10 Weird Things on Screwing Mr. Melty

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10 Weird Things on Screwing Mr. Melty

SCREWING MR. MELTY was my first book, and it’s been quite a ride, between writing the initial draft for National Novel Writing Month (NaNo) in 2010 to giving myself ice cream headaches for research. Here are ten weird things about the creation of the book:

1.) The first draft of the book didn’t include Mr. Melty—or (gasp!) even any ice cream. The character Max, who owns Mr. Melty Ice Cream in the books, was a small baseball team owner or something. I believe when I revised, my thought process was as such: No ice cream? NEEDS ICE CREAM. This would probably work for revising a lot of stories, I’m thinking.

2.) There are nine f-bombs in the first chapter of the book.

3.) After writing a draft of the book for the 2010 NaNo, then revising it the following spring (MORE ICE CREAM), I kept the draft in my drawer for two years. I dusted it off and started revising it again when I saw a notice for a love story contest from a small publisher. I didn’t win that contest, but throwing myself into writing fiction—which I’d never really done, minus the NaNo adventure—made me realize how much I loved it. Which made me learn more about how to tell better stories, craft sentences, publish. Writing fiction is now a giant passion of mine, one of the focuses of my world and pillars of my sanity.

4.) I wouldn’t be able to eat Mr. Melty Minty Mango, a flavor in the book, because I’m severely allergic to mangos.

5.) The draft of the book changed drastically between revisions. The second draft was probably 95% changed from the first, the third draft 50% changed from the second, and so on. But throughout the revision process, Max’s flashback scene in the middle of the book has been there relatively unchanged since I wrote that crazy crummy first draft. It’s also one of my favorite scenes.

6.) The book’s original title was Flavors of Lust. I wasn’t entirely happy with it, so when my husband and I were spit-balling possible titles on a drive one afternoon and he jokingly suggested “Screwing Mr. Melty,” I glommed onto it. Much to his chagrin.

7.) Jason’s name was originally Baxter, but I changed it in later revisions after realizing some beta readers were confusing Baxter with Max because the names are similar.

8.) I called a genetics hotline as part of my research for the book. It was kind of embarrassing, but the nice woman on the line assured me that they “get calls like this all the time.”

Frozen Fruity Flaxseed

9.) I’ve tried to make a couple Mr. Melty Ice Cream flavors mentioned in the book, to mixed results. But this summer I’ve mostly been too lazy and have been eating store-bought mint chocolate chip, one of my faves.

10.) A few readers have mentioned the Stapler Scene in the book as being their favorite…which says something about my readers, I’m thinking. Like maybe they used to work at office supply stores where they had a lot of downtime.

If you enjoyed SCREWING MR. MELTY and want to recommend it to a friend, it’s going to be free on Amazon this Tuesday, August 19th, through midnight on Wednesday, August 20th!