As crazy as this sounds, I often feel they are more real than the people I encounter daily. I do not make lists of features or personality traits, then build the characters. I almost feel they are already fully formed human beings that I get to know as I write. While I am writing, my characters are real. I do the same, but my characters actually exist in my brain.

I live in Alaska and have been to Denali National Park many many times-camping, backpacking, and shooting pictures.Īuthors always project some bits of themselves or others into characters. I played classical piano (dead white men’s music) for years before teaching myself guitar and banjo and writing my own songs. Was there anything from your own life that you put into your characters? I enjoyed how authentic your characters felt. In many ways, Tracy is who I wish I had been years ago. And especially the confusion of why you don’t seem to fit into expected gender roles. And I know the inner struggle of hiding truths from yourself and others, the battle between fear and anger that you experience fear. I know exactly how Tracy felt during her arguments with family about politics and civil rights and LGBTQ+ rights. Many teens in high school in Alaska try to be their true selves at school where teachers are told to keep their students’ sexual identity private because of the fear of how their families might react. I know many people who would be very uncomfortable if their children came out as queer, which is why almost half of homeless teens are queer. Society is still homophobic in many places, in fact most places.

What were some sources that informed this novel development? The MoonStone Girls tells the story of a couple struggling to find inner peace, and love, amid a homophobic society.

The Moonstone Girls by Brooke Skipstone