The first thing I loved about Finny was that she made me laugh.  She has this great, deadpan sense of humor, and a wonderful ability to cut through people’s pretensions.  She’s a tough kid, who sticks up for herself, but I wanted to write a story that opened up her emotions. So I watched her change, soften, and mature a lot over the twenty years of her life I wrote about.

Earl, the young man Finny falls in love with, is a big influence on Finny.  It’s always interesting to me when someone as self-reliant and strong as Finny falls in love, because suddenly she’s in need of another person, and it completely changes her world.  It starts her on an adventure she never thought she’d have.

Meet more characters.