Pieces of Us: Character This or That

Here is Margie Gelbwasser on the tour for her fantastic novel, PIECES OF US, with a character this-or-that for Alex. Follow the rest of the blog tour for more tour stops!

(1) vegetarianism: is for wimps

(2) soda: keep it coming

(3) school: is good for meeting new freshmeat, I mean freshmen

(4) books: good props for school

(5) parties: not my scene

(6) penguins: What? What kind of weirdo question is that?

(8) Facebook: Who has the time? And who cares?

(9) playgrounds: They're good for kids, and I haven't been one since my dad offed himself.

Writing Alex: Alex is the character in PIECES OF US who gets the strongest reaction. He is vulgar, crass, and a misogynist. No, I don't agree with his actions, but I felt there was a need to write him. Why? Because he is real.

I have known guys like that: the ones who put a girl's virginity on a pedestal, the ones who determine a girl's worth by what she will and will not do sexually. While writing him, I began to understand motives and thinking of men like that. If he make a reader mad, good. That's better than someone connecting with him, right? And if a girl or woman reading this recognizes this guy as someone she is dating or had dated or is thinking about dating, all the better.

She can know to stay away or not blame herself for being with someone like that. After reading this book, someone wrote something to the effect, “Yes, these things happen, but you don't have to write about them.” By not writing about them, no one knows there are real people out there like this, and that's worse because by the time they find out the guy they thought they knew was really masquerading as someone else, they're already too deeply involved.