“Same thing,” she says with a devious spark in her green eyes.
She definitely watches her favorite movies for the challenging female leads. I wonder if she even knows she’s one herself. After all, she seems determined to challenge me.
“Oh, good! You’re both here,” Melanie says as she enters the room. “Okay, so this is going to be the basic setup at each forum.Three chairs up on the stage, moderator, that’s me, in the middle. Evan will be on my left and you’ll be on my right. I’ll have a few index cards with practiced questions to ask both of you, and then we’ll open for questions from the audience. I’ve also invited a few interns to act as the audience today.”
I look at the interns that are busy on their phones, completely uninterested in being here, kind of like me. I’ve been on plenty of these book tours. I know the drill. I know this explanation is for Rachel.
“Shall we do a practice run?” Melanie asks, looking between Rachel and me.
I nod my head and say, “There is typically an introduction beforehand. Once introduced, you’ll walk out on stage and sit down. I think Melanie will most likely introduce you as“Rachel Perry, the woman so obsessed with Evan Michaels that she spent her time writing about his character instead of doing something productive like creating her own. Here’s who you may know as username, BarrettBeyondTheBadge.”Do you need to practice that walk of shame, Rachel?”
I make sure to tilt my head just perfectly with a slight sneer.
Her eyes widen at the insult before they turn to slits as a glare at me. She’s cute when she’s mad, which is going to make this extra enjoyable and possibly distracting.
Rachel turns around and sits down in her designated chair.
Melanie looks at me. “Play nice.”
I shrug my shoulders. “I’m not sure I know how to do that.”
“Learn fast,” she replies before walking to the chair in the middle and sitting down.
I sit down, staring out into the large room and at the seven people scattered throughout the seats, still looking down at their phones as they busily text away. People are always more interested in what’s happening in the world beyond them instead of their own.
I look back at Melanie, who is glancing through her index cards, then I look at Rachel, who is sitting with her legs crossed, looking everywhere but at me.
“All right,” Melanie begins. “First question will be directed at Evan. After introductions, I’ll just start going through questions. Answer clearly and try to keep your answer concise.”
I nod my head, watching as Rachel nods too, still refusing to look in my direction. Good. I hope she knows her place here.
“Evan,” Melanie says. “This is your fourteenth novel in what is your debut series,Murder After Darkfeaturing Detective Barrett Steele. How does it feel to continue writing about Barrett, and can we expect the same great murder mystery as the previous thirteen novels?”
“Barrett has become a friend to me, and I feel very honored to have written fourteen novels. I’m so thankful for the loyal fan base that has allowed me to continue my relationship with him. As far as expecting the same tension for book fourteen, of course. Barrett isn’t one to quit until a mystery has been solved,” I reply evenly, as if I’m reading off my own index cards.
These answers are easy for me, tattooed in my brain.
“All right, Rachel.” Melanie adjusts herself.
And here we go. This should be interesting.
Melanie continues, “You’ve accumulated quite your own fan base through your fanfiction writing over Evan’sMurder After Darknovels under the series nameBarrett After Dark. Very clever, I must say. Since Evan doesn’t have social media, it seems you have created an internet sensation for him that has made his novels more popular than ever.”
I try to keep my face from falling, but I feel my eyebrow twitch. I don’t ask much about the success of my novels. I figure Melanie will let me know if there is ever a problem. Nothing has changed in the royalty payments, so I assume all is well since they seem consistent. I’m not aware if there is a correlation between Rachel’sfanfiction and the sales of my own novels, but this statement makes me wonder what Melanie means by the popularity of my books, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.
Melanie continues, “What made you want to write fanfiction for these novels, particularly?”
Rachel takes a deep breath. I watch her shoulders relax, and she finally turns to face me.
“Truthfully, fanfiction wasn’t my plan. I’ve always loved to write, but I was experiencing some doubt and writer’s block. A friend suggested I try writing about something I loved and mentioned fanfiction. Evan Michaels is a fantastic writer. His earlier books were a favorite of mine…”
I realize she used the wordwereinstead ofare.
“They were relatable. I mean, as relatable as solving murder mysteries can be. I guess Barrett was relatable. As each novel debuted, I purchased them, devouring their words, but I still felt like I wanted more. Not for myself, necessarily, but more for Barrett. It wasn’t that the story wasn’t fantastic. Evan can create perfect plot lines that have you turning each page into the early hours of the morning.”
She pauses, smiling at me as if I’m a memory and not a real person sitting a few feet from her.Or maybe, she’s remembering reading my books. Either way, it catches me off guard, and I let her smile slip beneath my exterior, making my pulse quicken slightly.
She continues, “I began to write small stories about Barrett at first until I finally decided to share one on a fanfiction forum. I honestly didn’t know how big the world of fanfiction was. It kind of spiraled out of control from there. It seems I'm not the only one that wants something more for Barrett. The more I wrote, the more subscribers I gained. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of fanfiction I’ll be writing when book fourteen releases.”
