Although her professors at UCLA pushed her to pursue her writing
talent, UCLA alumna Buff Given didn’t follow that path until
receiving similar advice from an entirely different source ““
her astrologist.
Upon returning to school following a lengthy hiatus, Given
received her master’s from UCLA’s Department of
Architecture and Urban Planning in 1978 and subsequently opened up
a successful, modest-sized private practice. When she was forced to
give it up after experiencing heart problems, she thought back to
her time in graduate school.
“In graduate school, you do write. You have to write
scenarios for living, scenarios for plans,” Given said.
“A couple of my professors told me I was the best writer that
had come through the school in forever, and that I really should be
writing.”
But it was Given’s close friend and personal astrologist
who prompted her to “pick up your pen and a pad of paper and
write right now.” That effort eventually became Given’s
first novel, a poignant love story titled “A Small
Flirtation.”
Given’s second novel, “Simon’s Story,”
differs substantially from her first, chronicling a story of
corruption, suspense and intrigue linked to scientific espionage.
Surprisingly, the story takes place right on Given’s old
stomping ground ““ the UCLA campus.
“I know the campus well, and I thought the story itself
would lend itself to being on a college campus, so I thought
“˜Well, why not?'” Given said. “I did not
put the school in a bad light ““ a couple people, maybe, but
not the school. All sorts of biotech stuff is going on there, and
my awareness of all the little places in Westwood and Santa Monica
seemed so simple, but it worked, it flowed.”
Although the setting is familiar territory for Given, the
subject matter is completely fictional and does not mirror any of
her experiences at UCLA. In fact, Given’s
“Simon’s Story” was initially inspired by the
tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001. Given and her husband coincidentally
were visiting New York during that time and were deeply affected by
the experience.
“There’s nothing you can do but feel totally
inadequate, impotent when something like that happens,” Given
said. “When I had this great urge to write again, I tried to
figure out what I could do to allow me to bring myself into focus a
little more.”
Given decided to deal with her inner turmoil by depicting a
similarly unpredictable, near tragic circumstance in her novel.
“It focused me on the immediacy of an individual ““ a
single person ““ in a situation that happens out of the blue,
unexpectedly, in almost tragic circumstances that follow,”
Given said. “It’s like personalizing the huge thing
that happened in New York. That’s what it felt like to
me.”
She also saw the novel as a challenge, particularly in keeping
all the different characters and threads of the story straight.
“I love the process. I love learning different techniques.
So I thought this would be fun to see if I could do it, if I can
juggle everything,” Given said. “Even my editor said to
me, “˜I can’t believe how much you
learned.'”
Given realizes that because of her late start as an author, she
has no 40-year writing career ahead of her, but feels grateful to
have had the opportunity of pursuing so many different career paths
over the course of her life, and succeeding at so many of them.
“I am not just a senior, but a “˜senior’
senior, who has moved from one profession to another at a very late
stage in life,” Given said. “It is important for people
to know not just my situation, but that it can be done. I’m
proud of my age, and happy with what I’ve done and am
doing.”