Welcome to the Quintina Blog Tour,
sponsored by
YA Bound Book Tours!!
For my post, I have a Guest Post by
author Meghan Riley!
There's also a tour-wide giveaway!!
Quintina
(The Starseed Series, Book 2)
Meghan Riley
Trade Paperback, 348 pages
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
May 7, 2016
Science Fiction, Young Adult Fiction
No longer on Earth, Anna
must now piece together her memories on the strange, new world of Enki.
Guided by Julianus, the mysterious man who brought her back, she soon
realizes this isn’t the same world she was starting to remember, making
it even more difficult to figure out why she was sent to Earth. Will she
be able to solve the mystery before the people who sent her away
realize she’s back? Or will her memories forever remain lost?
Purchase Links
Guest Post
Meghan Riley
While writing Anna and Quintina
(books 1 and 2 of the Starseed Series), I had to create multiple characters,
each with their own personality. Some proved to be much easier to write than
others. This ability was influenced by not only the setting, but the
character’s role – lead or supporting.
Much of Anna was set in and around a high school, so, for inspiration, I was able to draw on my own teenage experiences and the personalities I experienced while in school. Some characters ended up with the common traits that one would expect from their position in the high school ecosystem (school jock, daughter of privilege, etc.). Others became a mishmash of different traits from people I knew, like Anna’s best friend Heather. Whenever I needed a new character, I just thought back to the students I saw roaming the hallways.
Much of Anna was set in and around a high school, so, for inspiration, I was able to draw on my own teenage experiences and the personalities I experienced while in school. Some characters ended up with the common traits that one would expect from their position in the high school ecosystem (school jock, daughter of privilege, etc.). Others became a mishmash of different traits from people I knew, like Anna’s best friend Heather. Whenever I needed a new character, I just thought back to the students I saw roaming the hallways.
Quintina was a
bit different. Set on a completely different planet, it was harder to draw on
my own real life experiences. I dug down deep for personality traits and
behaviors, imagining there had to be similarities between humans of one planet
and another; however, the reasoning behind why the characters were the way they
were was more difficult to derive. A new planet meant a whole new set of alien
experiences. I had to get creative.
No matter if the setting was Earth or Enki, one thing remained true – it was much easier for me to write lead characters than supporting ones. I had plenty of room in my story to flesh out my lead characters and give the reader insight into who they are and why they are that way. I was also able to formulate a much better understanding personally of who they are, because I had to know them inside and out. That made translating them to the paper much easier.
Supporting characters, on the other hand, don’t have the same page time. I had to give each of my supporting characters a personality without stealing focus from the lead characters. I had to effectively utilize dialogue and dress to get across the little traits while still allowing them to effectively serve their purpose in the story. One example of this is Steve McCormick’s group of friends, who provide multiple points of reference for Anna’s character but quickly move in and out of scenes.
Sometimes a writer creates characters who really intrigue them, but they’re forced to cut them out. In the end, a character must serve a purpose in the story, otherwise they may slow the story down. This can be a real bummer, but they open up opportunities for side projects, like short stories. You may just see some of these from me in the future.
If you haven’t yet, you can pick up copies of Anna and Quintina on Amazon. Both books are available in paperback and on Kindle. You can also follow along with updates for The Starseed Series on my website.
No matter if the setting was Earth or Enki, one thing remained true – it was much easier for me to write lead characters than supporting ones. I had plenty of room in my story to flesh out my lead characters and give the reader insight into who they are and why they are that way. I was also able to formulate a much better understanding personally of who they are, because I had to know them inside and out. That made translating them to the paper much easier.
Supporting characters, on the other hand, don’t have the same page time. I had to give each of my supporting characters a personality without stealing focus from the lead characters. I had to effectively utilize dialogue and dress to get across the little traits while still allowing them to effectively serve their purpose in the story. One example of this is Steve McCormick’s group of friends, who provide multiple points of reference for Anna’s character but quickly move in and out of scenes.
Sometimes a writer creates characters who really intrigue them, but they’re forced to cut them out. In the end, a character must serve a purpose in the story, otherwise they may slow the story down. This can be a real bummer, but they open up opportunities for side projects, like short stories. You may just see some of these from me in the future.
If you haven’t yet, you can pick up copies of Anna and Quintina on Amazon. Both books are available in paperback and on Kindle. You can also follow along with updates for The Starseed Series on my website.
This is the first book in
The Starseed Series!
The Starseed Series!
Purchase Links
Meghan Riley graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in English from the University of Maryland, and immediately pursued her lifelong passion for the written word. Her debut novel, Anna, presented itself as a way for Riley to inspire teenage girls to expand their interests beyond the typical teenage quandaries, ultimately encouraging females toward in interest in science. She is currently hard at work on the next book in The Starseed Series.
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