Help With Possible Novel?
 

Hello all,

First off, let me say that I am an alumna of an NPC sorority and a semi-active member of these boards. For reasons that I hope will be clear, I’m posting this under a new username.

I am attempting to write a novel (I KNOW, JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, EVER). My novel is currently a murder mystery set in and revolving around Greek Life. As a sorority sister, I’d like to see more entertainment that accurately portrays Greek Life. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Because my book may never be completed or published, I’d prefer not to be associated with my usual username, which could, if you dig enough, reveal my real identity. It’s mostly embarrassment, I guess. There’s a damn good chance this thing will be awful (and I hope if it is, y’all will tell me so). I promise if I actually get this published, I will tell you who I really am and it will probably be a huge anticlimax because I really don’t post that much.

So, with that said—in writing this book, I will clearly have some questions about how various greek systems work, and aspects of the system that I never saw (especially regarding hazing. As currently envisioned, accusations of hazing will be a major plot point of the novel). I served only tangentially on my sorority’s e-board, so there’s definitely some stuff I’ll need to dig to find out about.

Additionally, I’ll be making up a lot of sorority names, colors, mascots, etc. and I really want to make sure these don’t resemble any actual existing sororities. This will not be one of those books where the sorority is Kappa Kappa Beta, and their colors are dark green and light green, and their symbol is the lock. I’ve tried really hard to not use any colors, mascots, or symbols currently used by NPC or NPHC sororities, and to avoid any letter combinations that evoked an existing GLO, but something might have slipped through.

So basically, what I’m hoping to do here is use you guys as a sounding board for ideas, as the most knowledgeable group of Greeks in existence.

I would also like to possibly post some excerpts of the book for criticism, although I would possibly prefer to do this via PM. One of the first parts I’m writing, though, is my main character’s rush story. Not sure it’ll make it into the book, but it’s helping me get into her head. Would that be appropriate to put in the Recruitment Stories thread, clearly marked as fictional? Would anyone be interested in reading it, or just generally answering questions, offering suggestions, etc?

I will obviously also be doing my own research, doing separate critiques, etc. This is just one resource I hope to use, if you guys are interested.

Respectfully,
The Next Nancy Drew

I would be interested in reading some excerpts and giving feedback. This sounds pretty cool. It's annoying to me the way Greek Life is portrayed in the media most of the time and I think it's good that you are doing your best to make an accurate portrayal.

Hi, I guess what I was trying to say is that I know how MY system worked, but we didn't have, for instance, serenades, candle passes, Greek Week, Derby Days, lavaliering, etc., and I know that some or all of these things are very big deals at other campuses, and if I were going to put them in my book (and I might, since I don't want the book's campus to be my campus), I'd want to make sure I got the details right. That's all I meant.

And I kind of figured about the Recruitment Story thing, but since I am trying to make this school and recruitment different from my own, I was hoping to get some feedback on whether it sounded credible. Wouldn't be trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, pretending to write a "real" recruitment and then SURPRISE it's a fake.

Because I'm a member of a single sorority on a single campus I'm a little worried about making the setting too much like my campus and all the sororities sound like my sorority (terminology, etc.). I know how WE did things, but not anyone else (in more than a general sense).

I am planning to be involved in various writing groups once the novel gets a little farther along, but I'm not in a terribly heavily Greek area at the moment, and am not sure how much useful critique I will get about the nuts and bolts versus the actual writing, if that makes sense.

Hope this clears some stuff up for you.

I'd be interested in reading excerpts, as well! Coming from a tiny, TINY Greek system, I can understand wanting to know more. Good luck with the writing!

Ps. Good choice on the Nancy Drew :)

Sounds like a good project!

There are several mysteries with sorority-house settings.

