Behind-the-scenes reflections from R.K. Slade on band geek fiction, music-driven storytelling, marching band memories, characters, creativity, and the real-life sparks behind the books.
Every so often, a piece of music shows up on the marching field and feels like it was always meant to be there. That does not mean it was written for marching band or drum corps. It does not even mean it is an obvious choice. Sometimes the pieces that work best on the field […]
My first real high school band camp was at a huge school, the kind of place that made me feel very small very fast. They brought in a guest instructor. They drilled fundamentals over and over. Push-ups were handed out regularly. We practiced on a parking lot and it was hot in the way only […]
Former band kids remember strange things. We may forget the exact score from a football game, the name of a piece we played sophomore year, or who sold the most restaurant discount cards for fundraisers. But we remember the feel of the band room before rehearsal. We remember the sound of a drumline warming up […]
Marching band comes with built-in story. There are auditions, section leaders, first games, long rehearsals, missing pencils, bus rides, contest nerves, uniforms that never quite fit right, and directors who say “one more time” with no apparent concern for the truth. For a writer, that is useful material. For a reader, it is even better. […]
Band geek fiction is exactly what it sounds like. It is fiction for the people who know what summer practice grass field smells like. Who know what butterflies before a chair test feel like. Who know the difference between major and minor scales. Who sing at the top of their lungs when “Hey Baby” gets […]
Meet the trumpet-playing new kid at the heart of the Me & the Marching Bands series. Wesley Wade is the main character of Me & the Marching Bands, a young adult fiction series about friendship, music, growing up, and finding your place when life keeps moving you somewhere new. He is a dedicated band kid […]
Like a lot of independent authors, I write under a pen name. Part of that is practical. I like having a little separation between my everyday life and my author life. Writing, publishing, marketing, newsletters, social media, book covers, reader emails, all of it becomes its own little world after a while. A pen name […]
Why Wesley Wade’s journey through Me & the Marching Bands is more believable than it might sound. When people hear that Wesley Wade attends four different high schools in the Me & the Marching Bands series, I know exactly how it sounds. It sounds made up. It sounds like the kind of thing an author […]
I have always liked the phrase band geek. I know some people probably hear it as an insult, but I never really have. To me, geeks are people who care deeply about something. They learn the details. They speak the language. They know the inside jokes. They remember the smell of valve oil, the weight […]
Me & the Marching Bands is a young adult marching band fiction series about music, friendship, family, growing up, and finding your place one school year at a time. At the center of the series is Wesley Wade, a creative, quiet, shy trumpet player who is already very skilled when the story begins. He has […]