Everything you ever wanted, or didn't want to know about Inhabit the Garden. If you want specific information about Avery, click on the FA(VERY)Q (the other boys are going to have theirs up at some point in the near future).
1.) Is it Playground or Inhabit the Garden?
2.) Why the name change?
3.) What's the backstory of the story?
4.) Is there really a fantasy aspect? What is it?
5.) So, uh, what's the moral of the story?
6.) Specifics about the author.
7.) How long did it take to write the first draft?
Have a question? E-mail me!
1.) Is it Playground or Inhabit the Garden?
Officially, Inhabit the Garden. But those who read it while it was still called Playground are free to call it such. Think of it as a nickname for a long title.
2.) Why the name change?
Playground was really always a working title, but one that I liked. It fit with the primarily school-located plot, but soon before I finished the first draft, we uncovered a poem that Jake posted back in the game in 2004, before he and Avery had backstory and before they were a couple. It was part of 'Four Quartets: Burnt Norton', and was designed to be his response to Jack's infidelity. Over a year later, the irony of that poem hit us like a very large sack filled with hardened cement, so I picked one of the most significant lines and that became the new title.
The verse Jake posted of the poem was:
Time present and time past
Are both present in time future
And time future contained in time past.
If all the time is eternally present
All time is unreedemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden. My words echo
Thus, in your mind.
But to what purpose
Disturbing the dust on a bowl of rose-leaves
I do not know.
Other echoes
Inhabit the garden. Shall we follow?
Read the entire thing here.
3.) What's the backstory of the story?
Almost longer than the story itself. But I'll cut it down for the sake of the page.
In May of 2004, my friend Ashley and I created an original role-playing game played on LiveJournal called 
a_field_sable. It detailed the lives of a couple dozen gay/straight/bisexual boys attending Eton College. It was originally meant to be a 'crack' game, meaning... not serious. Unfortunately, Avery's fling with Clydai turned more serious than expected, and the rest is history (most detailed in the novel).
Later, in August, a few of us branched away from the original game (which we are no longer a part of) and created dirty_life. If you're interested in what happened after the three boys began living together, that's where you'll find it. It's still active and still continues to portray the boys and their lives together. You can even apply to the game, or browse through the backstory, at the website.
Much of the plot between June of 2004 and September of 2004 was altered for the novel because most of it was created merely for drama.
4.) Is there really a fantasy aspect? What is it?
Yes, but as I didn't want it to weigh down an already complex storyline, I left it out until the very end. There's purposeful room for interpretation in the wings that appear in the Epilogue, but the truth of the matter is that Avery is an angel. However, angels aren't what religion has specified. There is no god in Avery's world, but angels are the most "pure" of all beings. That's how Avery survived his drug overdose and his suicide attempt. There's more information on this in Avery's FAQ section.
5.) So, uh, what's the moral of the story?
Inhabit the Garden tends to send mixed messages, at least in my opinion. Avery manages to survive drugs and underage sex. I don't condone either, moreso the former, but one has to realize that the reality of today's adolescents (and yesterday's, as well) is not exactly squeaky clean. It would be difficult to find a group of teenagers without one in their midst who has experimented and gotten away with it. It's a sad reality, but it's still a reality. Avery's life is a bit different because he's thrown into extremes at an obscenely young age, but he gets out of it and moves on. Drugs are bad, sex with strangers is bad, abuse is bad. You won't get away with it--Frank certainly didn't. And if Avery was mortal, his life would have been taken from him during his second, and most severe, drug overdose.
There should be no teenager out there participating in the risky behavior that the boys do in Inhabit the Garden. Drugs and unprotected sex will come with any sexuality, with any background, with any lifestyle. But they are never okay. And the consequences are often inescapable.
Also, I would like to take this time to say that LOVE IS LOVE. Homosexuality carries no fewer risks than heterosexuality. Any rude remarks because of the sexualities portrayed in this novel will get you a swift kick to the head. I will not tolerate bigotry of any kind.
6.) Specifics about the author.
Hi. My real name is Sarah, but friendly folk call me Scout. I wrote the novel as an eighteen-year-old, but I'm twenty now. I was born and raised in Washington. I've written stories for fun since Kindergarten, where they evolved from angry princesses trapped in towers to groups of children solving mysteries. I suppose I've now managed to combine both.
7.) How long did it take to write the first draft?
Almost three months. Writing began on the 1st of November and ended on the 22nd of January. The first 50,000 words were reached after five days of writing, but after that, the pace slowed considerably.