The write stuff: Los Osos author publishes her first novel for young adults

Los Osos author Robin Mellom is a teenager at heart.

“I’m a 41-year-old woman with a 16-year-old brain,” joked Mellom, who recently published her first novel for young adults. “I’ve never really grown up. I’ve always been a silly person.”

Mellom’s youthful outlook gives her a unique edge when channeling characters like Justina Griffith, the 16-year-old narrator of “Ditched: A Love Story.”

“It’s a fun voice for me to write in, because it’s my voice,” Mellom explained.

Mellom can trace her love of writing to her childhood in the Atlanta suburbs.

The daughter of an elementary school administrator, she later shared that affection for the written word with her students as a middle-school teacher in Georgia, New Mexico and San Luis Obispo. (Mellom, who earned a master’s degree in education from Cal Poly, once worked as a newsroom assistant at The Tribune, where her husband, Jayson Mellom, is a staff photographer.)

When Mellom’s son, Luke, was born in 2002, she decided to finally pursue a writing career.

“It just gave me that chance to take nap time and turn it into my writing time,” said Mellom, who joined a couple of critique groups and began honing her skills.

She came close to publishing a young adult novel about two friends struggling to survive middle school, but never succeeded in landing a deal.

Then her agent approached her with the idea of writing a “funny teen book” aimed at slightly older readers. Disney-Hyperion published “Ditched” in January.

Described by some readers as “The Hangover” for high schoolers, the book follows a tumultuous prom night gone wrong.

Justina has her heart set on a night of romance with her best friend, kindhearted hunk Ian Clark.

She wakes up in a ditch the next morning with a bump on her forehead, a French fry-shaped bruise on her shin, and several colorful stains on her iridescent royal blue dress and dyed-to-match heels.

She limps to a nearby 7-Eleven and starts to retrace her steps with the help of sassy cashier Gilda.

How did she wind up covered in curry and Chihuahua bites? Why is there a punk rock Tinker Bell tattoo on her arm? And, most importantly, did her dream date really ditch her?

“Ditched” reveals Justina’s mysterious misadventures chapter by painfully funny chapter.

Mellom, who attended proms at two different high schools, said she drew on personal experience to write “Ditched.”

At age 19, she went on a semi-blind date with a “super-sweet, very quiet shy guy.”

“The night of the dance, his fraternity brothers gave him several shots of (alcohol),” Mellom recalled. “He thought it was funny to spend the night unzipping all the girls’ dresses, including mine.”

That embarrassing memory inspired a similar incident in “Ditched,” when Justina finds herself accidentally stripped and stranded in the bathroom.

Mellom was also influenced by the films of John Hughes, the filmmaker behind “The Breakfast Club,” “Pretty in Pink” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

“His movies always tackled friendships and outcasts and love and all those aspects of teenage life in a way that was so heartfelt and humorous,” said the author, who subconsciously channeled the same vibe.

To better capture the way to-day’s teenagers act, talk and dress, Mellom attended a couple Morro Bay High School football games and tuned into teen-oriented TV shows on MTV and Nickelodeon.

She even interviewed her son’s teenage babysitter, snapping pictures of her and her friends as they got ready on prom night. Their shoes, Mellom said, were “silver and strappy and gorgeous” — just like the Jimmy Choo sandals that Justina’s arch-enemy, Allyson, sports in “Ditched.”

So far, Mellom said she’s received a “tremendous response” from adults and teenagers who appreciate her novel’s lighthearted take on high school romance.

Readers can look forward to following one of the characters introduced in “Ditched,” Serenity, in her own sassy spin-off.

“Serenity and (her best friend) Bliss are based off of girls I knew in high school who were fiercely loyal,” Mellom explained. “If you ticked them off, they would kick your ass. (But) they were a lot of fun.”

In the upcoming novel “Busted,” 17-year-old Serenity takes a job running errands for an eccentric couple only to land in jail. She has one fateful night to clear her name.

Mellom also has a four-book series in the works: “The Classroom,” which follows “former neurotic” Trevor Jones and his best friend Libby as they enter middle school.

Told from the perspective of a television documentary crew, the book features playful illustrations by Stephen Gilpin. (His work can also be seen in the young adult series “The Gecko & Sticky,” by Pismo Beach resident Wendelin Van Draanen.)

The first book in the series, “The Classroom: The Epic Documentary of a Not-Yet-Epic Kid,” hits store shelves June 19. Another book is scheduled to come out next summer.

“It’s a dream come true that I get to do this for a living,” Mellom said.

This story was originally published March 11, 2012 at 1:01 AM with the headline "The write stuff: Los Osos author publishes her first novel for young adults."