In the coming months, I’m going to start introducing the characters from my upcoming novel Rules of the Game. Rules of the Game is very layered but is a coming of age story about a young lady who thinks she has life all figured out. Like many teenagers, she doesn’t like the rules her family has set for her, so she makes the decision to move out and tries to make it on her own without the help of her family, and is met by quite a few obstacles. While she’s mature to some extent, her eighteen years is no match for the real world she’s been shielded from.

I think all of us can relate to this on some level.  When I reflect on my teenage years, I didn’t understand any of the rules my parents set. I thought some of their rules were too strict and I felt that I was wise beyond my years and didn’t need to be restricted. And while I was mature to some extent, I had NO CLUE all that life entailed.

Over the years, my friends and I have looked back on our late teens and early twenties and can only laugh at what we thought we understood about life, relationships, love, etc. By age 25, I thought I had life all figured out and could have written a book about it and schooled my parents, because clearly they didn’t have a clue. LOL.

My reflection over the years led to my idea for Rules of the Game. Although, what my friends and I experienced was common everyday teenage growing pains, Rules of the Game is more complex and there are many layers to why the main character feels she can’t deal with the rules of her household. In some ways, she’s justified for wanting to leave the nest and create her own life. I’ll dive into those reasons more as the story progresses, but thus far it has been quite interesting to go into the mind of an eighteen year old with no idea of what life has to offer and no clue as to who or what to be wary of.

What do you remember from your late teens or moving out of your parents home? When you reflect now on the rules that your parents set for you, do you feel they were strict? lenient? And if you have children, do you parent the same way? Please share in the comment section below.

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Stefanie Newell

Writer at Write One Publications, Inc.

Stefanie Newell is an Atlanta-based writer and author of The Buzz: When celebrity gossip goes wrong….You can check out her musings on all things entertainment at TheMusicHotSpot.com and her The Life Of A Writer series on YouTube. http://youtube.com/TheLifeOfAWriter

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