An Author a (Mon)day: Trish Doller

An Author a (Mon)day is my new little feature on the blog, one that will be posted every so often. Every month there's a theme, and I will be asking authors three questions related to it. I'll also tell you a little bit about why I loved their book!

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I'm very honored to be able to welcome Trish Doller on to the blog today. I recently read and loved Trish's debut novel Something Like Normal. Her writing style and voice is very fresh, and very easy to relate to. Plus, she's an absolute joy to interact with on Twitter and via email.

NOVEMBER THEME: CHARACTERS
(And yes, this was carried over from October!)

Alexa: How did the character of Travis develop in your mind? What was your inspiration? What did the process of creating this incredible character involve?

Trish: Travis was inspired by a Marine I met who was home on leave from Iraq--was meant to be the love interest in a story, a Marine home from Afghanistan after losing a leg to an IED. When I started thinking about what he was like before versus what he was like after, I realized it was HIS story and once I started really listening, I realized he had quite a lot to say. As you can see from the finished book, Travis's legs are intact so he went through a few changes along the way, but for the most part the Travis you meet is the same guy I carried around in my head for months.

Alexa: Who are your top three fictional book characters?

Trish: This is a hard question because I feel like I'm probably forgetting someone really important, but I think my top three fictional book characters would be Miyax/Julie from Julie of the Wolves; Frankie Landau-Banks from The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks; and Arthur Dent from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Alexa: If you could slip into any character's life for a day, who would it be and why?

Trish: I'm going to be completely superficial here, but I would want to be Carly from Raw Blue so I could date Ryan. He's a dream.

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Thank you so much for sharing your answers with us Trish! Travis is a character that I really, really loved, and I think your portrayal of him is spot on. I'm very excited to see more from you in the future!

MORE ABOUT TRISH DOLLER

Website || Goodreads || Twitter

MORE ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE NORMAL

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller (my review)

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children
Publication Date: June 19, 2012

When Travis returns home from a stint in Afghanistan, his parents are splitting up, his brother’s stolen his girlfriend and his car, and he’s haunted by nightmares of his best friend’s death. It’s not until Travis runs into Harper, a girl he’s had a rocky relationship with since middle school, that life actually starts looking up. And as he and Harper see more of each other, he begins to pick his way through the minefield of family problems and post-traumatic stress to the possibility of a life that might resemble normal again.

Why I loved this book:

It's such a unique novel, in terms of story. In particular, it was the first novel I had read about someone who was newly returned from a stint with the military. Travis was a damaged character, and as I read, I really just wanted to reach out and do something to help him.