SYNOPSIS:

Title: Against Her Will Genre: Young Adult, Realistic About the author: This Young Adult novel comes out April 2015 by True North Publishing. It will be Serita Stevens' 36th book and will be featured at the largest teen conference in the country: Teen Author Boot Camp. She has won several awards for her writing and has properties both produced and optioned. She is represented by Gandolfo Helin & Fountain Literary Management and Monterio Rose Dravis Agency. A psychiatric nurse, this story is based on true events. (www.seritastevens.com/ italia@ghliterary.com.) Tagline: Who is really normal? Are you? Logline: What is normal? Are we all really crazy? A rebellious, wild teen, Cassidy, always arguing with her manipulative, uber-religious parents, is thrown into a psychiatric hospital against her will. Cassidy, while trying to prove she does not belong there, must overcome obstacles from the other "crazies" and quickly learns that only the strong survive. And Now The Story Begins… Running away after having fought with her religion-obsessed mother and manipulative father, Cassidy Connor finds herself forced into a psychiatric hospital where a young man has just jumped from the roof. She finds a subculture already in place with Gina, another patient, as the titular head, and Tony, a pyromaniac, who develops a crush on her. She must deal with them as well as the medical system and her parents, who seem determined to keep her locked up. Foundation: In the tone of Girl Interrupted and Lisa &David, this drama focuses on our personal journeys and what we need to learn to survive. It is One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for Teens. Characters: Cassidy Connor: A rebellious teen, who having been adopted, feels that she can do no right with her religious obsessed mother and manipulative father. Running away, she finds herself blackmailed into a psychiatric hospital where she has to learn to survive and realize that nothing is really against her will. Gina - a bossy, controlling girl and head of the patient group, who, having been through foster care, cannot accept the love of the people who have adopted her, and rejects everyone but Tony, whom she desperately wants. Tony - abandoned by his parents, uses fire to control his feelings, but mistakenly burns down the wrong house in trying to prove his love to Cassidy. Sara - a young idealistic nurse who cares about her patients but sometimes goes too far in her ministrations. Ellen - burned out by nursing, she's there just for the pay check. Thomas - the orderly with a hidden history of sexual perversion Sean Conner - Cassidy's younger brother and natural child of the Connors. They believe he can do no wrong, but soon learn otherwise. Inciting Incident - Arrested for supposedly stealing the car that her father gave her, Cassidy's blackmailed into the psychiatric hospital Plot Point #1 - All is not as safe as it seems at the hospital. Dealing with the other patients, she realizes that several have committed suicide already. Midpoint - Realizing that her brother needs her, Cassidy is tricked by Gina into filing a Five Day Notice, she must find a way to rescind it or go to the State hospital. Her roommate dies of anorexia and Cassidy mourns her. Plot Point #2 - Escaping with Tony, Cassidy learns her boyfriend's betrayed her and is dealing drugs to her young brother. Tony burns the Connor house thinking it will help Cassidy love him. Act 3 - Returned to the hospital, Cassidy's parents press for commitment to State. She tries slicing her wrists after she is raped by the orderly. Facing the judge and pleads for more time as her brother rushes in and says that she left the hospital to help him. Leaving the hospital, she confronts her parents on their games and learns that not everything is against her will. Questions You Might Ask: How much of this is true? As a psychiatric nurse, Serita experienced many of these events with her patients. NOVEL description Realistic, Young Adult (Based on actual events that co-author, Serita Stevens, experienced as a nurse on the teen ward in psych hospitals. Teen psychiatric wards are “throw-away” places for children whose parents can’t handle them.) My name is Cassidy Connor and my parents hate me. Well, they can go to hell. After yet another fight with my manipulative lawyer father and bible thumping mother, I disappear onto Hollywood Blvd among the other street kids. Or so I thought. The cops pick me up for a BS crime I didn’t commit, and Dad announces the only way I can avoid charges is to “voluntarily” admit myself into Oak Dale, a psych ward for crazy teens. I don’t belong there—my parents are the real nutjobs—but it’s not like I have a choice. At Oak Dale, everyone is going on about the kid who just killed himself trying to escape. How could they dump me in a place like this? I’m thrown in with my anorexic roommate, Erin; foster care system victim, Gina; and pyromaniac Tony. Guess he likes to light ‘em up. All of us are unwanted baggage, here against our will. I quickly learn only the strong survive Oak Dale—and some of us won’t make it out alive.