We knew of one another, though we were never friends, possibly because we sang for competing a capella groups. I know, “competing a capella groups.” However, the system at Yale really lent itself to that atmosphere, with singing groups working as hard as political candidates to woo the small pool of talented singers to their side during the crazed Rush period. Rastogi nails the attitude in the article. Frats weren’t big at my school, but we made up for it with the fervor of singing group Rush. They had me convinced, a month into school, that I was socially doomed unless I was tapped.

For the next two years, every weekend, every vacation, and most evenings were utterly defined by the activity. I missed a lot of campus events, and I was unable to participate in many other activities because of the sheer amount of time I’d committed to singing doo-doo-doos (at least 6 hours a week of practice, with usually 10-15 more spent with activities, gigs, or special rehearsals). Eventually, it got to be too much, and I quit. It was only after that I discovered all that my university really had to offer. I became a costume designer, got part time jobs, acted in a children’s theater show, took up intramural sports, got involved in my residential college, produced plays, wrote for a publication, took on a second major, threw weekly parties with my suitemate, and actually enjoyed a spring break.

My favorite line in the article deals with the manipulation and complexity involved in Rush campaigns:

Of course, that’s precisely what so many people find off-putting about the whole thing—the insularity, the cultishness. There are many similarities between cult members and a cappella singers: Matching outfits. Frozen smiles. Intense recruitment tactics. Obscure traditions. (“No, no, no—for 15 years we have been stepping on the one and snapping on the two!”) But what is cult if not another word for community? I arrived at Yale fresh from the suburbs, terrified of all the chic city kids I imagined would be roaming about, ready to mock me because I didn’t smoke pot or know all the bylines in The New Yorker. A cappella gave me something to belong to. Rushing singing groups—a complicated, monthslong process involving hundreds of hopeful freshmen—meant that, suddenly, dozens of upperclassmen were going out of their way to say hello to me on campus. Later, when I spearheaded rush efforts myself, I realized that these seemingly casual encounters were as carefully planned and executed as a military bombing campaign.

From the perspective of the person on the inside, it’s really not so different from secret societies. Those hundreds of hopeful freshmen who are actively rushing are traded out for a handful of hopeful juniors who may suspect, but don’t always know, what is happening to them. But to the knight (or the soprano), it’s a hard-core, all-consuming quest, an exhausting operation which to me, felt a bit like reverse hazing. I have been reminded of the madness and the drama and the sheer physical and emotional drain of this period while writing the fourth secret society book.

In the opening scene of Under the Rose, Amy delivers a critique of the Rush period, and compares it to joining Rose & Grave. I think there is a difference between being forced to make this commitment your first few weeks of college, as you do with singing groups at Yale, or fraternities and sororities at many universities, and choosing, at the end of your junior year, when you are aware of the range of campus activities and opportunities, to make a huge time commitment to a society for one year.

But perhaps not as big of a difference as she thinks in UTR.

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Answer: I haven’t the foggiest. I believe some of the founding fathers were Freemasons — though according to Wikipedia, John Q. Adams, at least, was a vocal opponent. People love to point out the signs and symbols of Freemasonry in some of the emblems of our country, design of our money, etc. But saying you were in a fraternal order in the 18th century is pretty much like saying you were a member of a certain societal class. And then I bet a huge number of our presidents were in fraternities in college. Or do secret societies with Greek letters not count? Other than that, I know that at least Presidents Taft and both Bushes were in Skull & Bones.

Question: “Why is the Ivy League called the Ivy League, and what is it, exactly?”

Answer: The phrase originally referred to only an athletic league, like the “Big Ten” or “Division I” or etc. In fact, it is still used that way: Yale sports teams compete within the Ivy League Conference. The teams included are: Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth. I have heard two stories: that the term came from the ivy on the college building walls, and that the term is a misprint of the fact that originally there were only four (IV) teams in the league: Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Rutgers. There were other schools that came in and out over the centuries, like (I think) Bowden. Or maybe Bowden was offered a position in the conference and turned it down? There are a lot of rumors and legends. At any rate, only later did the term come to mean anything other than an athletic competition.


Question: “Is the conspiracy theory website working again?”

Answer: Nope, but it will be when the new site launches! (Note to the uninitiated: I made a web site to match the one that plays a major role in Under the Rose. It’s currently unavailable. I guess the powers that be have more influence than we’d thought!)

