The Summer of Ryland

For My Followers

Sometimes in books, the author talks about why they wrote it the way they did. As a gift to you, I wanted you to be able to get to know the characters you love (or hate) the most. I will be giving each section titles so you can skip around and read what you like. Also at the end, I will be giving you spaces where you can ask me questions and I will answer. Thank you for your support.

Why I chose to portray domestic abuse- I initially did not intend to have Eliza to be in an abusive relationship. I wanted her to get catfished but after the one-year "break" that I took, I felt that it wasn't right. It wasn't her/their story. Domestic abuse is not a joke (some of my family members has been affected by it) and I wouldn't tell it as one. But this felt like her journey.

Eliza- She is a girl of many problems. I saw a comment which stated that she was not that bad before (yes I read the comments) and that may be true but look at it this way. She has had an emotionally abusive relationship with her mother, Kyle and his friends used to pick on her, her best friend left her because of a guy, and her brothers left. She had no one. She was prone to be manipulated. As for her break up with Kai, I hope towards the end you can see her reasoning behind it, though you may not agree. As a girl who was always taken advantage of, when a person finally treats you right it feels scary and foreign. She was insecure, depressed, and scared. 

Kai- My favorite. I love him for two reasons: he's sweet and he's not perfect. In the first book, I think I made him too perfect, well not with the whole 'I'm meeting my ex behind your back' thing. In this, you can see multiple sides of his. When he's hurt, angry, in pain, etc. He makes some mistakes trying to get her out (ex. threatening her) but you can see that his heart was in the right place. I wanted to add more character to him and I think I did that. I wanted his character to hit rock bottom in this book, but I think that it wasn't meant to be. And I am glad that I made that decision.

Ryland- He's based on some people I used to know, though they were not abusive (well physically). The online part came from a very brief relationship that I had with someone online. It was bad, to say the least. Most of his name came from another guy who I met on the internet who caused a lot of trouble in my life, so much so that I went into a deep depression (FUN FACT- I came up with the name of the book before I came up with the plot). His manipulative nature came from my ex-best friend's boyfriend. He came to school one day on high on drugs to try and win her back (that was only one of the times that he tried to manipulate her into not breaking up with him) and she took him back. So as you can see all of these monsters made an even bigger one.

Why I stopped this book- Um...this one is a bit personal. I briefly went over this but I'll go into a little bit more detail. As you saw I was depressed. I think I started this in the 10th grade and that was around the time R, the second internet guy came into my life. It was a couple of months after but I was still dealing with the effects that the situation had. Not only did it affect me, it affected my friendship. When I say it was bad, it was terrible. So I just couldn't write anymore.

What made me start this book again- Simple. Two words. DMV guy. Yep. While I was getting an ID for freshman orientation (I can't drive) I met a guy there. We talked about everything from favorite color to religion to our parents. As we talked, we somehow started talking about my writing. I told him I hated it and he said that I shouldn't be ashamed of it. I argued with him and he said that if people liked it I should continue doing it. After about two months of that conversation, I decided to look back at the comments. I saw how much you guys loved Kai and Eliza and I couldn't take them away from you. And I noticed that DMV guy was right. 

Rant- Was based on an app called Vent. That's where I met R. I stay away from it now, it was a toxic environment for me.

Notes for clarity- Eliza was not pregnant by Ryland in any way. Also, Eliza was not ever going to commit suicide. Ryland was 19 years old and his father was a policeman while his uncle was the mayor (he was actually pretty well off but no one would figure because of where he lived and how he acted). Eliza still liked Ryland towards the end of their relationship. Ellen and Kai never hooked up when he was with Eliza. He was just talking to her as friends and felt bad about it. Especially since she is very insecure.

Leave questions about the book/character here.

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Random things here.

Thank you for reading and staying with me through this journey. With love.

1001words.