#bhgc

1. Decide before you start the story if you’re going to write everything in the chat format or if you are going to write out some of the scenes. In bhgc i stuck to just the chat format even when there were things I could have described more (the call in the second chapter? the call in the fourth? or the start of the ninth?) This distinction is important because it influences how the plot can be revealed. I could have very easily switched to Prose when Logan and Patton ran into each other in chapter seven to keep the focus on Logan, but instead I chose to focus on the chat where Virgil and Roman worked together and bonded a bit. I continually put together a story where I made a deliberate choice not to use prose so that by the climax my readers were accustomed to being able to read the actions and infliction of the words without needing detailed descriptions.

2. Figure out the reason why the group uses the chat. This is important because it helps develop the characters and their relationships with each other as well as how they interact. In my personal experience group chats built just for a single project in a class die after the project unless the participants learn something that bonds them together. In bhgc, Virgil’s muteness is his main reason to keep texting where as Logan’s anonymity is his reason to use the chat, even after he figures out who the other boys are.

3. Remember that people have lives outside of their phones. This is important in the frame of telling a story (as long as telling a story is the goal and its not just crack for fun)! People aren’t always on their phones! Things happen around them that influence them!! And they aren’t always going to read the the messages at the same time. This further helps you personalize your characters and makes them feel more real. (like in chapter two how Virgil and Logan have a whole conversation without Patton or Roman because the other two have decent sleep schedules. Or how in chapter five Patton misplaces his phone.) You can also weaponize this as I did in chapter eight when Patton and Logan were having their calm subdued conversation right before its revealed that Virgil and Roman are in the middle of a very emotionally charged one.

4. Foreshadow your backstories. Okay, 90% of the time when you are first getting to know someone, you aren’t going to tell them all your trauma and problems. You know that one John Mulaney quote, “I shall pepper in the fact that I’m gay”? Do that. Pepper in the idea that your characters have quirks and triggers without out right saying it. Did you notice in Bhgc that when Roman makes death jokes and Virgil and Patton both get tense and terse about it? How about the fact that Patton chose to study Psychology because he was trying to figure out why his mother always chose drugs over him? The entire book is made of conversation, and yet there is not a single thing said that is not important to the characters development-- not even the jokes. 

5. Everyone talks differently. have you ever been in a group chat with someone who uses a crap ton of emojis? Or maybe someone who still uses “XD” and “:)”? These are all things that are personal to each of us For the best writing experience, I would give each character a writing quirk that is all theirs so that without needing to read the usernames, readers can infer who’s speaking and how theyre feeling. In bhgc, Logan uses full sentences with punctuation and proper grammar-- which means that when he starts using clipped sentences, the readers know he’s getting emotional. Patton generally tries to uplift the conversation, regardless of whats going on. Virgil’s messages are designed to be dismissive or snarky. And Roman is the “leader” so he uses the most “I” centered messages and changes the subject when he doesn’t necessary want to talk about it anymore. Even Dee, for the short time that he’s there, copies Patton speech, but integrates subtle verbal attacks on the others every times he speaks.

Obviously these aren’t absolute for these characters-- I created these systems based on my understanding of the cannon characters and how I wanted it to reflect their backstory (Logan’s stiff wording and grammar alludes to the control nature of his parents and Virgil’s dismissive one’s suggest that he’s used to not being noticed unless he’s doing something wrong and Dee’s verbal attacks are a look directly into his motivations.)

So! That’s what I have overall there are a few more tricks that I’ve picked up: like decide on a plot, but don’t be afraid to deviate from it (as I l learned from when the Hot guy from the coffee shop became Logan, lol), and things that aren’t said can be just as important as those that are (Logan not apologizing to Roman and his constant attempts to leave the chat), but those are also lessons that I think are best taught when you figure them out yourself! The best advice I can give is read and write.