Question: Why are your books set at “Eli University” instead of Yale?

Answer: Because it’s fiction, and it’s fun to make up names for things. No, seriously. Why does Superman work at The Daily Planet in Metropolis, rather than The Chicago Sun? I think it’s much more rare, in fiction, for writers to talk about real companies. In The Devil Wears Prada, Prada might be real, but Runway magazine is not. I’m not trying to pull anything over on the reader; anyone with eyes can see that Eli is extensively based on Yale. Even the name “Eli” is a shout-out. You’ll note in the books that I never talk about Yale. Yale does not exist in the world of the books. I talk about Princeton, or Harvard, or Stanford, or NYU… but in this world, there is no Yale, no other Ivy League college in New Haven. In its place, there is Eli.

The extra layer of fiction gives me leeway, as an author, to not constantly be worried about literal accuracy. I can change geography or traditions or facts to suit the story, because I’m not talking about a real place. Rose & Grave is not Skull & Bones, but its own secret society, composed of a variety of society traditions drawn from collegiate, professional, fraternal, and religious secret societies. Eli is not Yale, nor is it connected to the Yale Corporation. When I’m talking about deans or professors or leaders of campus organizations or rivalries, it’s not real people or real organizations I’m talking about. I make it all up for the sake of the story.

Question: How many books are there in the secret society girl series? Answer: Four. The first three are, in order: Secret Society Girl, Under the Rose, and Rites of Spring (Break). I’m working on the fourth one now, and it will be released in summer of 2009.

Winner of the “Read it before the Release” Rites of Spring (Break) giveaway is….

LIZA!

Liza, email me with your address and I’ll get you a copy of ROSB and some other goodies.

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The rule is this: skip to page 99, read it, and if the writing or scene grabs you, chances are, it’s worth beginning. If not, toss it.

I think I’m too much of a purist to go around spoiling myself in that manner. Though if I start thinking about it too hard, it makes more sense that this rule is “69″ rather than “99,” due to common story structure.

Anyway, I ran right out and proceeded to 99 all my books.

In Secret Society Girl, page 99 takes place during the first scene post-initiation, when Amy is meeting the other taps. It includes a list, as well as the introduction of Odile Dumas, a.k.a. Lil’ Demon, who is described thusly:

A slender, stunning woman with waist-length red hair joined our group and extended a graceful hand toward me. Now, this chick I knew. But of course, you all know everything about Odile Dumas as well. She’d been tabloid fodder since she was 15. Her matriculation to Eli had largely been viewed by all as an attempt to present herself as less Lindsay Lohan and more Natalie Portman. But, to the media’s shock, she’d taken to collegiate life with gusto and all but dropped out of public view. Odile hadn’t had an album or a movie out in three years, and word around campus was that she was smarter (and less slutty) than anyone had expected (or hoped).

“Little Demon,” she purred, “but if I end up pursuing that hip-hop career, I’ll change it to Lil’ Demon.” The name rolled off her tongue with such ease that we all knew at once — hip hop career or no — what we’d end up calling her.

Page 99 of Under the Rose is a confrontation scene:

“This is what we agreed on, Jen.” His voice was perfectly even, as if he were discussing the weather. “I fail to see how anything has changed. You were the one that told me–”

“Not here, please And not now. Seriously, it’s not right.”

“You promised me you would. You swore it. Were you lying? Were you lying to me?” And there was a hint of emotion in his voice, a carefully reined anger that slipped a bit on the “me.”

“No, of course not. It’s just so hard. So much harder than I thought it would be. I’m not sure I want to do it anymore.”

“I don’t understand. I love you, Jen. Don’t you know that? I trust you.”

“I know. I know you do.” Her voice broke on her words.

“And you love me… don’t you? Don’t you love me? If you love me, then why is it so hard to do what I want?”

Page 99 of Rites of Spring Break is a BIG OL’ SPOILER that I’m not touching with a ten foot pole, here. Sorry!

And, though this probably won’t be page 99 of the printed book, here’s the first paragraph of the page from Rampant:

Not again. I stood, frozen, as the unicorn barreled toward the girls. In my mind’s eye, I saw Grant’s face, purple and poisoned, but I could not will my feet to move. The scent of death filled my nostrils, blood roared in my ears. And yet, even through my fear, I could feel myself—my innate hunter instinct—gauging the distance between my body and the unicorn’s. The world slowed, just like the last time I’d chased her, just like the time I’d gone after the kirin. My thigh muscles tensed as if to spring. And yet, I didn’t move. I couldn’t make it in time. It was too late.

