Lauren Helms: Exclusive Interview & Excerpt
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Lauren Helms stopped by to chat:
Her New Release, Jo Bro and Pokemon Go!
Hey Lauren, thanks for stopping in!
Hello! As always, I’m excited to be here. I love hanging out with you!
Boyfriend Maintenance, a part of the 425 Madison series just released. If this is the first time someone is reading your book, what is something they need to know about you or your writing?
Good question! I think my writing is pretty easy to read; I focus on making my characters feel as real as they can be. I find that my stories are more… “in the moment.” You won’t find a lot of long sections of internal dialogue. I love writing conversations between characters, so you get a lot of fun dialogue in my books. The other thing readers should know, that you already mentioned, is that I like to write nerdy characters. I love pop culture and so in turn, so do my characters.
The story is centered around a fake relationship between, Emmy and Jake. Have you ever pretended to be in a relationship? I personally have, but not with an actual person, just when I’m getting hit on at random times, I’ll be like oh, sorry I have a boyfriend. Lol.
Sure, I mean, I’ve been telling people since I was 16 that I was going to marry Justin Timberlake someday. I made sure my husband knew the score before we got married. That’s the extent of my pretending to be in a relationship.
Hahahaha, well watch out Jessica, you have competition!
As I mentioned above, Emmy plays Digibot, which is your version of Pokemon Go!. I would love it if you could give me and other readers who might play a few tips, because let’s face it. I’m not that great at this game.
So I have to state for the record that my gamer boy husband has been playing Pokémon since he was a kid, so I joined the mobile phenomenon a few years ago when it first released solely to give it a try and for bonding purposes. I know what I know today, because of him.
So here are my essential tips…
Don’t spend your stardust just because you have it. It all adds up and you will need it when you get to the higher levels.
Save up those coins! You can only earn 50 coins a day, and you do this by defending Gyms. So try to participate in a Gym battle every day if you can. Once you get to higher levels, you’ll want to increase the size of your backpack and Pokédex so you can hold more. In my opinion, you only need two egg incubators, so don’t waste your coins on those and clothes.
When you first start, it’s fun to collect as many Pokémon as you can. If you have a lot of a certain kind of Pokémon, you don’t need to keep them all, get rid of them. Your Pokédex keeps track of what you catch, so don’t feel bad about cleaning out your Rattatas, Weedles, and Pidgeys. BUT before you transfer any Pokémon to the Professor, make sure you check the stats. While high CP Pokémon is great, if their IVs suck, they won’t do great when it comes to battling and protecting gyms.
Don’t attempt to battle in Raids and Gyms you can’t win. If you faint all your good Pokémon and run out of revives and potions, you’re out of luck. Stick to what you know you can beat and find a buddy or two to tackle those Raids you can’t, on your own.
Lastly, if you ever want to a Gyaridos, start walking your Magikarp now… it’s a long walk to 400 candies.
Nick Jonas was your muse for Jake in Boyfriend Maintenance, were you ecstatic when they reunited recently? I’m personally obsessed with both Sucker and Cool!
So one of the first things I do when I start outlining my books is to find my character inspiration. It helps me visualize the character when I’m writing them. I think I knew Jake was Nick right off the bat. I can’t get enough of the Jonas Bros right night, that that I ever could, but I’m in love with their new songs. Let’s just say that my two-year-old knows the chorus to Sucker because we listen to it so much.
There are a lot more people mingling around and fortunately I don’t see Emmy trapped into conversations without me. Unfortunately, I can’t find her. So help me, if she left me here, I’m going to be pissed. But then, across the open space, I see her in the very corner. At first, I think she really is hiding. My anger from the possibility of her leaving me shifts to anger at the possibility that someone upset her. I start toward her. But as I get closer, I notice she does something on her phone. Is she texting someone? She’s moving around the space strangely, like maybe she keeps dropping cell service. Whatever she’s doing, I don’t think she is texting because she’s using her pointer finger in a swipe up motion.
Standing just out of her view, I study her. She’s fucking gorgeous, but she’s acting strangely right now. I don’t know if I should laugh or be concerned. Just then, someone comes up next to me and shoves his hands in his pockets. I notice he’s a little taller than me.
“She’s a nut. But I love her.” His voice is full of affection. I look to him and immediately I know this is Levi. They’ve got the same dark hair and strikingly similar facial features.
“You must be Levi. Congratulations on your engagement.” I turn my gaze back to Emmy. She’s standing still now. Feverishly tapping her screen.
“Thank you, and you must be Jake.”
I nod.
“You two have created quite a stir tonight.”
I cock an eyebrow but remain focused on Emmy. “Really? I haven’t gotten the feeling anyone really cares we’re here except for your parents. Hell, Cringey Craig hasn’t even bothered us.”
‘Boyfriend Maintenance’ by Lauren Helms
Levi laughs, I assume at my use of the nickname. “Kitty has a knack for stirring shit quietly. Craig is preparing himself. He’ll circle then pounce soon enough. You’ve been talking to Becca I see, since I’ve known only her to use that nickname for him.” I grunt in response.
What the fuck is she doing? She’s got to be playing a game or something.
“The more interesting topic here is the fact that you clearly know about Craig, yet I don’t know anything about you. Emmy tells me about a lot of shit. And she hasn’t mentioned you.”
I turn to him to show him the respect he isn’t showing me. But he’s playing big brother right now, I get it. “I work in her building, so it’s not really something we want getting out so soon. So, we’ve kept it on the down low.”
He pinches his lips but nods.
“What the heck is she doing?” I finally ask.
“What do you mean?” He is looking at me again. So, I turn my body slightly toward him. Maybe I’m being rude, but his tone was confused.
“I mean, what is she doing over there in the corner? She’s acting funny.” I cross my arms. Clearly, I’m not the only one who just saw her fist-pump the air.
He looks at me with confusion. “She’s playing Digibot Go. It’s like her favorite game and current obsession. How do you not know this?”
Shit. Clearly, he isn’t in on our little agreement, I’ve got to turn this around.
“Well, we’re still learning a lot about each other, maybe she wasn’t ready to tell me about Digibot Go yet.” I’m grasping. I’ve got no reason, other than the fact that we really don’t know each other at all.
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