How Did That Story Come to Be? Maxxed Out by Treva Harte

Maxxed Out was unusual for me because I actually came up with the hook and the concept before I wrote it.  How I decide to write books—and what books I finish—are usually a mystery for me.  I have a few books I’ve been carrying around in my head, even some that are partially written, but I can’t move on them.  They nag but not enough to be written. 

Maxxed Out was one where I suddenly thought about someone in love with his older brother’s best friend.  Who doesn’t love a story like that?  I was all set to write a happy story about someone who was a young adult and about to take some adult steps to make an old crush interested.  The problem was because it was m/m I kept thinking about the older brother.  And that’s where the story took my usual quirky turn.  I fought making that story darker.  But what if there was a back story about the best friend and the brother?  I fought it so hard that I left some strings dangling in Maxxed Out that I wanted to use for a sequel and—well, I really didn’t want to get too complicated in the first story—but I annoyed readers.  I did my best to resolve things in Inside Daniel, the sequel, but that’s why it went down the way it did.

You can read more about Treva's books at: http://www.trevaharte.com/