Fun!

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But, hey, cool!

Diana Peterfreund continues the enjoyable, breezy charm she delivered in Secret Society Girl. Under the Rose is every bit as involving and hard-to-put-down as its predecessor – perhaps even more so – as the stakes rise higher and higher for its thoroughly likable, conspiracy-minded heroine. Adding skullduggery to the hotbed of hormones on a college campus makes for an intoxicating blend. If college life is a kegger, Peterfreund’s series is a cocktail in a sugar-rimmed martini glass, sophisticated and easily gulped but delivering a satisfying kick.
– Winston-Salem Journal

Read the whole thing (a few months late).

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“I loved dipping into a world of Ivy League life and secret society rituals; this book really made a change from my usual reading. I felt exhilarated by Amy’s schedule of papers, meetings and romantic liaisons with the delicious George ‘Puck’ Harrison. In truth, I was compelled to snatch moments with this book until I had devoured the entire thing.

The third book in the series, The Rites of Spring (Break), is scheduled for next summer and I will definitely reach for another slice of this smart, exciting, and very witty world.”

Full review here.

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As the Borders manager said last night, apparently the writer of the Secret Society Girl books is much better connected than anyone suspected.

Thanks so much to everyone who came to the signing. A special shout-out to lurker Robin. Hi, Robin!

I read, answered questions about my books, my time at Yale, my working wardrobe (hint: pajamas) and my wedding colors, and signed books. They had a positively enormous display of Under the Roses right out front in the window. Also, I found out that when I’m not undercover as Madeleine Albright, I’m undercover as Diana Peterfruend. Check it out:

Close enough, right? I’ve learned that people have a hard time pronouncing it, no matter what way it’s spelled. Man, that poster is big. I’m so glad that the Borders employees didn’t show it to me until AFTER the signing, or I really would have had a panic attack.

Here I am with Borders publicity coordinator Stephany. (By the way, there are still some signed copies at the Rockville Borders for anyone interested in picking some up.)

And a good time was had by all.

Back to rewrites! This morning has been such a wash. First Blogger was down. Then my computer crashed. *my* computer. My Mac. Fearful, I did a huge backup, and that’s been my day so far. Pantalaimon the iBook, whatever am I going to do with you?

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I haven’t actually done very many official booksignings. I did one last year on the release date of my first book, and all my friends came, so that was fun. I did one at RWA, and one at my house, and one at a bookstore in my hometown after a TARA meeting. All of those had pretty captive audiences. Other than that, I’ve been the queen of the drive-by booksigning.

In other news, I spent quite a long time on Monday trying to make a plotting board for ROS(B) to help me with the revisions. It was difficult for two reasons: 1) my method of plotting-board usage has changed somewhat wince the last time I made one for one of my books, and I hadn’t really realized how much that would effect me, and 2) the Office Depot near my house had a pretty crappy selection of Post-It notes, which lead to me being forced to use colors that I probably shouldn’t have. In the past, I’ve used a green that is more like the color of Secret Society Girl’s cover, but this green I’ve been using now is pretty close to the yellow color, so it makes the board look out of whack. Anyway, here it is, purposefully blurry to avoid spoilers:

It’s tough to tell, but some of those are green and some of those are yellow. Savvy readers will note how very different this board is to the one I did for Under the Rose, last year:

And not just because of the colors. (Curse you, Office Depot, why must you thwart my organizational system?) But the big difference comes from how I have started to arrange my plotting boards, and how doing workshops actually helped me with this.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a fan of Four-Act Structure. (I hear it’s just three act structure with the middle act split in two, and I can’t speak to that, because what I do know is that I’ve never once been able to wrap my head around three act structure, but four act structure seems as natural as breathing to me. However, whatever works for you.) And when I was working on a visual aid for a workshop I did on subplots back in May for TARA, I made up a plotting board for Pride & Prejudice, to show how the subplots weaved through each other and crescendoed during each of the mini act-climaxes of that book. To help illustrate that point, I put each act of the book on a different line of the board.

