Fun Facts for “Clover”
Factoid One
The choice of Ricky’s car was not accidental. It seems to me, and to several of my girlfriends, that younger men who drive those older Camaros tend to be emotionally stunted men-children who have a warped view of the world.
Factoid Two
I actually did research best practices for growing marijuana so that the scenes with Clover and her roommates wherein they’re discussing their business would have an air of authenticity to them. Now I’m sure I’m on some kind of federal watchlist.
Factoid Three
My girlfriend and I don’t own a dog. We’re not really pet people. Because of this, I often had to go back through pages of this manuscript that I had already written and add references to Echo, having completely forgotten that a dog was part of this story, and that in many scenes the dog should be present.
Factoid Four
I chose Clover’s last named carefully.
She comes from Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and although I never specify in the book if her family is Pennsylvania Dutch, I wanted to give her a surname that was reflective of the region her hometown is in. I chose Glattfelder from a list of popular Pennsylvania Dutch surnames.
Factoid Five
Before you write to tell me I don’t know how to spell, Snow Shoe, Pennsylvania is a real place, and it is spelled using two words. I have no idea why.
Factoid Six
Clover’s wisecrack to Eleanor to “metabolize this,” in Chapter 20, when Eleanor was hungry, but didn’t want to wait until Clover cooked a meal, is based on something my girlfriend told me to do when I was hungry, mentioned something about my metabolism in relation to us ordering a pizza so that I wouldn’t have to wait until we cooked dinner together. She handed me a granola bar from the jar we keep granola bars in, and said, “Metabolize this.”
Factoid Seven
In Chapter 18, I describe Clover and her friends as celebrating their first marijuana harvest by drinking some wine.
It wasn’t until several chapters later when—for some reason—I finally remembered how young they were. So…how did they get the wine? That’s how I came up with the idea that a guest had brought a bottle with them to a party Clover and her friends had given, and so I went back and added that to the chapter.
My only excuse is that although I’ve written two other books with very young protagonists—“Never Has She Ever” and “Something Clicked”—I’m just not used to needing to concern myself with the ages of my characters as it relates to them being able to buy alcohol.
Factoid Eight
My first book with a one-word title.
Factoid Nine
The Santa Monica Pier amusement park is one that me and my friends will go to frequently, despite the distance from Carlsbad. We usually make it part of a girls’-weekend in L.A.
Factoid Ten
The episode in Chapter 19, where Eleanor has trouble dictating a text message that she wants her car to send is modeled after what has happened to me…more than once. Very often, I’ll be driving, and instruct my car to send a text to Katie or someone else, and when it prompts me for the message, I’ll realize I hadn’t actually composed it in my head yet. This will inevitably cause me to curse and make some off-color comment about what an idiot I am for not having done that. The car, of course, will read that back to me, and ask me if I want to send it, at which point I need to start all over.
Bonus Factoid
Clover’s physical description is based on a friend of mine who I’ve known since high school. She looked exactly like Clover back when we were both nineteen, and she still looks like that! (Her hair is a little shorter now, though. LOL)
