ANATOMY OF AN AUTHOR

Thursday, Nov. 1, 2007 | 7:33 a.m.

line By Kristen Peterson, Las Vegas Sun

Daria Snadowsky hoped to land a job in journalism or public relations after earning bachelor's and graduate degrees in film from Emory University. Instead , she found herself unemployed and decided to write.

The then- 22-year-old scribbled down some thoughts, emotions and scenarios from high school, stitched them together and, voila, she had a novel. Think of it as a Judy Blume-style tale, but with all the accoutrements of contemporary society.

"Anatomy of a Boyfriend" was published in January and drew praise for its frankness , as well as some scathing reviews.

A graduate of UNLV's Boyd School of Law, Snadowsky, 28, works for a criminal defense firm in Las Vegas. She lives in Henderson with her parents and is thinking about writing another young adult novel, possibly another love story.

She'll be signing copies of her book at a Vegas Valley Book Festival event Friday.

Here's a breakdown of how the 1997 graduate of the Meadows School in Las Vegas pulled off "Anatomy of a Boyfriend" and made it seem easy.

Unemployed. Starts writing about some of her high school experiences. Decides to write a love story that charts the emotional highs and lows of first love. Opts for realism over romanticism and something "graphic without being pornographic." Creates a character, Dominique, who experiences some of the author's thoughts and emotions. Creates a guy for the girl, someone unique, not the "suave, popular womanizer" found in young adult novels, but someone "just as clueless" as the main character. After the first 60 pages, she realize s she might have something worth publishing.

Read Judy Blume when she was younger. Watched "Sex and the City." Saw how main character Carrie Bradshaw turned experiences into a column at the end of the show. Thinks it would be cool to make her own experiences more concrete by writing them down.

Chalk it up to experience. "Every single emotion Dom feels, I've gone through myself."

Sending manuscripts is not for the tender-hearted. Takes several months and 100 rejection letters before Snadowsky even gets an agent. "Sometimes I'd get two, three a day over the course of a few months. It never stopped hurting."

Finishes the first draft in 1 1/2 years. It's 599 pages. Her agent submits it to a dozen publishers, all of whom say it is too long. Cuts it to 280 pages between the first and second year of law school, then resubmits. Random House picks it up that year. Spends eight months rewriting.

Lives off her savings after her unemployment checks run out. Moves home to Henderson to live with her parents after savings run out. Her steps to success: write, edit, find agent, find publisher, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.

What: Vegas Valley Book Festival

When: Friday and Saturday

Book signings: 6-10 p.m. Friday

Where: Arts District, downtown Las Vegas

Admission: Free ; www.vegasvalleybookfest.org

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