Meet The Authors Showcase Edition #1 (1 of 3)

A showcase with @barbaramay91, author of little green stars

 1 what inspired the idea of your story?

 The inspiration for Little Green Stars came at a pivotal moment in my life. Last June, after living my entire life in Alaska, my husband and I decided to leave all our friends and family behind and start a new life in Arizona. The move was gut-wrenchingly sad but also uplifting. In the quake of moving, I wrote my first novel. I poured all my emotions from moving into that novel, and it helped me work through all the feelings associated with my new life. Fast forward to February 2020 to when my life was finally feeling settled in Arizona, and I had just completed my first novel. I was beginning to start the sequel to the first novel when I received more life-altering news: my mom sold our childhood home. I was born and raised in that house, my husband and I lived there when we were first married, and my first child came home from the hospital to that house. The night I heard the news, I had a very vivid dream in which the new owners were renovating the house. In the dream, I could feel the physical pain of the house being ripped apart. The next morning, I woke up with ideas spinning. How could something like that happen? Or more importantly, how could I turn that dream into a book? From there, I started filling in the gaps, and a story began to emerge. Many of the characters are nods to childhood friends, family members, and my hometown of Wasilla, Alaska.

Around the time I started Little Green Stars, my friend Arielle had a party where we painted Valentine's wood boards that spelled LOVE. However, the "O" was a heart, and on the back of the heart was a shamrock. It was clever because anyone could just turn the O over for Saint Patrick's day. One day, her kids rearranged the letters, so it said V E L, followed by the shamrock. We laughed and laughed and laughed. We thought Vel Shamrock sounded like an investigator in a murder mystery. I loved the name so much that I used it for my heroin in Little Green Stars.

2 what was something you struggled with for your story?

This story is essentially a quirky twist on a haunting that follows a teenage outcast. In general, I'm not a huge fan of haunted house stories, so I honestly struggled with the "big picture" for this story. In general, I'm a planner. I plan out every event and plot out all the story elements for my book ideas before I even begin writing. However, with Little Green Stars, I just started writing. So, at around 20,000 words, I hit a wall and struggled with how to move forward. After much deliberation, research, and brainstorming, my direction finally came.

3 what has been the overall response to your story from your readers?

I am a brand new author on Wattpad, so I don't have a fanbase yet. I am desperate to know how other people feel about my writing style, my characters, and my story's plot. So, I'm eagerly awaiting reader responses. Currently, my story is incomplete, but I post chapters regularly. I'm on schedule to complete it by the beginning of May. So, if anyone is looking for an on-going book, Little Green Stars is waiting for you!

4 what did you enjoy writing most of your story?

My favorite part of writing Little Green Stars is my two main characters Vel and Jin. They are two teenagers that, despite the fact Vel is unknowingly haunting Jin each night, they grow to enjoy spending time together. Most of the novel, they are desperately trying to make something tangible out of these paranormal happenings. In their attempts to stop Vel from haunting him, they try and make hypotheses and predictions. Really, it's comical that they think they can use science to stop a haunting. Tracking their attempts to understand the events around them has been my favorite part.

5 is your story a stand alone novel or a piece of a series?

I intend Little Green Stars to be a stand-alone novel. But, I'm open to more adventures for Vel Shamrock.

6 what would you like your readers to take away from your story?

I want my readers to take away some fun and a little bit of introspection. Little Green Stars touches on feeling closed off from individual family members that don't see eye to eye. Sometimes communication gets lost or misunderstood, and it drives people apart. Sometimes the family members who irritate us the most are the ones that we need. So, I'd like my young adult readers to come away from this book with the inspiration to try and communicate better with their loved ones. People don't realize that what is shown on the surface is not always what is going on inside people's hearts and minds. With kindness and open communication, we can understand each other better. And what's more important than open, truthful dialogue with family members? Family is forever.

7 what's a piece of advice you would provide to another writer, when it comes to focusing on their story?

My advice for other writers is to plan our their story even if it's just a vague outline. When you know what your "big picture" is and the direction you're going, it's easier to add the smaller, deeper meanings in the initial draft. It can be daunting to try and go back at the end of 60,000 plus words and add all these additional subplots or meanings.

8 does your main character share any similarities to yourself?

Vel Shamrock is more like my adult self but not at all like me as a teenager. As a teenager, I was always social, a people pleaser, and I never got in trouble. Vel doesn't care what people think of her and in fact, she likes to piss people off. The true similarity I have to Vel is that we are both a little cynical, and we both quit witted with comebacks. Vel is the sassy girl I was always too afraid to be.

9 what's something you believe would draw in new readers?

I think readers will be drawn to Little Green Stars because it's suspenseful, it's not too dark, and it's a quick, easy ready. The novel has a fast pace, and I am a succinct writer. I don't waste time writing unimportant things, so if I say something, it's important! My writing also tends to be introspective with deeper meanings, so my readers might enjoy trying to pick out my hidden agenda as they read.

10 do you have any future projects?

I have countless future projects. Honestly, book ideas are not an issue for me; time is. I write at least 1,000 words a day and still feel like I move at snail speed. I am currently working on the sequel to the first novel I wrote. I also have a young adult dystopian novel in the works. But equally, I would like to write adult novels and have a murder mystery planned out.