What I didn’t realize is that I could do the exact same thing when boarding my own books to help me out with structure. I was making the plot board and looking at it in despair, thinking that the storyline was really sloppy and meandering, and then I thought, why don’t I split it up into acts? And then when I did, I realized that I’d actually color coded things wrong, and that what I thought were two subplots were actually one.

It’s also much more clear what my focus is going to need to be in the revision stage of the manuscript.* Obviously, I need to do some tightening in the third act. I think part of the issue I’ll be dealing with is that I’m not quite sure which climax of the second act is the “real” climax. There are two subplots that climax (or mini-climax) there and they don’t happen at exactly the same time. I chose the “act break” as the first subplot to climax.

And now that I think of it, there needs to be some orange in that second square in the bottom row. That’s my other issue, I have “one more” plot thread going on in this book than I did in UTR. Though that’s not really accurate. I’m just counting something that I know I have to go in and weave more as its own plot thread, to help me out with revisions. I may have to redesign this a little, come to think of it, since we’re looking at a very different type of plot progression in ROS(B) than we are in UTR. I think this is, in a strange way, a more introspective novel, despite the fact that it’s far more overtly suspenseful than any in the series to date.

Oops, should that have been spoiler-whited out?

* Note: Acts do NOT need to be the same length. In modern fiction, the fourth act should actually be quite short. Climax and resolution only.

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When: Tuesday, August 21st
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Where: Borders Books & Music
White Flint Mall
11301 Rockville Pike
Kensington, MD 20895

And if you want to buy Secret Society Girl or Under the Rose, now is a great time to do so at the aforementioned Borders, since I happen to have here a handy dandy 20% off coupon (for Borders Rewards members) good for the next four days.

Oh, and this author may or may not confess to a small bout of self-Googling which landed her on the blog of a recent college graduate whose posts make her all nostalgic for her own college days. But, if she were to confess it, she would add only that the blog is totally awesome, as are the pictures. Creative geniuses, those folks from the Tiger school.

I can admit that and still be a daughter of Eli.

Yesterday was a good day. I got a lot of writing done, and also some really cool non-writing related news, and I went out to lunch to celebrate the latter, and ate this ginormous dish that was really nothing more than lump crab meat baked in butter. Which was as it should be. Those Marylanders do it up proud, I tell you.

I also did a good deed in a really sneaky way. Which means I may be hanging out with Diggers a little too often.

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Update on Rampant: “Unicorns are Back,” says USA Today. Take that, Justine.

Update on Rites of Spring (Break): I just got a look at the flap copy today. Great stuff. It will be a while until I can post it, but I get warm fuzzies every time I read it. The storyline excites me so much. I know I haven’t written much on this blog about the development of this particular book, especially in comparison of my posts about the other two. I think it’s because it’s very in process for me, and it will probably be something that I’ll be able to understand much better in retrospect. My process has changed significantly over the past year, but it hasn’t settled yet. It’s still in dark room phase.

One thing which is always a balancing act in the writing of these books is the blend of fact and fiction. The core of the series has always been showing secret societies the way they really are — not the way they are portrayed by Hollywood thrillers. But at the same time, I am telling a story, so certain facts need to be massaged or compressed or altered for the sake of a) drama, and b) respect for the subject matter and for the readers. But you’re always making a choice: what part of this is going to be “ripped from the headlines” and what part is going to be larger-than-life? The strange thing is that sometimes I choose not to include something real in the books, because it sounds too outlandish. Ironically, I’ve been called on the carpet by readers for having unrealistic elements about my made-up society that are one hundred percent true, as well as by readers (society members) who want to know how I found out about some aspect of a society that I made up because I thought it sounded cool. I think it was Twain who said that the difference between fact and fiction is that fiction has to be believable.

And I also have to be conscious of not hitting too close to home: these are novels, not roman-a-clefs, though there are elements of the latter in the story. Eli is obviously Yale, for example. But no character in the story is based on a real person. They may have characteristics in common with real people (we all do), but they are all completely made up. But, as I mentioned above, sometimes you can make things up and discover later that they are actually true. Then the question becomes: does this weaken the book? Will readers find it derivative, even if it works wonderfully within the context of the story? There’s definitely the impulse to go, “Screw reality! I thought this up first!” However, it also gives you the opportunity, perhaps, to twist the reality a little more. Play a little more “what if” with the new parameters. It’s an interesting dilemma.

I’m thinking it might not be an issue in the fantasy novels. Or not as much, at least, since my fantasy novels are very fact-based.

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