These are posted in chronological order according to the story line. I can't remember if that's the order I wrote them, but that's not really important. Obviously, the characters get refined as the series goes on, so I think the later ones (the short ones!) are inevitably the best.
While many of my "fans" absolutely adore the series, I don't place much importance on it. I write it and I'm pretty much done with it. I find I'm usually in argument with my fans about which stories are better than others, so it doesn't really mean much.
Robert and Rosalyn are part of a group of pieces I call my "Introspective Works". That is, they were written for a very personal purpose and then went from there. The first R&R, "My Perfect Guy", was written in 9th grade when I decided I wanted to try falling in love and the whole dating scene, now that I was in high school and therefore old enough to date by my own standards. But I wasn't certain how to go about it--I didn't even know the kind of guy I wanted, much less how to go about falling in love (I still haven't quite figured it out). So I came up with Robert, a template for a perfect guy, or so he was supposed to be. Like all my characters, he didn't like the role I chose for him and made his own personality, with all the flaws and specialties and peculiarities that make someone human.
I didn't know where Robert was coming from when I wrote him, but when I looked over it perhaps a year later I realized that I'd known several guys similar to him in the past. Not so exaggerated, of course, but still similar. So there's hope. Roberts do exist
I didn't name Rosalyn in the first one because I didn't think she was important. She was just supposed to be me. But she wanted to be herself too.
Rosalyn is my "dark side", the character of my daydreams, the me with no inhibitions. She frightens me, but she's the other half of the introspection. Not only finding my ideals, but my reality, and coming to terms with myself (I highly recommend writing as a therapy).
Now that I had this ideal high school couple--the me of my daydreams and the boyfriend to match--I couldn't just let them live happily ever after, oh no! My friends who were now in love with Robert more than I demanded more attention to him, for one. For another, I saw an opportunity to make statements about high school relationships through Robert and Rosalyn. I could put them through the drama I saw all around me and use them to show others how to get through it. And they were entertaining! They were strong characters, and everyone loves stong characters.
So now I began to see R&R not as just idle daydreaming and ponderance but as a "guidebook". I thought about what teens face in dating and got the other stories. I realized that maybe Robert was a little too ideal, so I decided to look at it from his perspective as well. There I discovered that he really wasn't so perfect as everyone thought. No one is. He has his prejudices and fears the same as any. Then there was Rosalyn getting more and more saucy. Finally, of course, there is the major issue that many teens and their families face--sex. (I can see the firewalls flaring up now!) I believe in total abstinence, obviously, and I hate the stereotype that it's always the male who wants it. Women can be as hormone-driven as men. In health class, I was riled by all the media they forced on us that portrayed boys as horrible predators and girls as innocent, helpless victims. So I wrote Robert's Refusal. Because sometimes the man has to be the strong one.
Robert and Rosalyn is my statement on love and high school and everything in between. I have another plot in mind for them, far more convoluted and wrenching than those I've finished (it may wind up being novelette or even novel length) but it is very hard for me to write and I rarely feel more inspired than intimidated by it. And like I said, Robert and Rosalyn are not high on my priority list.