"The Walls Came Tumbling Down," by Babs Deal, is one of the better-known. I believe she was a KD at Alabama. The story is that the skeleton of a baby is found in the walls of a sorority house being torn down (for remodeling). The novel explores when that happened, whose baby it was, etc.
http://alabamaliterarymap.lib.ua.edu...r?AuthorID=114

"Bitsy Finds the Clue," by Augusta Hueill Seaman, is an oldie--1946. A juvenile mystery, set in Williamsburg. I believe that Seaman was a Kappa; the "women's fraternity" mentioned in the book is Gamma Gamma Kappa, or something like that.

"Poisoned Pins," by Carolyn Hart, c. 1993 -- http://www.amazon.com/Poisoned-Pins-...ion/B003H4I4U4

And there's also "The Student Fraternity Murder" by Milton Propper. http://mikegrost.com/blochman.htm#Propper

I'd be willing to help. I don't come from a huge greek system, but I'd say we were medium in size. We had all the things you said you were wondering about.

Thanks, guys, especially for the book recommendations. I will definitely read those both for inspiration and to make sure I don't get too close to something already been done.

Why CAN'T it be based on your campus? Writers write better when they're really familiar with the subject matter.

Also, there is a mystery series called The Scumble River Mysteries by Denise Swanson. She's an ASA and her detective character is an ASA. It's several years after college, but it might still be worth a read. It's a good series. The idioms & sayings in it always crack me up.

I had a book when I was in middle school entitled "The Real Thing: A Tobey Heydon Story." The author is Rosamond du Jardin. The main character graduates from HS and goes off to college. She makes new friends, goes thru rush, joins a sorority, makes good grades, has some dates, etc. It is set in the 1950's. The fraternities serenade the sororities, the sororities hold candlelight passes to announce lavaliering, pinning and engagements. I loved it! That might give you some inspiration.

:confused::confused:
Maybe it's just me but I don't think these 2 sentences mesh well together.

Good question. In a lot of ways, the campus will be quite similar to mine, because that's what I know. I'm not someone from (for instance) a small New England liberal arts college setting my book in the SEC. But, in a lot of ways my own college was very...different, and I don't think a lot of it would translate into a more "normal" college/sorority experience. Furthermore, I don't want the college in the book to be correlated with my own school, and I particularly don't want people thinking "I bet XYZ sorority in the book are ABC at [college]." For the same reason people on GC don't reveal their college or code on recruitment stories, I don't want my novel to be obviously about [college]. I am explicitly making up a University and sororities, and with that comes some traditions that I never experienced (for instance our Homecoming Weekend is NOTHING like any other I've ever heard or read about, and we have several traditions--that very much shaped the way we recruited and socialized, that are completely unique to the school. I'd probably need to replace these events with something more "traditional" like Greek Week). Am I over explaining?

Valid concern, and one I've put a lot of thought into. If anything causes me to scrap the book and start over, it'll probably be this. Right now, the plan is that the first "suspect"--the one the police never give up on, and what causes our heroine to start investigating on her own--is the sorority. The death is assumed to be hazing related, and the sorority is on the verge of getting shut down. Other suspects will be the rival sorority, "bitter" girl who didn't get a bid (or possibly dropped during pledging), etc., but in fact the villain is someone outside the system with their own agenda. I do think it could be problematic, but hopefully I can handle it with finesse and take a hard look at how people inside and outside the system see each other.

Sorry about the huge wall of text. All of these questions/concerns are definitely valid and are helping me think through the book's concept and execution, so thank you.

Kappa Kappa Beta sounds like a knock off of Kappa. Light and dark green instead of blue and a lock instead of a key. Hmmmm....

Which is why she said:

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheNxtNancyDrew (Post 2175339) Additionally, I’ll be making up a lot of sorority names, colors, mascots, etc. and I really want to make sure these don’t resemble any actual existing sororities. This will not be one of those books where the sorority is Kappa Kappa Beta, and their colors are dark green and light green, and their symbol is the lock.

;)

LOL...Hooked on Phonics worked for me. :D