Erin Entrada Kelly

Erin Entrada Kelly's new novel is You Go First.

From her Publishers Weekly Q&A with Ingrid Roper:

What inspired you to write about an online friendship?

Funnily enough, it did not start as an online friendship. When I write I begin with the image of a character, and I build the story and the plot around that character. I started with Charlotte and I thought she was going to be the youngest National Scrabble Champion. And the more I researched that journey and I went to homeschool Scrabble championships, Scrabble clubs, Scrabble competitions, and met Scrabble champions—the less it felt like something Charlotte would be a part of. It didn’t fit her dynamic. So as I explored her journey it evolved into an online friendship with Ben. And they were [located] in these two worlds that are meaningful to me—Louisiana and Philadelphia—and I was bridging those two worlds. One of my concerns was that I didn’t want to encourage online friendships or send kids online. It was very important to me that Charlotte and Ben meet in a school-sanctioned online message board and then their friendship gradually evolves onto the app.

One of the things that connects Charlotte and Ben is their shared love of words. How did that help you develop these characters?

Their love of words was...[read on]

Visit Erin Entrada Kelly's website.

--Marshal Zeringue