Q: What inspired you to write this book?
This book came from a few different ideas and intentions. One of the first and major ideas was to write a book about my hometown, specifically diving into the people and stories that make up the place. That hometown, Madison, Indiana, is a major character in the book, though under the name of Little Rush. I tried to write honestly and openly about the good and the bad, from different point of views.
That idea evolved into two major themes throughout the book. Everything, Somewhere is all about normal life. Sure, there are some incredible things that happen, ranging from the unlikely to the improbable, but everything is about accepting and treasuring average life. Writing this allowed me to explore the idea of a normal life, what that means, the pros and cons, and this eventually led to another big topic. Writing about mental illness and suicide gave me the chance to write a heartwarming but brutally honest story about the state of today’s teenagers, but also adults. Balancing these two themes and a plot full of big characters, big ideas, was an incredibly rewarding experience. I have no doubt that it’ll be just as rewarding for you to read.
Q: What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
In the process of writing and editing this book, I most enjoyed diving into my hometown. I selected specific POV characters so I could see the town from all angles, many different backgrounds. Before I could write anything, I had to research and learn and feel the different settings that would make their way into my novel. Thinking about the moving parts of the town and how they all work together like seismic plates. While at the beginning, the town of Little Rush/Madison served as a major motivator, the characters are what really brought the story to life.
Q: Do you have any “side stories” about the characters?///What did you edit out of this book?
I have a plethora! Most of them were never written out in full chapters, although a handful were. Most of the “side stories” are just plot points, never fully developed, or maybe a few paragraphs that I never expanded. There were three different endings I worked with from the beginning, eventually leaving two behind, and while I’ll never reveal the other two, I can say they were much darker.
One story that you might find interested occurred near the beginning of the book. The main character’s friend, and POV character in her own right, is named Willow. There were two chapters written out where she interacts with a friend who is moving out of town, and it’s sort of a goodbye scene meant to foreshadow some events later in the book. While the chapters were good, I decided not to include them, for sake of brevity but also the friend’s character never got developed enough. Trust me, in the end it was a good thing, though it did have a few killer lines I held onto for later use!
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