What Would Eve Write?

Eve Lopez and I have known each other for years and have always shared a mutual admiration and respect. I admired her adventurous spirit and ability to mold young minds halfway around the world as an ESL teacher and I like to think she respected my ability to speak directly from my heart – even if it and my brain weren’t always connected.

As the lovely Eve has recently written a book and I have been starting on mine (some would say for years now), I wanted to delve just a bit deeper into her literary psyche and Eve (Lord knows why) wanted to know the same things about me.

In the end, I learned writing is a passion that can’t be taught, what Eve would be doing if she wasn’t a writer, and possible ways of stalking Luke Perry if you’re a thirteen-year-old girl.

Catherine West (CW): When did you decide to become a writer?

Eve Lopez (EL): I always knew I was a writer. I've never wanted to be anything else, though when I began my career, I realized I also had a knack for editing.

I've been writing since I was 7, and I always just knew. In that way, I have been lucky in life -- I've always known that writing was what I was meant to do. It took me a long time to learn how to write well, but I always knew I wanted to be a writer.

EL: How about you? You've been blogging for awhile and recently have begun writing fiction. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

CW: I was about 9 years old. I was sitting in the back of church and to amuse myself, I wrote a story. It was either that or doze off in church and since my mom would look none too favorably on that (meaning she'd get that crazy, scary look on her face), I created a whole world with characters and problems and solutions. I liked the feeling and I liked the power. Best of all, I found something with which to entertain myself and -- believe it or not -- began to entertain others inside and outside of my family.

Editing came later in high school and college when I learned you can't have a good story unless you have good grammar and know how to use it.

CW: What would be your dream goal as a writer? What is it in the end you want to accomplish?

EL: I think every writer's dream goal is to be a best-selling author. I mean, that's the highest you can get besides winning a Pulitzer. But in some ways, I think it's like hoping to win the lottery.

So, for a more realistic goal: In the end, I'd love to simply be able to support myself full-time by writing what I want. I'd love to be an author who was able to simply afford a middle-class lifestyle by writing.

EL: What's your dream goal as a writer? And, do you think that goals have to be realistic?

CW: I think I have goals that are realistic. They just might not be realistic to other people because it will take hard work to accomplish them and hard work isn't always a welcome thing in this world. I would love to write a book; have that book become a movie; write the screenplay for that move; and win an Oscar for that screenplay. It's four steps. Four very difficult seemingly impossible steps to some, but I think it's possible. I want it to be possible rather as I can't see myself doing the same thing the rest of my life. I want bigger and better. I don't think that's a crime.

CW: If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing right now?

EL: If I wasn't a writer, I would be an editor (which is, non-coincidentally, what I am actually trying to do now -- find a job at a high-profile corporation as an editor).

I LOVE writing and that's my passion -- but I am *almost* equally a grammar freak who loves editing. I suspect I love editing because of the superiority complex: After all, the editor's job description is basically fixing other people's mistakes.

EL: How about you? If you were not a professional editor right now, what would you do be doing?

CW: I think I would love to be a chef. I have a passion for cooking and trying new things. I use my coworkers and family as guinea pigs and they let me know what works and what doesn't and more often times than not when I bake or cook, my dishes come out really good, which is often surprising to me. I think cooking helps me to follow directions and listen more which is something with which I struggle. You HAVE to follow directions for the most part when you cook or bake or else you have a tremendous, inedible mess on your hands.

CW: What is your book about and what inspired you to write it?

EL: My book “Sex, Drugs, and Psychiatric Wards” is about a girl's college experience. It's a coming-of-age story about this really timid and insecure girl who goes to college and basically goes crazy.

I was inspired to write it when NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) made its splash several years ago. Some parts of the book are based on real experiences, but most of it is just bits of memories I have that I then fictionalized and took to scandalous extremes.

EL: You recently began publishing fiction on your blog -- what inspired you to do that? And do you prefer writing non-fiction blog posts (essays) or do you prefer writing fiction?

CW: I think I just got tired of wondering if my writing was good enough and wanted to test it out on my blog. The reaction was more than I expected and it encouraged me to start on the next few chapters and it's been fun mapping out the characters and story so far. I'm hoping to have the second part up in June. I hate to say it, but I just prefer writing. I think I like the power that comes with creating characters, scenes, places, and stories (fiction). However, it's liberating to relay my experiences to others (non-fiction). I can't choose.

CW: Last Question: What is something that no one knows about you.

EL: No one knows that when I was a teenager, my BFF and I tried to stalk Luke Perry by using clues to where he lived from descriptions of his house in tabloids and teen magazines. My friend and I looked EVERYWHERE because a magazine had published a picture of his front porch and we pieced together other bits of information (he supposedly lived "across the street" from Hollywood High School). This was before the internet, and before we realized that Luke Perry's porch was almost certainly hidden behind a huge gate or shrubbery. We were about 13 and my friend and I were big fans. We just wanted to say hi. :)

EL: YOUR TURN! Last question: What is something that no one knows about you?

CW: I cry at the end of movies or during shows like “Grey's Anatomy.” I present myself as someone who is strong (and I am), but I can be quite a sap when it comes to my movies or TV. I once spent a good half hour crying when one of the character's love interests died in Season 2 of Grey's and I spent two days depressed at this movie called "Untamed Heart" when Christian Slater died at the end of that. Now I was 13 years old so the last thing REALLY can't be held against me as my hormones were all over the place at that time.

About the Novel

Title: "Sex, Drugs, and Psychiatric Wards: A Novel"

Description: This is a graphic coming-of-age tale of a fragile young woman entering a notorious party college in California and encountering a world of drug-fueled parties, obsessive bar-hopping, and countless encounters with the opposite sex. After a series of events involving drugs, alcohol, and men, the young woman descends into a series of mental breakdowns.

About the Author (*Source Amazon.com):

Eve Lopez was born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles. She is a graduate of Chico State University in California. Her first novel, "Sex, Drugs, and Psychiatric Wards," was published in 2012.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Drugs-Psychiatric-Wards-Lopez/dp/1475009089/  
What Would Eve Do (blog): http://thingsevewoulddo.blogspot.com/