Sometimes picking the narrator for our story isn't so cut and dry. Today we have special guest, Author Sarah Skilton, to explain how she chose the narrator for her novel, BRUISED.
In BRUISED, my contemporary Young Adult novel, the narrator is 16-year-Imogen, a black belt in Tae Kwon Do who freezes up at an armed robbery and is left to wonder if martial arts failed her or she failed it.
To tell this particular story, my narrator couldn't be anyone else. Imogen is defined -- and more importantly, defines herself -- by her all-encompassing love of martial arts. When I'm writing, I ask myself, "What's the worst thing that could happen to this particular person?" If you don't write about the worst thing that could happen, you may lose the chance to push your characters to their limits in terms of drama and storytelling. Who wants to read about an event that doesn't affect the narrator very much, or change him or her in some way? If it doesn't affect the lead character – really affect them – it won't affect the reader, either.
Because Imogen's identity is so wrapped up in her martial arts abilities, her failure to use those abilities when it really matters destroys her in a way it wouldn't destroy someone else, someone who hasn't spent the last six years training four times a week and dreaming of opening her own martial arts school one day.
I also chose a 16-year-old girl for my narrator because at that age the question of identity is especially important. The teenage years are the ones in which we try to figure out what kind of person we want to be. Coming-of-age / Young Adult novels tend to focus on defining moments, first moments, in a way that "adult" novels can't always do.
It was important to me to write the story from the point of view of a young person who still has an idealized view of the world, of herself, and of her place in that world. How will she react when that idealized view is fundamentally challenged? I wanted to pose the question, "If you're not who you thought you were, then who are you?"
Imogen as a narrator gave me the chance to do just that.
Sarah Skilton lives in Southern California with her husband and son. She has studied Tae Kwon Do and Hap Ki Do, both of which came in handy while writing her martial arts-themed debut YA novel, BRUISED, available now from Amulet Books along with her second book, HIGH AND DRY.
*originally posted on Paranormal Point of View 
I recently read both of these books and realized they had a common theme: guilt. Both of the main characters in these YA novels have had a horrible situation placed on their shoulders -- of which neither are truly at fault -- and they have to work through the guilt they ultimately end up feeling. I recommend both!
In Bruised by Sarah Skilton, Imogen is an incredibly successful Tae Kwon Do black belt. It's rare for someone her age to have already reached black belt status, but she has and is very proud of herself. She really wishes to be a role model for kids and show them they can do whatever they put their mind to and work really hard for.
When she witness the robbery of a diner -- and the eventual death of the man holding the place up -- Imogen becomes filled with guilt. She didn't do anything. Imogen, strong and capable of taking down any man, hid under a table in the diner, while the man robbed the cashier at gunpoint. She blames herself for his death and won't listen to anyone's reason as to why she's not at fault.
Bruised is really the story of healing. Imogen shouldn't feel guilty for protecting herself by staying quiet, but she does. She feels so guilty that she begins making choices that begin to harm herself further and through the book we are able to watch her finally turn it around for the better.
Skilton's writing pulled me right into the story and I found myself wanting to both cheer for Imogen and smack her. In order for the plot to progress as it did, she needed to be a difficult, hard-headed character, and she definitely was -- but, I ended up loving her for it.
I also really loved the inclusion of Tae Kwon Do as a major plot aspect. Never seen that before.
Operation Oleander by Valerie O. Patterson focuses on ninth-grader Jess, a girl who has spent every minute of her free time over the summer raising money for children in Afghanistan. Her father, along with many of her friends' parents, is deployed to Kabul and she feels like she's helping him while helping the kids at the orphanage. Raising money is her mission, despite her friends wanting her to also spend some time having fun. She knows that she can't rest.
When an explosion in Afghanistan near the orphanage kills her friend's parent, Jessica is taken over by guilt. She knows that her desire to help those kids is a good one and it makes her feel closer to her dad. But, her friend blames her for her mom's death. That's a hard one to swallow. Jess feels terrible.
Books about military kids and their families always tug at my heartstrings. I miss living on a base and having the community of people around that know exactly what it means to be in the military and everyone being in one place for the same reason. It's an important community to have. Books like this one are important for kids who have parents serving and I think Patterson did a really nice job expressing the emotions that so many of us go through when our family is overseas.
Jessica came off very young sounding to me -- not like a 14-year-old -- but other than that, I really thought the book did a solid job at getting a great message across, while still being fictional.
Thanks to both Abrams and Clarion Books for the review copies.
Who is the narrator of your story, and how did you decide?
Thanks for having me at your blog, Lisa! This was a terrific question for me to get, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to answer it.
In BRUISED, my contemporary Young Adult novel, the narrator is 16-year-Imogen, a black belt in Tae Kwon Do who freezes up at an armed robbery and is left to wonder if martial arts failed her or she failed it.
To tell this particular story, my narrator couldn't be anyone else. Imogen is defined -- and more importantly, defines herself -- by her all-encompassing love of martial arts. When I'm writing, I ask myself, "What's the worst thing that could happen to this particular person?" If you don't write about the worst thing that could happen, you may lose the chance to push your characters to their limits in terms of drama and storytelling. Who wants to read about an event that doesn't affect the narrator very much, or change him or her in some way? If it doesn't affect the lead character – reallyaffect them – it won't affect the reader, either.
Because Imogen's identity is so wrapped up in her martial arts abilities, her failure to use those abilities when it really matters destroys her in a way it wouldn't destroy someone else, someone who hasn't spent the last six years training four times a week and dreaming of opening her own martial arts school one day.
I also chose a 16-year-old girl for my narrator because at that age the question of identity is especially important. The teenage years are the ones in which we try to figure out what kind of person we want to be. Coming-of-age / Young Adult novels tend to focus on defining moments, first moments, in a way that "adult" novels can't always do.
It was important to me to write the story from the point of view of a young person who still has an idealized view of the world, of herself, and of her place in that world. How will she react when that idealized view is fundamentally challenged? I wanted to pose the question, "If you're not who you thought you were, then who are you?"
Imogen as a narrator gave me the chance to do just that.
Sarah Skiltonlives in Southern California with her husband and son. She has studied Tae Kwon Do and Hap Ki Do, both of which came in handy while writing her martial arts-themed debut YA novel, BRUISED, due out March 2013 from Amulet Books.
Bruised is now available for pre-order from B&N or Amazon,
You can also add it to your IndieBound Wish List, or GoodReads.
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