BEHIND THE BOOK
When I first started Guyaholic, I was in the mood to write a love story with a fairy-tale ending. But I also knew I wanted to write about V, a seventeen-year-old girl I’d originally introduced in Vegan Virgin Valentine. V is hurt and angry, and she’s terrified of love and commitment. She’s been deserted by her mom. She’s never had a dad. She’s had very little stability in her life. And while she’s addicted to guys, she shudders at the prospect of being in a relationship with one of them.
Perfect makings for a happy ending, right? Ha.
That’s where the hockey puck enters the picture. When I was sixteen, I was sitting with friends in the front row of a hometown hockey game. It was a gorgeous group of hockey players that season, and we were all hooked on watching them do their thing. At some point, I turned away from the ice to say something to a person nearby and – SMASH – I was hit in the forehead by a hockey puck.
The actual puck that split open my forehead – and inspired Guyaholic
March of junior year, after my notorious collision with the hockey puck
Bleeding and barely conscious, I fell into someone’s lap. Later, after being rushed to the hospital and stitched up again, I discovered I fell into the lap of this guy named Jeff, who was a senior and very, very cute. When I went back to school a few days later, I found Jeff and thanked him for catching me and we had this weeklong little…thing. It didn’t end up working out, which disappointed me mainly because I loved the idea of telling people, Guess how we met? I fell into his lap, bleeding and barely conscious! Oh, well. At least I still have the puck.
Back to V. I decided, of course, that V would have to be hit by a hockey puck just like me and, just like me, she’d have to fall into the lap of cute guy. His name is Sam. And V, being V, would have to ruin the whole thing. But then, throughout the course of Guyaholic, maybe V will realize that Sam is her Prince Charming after all. Maybe she’ll find her happily ever after.
V Valentine’s Cross-Country Playlist for Guyaholic
1. Crash Into Me by Dave Matthews Band (Album: Live at Luther College)
2. Every Morning by Sugar Ray (Album: The Best of Sugar Ray - 2005)
3. Oops!…I Did It Again by Britney Spears (Album: Oops!…I Did It Again)
4. Little Miss S by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians (Album: Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars)
5. Snowman by The Nields (Album: Play)
6. Little Plastic Castles by Ani DiFranco (Album: Little Plastic Castles)
7. Absolutely (Story of a Girl) by Nine Days (Album: The Madding Crowd)
8. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For by U2 (Album: The Joshua Tree)
9. Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T’s (Album: Every Second Counts)
10. You Are the Everything by REM (Album: Green)
11. Such Great Heights by Iron and Wine (Album: The Garden State Soundtrack)
