After Midnight is also special for a lot of reasons, some of which I'd like to share. So here are:
Ten Things About After Midnight by Lynn Viehl
Blame the Kid: This novel was in response to something my daughter said a few years ago; she complained that I never wrote anything that was age-appropriate for her and her friends to read. She was right, so I set out to try.
E-book Compulsion: I never planned to write Dark of Heart, the free companion/parallel novella e-book that I just released, and that is set in the same universe. When I finished the manuscript for After Midnight a secondary character named Kari Carson became stuck in my head and wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote her story.
Experts: I worked with a terrific group of teenagers who helped me shape the story by providing me with first-hand knowledge, brain-storming, story discussion, critiquing and editing. They corrected my mistakes and never once complained once about the ten thousand questions I asked them.
Firsts: After Midnight is my first official YA novel, the first book in a new trilogy, and also the first time I've ever published in trade paperback with an independent publisher.
Lost Lake: The town of Lost Lake from the novel does not exist, but is a conglomeration based on a number of small Central Florida communities that I know and love. I also used a few elements from my childhood hometown in South Florida.
Not the First: You never know how obscure you are until you start writing in a new genre. Almost all of the interviewers and bloggers who have contacted me about the book assumed that After Midnight was my first novel. I realized this when I started answering e-mail questions like "How does it feel to become a published author?" and "Are you planning to making writing a career?"
Revisiting High School: I loathed being in high school, high school kids, high school teachers, etc. -- isn't that a prerequisite for being a writer? -- so the prospect of writing about that part of life in that kind of setting worried me. Once I got into the story, though, I actually enjoyed revisiting (and at some points reinventing) the experience. You still couldn't pay me to be a teenager again, but in the end I think it was good for me.
Title: The original/working title was Midnight Meeting, which I first spotted in an Emily Dickinson poem and encountered again as a Gaias Pendulum song title. That all felt a bit too heavy for the story, so I went through the manuscript gathering keywords, bumped into the phrase after midnight and went with that.
True to Life: All of the horses in the book are based on real-life counterparts I have met and/or that my daughter has ridden. Their names have been changed, however, so that no over-zealous fans try to find their barns and sneak into their stalls for an autograph.
Worldbuilding: I haven't built a brand-new universe or moved into a new genre since 2004, so I really had fun with this one. I also found it to be a serious challenge, and in the process gained a lot of respect for YA as a genre.
