Guest Post: INSPIRATION & FAVORITE BOOKS by Katherine Owen

 Thanks for featuring This Much Is True on your blog. I thought I would touch upon where my inspiration for this novel came from and list off my favorite books as well. 

My inspiration behind This Much I True came from a writing assignment from one of my advanced fiction classes with The Writer’s Studio a few years ago, and that is when Tally Landon first came into being. In early drafts, she was an artist. In early drafts, she was innocent and naïve. In later drafts, she became the edgy, broken soul readers have come to know and, hopefully, love in This Much Is True.

The opening scene gives readers an ever so brief glimpse of the old Tally. Promiscuous. Selfish. Self-serving. Talented. Tally Landon is a protégé on her way up in the world with no interest in anyone besides herself. And yet, the last line of that particular scene tells readers pretty much everything about Tally. “There is no God, Elvis.” Readers instantly know more about where Tally is coming from and where this story might take them with that one simple tragic line more than any other.

Readers learn straight away that ‘Elvis’ aka Lincoln Presley will be important. And is he ever. It is not easy to be tasked with saving Tally Landon, especially when it appears, she doesn’t want to be saved. One reviewer put it this way; and I have yet to find anyone who describes it better:

 “…Linc is a great guy who kept on drawing the short stick all throughout the story since he meets Tally. He is caring, sensitive and occasionally a coward. He definitely is an American sweetheart, and his funny and witty side comes at some of the most inopportune moments. However, this gives him the power to diffuse the bomb that is Tally Landon….” Lit Jungle Blog

Back to the question. What inspired me? I have a tendency to write dark love stories. They are angsty reads. All of them. For this one? Tally came to me. I lived with her for a year and a half in my head, and I came to know her. That sounds weird. The writing process is weird. People who write are part weird, part soulful. I can live with that. I do.

Another blogger recently asked: Do you think Tally was a tough character to write about? Why?

And I answered this way.

Tough? Hmmm…Tally was an absolutely awesome character to write. She appears tough on the outside but is mostly vulnerable on the inside in ways she doesn’t even comprehend. Her life situation is tough. Her response to it is somewhat tragic. She was a challenge to write in the sense that I really felt her awesomeness from a long way off and wanted to ensure I did her true justice with this storyline. The character of Lincoln Presley was set early on and never wavered. I gave him some challenges that his character would have to rise up to, and I feel pretty successful with those.

I just saw that these two coming together would be as explosive as fireworks. That was certainly part of the inspiration I felt for writing Tally and Linc’s story. And that, my dear readers, was my inspiration for writing This Much Is True.

The best place to go to understand how that inspiration took shape is probably my Pinterest page for This Much Is True. You might also want to stop by one of my reader’s Pinterest page to get the complete immersive effect on how this novel resonates with other people.

As to my favorite books?

I write in-depth love stories. Emotional roller coasters. These are not for the faint-of-heart reader, who just wants to relax and be entertained for an afternoon. There is some depth, some hyper realism hidden within the virtual pages of my novels. I will probably make you cry and not be at all sorry about that. Life is hard. Love is not easy. My stories get into the Gordian knot of all of that.

Books I favor tend to be because of the writing style or the depth of story. I tend to go for the angst-filled love story. Here are a few of my favorite books, besides mine.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (She broke all the rules in writing this love story. She’s an inspiration to me as a writer for technique and owning the story however it needs to be told.)

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (My current writerly crush. A love story? Yes, pretty much the worst kind, due to hyper reality)

April & Oliver by Tess Callahan (An early inspiration for me as a writer. This story stays with me. Whenever I feel I’m writing too much angst I remember the story of April & Oliver. Loved it!)

Falling Under by Danielle Younge-Ullman (This inspired me to try my hand at a broken character. Loved this story.)

The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons (Whenever I think I write long, I think of The Bronze Horseman and the follow-up books of Simons’. Incredible journey. Loved it!)

Thanks again for having me here on your blog.

Book & Author details:

This Much Is True by Katherine Owen
Publication date: August 11th 2013
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Synopsis:

Fate brings them together
Fame & lies keep them apart
One truth remains…

She’s become the Paly High girl with the most tragic story…
At 17, Tally Landon just wants to graduate and leave for New York to pursue ballet. Her best friend Marla convinces her to attend one last party—a college party—where she can be among strangers and evade the whisperings about her heartbreaking loss of her twin that follows her everywhere she goes. She meets Lincoln Presley, Stanford’s famous baseball wonder and has a little fun at his expense—when she lies about her age and who she really is—intent on being someone else for the night and escaping her tragic story.

His only focus is baseball, but he can’t forget the girl he saved on Valentine’s Day…
At 22, Lincoln Presley’s star is on the rise—about to finish at Stanford and expected to be taken early in Major League Baseball’s upcoming draft—his cousin’s party serves as a welcome distraction. But then, he sees the girl from Valentine’s Day that he saved from that horrific car accident and can’t quite hide his disappointment when she appears to look right through him and not remember him at all. He vows to learn her name at least before he leaves. What’s the harm in getting to know this girl? What’s the worst that can happen?

They share this incredible connection, but fate soon tests these star-crossed lovers in all kinds of ways…
And yet, despite the lies being told to protect the other, and the trappings of fame that continually separate them, and in lieu of the deception by those they’ve come to trust the most; one truth remains.

This much is true.

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18334339-this-much-is-true?ac=1

Purchase:
Amazon: http://bit.ly/TMITamz
Kobo: http://bit.ly/TMITkobo
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/TMITBandN
Apple iBookstore/iTunes http://bit.ly/TMITiTunes

  

AUTHOR BIO:

Dark. Edgy. Contemporary. Romantic. Were we describing me? Or my fiction? Sorry. I drink too much...coffee, not enough water. I swear too much for God and my mother, and I slip these into my fiction. Sorry. I'm impatient, a perfectionist, a wordsmith, a dreamer, which ends up being good and bad. I'm a workaholic; ask my fam-dam-ily. I've written four novels in as many years: SEEING JULIA, NOT TO US, & WHEN I SEE YOU, as well as my latest release THIS MUCH IS TRUE. If you love angsty, unpredictable love stories, I'm yours. ♥   

Author Links:
Goodreads  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/998458.Katherine_Owen
Twitter  https://twitter.com/KatherineOwen01
Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/KatherineOwenAuthor
Website: http://www.katherineowen.net

Tour wide giveaway Prizes:
-3 paperback copies (Open Intl, but book can be signed if the winner is in the US)

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