Debut Interview: Charity Tahmaseb and Darcy Vance (part one!)

So I got a chance to interview the awesome geek girl duo who wrote The Geek Girl’s Guide to Cheerleading. In part one they discuss the book and in part two everything else. 

That said, here’s part one!

jordyn: What was the initial inspiration behind Geek Girl’s Guide?

darcy: Geek Girl’s is loosely based on an experience Charity had during her senior year of high school.

charity: It’s true. I did make the varsity cheerleading squad winter of my senior year under circumstances not unlike those in the book. The rest of the story? Fiction.

jordyn: I really loved Bethany and Todd’s relationship – how did the idea for her to have a best guy friend (who also happens to be King Geek) come about?

darcy: Charity will have to answer that one. She already had Todd in place before I got involved in the project, but I will say: I loved their relationship too!

charity: I’m going to give one of those frustrating non-answers writers give by saying that Todd (and his characterization) was a gift. He pretty much arrived on the page fully formed and opinionated.

That being said, thanks to ROTC and the Army, I’ve been in enough friendships with guys that I wanted to pay tribute to that. Plus, writing the two of them together was just plain fun.

jordyn: As far as the boys go, was there any argument or disagreement as far as who Bethany would end up with – Todd or Jack?

darcy: Not so much about who Bethany would end up with but the Moni/Rick/Brian triangle was a little iffier. I <3 BRIAN and rooted for him throughout the process of revising the novel.

charity: There’s an exercise in Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook that has you brainstorm different endings, and I did picture a Bethany/Todd Casablanca type ending (with Jack out of the picture, but Bee and Todd just friends).

I love the whole Team Jack/Team Todd debate, although I never really thought about it in those terms while writing. As far as the Moni/Rick/Brian goes, it’s true, Darcy had to convince me. I wanted Moni on more neutral ground as far as love interests went, but I think the solution Darcy came up with does that while giving an edge to Team Brian.

jordyn: I loved this book so much (as you know). How did you write the story and the characters without crossing into “heard-this-a-million-times” cliche territory and without making the characters stereotypes?

darcy: I think the key was that we had both been lucky enough to know people who were like our characters: the geeks, the jocks, the cheerleaders, the wrestler boys, even the Gauntlet Girls. We knew that there were real people behind all of those labels. Trying to stay true to their stories is (I think) what kept Geek Girl’s feeling fresh.

charity: To add to what Darcy said, the key was giving the major players and many of the secondary ones their own story/arc. Not that all that information ended up in the final draft, or it may only be hinted at, but we knew it was there.

Thanks girls! And readers, check back soon for more Q&A from Darcy and Charity – including talk of their own high school experiences and how they came to work on the book as a team.