Reader Question: How did you decide what to have Carlie do with— SPOILER ALERT!

From Steve Lipson of San Diego (of Proud Reader photo fame) asked me these two intriguing questions as we watched the Dodgers clobber the Mariners. (Boo.)

“The title, As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back — “ He thought for a moment. “She had to go that far, and then she had to go there, emotionally. When did you come up with the ‘coming back’ part?” Was that always the plan?”

Not at all. I was of the opinion that once Carlie was outta there, she was gone. But soon after I wrote the first chapter, I gave it to a friend to read — which I don’t recommend, but I was brand-new to writing a novel. Her first comment was, “I’m curious about what happens with the money.” While my initial thought was, “Fuck them about the money,” her question opening up all sorts of possibilities for how I was going to get Carlie. emotionally, to the final image that was driving me to write the novel.

SPOILER ATERT!! Part of Ending Revealed:

“How did you decide what to have Carlie do with the money?”

For years, as the novel was a draft, I had Carlie write the check to Seattle’s Harborview Abuse and Trauma Center, then called the Harborview Center for Sexual Assault and Recovery. Then an editor, Carole L. Glickfeld, suggests the choice that ended up in the novel. Too much more is too much of a reveal!

Anyone else have any more questions?

theonlyallehall@gmail.com

“With a realistic redemption arc, As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back is a novel in which a survivor of abuse achieves a gritty, tender coming-of-age and reinvents herself.” — Karen Ribgy, The Foreword.

I would happily post your Proud Reader photo, either of you holding the novel or the novel in a lovely setting of your construction.