Stephanie Van Orman
Bio
I write novels like I am part-printer, part book factory, and a little girl running away with a balloon. I'm here as an experiment and I'm unsure if this is a place where I can fit in. We'll see.
Stories (69/0)
Endless Madness
Jeremy Andrews was a legend in his own time. Try to imagine a young man with a toasted caramel tan, rippling muscles, dark brown hair, and brown eyes five shades lighter. Try to imagine a young man with an excellent brain who got high grades in school. Now imagine a young man who likes being a lady’s man. That was Jeremy Andrews.
By Stephanie Van Orman11 months ago in Confessions
Ghosting Your Date in the Old Days
When I was a teenager, I had a very strict code for dating that I decided on and implemented myself. There were rules like No Changing Plans. If I made plans with a girlfriend, I could not blow her off because a cute guy suddenly appeared. Don't Go Alone was another one. I couldn't go somewhere alone with a guy I didn't know very well.
By Stephanie Van Orman11 months ago in Journal
Like Wheat
I was in a corner. There were too many of them around me. I didn't even have one girl by my side to help me fend off the wolves that were closing in. By wolves, I mean teenage girls. But even though I was outnumbered, I was cool. I was way cooler than they had any concept and there were reasons why I was not generally bullied by girls. It didn't matter that they were all years older than me, or that there were so many of them, or even that one of them hated me so much it was palpable. I could manage her. She was my cousin.
By Stephanie Van Orman12 months ago in Confessions
When Being Beautiful Isn't So Fun
My first boyfriend, David, broke up with me using the line, “I just don’t want to date anyone right now.” He was lying, but don’t worry, I didn’t believe him. I had a gaggle of girl cousins who did not like me for reasons I was very able to sympathize with. My sister had enchanted one of their boyfriends and earned the spite of the entire group. His loss was to be lamented as he was a complete buck. Even though no one expected it, I did lament with my spurned cousin, if only from a distance. If I'd gotten closer I could have lost a limb simply for being the younger sister of the girl who stole him. As a result, my cousins, who could not get revenge on my older sister, were more than willing to share the details of David’s defection with me. They described the situation sparing no detail: the girl he was with, the songs played at the dance I missed, everything.
By Stephanie Van Ormanabout a year ago in Confessions
Three Feet From My Head
I was sitting in the library at one of the computer stations at my high school. I was excited because I was expecting an email from my long-distance boyfriend. There were only four computer stations. Three were in a row and one was off a bit by itself. That was everyone's favorite computer, but Emily was already seated at it. So, I had taken one at the end of the row. It took forever to log into a computer, get your browser up, and open your email in those days. I was in the middle of the process when this guy sat down one seat away from me.
By Stephanie Van Ormanabout a year ago in Confessions
A Couple Benches
Rob was really cute. He was so cute I wondered if he was wearing makeup. No one had skin that perfect or a face that pretty. Honestly, he was a creature out of my daydreams. One specific daydream, in fact. When I was in school, there was no phrase more welcome than, “We have a new kid in our grade.” That was the only way you were going to meet someone new in a school that went from kindergarten to grade twelve in Magrath, a town that was six blocks by six blocks. I remember practically putting my hands together and praying, “Please let it be a boy. Please let him live across the street from me. Let him be handsome and let him think I'm pretty.” I remember passing this guy in the halls and thinking, Lord, you got part of it right. He's a boy. He's handsome. He doesn't live across the street from me. He has no classes with me and we'll never know if he thinks I'm pretty!
By Stephanie Van Ormanabout a year ago in Confessions
Four Things I Learned From A Poorly Signed Book
Yesterday, I was at a used book sale. I saw the word ‘cat’ on the spine of a fantasy book and that intrigues me (because I’m a cat person), so I pulled the book loose and made a surprised sound when I recognized the cover. The man next to me noticed my sound and like most men, he decided to use that as an opening to start a conversation with me.
By Stephanie Van Ormanabout a year ago in Journal
If I Tie U Down by Stephanie Van Orman
Wedding Day - Shannon I stayed over at my parents’ house the night before the wedding. All the girls stayed with me, and though there were many jokes, most of them were merely in the form of unusual lingerie. When I woke up, I immediately went to make sure no one had written on my face that night. No one had, which was good, because I had had it with ink pranks.
By Stephanie Van Ormanabout a year ago in Fiction
Kiss of Tragedy by Stephanie Van Orman
Persephone chose a white silk gown and white slippers that laced up her shins. The dress fastened over one shoulder while the other shoulder remained bare. She used a pair of sapphire clips to hold the fabric in place; one on the shoulder and one on her back to give the dress some shape by pulling the silk tight around her waist. Then the nymphs finished her hair and they left the tower together.
By Stephanie Van Ormanabout a year ago in Fiction
AI-Generated Characters Versus Actors
Lately, there has been a plethora of articles that show the actor in a film versus an AI-generated image of the character created by an artist and a computer together. The artist feeds the character description from the book into a generator and BANG! We have exactly what Harry Potter was supposed to look like and not Daniel Radcliff.
By Stephanie Van Ormanabout a year ago in Journal
Getcovers
Normally, I design my book covers myself. But, I had seen millions of ads for a design company called Getcovers, and their covers were totally decent. So were their prices, so I decided to go ahead and hire them for a cover for a novelette I plan to release on OBOOKO. Here is the finished cover. It took them two days to finish the order.
By Stephanie Van Ormanabout a year ago in Journal
