Glass Sneakers

About the Story

Q&A, Fun Facts, and Everything Else Under the Sun

So I'm going to answer some of your questions about this book. Here goes:

flower8563: What urged you to write this story in the first place?

It all started the day I fell in love with The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot. It's one of my all-time favorite series. I have no words to express my absolute love for those books. It inspired me to write a princess story, particularly a Cinderella one. I'm also a fan of a lot of "Another Cinderella Story" out there.

After a while, I came across an idea. The title, Glass Sneakers, came first. If I'm not mistaken, this was when I first became interested with Keds, after Taylor Swift started endorsing it. Then it just clicked. I wanted to create a not-so-typical heroine who loved wearing sneakers.

emilyokay: How did you get the characters' names? Especially Art's. They suit the characters a lot!

Thank you. I'm obsessed with naming my characters. You guys have no idea how long it takes for me to name each of them.

First off, our heroine, George. I named her after my late uncle, whom I'd loved dearly. He committed suicide when I was in college. If you remember the backstory about George's name, it's actually similar to the real reason why I used it. And her boyish nickname was intended, mostly because of her personality.

Next, Art. I'm obsessed with the nickname Art. Forgive me for I forgot where and when I'd heard it. I just wrote it in my 'name bank', and I couldn't wait to use it for one of my stories. When I'd decided to use it for Glass Sneakers, I had to find a royalty sort of oldish kind of long/real name for him, which was Arthur Luke.

As for the others, I found them at babynames.com.

emilyokay: Does Art has some downsides? He's so perfect; I couldn't see any negativities in him.

This is completely my fault. I adored Art so much I forgot to be clear with his negative sides. I'll make this better when I edit the story. And yes, he does have some negative qualities.

For example, he's actually a lazy person. Unless he has a motivation, you would find it hard to get a reaction from him. He usually just goes with the flow.

But as you all know, he eventually got better when he met George. He did things he usually didn't do. This was one of the main reasons why George had been chosen. Art insisted on her so much that the palace had realized he must have really wanted her to be the princess-in-training.

emilyokay: How to find Art in real life?

I'll answer this question together with all the other questions about Art's whereabouts.

Um... have you tried ebay? Or like one reader, joannxh, said, ebae? Just asking. You might find a copy of him there. And if you did find one, remember to send me a link.

JACK

So let's talk about Jack and all the questions regarding this wonderful guy. If there's a poll, I'm sure he would have won favorite character--landslide. This guy is impossible not to love.

I'd chosen the name Jack because it's the kind of name you hear everywhere. I'm also guilty of loving Jack Frost too much, and it might have also been one of the reasons.

And here's the great revelation: Jack's persona was based on Taylor Swift's bodyguard (by now, you must be aware that I'm a Swiftie). Unfortunately, I do not know his name. But you could see him in these pictures: