Author's Note (2014)

The Ending: Big question I'm seeing: Why did I skip ahead? Besides the point that I wanted to, I would've ended it at 33 if I didn't go the Epilogue route. My favorite writer has done this and I generally like it. Why didn't I elaborate or show their relationship? There's a lot of reasons why. One, the book is too long, 120k in words, there's no way in hell that's publishable—I'm talking the traditional route with an agent and publisher, my goal / dream. I don't want to self-publish, so I study publishing and listen to literary agents. This book is a YA contemporary novel, the rule is for them to be 70 – 80k and I'm well over that. I've printed the book out and now I gotta figure out a way to cut like 20 – 30k from the story. Beyond the word count, I planned the ending to end as it did. I like the ending personally, but I knew a lot of you wouldn't due to the comments on the past few chapters. I could tell some of you expected more. If this were a published book it would be about 480 pages, like, that is a LOT for teen fiction. I'm not going to lie, I am bummed that some feel anticlimactic or that it was rushed, because I love the ending, I read it more than once.

          I watched Love & Basketball a few months ago and it made me all the more ready to end it the way I did. I guess I didn't take into consideration how people would feel about being in the dark about the other characters. At one point I was going to write a second book about Troiann and Marcus and her father would've died in that book and it would've made them realize that they had to stop playing and accept that they were in love, but then they manifested themselves in this book and I just combined the two. I don't know, more people like the ending than dislike it, but I'm still like, upset that some don't. I'm not going to lie, when I go back to edit / revise, it'll still end the same way, I dunno, I just love the ending. I think the death of Howard made it messy and messed up the flow if I had to pinpoint the reason why it feels rushed. Because we went from such an extreme tragedy to this ending. Ugh.

          I know some people want to see them raise their kids or be adults, but as a reader, I wouldn't wanna read that and I don't wanna write it. I like writing about teenagers, another reason why I left it off where I did. I dunno, I wish everyone could've loved the ending, but I guess some expected a lot more and I'm sorry about that.

         Inspiration: Playin' Hard was inspired by two songs. I heard "the Boys" by Nicki Minaj & Cassie and instantly fell in love with that chorus and wanted to write about a girl who sees these guys dog girls out and then I heard "Clique" by Kanye West, Big Sean and Jay-Z and I reallllly wanted to write about this group of boys with swagger and money and I had the DeAndre idea. Realizing how close they were I decided to push both ideas into one and Cree and DeAndre and the Ballas were born.

          Flaws: I'm aware that some people may not like that DeAndre didn't fight for Cree in the end. When I think of his character, I think about how he had a lot on his plate and how selfish it would've been for him to pursue Cree on top of that. I'm 100% for being selfish when you're in love, but in DeAndre's case he thought he had a girl pregnant and that's a lot to deal with, emotionally. 

          I also note that he wasn't jealous. I personally think it would've been cliché, and it was cliché enough via the pregnancy. I just didn't wanna take it there. I find that a lot of guys in books are jealous / possessive and I just wanted DeAndre to be calm. I love that he was in love with Cree but wanted her happy above all and left her alone and didn't get possessive, especially since he had no right to be possessive, he phucked up with Draya, he had no claim. So even when I go to edit / revise, I'm leaving these parts in because it's something I like and isn't expected in my opinion.

          His father: I love me some Papa Parker, I just find him attractive. I love the talk they had, it was real and honest. And I love that he's aware that he messed up with his wife by pushing her away. I love that he's at a point where he can own that and try to be a better man for Susan and his kids.

          DeAndre not wanting to see his mother: As a person who's dealt with abandonment issues growing up, I definitely could never grasp why they have these stories about kids who were given up for adoption going out and seeking their birth parents or kids who were simply left by their parents doing that. In my eyes, it was always like, they left you, why chase them? Finding out the reason why doesn't take away the hurt, you know? Or I dunno, I just like DeAndre's character being loyal to his father even tho he's not perfect, he loves him because he was always there.

          Sex: Some of y'all were a little too thirsty for a sex scene, an erotic one at that. I don't write erotic sex scenes, because I hate reading them and I write YA, which means that would be child porn, eww. If my characters have sex, I write foreplay and the rest is closed door. I'm not into love scenes in detail, I just don't like them. And not all of my stories that feature couples have the couples have sex, sometimes I just don't feel like they need to and Cree x DeAndre were too deep for sex, they were mental and that felt better to me.

          Sequel / Spinoff: I think sequels are lame. That said, there will definitely not be a sequel to Playin' Hard. As a reader I personally hate when writers write an amazing book about a couple and then ruin it by turning it into a series, a lot of books in the new genre "New Adult" are this way, it's as if you have to write a three book series about a couple to get into that genre. Heck no. I think Playin' Hard had a full story that was whole from both sides and I think their friends were dope too. Another reason why I wrote the epilogue. As far as a spinoff goes, there will be several.

