A Debut Y.A. novel
in the querying trenches
Eight girls. One impossible secret. Two lives that will never be the same.
sudden sisters by
r.m. lavender
An upmarket YA contemporary novel with psychological tension explores a sharp enemies-to-friends turn and a fraught shared-secret reckoning—all in the unforgiving wild.
An enemies-to-friends meets high-stakes adventure for young adult readers
Sudden Sisters delves into themes of redemption, finding agency, and healing through unbreakable connection with another.
With a friend like Jessica Hayes, who needs enemies?
The Story . . .
An art-room girl saves her bully’s life at the expense of another, then must conspire with her to cover it up.…
Mae lives for painting, but she’s still reeling from her cruelest-ever teardown by Jessica and her clique. Yet Foxmoor’s Junior Bio trip offers a chance to paint true mountain scenes among girls from different backgrounds—if she can stand a week trapped with Jessica.
When a small plane crashes into camp, killing both teachers and wrecking the bus, their divide only deepens. Mae helps the injured pilot, while Jessica senses danger. Sneaking to the wreckage later, she finds a gun and a stash of cash—and takes them. As factions form around Jessica’s need for control, Mae wrestles with past trauma triggered by the chaos, and her growing fascination with the pilot. When she overhears him threaten Jessica and finds him holding her at knifepoint, her past floods back, driving her to stop his assault—leaving the pilot dead.
Mae’s shock doubles when Jessica pulls her into a trembling hug and insists they hide everything, or Mae could face a murder charge. Mae goes along, but once home, the weight of their secret pulls them apart—until Jessica chooses honesty over fear, freeing them both to face the truth.
About R.M. Lavender
A career in teaching, artmaking, writing, and parenting his daughter led Lavender to write stories about distinct, strong female protagonists who face rising complications in pursuit of driving needs. Characters’ past experiences condition their motivations, their decision making, and, ultimately, their growth and change.
Developing compelling fiction and screenwriting projects is in some ways much like the work of painting and sculpture—but with words invoking millions of mind’s eye images instead of singular ones made to invite multiple interpretations. “Painting with words” is a kind of collaboration—one that creates immersive reader experiences crafted simultaneously between the writer and reader.
Lavender was briefly represented by Michael Hamilburg until his passing, has earned finalist awards in three creative writing competitions, including one sponsored by the SCBWI, and was a semi- or quarter-finalist in four others. Also a realist painter, Lavender studied and practices the oil-on-panel techniques that were in use from the Renaissance through the 19th century, many of them originally developed by Leonardo da Vinci and shared with his apprentices in his Treatise on Painting. Lavender has also published several journal articles on art education and contributed a chapter to Garb: A Fashion and Culture Reader.
One | determination
Her hands sticky on the wheel, Mae takes another curve too fast as she eyes the dashboard clock ticking down one more minute she doesn’t have.
Now orange cones and Road Work signs, everywhere. Really? Today, of all days?
“The teachers said to get there by eight sharp, or miss the trip. Sorry for the rush, Mom.”
“It is a bit hair-raising, I’ll admit.” Mom smiles, but she sounds more than a little nervous. “Just go easy on that clutch. If it fails, we’re sunk. And I was so counting on getting to see you off on a great trip.”
Mae grips the wheel tighter as Mom goes on, this time in her special “I’m just concerned” voice. “But Mae, not long ago you wanted badly to change schools, after your—”
“After my freak-out-of-the-century, you mean. I was done with Foxmoor, for sure.”
Which is why missing the trip actually might be okay, depending on how you look at it. All those faces, staring at her like she’s a total nutcase, betting she can’t handle the biggest thing that happens in Junior year—the famous Bio Fall Wilderness Trip. It actually sounds more like a week camping with a bunch of girls who think “wilderness” is what happens when the gardener doesn’t show up. And eight girls piled into one tent? However that might work, it’s an easy pass. Sticking with the new landscape painting she’d left sitting on her easel would be just fine.
But skip the trip, on purpose? Not a chance. It’s her best way to show them there’s more to her than they saw that one horrible day.
The last day of summer school … when Jessica and her two BFFs totally wrecked Mae’s presentation in History, on Leonardo da Vinci. The slides she’d made to show his master paintings, her weeks of research—all flushed down the drain by Foxmoor’s snakes in lip gloss, pushing every button Mae had managed to keep un-pushed for years. The rest is a blur, except the part when the Psych Emergency Team whisked her into their van, and away.
Cont’d
Other Projects
Other Projects
Outlined or In-Progress
Several YA stories focusing on redemption, finding agency, and discovering true identity, including:
Shades of Indigo. A YA contemporary with psychological tension, including Foxmoor School for Girls’ new girl, Indigo, and Sudden Sisters’ main characters, Mae and Jessica.
The Golden Boy. (A novel for the adult fiction market) A Pacific Northwest timber-man loses his young son in a river accident, and finds his only solace in carving large wooden figures. When he is ‘discovered’ by a vacationing art dealer who draws him into the New York art world, his inspiration is nearly destroyed by the trappings of his remarkable success. Ultimately, he's forced to choose between two very different worlds.
Screenplays
Latude. Based on the true story of a pre-revolutionary French man wrongly imprisoned for 27 years, this historical drama includes two prison escapes—one of which historians have called “the most daring in history”—and features a remarkably noble-hearted woman whose tireless determination aids Latude’s struggle for freedom.
No Turning Back. A contemporary suspense-drama about a group of teen girls stuck in the wilderness after a cataclysmic event kills their teachers, leaving two antagonists to confront nature, overcome the clash of a lifetime, and liberate themselves emotionally. (The inspiration for the YA novel, Sudden Sisters.)
The Golden Boy. A contemporary romantic drama about a timber-town folk artist who’s discovered by a vacationing art dealer, only to become a New York art world sensation. When the source of his inspiration is all but destroyed by his own success, he must face his wrenching past, and choose between newfound fame and true love.
Awards and honors
Semi-Finalist, William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, 2012, No Turning Back - Novel
Third Place, 5th Annual IndieProducer Screenwriting Competition, 2007, The Golden Boy - Original Screenplay
Finalist, SCBWI Kimberly Colen Memorial Grant, 2006, No Turning Back - Novel
Semi-Finalist, William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, 2006, No Turning Back - Novel
Quarter-Finalist, 11th Annual Writers Network Screenplay & Fiction Competition, 2004, Latude - Adaptation Screenplay
Finalist, 1st Annual IndieProducer Screenwriting Competition, 2002, No Turning Back - Original Screenplay
Quarter-Finalist, Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting Competition, 2002, No Turning Back - Original Screenplay
Finalist, Malcom-Vincent Screenwriting Contest, 1992, Latude - Adaptation Screenplay
Contact R.M. Lavender
For more information about Sudden Sisters, or anything on this site