Questions about Exposed

[Ashley]

Ask anything about the novel... from characters to how much of it is similar to Ashley's own story.

[A]

I was actually wondering about the similarities between your story and what you wrote in the book. Anything you can share?

[Ashley]

A wrote: "I was actually wondering about the similarities between your story and what you wrote in the book. Anything you can share?"

Hi A :)

Actually, pretty similar, except my husband was even nicer than Jessie... and I was a lot worse than Ally. Some people think her character is melodramatic ... they would think I was insane then. I was very sensitive, very angry, very mean, rude, unforgiving. It took us a long time to work through everything and it was really difficult. Originally, I had the characters portrayed just like us, but several people told me that Ally was unlikeable and Jessie was too passive, so I had to make them a little nicer than us. :)

As for the porn stars story ... some people may consider it cliche, but I have several friends who are porn stars or ex-porn stars and Taylor's story is almost an exact replica of a real life girl's story, minus the very end. So while it does seem cliche, reality is often cliche.

Jessie's dad was a portrayal of my mother-in-law. Ally's dad was my own idealistic side. And all of the clients Ally sees during her counseling practice are all based on real life.

The entire book is based on real life, which is what I wanted to do with this novel to show how serious and painful this industry is for everyone involved.

Does that help? Feel free to ask anything else!