• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

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.”