I got the idea when I was in high school. I have some issues with age of consent laws, primarily that people act like anyone under the age of consent is an innocent child. This is particularly ridiculous when that age is something like 17. Seventeen-year-olds are not children. They are not adults, but they are not children. I dreamt up Janine, a high schooler sleeping with a boy older than her, but not TOO much older. Most consent laws give a 5 year window–a seventeen year old is ok with a twenty-one year old, but not a twenty-three year old. My first draft had spunk, the spark of this initial concept, but it didn’t have plot. It meandered off into cliche, and I abandoned it. But the people who read it at the time were very enthusiastic. This surprised me, because Janine is actually something of a bitch. But, hey, people like a certain amount of bitchiness. I’ve toyed with the idea of returning to SS on and off over the years. I considered making Saul much older than Janine. I debated how she would spend her time after the break up. I didn’t want it to be a typical love story. And I wasn’t at all sure how I wanted Janine to feel about Saul. Some things that never changed? Janine herself and her family. I knew I wanted her to be the child of a second marriage, someone’s little step-sister. There is tension in her parents’ relationship [...]