When Hunter and Ashlin visit their dad for the first time
in years, they find Chance—their charismatic childhood
friend—is harboring deep secrets. When someone turns
up dead, all eyes shift to Chance. How do Hunter and
Ashlin prove his innocence when they can’t trust a word
he says?
What draws you to the YA Genre?
I love the emotion and newness of everything. I love writing about firsts, and my characters thrown into situations
and relationships they haven’t experienced before. In
particular, I like the later teens years—17 and up,
thereabouts—because by that point most teens feel like
they have experience under their belt and find themselves blindsided by events of the real world.
Who are your main character(s) in Made of Stars?
Hunter and Ashlin are our narrators, though it could be
argued that Chance is the star (no pun intended) of the
story. Hunter and Ashlin are half-siblings, and Chance is
the boy they’ve both been enchanted by since they were
little kids.
Where did the idea for Made of Stars originate?
With the idea of Chance and his infatuation with dragons.
Everything else in the story branched out from him, and
is set into motion by him and his choices, which is why I
consider him the main character even though he isn’t
the narrator.
If you could go back in time to the age of your main
character(s), what advice would you give to your
younger self?
To not let people walk all over me, ha! That period of my
life was hard, and I wish I’d had someone there to tell me
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I was worth more than I thought I was, and I didn’t have
to put up with the treatment I was getting. Saying “No”
and learning to put myself first now and again didn’t come
until I was around 23, and I’m still working at it.
What made you sit down and write the first time?
I think it was because I had these characters in my head
and they had such a vivid story, I just had to get it down.
I’ve written short stories and fan-fiction since I was a
kid, but I will say it was a big leap from fan-fiction into
writing a full length book with entirely original characters
and settings!