Botanic Gardens: Near the place where Kit and Deb break up

That was the notion rattling around in my head as I began to write the fourth Crossroads novel. I had actually planned on something completely different but this idea wouldn't let me go so I asked my publishers if I could change the fourth novel. I'd already submitted a full outline but there was no way I was going back to that story now that I'd found this one. Luckily, they agreed and I set about exploring this notion.

So I had a premise, but not much else. I wanted this story to be different from the others, so I decided to make the hero have no outstanding problems. The first three novels started out with problems. With Allie, her father walked out of the house; with Tommy, he was separated from his best friend; and with Angeline, she had a problem with her self-image. This time, I wanted to start with a guy with no problems. I wanted him to be popular and smart and good-looking. And thus, Wei Kit was born.

He starts off the novel without any problems. He has a crush but that's normal. He's the school's star swimmer and he has friends he can count on. How do you proceed from that? That's how the notion of NACS fits in. One too many girls likes Kit and he starts developing a problem when he can't decide between the two of them.

A lot of readers ask me whether Deb is a real person. In fact, I had two boys who were so in love with her, they kept up a steady stream of email with me. They wanted to know her real age, what she really looked like IRL, etc. Yes, it's true that a real Deb exists but all I've borrowed is a name. Really. Honest. And the fact that she's pretty but that's it. It's silly to take real life people and transform them into characters.

If Deb were to look like anyone, this would be her

Not only is there the issue of libel, but what fun would it be if I didn't get a chance to create my own Deb. Truth is, Deb was very hard to get to know. It took months for me to draw her out of her shell and get to the heart of what makes her tick. (As it turns out, she was very hard for Kit to get to know too, which was the root of their break up.) But I don't create characters so much as let them evolve into thinking, breathing persons--all in my head. She isn't real in the sense that she is flesh and blood, but she certainly is very real in my head and hopefully I've managed to get her essence out onto the printed page. What does she look like to me? I wouldn't say because I don't to ruin what Deb looks like to you in your mind. That's the best-looking Deb there is--the one in your head. But when I saw the above picture, I was taken aback. That's all I'll say.

Readers often ask me which of the four novels I like best and I tell them it's like asking me which of my children I love best. It's tough to answer but NACS above the others does have a special place in my heart. Partly because characters from the other three novels show up again in NACS, but mostly because being caught between two people is a subject that I like to write about. And Kit is truly caught between E-Leng and Deb. I wanted so much for the readers not to think that he was a cad because he's not. It's just sometimes you can't control how your heart feels and it's doubly hard to know what you want when you're a teenager.

In an initial draft, Kit goes back to E-Leng after Deb breaks up with him. One of my friends detested Kit for that because it was like he settled for second choice after his dream girl dumped him. My friend had a point and I worked hard to revise the story. In the final draft, it was Kit who realises that things weren't working out. He had pursued Deb, fought for her (literally) and just when things seemed to be going well, he realises there is just no spark between them, that the magic connection needed to make a relationship work just isn't there. So he made the very tough decision to call it quits. And then he didn't dare go back to E-Leng thinking she would have nothing to do with him. But she's the one who initiates or re-initiates their friendship.

So do I believe in a nearest available chick syndrome? Yes. I've seen it happen several times before. I think I will see it again. I think I have readers who believe in it too, judging by how well the book is received when they are sold at talks that I conduct.