Schizophrenic’s Guide: I Wrote a New Novel and It Took Overwhelming Emotion To Do It

I, Dalton Lewis, wrote a rocking horror novel, Impressions of Suburbia. I wanted to write something scary and full of wonderful people: Bella loses one hundred pounds and writes the next great American novel; Cayden obsesses about solving murders and finally has one; Devon works like crazy to impress everyone with his intellect and his physical prowess; Ally wants to keep everything together and support her friends; and the adults want to be responsible role models.

This novel took nine months to write — that’s a long time to work on something. I threw everything into this novel: the creation and destruction of art features heavily, but I also wanted an entertaining look at violence and thrillers in contemporary America. Overhauling the dialogue and characters meant that I would create more unique and believable people with custom wants and needs. I tried to write characters who sounded contemporary and intelligent and accurate to today’s teenagers.

A slasher novel needs murder, and I tried to deliver plenty of it. People die. People investigate the case and try to solve the murder. Lovers separate, and other people find love. I wanted to show people who weren’t necessarily pretty people with problems — instead I wanted real-sounding teens who cared about themselves and the people around them. It means something when a character dies if that character has had an interesting story until his or her death.

I write about mental health issues a lot, and this book is one of the books which reflects my life as a schizophrenic writer. I showed a character’s descent into madness because I have experienced a descent into madness in my own life. The reality of life with schizophrenia is difficult and dangerous, and I wanted to show someone collapse with pain, horror, and grief.

I also heavily featured adults in this story. I wanted adults who cared about teenagers but had real responsibilities and reflected the lives of my friends and family in real-life suburbia. I used to write about teenagers without their parents playing much of a role in the story, and that was a mistake. This novel features a group of friends who try to live their lives while these murders are occurring.

I know that not a lot of people are reading my novels, but I have to try to write because I want to do this as a lasting part of my life. I haven’t sold very many copies of my novels, but I just want a few people to give a chance on my stories. Selling millions of copies doesn’t happen for very many people, but at least a few nice people will give a chance on my story — for only three dollars.

Thanks, and take care, friends.