It’s easy to be miserable in high school. Even worse than the stress of academics and… It’s easy to be miserable in high school. Even worse than the stress of academics and athletics, friendships and would-be romantic relationships is the pressure to fit in, to mask your individuality and conform to cliches in the hopes of being noticed and liked.’ And it’s only that much harder if you’re dead. Or so proposes ‘Ghostgirl: Rest in Popularity,’ a new novel by Pitt alumna Tonya Hurley. ‘Ghostgirl’ is the story of Charlotte, a girl whose entire life revolves around the desire to be liked by the in-crowd and, more specifically, Damen, the classic school heartthrob. She seems close to achieving (or beginning to start the initial stages of achieving) that goal when she scores the envied role of Damen’s physics lab partner, only to choke on a gummy bear and die moments afterward. Following her ignominious death, Charlotte must attend a high school that is not as hellish as regular high school is for most people. In this purgatory for the souls of unresolved teenagers, she studies ‘Deadiquette’ alongside her ghostly peers. With both the aid of Scarlet, a living girl who allows Charlotte to possess her, and the hindrance of Prue, a dead girl with an irrational hatred of Charlotte, she must discover and resolve her own issue. The book, which debuted at No. 10 on the New York Times bestseller list, is targeted primarily at the preteen girl demographic but makes an entertaining light read for any age group with its abundance of Halloween-flavored death puns and teen angst satire. ‘The whole idea of wanting to be noticed and the same and all that came into play when I was writing, along with my own high school experience,’ explained Hurley. ‘There’s a whole culture now geared toward fame. People want to be famous for something, anything, [and] it doesn’t matter what.’ The author studied writing at Pitt in the ’90s, graduating with fond memories of the Original Hot Dog Shop and living in Holland Hall. Hurley originally conceived of the ghostgirl concept as a TV show, later going on to write a feature film script. While a film is not entirely out of the question, ghostgirl (dead girls’ names aren’t capitalized) is living in print for now, in addition to her home at ghostgirl.com, an interactive Web site created long before the book. The book is set up with brief introductions to each chapter that serve both as synopses of the coming plot developments and mini philosophical essays. Hurley said that she originally wrote them as character development exercises and then decided to work them into the format of the novel. Hurley hopes that the messages of personal responsibility and the occasional necessity of sacrifice come across to her readers. ‘The whole book actually is about staying true to yourself and acceptance. Feeling invisible starts in high school, but it goes throughout life,’ said Hurley. ‘In the real world, when you get out of high school, it’s your differences that propel you and that bring success, that are celebrated.’ Advice for aspiring writers at her alma mater? ‘Never give up. I know that sounds trite, but there are going to be people that tell you that your idea is not what they’re looking for and it’s not good. Learn to take it in but don’t digest it,’ she said. The book’s sequel, ‘ghostgirl: Homecoming’ will come out next July, but even her debut wouldn’t have come to life without determination. ‘This took me six years, and if I would have stopped every time someone told me it wasn’t a good idea, it would have ended a long long time ago. If you really believe in your story, other people will believe in it to. You have to be dedicated.’