A: I had this idea of Ian as a young adult in my head without much of a story behind it. I liked the idea of who he was and what he was doing in his early 20's and I wanted to figure out how he got there. I reached out to Cavelle, whose writing I had seen a little of and enjoyed, and asked her if she wanted to write a very, very long story about a couple of kids growing up together.

C: Adam approached me with the idea of writing a different sort of love story that centered around two kids in a small town. I loved the concept, especially taking a more 'real' approach to something that has been done over and over again, and I was fully on board. We had talked for a little bit about the things we wanted to see and the things we knew we wanted to avoid and the rest was surprisingly really easy. Our ideas just naturally blended together and we had the entire first book (and a lot of the timeline for the following books) down pretty quickly in the 'bare bones' phase of writing.

A: I'm not entirely happy with the amount of representation of non-white characters in the story in its current form (namely that there really aren't any). That's something I struggle with and have been seeking advice about: making sure my work, including Silver Lake, is inclusive.

C: I agree with Adam regarding the inclusivity, we are also working to include some LGBTQ representation as well. Outside of that, there were a couple of topics we covered within the first novel that we had discussed several times before writing and again after it had been written. I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I'll avoid outright saying what they were, but they're real situations that many people, including teens, are forced to deal with. We didn't want to sugarcoat the experience as we felt that would almost be a disservice. We wanted our characters to be as real as possible and that included their reactions to these experiences and how it impacts them throughout their lives moving forward. That said, we also wanted to avoid being too graphic and the topics becoming more 'shock value', than a means of opening up a valuable discussion. Finding that middle ground was a bit of a struggle and something we still discuss whether we properly hit the mark.

A: Talking about music! We shared a lot of music back and forth as we planned and wrote. It was fun to go back and listen to all the classic rock, the old metal and the 90's rap. And posting it on Wattpad, adding playlists between chapters has been so much fun.

C: Yes, the music! Music is big in both of our lives and I constantly have it playing while I'm writing. I have playlists for every stage of Taylor and Ian's lives on my phone. There has been more than one time that I've heard a song come on the radio that reminded me so much of Taylor or Ian, that I immediately had to go and write. My other favorite part was just exploring our characters through different phases of their lives. We got to see them as innocent kids struggling with the awkwardness of growing up and then as they make their way out into the world as adults and what that looked like through each of their eyes. It has been cool just to see them grow and change. It allowed me to explore things I never really was able to with other characters.

4

A: It's been really, really good! Being able to read comments from readers feels almost like getting to read the story out loud to a friend and hearing them react with gasps and laughter. It really just feels so good to have people finally reading this story we've worked so hard on for a few years and seeing people enjoy it, whether through commenting, voting or sending us direct messages has been amazing.

C: It has been incredible! I only discovered Wattpad after doing research on ways to get our novel out to a test audience of sorts. I had no idea what exactly to expect, but it has seriously been amazing. This community is so incredibly supportive and we have loved the feedback we've received. We read every single comment and message and it is an amazing feeling to see the same people coming back week after week to read more from us. We couldn't be more grateful for this community!

A: It's the first part of a series that will follow our main characters, Taylor and Ian, as they get older and the lives they lead. I think currently we've mapped out four books total? Maybe three? We're still very much in the planning stages on the later books.

C: As Adam said, we are definitely following up with more. We have most of the ideas fleshed out and know where life will take Taylor and Ian, we just need to get the words down on paper which we have only just started. In the next books, readers will be able to see how our main characters tackle challenges in each new phase of their lives and how past experiences impact the decisions they make moving forward.

A: To be honest, I'm not sure. I'd really like to hear what people are taking away from it. My main hope is just that readers enjoy Ian and Taylor, and see some examples of empathy in the story that inspires them to be more empathetic in their real lives.

C:When we started writing this series Adam and I discussed all the cliches we hated. Things like how the female character drops everything in her life and moves across the country to be with her man and live happily ever after. We wanted our book to reflect real people. We wanted our female characters to be strong and capable, but that didn't mean they needed to take on a bully role and it didn't mean they needed to have life figured out when they were just 13-years-old. Life in general is messy, hard, exciting and unpredictable, and that's okay. No one has it all figured out at any given age and neither do our characters. They make mistakes, they learn, they grow, and they make more mistakes. In a world filled with social media I think it is so easy to get hung up on perfectionism, but it doesn't really exist. We are all a little awkward and flawed, but that's what makes us unique. I hope readers recognize those traits in our characters. Not a single one of them is perfect, yet they're relatable and real. They make mistakes, get themselves in plenty of trouble, and they keep moving forward.

A: My biggest advice is to write, write, write! Make time to sit down and write. Fifteen minutes a day is an hour and a half of writing a week. Most of us can write at least an average of 10 words per minute, so that's 900 words in a week! MAKE TIME TO WRITE.

C: Your first draft is about getting your ideas down on paper. Don't worry about the plot holes yet. Don't worry about perfect grammar and hooks. Your first draft is one big brain dump that you can clean up and expand on in your next draft.

A: Ian and Taylor both enjoy very similar music to me, and will continue to through the story. Ian likes motorcycles, which I do, as well. Ian also feels uncomfortable with a lot of the typical macho-manly stuff that most other boys his age were trying hard to live up to. When I was Ian's age, I felt really uncomfortable pretending to be tougher than I was (and I still do, today).

C: I grew up on a small island that was made up of a bunch of tiny towns, so I can completely relate to the small-town life. I'm a huge fan of music, any genre really, and many of the songs on our published playlists are also on my own. Taylor's main childhood goal was to get out of Silver Lake as soon as she could, which is something I could definitely relate to as well. I moved to the complete opposite side of the country by myself when I was 18.

A: I think almost everyone enjoys a good story of friendship and love. Also the whole 90's nostalgia thing seems to be pretty popular right now, so maybe that is calling out to new readers.

C: For those old enough to remember the show The Wonder Years, our book is sort of like that but a little less 'bubblegum' and set in the 90s. For those who aren't 90s kids, I think there is still plenty they will be able to relate to as well. Our characters have strong personalities but also plenty of flaws and a big part of the series as a whole is watching Taylor and Ian grow as people. You get to see them as awkward kids and by the time the final book concludes they are adults with unique careers and a lifetime of experiences behind them. Readers get to follow them through all the struggles they go through to get where they are in the end. They get to live through their heartbreaks, their failures, and all their success. We can't say too much without giving away spoilers of what is to come, but their lives are a beautiful mess with plenty of twists along the way.

A: Together, we are working on the next book in Taylor and Ian's story. We're not ready to announce a release date for that, yet. Personally, I have three projects in the works, two are currently in the planning stages and one is a screenplay I'm working on the first draft of.

C: I'm currently bouncing between writing the next few books in the Silver Lake series and three works of my own. One of the stories is a fantasy series that is completely out of my comfort zone as a writer and has been a great challenge so far.