want to self-publish, so I study publishing and listen to literary agents. This book is a YA contemporary novel, the rule is for them to be 70 – 80k and I'm well over that. I've printed the book out and now I gotta figure out a way to cut like 20 – 30k from the story. Beyond the word count, I planned the ending to end as it did. I like the ending personally, but I knew a lot of you wouldn't due to the comments on the past few chapters. I could tell some of you expected more. If this were a published book it would be about 480 pages, like, that is a LOT for teen fiction. I'm not going to lie, I am bummed that some feel anticlimactic or that it was rushed, because I love the ending, I read it more than once.

          I watched Love & Basketball a few months ago and it made me all the more ready to end it the way I did. I guess I didn't take into consideration how people would feel about being in the dark about the other characters. At one point I was going to write a second book about Troiann and Marcus and her father would've died in that book and it would've made them realize that they had to stop playing and accept that they were in love, but then they manifested themselves in this book and I just combined the two. I don't know, more people like the ending than dislike it, but I'm still like, upset that some don't. I'm not going to lie, when I go back to edit / revise, it'll still end the same way, I dunno, I just love the ending. I think the death of Howard made it messy and messed up the flow if I had to pinpoint the reason why it feels rushed. Because we went from such an extreme tragedy to this ending. Ugh.

          I know some people want to see them raise their kids or be adults, but as a reader, I wouldn't wanna read that and I don't wanna write it. I like writing about teenagers, another reason why I left it off where I did. I dunno, I wish everyone could've loved the ending, but I guess some expected a lot more and I'm sorry about that.

         Inspiration: Playin' Hard was inspired by two songs. I heard "the Boys" by Nicki Minaj & Cassie and instantly fell in love with that chorus and wanted to write about a girl who sees these guys dog girls out and then I heard "Clique" by Kanye West, Big Sean and Jay-Z and I reallllly wanted to write about this group of boys with swagger and money and I had the DeAndre idea. Realizing how close they were I decided to push both ideas into one and Cree and DeAndre and the Ballas were born.

          Flaws: I'm aware that some people may not like that DeAndre didn't fight for Cree in the end. When I think of his character, I think about how he had a lot on his plate and how selfish it would've been for him to pursue Cree on top of that. I'm 100% for being selfish when you're in love, but in DeAndre's case he thought he had a girl pregnant and that's a lot to deal with, emotionally. 

          I also note that he wasn't jealous. I personally think it would've been cliché, and it was cliché enough via the pregnancy. I just didn't wanna take it there. I find that a lot of guys in books are jealous / possessive and I just wanted DeAndre to be calm. I love that he was in love with Cree but wanted her happy above all and left her alone and didn't get possessive, especially since he had no right to be possessive, he phucked up with Draya, he had no claim. So even when I go to edit / revise, I'm leaving these parts in because it's something I like and isn't expected in my opinion.

          His father: I love me some Papa Parker, I just find him attractive. I love the talk they had, it was real and honest. And I love that he's aware that he messed up with his wife by pushing her away. I love that he's at a point where he can own that and try to be a better man for Susan and his kids.