Today I have a very special guest post with Jennifer Gibbons author of the YA novel Ella Bella.
When asked how Jennifer gets inspiration for her characters, this is how she replied.
Ella Bella
By Jennifer Kathleen Gibbons
Set
in 2001, Ella Drake has just experienced two terrible losses: her
father's death and her brother going overseas to fight the war against
terrorism.
Just when things start to calm down in her life, her mother's job is outsourced to India.
Frightened,
Ella tries to find security for herself and her mother. The search for
security leads to a children's bookstore, a new friend, and her first
kiss. And possibly, it paves the way for healing to begin.
From the bestselling author of I Woke Up In Love This Morning, Ella Bella explores loss and how lives can be changed.
About the Author:
Jennifer
Kathleen Gibbons is the author of the Smashwords bestseller I Woke Up
In Love This Morning and the essay collection I Woke Up In Love This
Morning. She lives in Lafayette California and is working on a novel.
Red Room page:
blog page:
goodreads page:
facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/jennifer.gibbons
My twitter name is: @jenniferkate
Guest Post:
I’m
always trying to figure out my characters and what they love, what
they obsess about. Sometimes though I need to see or figure out with
my own eyes. So I tried something that has helped author Jennifer
Crusie: I tried making a collage.
Here’s
the catch: I’m really not a crafty person. I wish I were, but I’m
not. When I was a kid I had problems with my motor skills so
sometimes my art projects would be finished by someone else or look
very lopsided, as if I was on a Tilt a Whirl when I was creating it.
Yet I wanted to give it a go with my Young Adult novel Ella
Bella.
I tried several times but I always saw the collages with a critical
eye; while Crusie’s collages looked beautiful and A plus worthy,
mine always looked like I’d get a “Hey At Least She Tried”
ribbon.
I
heard about Polyvore through Francesca Lia Block, who uses it to
create collages for her characters. Weezie
Bat
is one of my favorite books so I was amazed by her creativity and the
effort she put in figuring out what Weetzie wore, what she liked. And
then I thought why don’t I give it a go?
As
I created the collage, I could “see” my characters and what they
loved, what they were obsessed about. It wasn’t perfect, but what I
loved was it didn’t have to be perfect. No one was looking over my
shoulder tsking tsking I did it wrong. That itself is liberating.
To
see the collage, go here:
For
those of you who read Ella
Bella
and get inspired to make your own collage, I love to see them. Send
them to jennifergibbons@redroom.com when they are done.
Thank you so much Jennifer for taking the time to stop by today to tell us a little bit about how you come up with such great characters and how you get your inspiration!
Also, don't forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win your very own copy of Ella Bella!
Also, don't forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win your very own copy of Ella Bella!
thank you so much for giving me the chance to write for your blog!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jennifer!!
ReplyDeletethanks for a great post and giveaway! Congrats on the release!
ReplyDeleteCongrats of the release of your novel! Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteHi all! Thank you so much for your comments! Heidi yes, try doing a collage if you write fiction; it really helps plus it's fun!
ReplyDeleteThe premise of this story seems very intense, that's a lot for a young girl to deal with.
ReplyDeleteHi Melissa,
ReplyDeleteYes, it is a lot for a young girl to deal with. In fact, I felt bad for doing it to her! I've been accused of what Salinger did to his characters: Not wanting anything bad to happen to them. Which is fine, but when you're writing a novel, that's not so great. So I tried to follow Jennifer Weiner's advice: give your characters the worst that can happen to them, then see how they get out of it.
Hopefully this makes sense. It makes even more sense when you read it!
Jennifer
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteWhat you said makes total sense, thanks for explaining the reasoning behind having so much happen to her, I really appreciate that. :)
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteYou are so welcome. It's so funny talking about this; tomorrow I'm going to see Judy Blume-she and her son are showing the movie Tiger Eyes, which is based on her novel. I read it when I was ten and when I was telling someone about it they said "That sounds so depressing." Yet I didn't find it depressing. While a lot of the boy/girl stuff went over my head, what I related to was the fact that she just kept on going. Even when the worst happened, she kept on. And that's the key to a good book.
Jennifer