Blog Tour: Finding Home by Lauren McKellar
Today I have Lauren McKellar, one of my Aussie Owned and Read sisters visiting on her blog tour for her new release Finding Home
Character Creation
Which came first: the chicken or the egg?I find that, when it comes to writing a novel, a lot of people seem to want to know which came first, the chicken or the egg; or, in a writer’s case, which came first, the plot or the characters?For me, in Finding Home, it was the plot; and that made building characters around the major story and themes quite challenging. How do you fit these fictional entities into a world you’ve already so thoroughly fleshed out? And how do you then make them all different, and yet “real”?Fitting the characters into the world was surprisingly easy once I started building the plot a little more, but I was still really worried about the idea of having characters that felt too cardboard, too much like you’d seen them before in a bad audition tape for Home & Away. [Not that I’m saying Home & Away has terrible actors; more that an audition reel for that show would be horrid because it’s an audition, not the show, and… *takes shovel, keeps digging*]ANYWAY! The way I worked out a method around this madness was, for me, including a small element of myself in each and every character. The heroine was, of course, easy. It wasn’t hard for me to remember moments of my teenage life, or to evoke certain emotions my lead character, Amy, would feel. That’s not saying that Amy is me (I never really binge drank, nor did I have sexual relations as she does). However, whenever Amy would have this plot I’d created just fall on her head and happen to her, I would use a reaction I could see myself using. And my reactions to dramatic situations sure aren’t always perfect. In doing this I gave Amy flaws, which I think help her feel more real as a character. I then applied this technique throughout the rest of my novel, interjecting tiny slices of my personality here and there. *BAM* take a hint of my sensible side. *WHAM* have a splash of my childlike elements. *KAPOW* here’s some awkwardness that you can share.Soon, all my characters had a little bit of flaw, or a little bit of “Lauren” to them. And I think it made them better.Having finished the book, I don’t think this is how I’ll write again. I don’t think I need to sprinkle my essence all over everything in order to create realistic and slightly broken characters. However, it did teach me one very important thing: characters need flaws, or they become unlikeable. And for my next release, The Problem With Crazy, I have built them in, so they’re complete little chickens. And this time, they’re coming first.
Lauren McKellar is a writer and reader of Young and New Adult books. Her debut novel Finding Home is out now, and can be bought from all your usual eBook sites (extensive links available here; Amazon listed below). She also works as a freelance editor for novels for all age groups and you can chat to her on twitter or facebook any time you’d like.
WebsiteAmazonGoodreads
About Finding HomeMoody, atmospheric, and just a little bit punk, Finding Home takes contemporary YA to a new level of grit...
When Amy’s mum dies, the last thing she expects is to be kicked off her dad’s music tour all the way to her Aunt Lou in a depressing hole of a seaside town. But it’s okay — Amy learned how to cope with the best, and soon finds a hard-drinking, party-loving crowd to help ease the pain.
The only solace is her music class, but even there she can’t seem to keep it together, sabotaging her grade and her one chance at a meaningful relationship. It takes a hard truth from her only friend before Amy realises that she has to come to terms with her past, before she destroys her future.
PLUS:Win one of two $5 Amazon cards, one $10 Amazon card or a copy of Finding Home.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Character Creation
Which came first: the chicken or the egg?I find that, when it comes to writing a novel, a lot of people seem to want to know which came first, the chicken or the egg; or, in a writer’s case, which came first, the plot or the characters?For me, in Finding Home, it was the plot; and that made building characters around the major story and themes quite challenging. How do you fit these fictional entities into a world you’ve already so thoroughly fleshed out? And how do you then make them all different, and yet “real”?Fitting the characters into the world was surprisingly easy once I started building the plot a little more, but I was still really worried about the idea of having characters that felt too cardboard, too much like you’d seen them before in a bad audition tape for Home & Away. [Not that I’m saying Home & Away has terrible actors; more that an audition reel for that show would be horrid because it’s an audition, not the show, and… *takes shovel, keeps digging*]ANYWAY! The way I worked out a method around this madness was, for me, including a small element of myself in each and every character. The heroine was, of course, easy. It wasn’t hard for me to remember moments of my teenage life, or to evoke certain emotions my lead character, Amy, would feel. That’s not saying that Amy is me (I never really binge drank, nor did I have sexual relations as she does). However, whenever Amy would have this plot I’d created just fall on her head and happen to her, I would use a reaction I could see myself using. And my reactions to dramatic situations sure aren’t always perfect. In doing this I gave Amy flaws, which I think help her feel more real as a character. I then applied this technique throughout the rest of my novel, interjecting tiny slices of my personality here and there. *BAM* take a hint of my sensible side. *WHAM* have a splash of my childlike elements. *KAPOW* here’s some awkwardness that you can share.Soon, all my characters had a little bit of flaw, or a little bit of “Lauren” to them. And I think it made them better.Having finished the book, I don’t think this is how I’ll write again. I don’t think I need to sprinkle my essence all over everything in order to create realistic and slightly broken characters. However, it did teach me one very important thing: characters need flaws, or they become unlikeable. And for my next release, The Problem With Crazy, I have built them in, so they’re complete little chickens. And this time, they’re coming first.
Lauren McKellar is a writer and reader of Young and New Adult books. Her debut novel Finding Home is out now, and can be bought from all your usual eBook sites (extensive links available here; Amazon listed below). She also works as a freelance editor for novels for all age groups and you can chat to her on twitter or facebook any time you’d like.
WebsiteAmazonGoodreads
About Finding HomeMoody, atmospheric, and just a little bit punk, Finding Home takes contemporary YA to a new level of grit...
When Amy’s mum dies, the last thing she expects is to be kicked off her dad’s music tour all the way to her Aunt Lou in a depressing hole of a seaside town. But it’s okay — Amy learned how to cope with the best, and soon finds a hard-drinking, party-loving crowd to help ease the pain.
The only solace is her music class, but even there she can’t seem to keep it together, sabotaging her grade and her one chance at a meaningful relationship. It takes a hard truth from her only friend before Amy realises that she has to come to terms with her past, before she destroys her future.
PLUS:Win one of two $5 Amazon cards, one $10 Amazon card or a copy of Finding Home.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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