Behind the Scenes of Twenty-One Truths

Behind the Scenes gives you a closer look at the process of writing a manuscript. This edition features Vanessa Grillone and her story, Twenty-One Truths. Vanessa (@VanessaGrillone) is a writer from Bolton, Ontario, who recently completed a publicity internship with Random House Canada. Her blog - My Pen, My Voice - is a mix of personal and lifestyle posts, with some beautiful book reviews thrown in to the mix. Vanessa is also a regular contributor to Chic Darling and Work Story. Her first book, titled My Pen, My Voice, is available now for purchase.

Inspiration for Twenty-One Truths:

the time Vanessa's foot nearly fell in the toilet at work / the idea of a meet-cute / chick lit
her relationship / Toronto / breakup stories

About Twenty-One Truths:

"I recently finished my first novel, which took me two years to write. Twenty-One Truths is set in present day downtown Toronto. Twenty-four-year old sous chef, Pierce, is no stranger to pain. After his parents’ bitter divorce and his father’s passing, Pierce takes a hold of his life and moves to downtown Toronto where he lands a job at the famous Haki-Sak restaurant, as well as a part-time promotion gig at Vixen nightclub. His life changes when he hears a frantic, “Fuck my fucking good-damn life!” in the co-ed bathroom of Vixen nightclub. Pierce rushes in to find Elena, an aspiring writer, with her foot in the toilet. And so a modern-day romance begins.

Twenty-One Truths is told from Pierce's point of view, which was my favourite part of writing this story. It was fun and pretty difficult to write a modern-day romance from the guy's perspective because they don't share their feelings the way women do. That doesn't mean they don't feel things though and that is exactly what I wanted to explore in this novel."

A piece of Vanessa's writing process:

"I have yet to “perfect” my writing process. As I’m trying to work on a new novel, I find that I’m a little stuck. For Twenty-One Truths I had to write in the morning right after breakfast (which was easy because I worked nights), I didn’t write any detailed notes or chapter summaries, and I did all of my research as I wrote. I had to learn a bit more about Toronto, I had to learn a few Italian words, and I had to research the mind of a man. I also asked my boyfriend and brother a lot of questions as part of my research. My new novel is more research intensive and as I’ve been interning for the past three months, I only have time to write right before work or on my lunch. For this one I’ve taken to drawing up some chapter and character outlines as well in order to keep on track. With both novels, I tend to stick to the idea that I should stop writing when I’m on a roll, that way I’ll have something to write when I pick it up again."