          You guys aka the readers: I gotta be honest, I'm grateful for everyone who stuck with this book from the beginning to end because this was just an experiment for me. I posted it and never saw it getting THOUSANDS of reads, votes and comments. A lot of your comments helped me shape the story and structure things. I'm too grateful for you girls, you have no clue how much it means to me to have this book about these black kids get so much love and I didn't have to write about the same old thug, drug lord, stripper ish. I feel like I may have written an amazing novel when I read your comments. I'm forever grateful for you guys, know that!

          All in all, thanks for reading,

          Whitney D. Grandison          

Quotes for the Novel

All the boys always spending all their money on love – Nicki Minaj & Cassie, "the Boys"

As I look around, they don't do it like my clique – Kanye West & Big Sean & Jay-Z, "Clique"

Playin' Hard Playlist

1.       The Boys | Nicki Minaj + Cassie (Cree's song)

2.       Clique | Kanye West + Big Sean + Jay-Z (DeAndre's song)

3.       Playas Gon' Play | 3LW (Cree's song)

4.       The Birds, pt. 1 | the Weeknd (DeAndre's song)

5.       Bad Boy remix | Ash K (Cree's song)

6.       Forever | Drake + Kanye West + Lil Wayne + Eminem (DeAndre's song)

7.       Pretty Girl Rock | Keri Hilson (Cree's song)

8.       Best Friend | 50 Cent + Olivia (Cree & DeAndre's song)

9.       Teach Me | Musiq Soulchild (DeAndre's song)

10.    Primetime | Janelle  Monáe + Miguel (Cree's song)

11.    I Come Apart | A$AP Rocky + Florence Welch (DeAndre's song)

12.    Only Girl (In the World) | Rihanna (Cree's song)

13.    Girls Like You | Miguel (DeAndre's song)

14.    Teenage Love Affair | Alicia Keys (Cree's song)

15.    Lovers and Friends | Usher + Lil' Jon + Ludacris (Cree & DeAndre's song)

16.    Illest Bitch | Wale (DeAndre's song)

17.    Mixtape | Lyrica Anderson (Cree's song)

18.    Boo Thang | Verse Simmonds + Kelly Rowland (DeAndre's song)

19.    Adore You | Miley Cyrus (Cree's song)

20.    Wu-Tang Forever | Drake (DeAndre's song)

21.    No Angel | Beyoncé (Cree's song)

22.    This Woman's Work | Maxwell (DeAndre's song)

23.    I'm Going Down | Mary J. Blige (Cree's song)

24.    Differences | Ginuwine (DeAndre's song)

25.    I Like it | Sevyn Streeter (Cree's song)

26.    Bound 2 | Kanye West (DeAndre's song)

27.    Poetry | Danity Kane (Cree's song)

28.    Walked Outta Heaven | Jagged Edge (DeAndre's song)

29.    Hustler | Keri Hilson (Cree's song)

30.    How it was Supposed to be | Ryan Leslie (DeAndre's song)

31.    Sound of Love | Cassie + Jeremih (Cree's Song)

32.    Playin' Hard | Trey Songz (DeAndre's song)

33.    Best I Ever Had | Drake + Nicki Minaj (Cree & DeAndre's song)

34.    My Boo | Usher + Alicia Keys (Cree & DeAndre's song)

35.    You're Mine (Eternal) remix | Mariah Carey + Trey Songz (Cree & DeAndre's song)

36.    Hate that I Love You | Rihanna + Ne-Yo (Cree & DeAndre's song)

*Imagine*

Let's take a second and imagine that after the whole 'shut up and kiss me' part they went and made love for the first time. I like to imagine the next chapter in DeAndre's POV going like:

The sun was beginning to shine in the sky, letting me know it was a new day. In my arms laid my entire world, my best friend, my partner and my lover.

           I slid out from underneath her, needing to get ready to go for a run.

           Everything wasn't perfect, but I had a feeling that slowly, they'd get there.

           Just as I was lacing up my shoes, I found Cree staring at me from her spot in bed. She looked fine as hell wearing my t-shirt and her hair all messy from the night before.

           "Hey," she said in a shy voice.

           I tried not to laugh. "Hey."

           "You hitting it and running already?"

           "Nah, I just felt like a run. I enjoy running in the mornings."

           Cree nodded, letting out a yawn. "Okay."

           "Hey, when I get back I'm going to hit the shower. Maybe you can join me."

           Cree blushed and sank underneath my comforter. "I've got your back."

            I smiled, knowing that we were about to be a perfect team. "And I've got yours."