A love story between an asexual slacker and a pansexual nerd. First posted on Wattpad in May 2016, rewritten in 2019. Also posted on Inkitt, Penana, and Royal Road over the years. This is the first novel I ever wrote, and got me into writing.
Russell is a virtuous goth with a Christian upbringing. Sal is a carefree slack-off who would rather work retail than go to college. It was hate at first sight. Until they were forced to partner up in class. After their true feelings surface, Sal learns just how different he is from Russell, and all seems hopeless. How can their relationship last, if Sal is asexual? And that's not their only problem.
Surprisingly unpredictable, The Riveting Lives of Russell and Sal is about two social outcasts that become the most unlikely couple imaginable.
Expect...
You can read it here! Or you can view the table of contents if you left off somewhere.
This was one of the first original fiction stories starring an asexual character on Wattpad.
It also won the LGBT+ Wattys in 2016 for Best Overall Gay Fiction.
I originally just wanted to make some sort of parody novel involving every teen romance trope ever, but failed miserably. (Probably a good thing.)
Side character Stewart was literally made up on the spot. Like, he popped up in the middle of writing a scene where I needed an interruption and went with the first name that popped into my head. (I later gave him the 50's schtick in editing to make him more interesting.)
Same goes for Terry. I only made them agender because, in the moment, I couldn't decide whether to make them a boy or a girl so I just rolled with that. You can probably tell if you read the first scene Terry is in.
Sal was originally going to be named Sam but, a few paragraphs into the first chapter, he reminded me a little too much of Sam from iCarly so I decided to change the name to avoid the association. So I went with Sal and made him Italian.
When I made the cover, I chose Times New Roman for Russell's name, and Comic Sans for Sal's name. The reason becomes apparent in a scene in chapter 5.