since the devil was in the details with this story (as in, if you weren't reading very closely line-by-line, you were sure to miss something) I know there are going to be questions. here are the answers to a few that I've gotten many times before.
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why is the story called turnpike?
it's a traffic reference. a turnpike is typically a road where a toll is charged, and the FMC was paying a high price by being with the MMC. there's also the line about him "pulling [her] down that one way street again, and there's no turning back" which is another traffic reference. to me, the title alludes to all the different paths/roads she could have been on, and yet this is the one she's on.
what inspired you write this story?
rape culture, imbalances of power, manipulation, privilege, victim blaming, Brock Turner, and abusive/toxic relationships.
and while her book came out far after I finished writing this story, I highly suggest reading Know My Name by Chanel Miller.
how long did it take you to write this story?
five years.
why didn't the main characters have names?
because they could have been anyone. this is also why I never gave a true physical description of either one of them.
why did the side characters have names?
because the people with names weren't really the ones who mattered in this situation.
so... the MMC was a rapist?
yes. we knew that from the very first chapter. let me repeat that section here:
I always wonder if he had anything to do with the dead pledge and five reported sexual assault cases, but every time I ask, he brushes me off in some way or another. I wouldn't be surprised if he personally fed the kid that lethal cocktail of prescription drugs and booze, but I know he wouldn't have let any of those girls go to the cops. That old money fortune and matching last name would have been enough to sweep it under the rug, something he's undoubtedly done before.
This much I know because he's tried it with me.
but the main character never said she was raped.
yes, she did. she said it over and over and over again without ever saying the word rape.
the FMC heavily references the night they met and the trauma of the assault. if you choose to reread at any point, keep an eye out for those lines. there's at least one in almost every chapter. read closely. listen to her.
if he raped her, why did she keep going back to him?
fear. threats. manipulation. bribery.
he made her think she wanted it. he reinforced her thoughts that no one else but him would want to be with her. he made her feel wanted, made her feel like she had some sort of worth—but only within the context of him, not as her own person. he also paid her off, and made her into "his whore" making it harder for her to leave. she became indebted to him, in some way or another.
