Siobhan Vivian thought she found her calling as a writer when she took her first creative writing class at Rutherford High School. A little over a decade later, she has proven it with her first published novel, A Little Friendly Advice, a young adult novel that tells the tale of Ruby, a high school student learning to deal with her parents’ divorce and the strong personalities of her friends.

Growing up, Vivian lived with her parents and younger sister, who are still Rutherford residents. Her book is based on her experiences as a teenager in the Borough of Trees. Vivian says the small town provided much of the teenage experiences in which she drew upon for her story.

"I got the sheltered, idyllic suburban teen experience—hanging out at Garden State Plaza, going to house parties and football games, and cultivating friendships with people I’d known since kindergarten," she said.

And while she enjoyed the suburban feel of Rutherford, Vivian also enjoyed its connection to the urban atmosphere just on the borough’s fringe.

"I also liked the balance that came from Rutherford being NYC’s shadow…It kept me dreaming big," she says.

After a successful jaunt in a Rutherford High creative writing class, Vivian enrolled in a pre-college program at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia during the summer before her senior year. There her writing blossomed.

"Something inside me just clicked, and I knew that I didn’t want to do anything else but become a writer," she said of the experience. After high school, Vivian attended The University of the Arts as an undergraduate and later enrolled in the Creative Writing MFA program at The New School University in New York City, where she began her work on A Little Friendly Advice.

"The entire writing process took a little over a year," Vivian says. She began writing in January 2006 and finished in March 2007. A year later, the book was published by Scholastic.

While one of the major plots of the book is the main character’s experience of her parents’ divorce, "my novel is more about Ruby dealing with buried, unresolved feelings she has about her parents divorce, and finding a way to communicate her feelings to well-intentioned, stubborn friends," she says.

Vivian herself hadn’t experienced divorce growing up, but writes about it in a very believable way. Her conflicts about friendship, however, hit closer to home. "I’ve certainly had moments where the line between friends being caring or callus was blurry…if not totally invisible," she says. The novel tells the story of what it’s like to be in high school and all the experiences that go along with growing up.

The novel opens on Ruby’s 16^th birthday where she plans to spend a fun night with three friends: Beth, her longest pal, Maria, her boy-crazy friend and Katherine, an older and rebellious girl that Ruby has yet to connect with. However, her night—and life—gets turned upside down when her father returns after being absent for six years, looking to right past wrongs. The rest of the novel follows Ruby for the next week, as all her relationships are tested—her mother refuses to discuss the details of the divorce; Beth is keeping secrets from her; and even her very new, first boyfriend is proving to be complicated. All of Ruby’s feelings are written in an honest and innocent voice, executed effortlessly by Vivian. The novel concludes with Ruby learning how to trust all the important people in her life, most of all herself.

Though she writes for young adults, Vivian feels that the genre has a way of connecting to both children and adults. "Teens connect with books, emotionally and passionately…ask any adult and I’m sure they can remember tons of books they read as teens."

The novel, though very new, has already been on teen book review blogs and receiving enthusiastic praise. With one novel Vivian has already arrived on the young adult scene. A Little Friendly Advice is also featured on www.ellegirl.com, as part of the teen magazine’s Spring Entertainment Guide.

Vivian has plans to continue writing for young adults, and would consider writing for strictly adults if she had the right plot in mind. For now, though, Vivian enjoys what she is writing. "John Grisham writes about law, and I write about first kisses and fighting with your best friend. It’s just where my head is," she says.

Vivian has plans for her next book, entitled Same Difference, to be published next spring. For more information on Siobhan Vivian, visit her Web site, www.siobhanvivian.com.