Larkin's Book Bloggers

Stopping by Larkin’s Book Bloggers today as part of a blog tour courtesy of Teen Book Scene is author Mary Lindsey! 

Mary Lindsey’s debut young adult novel, SHATTERED SOULS, is scheduled for release December 8, 2011 from Philomel/Penguin.

Having received a B.A. in English literature with a minor in drama from the University of Houston, she currently teaches acting to children and teens at a private studio in Houston, Texas.

Mary lives with her husband, three kids, two dogs, her daughter’s pet rats, an Australian Bearded Dragon, and dozens of Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches.

Today Mary is going to talk with us about her debut novel and how she came up with her main character’s name…welcome Mary!

Shattered Souls deals with reincarnation, but I knew my main character would be different from the others in the story because of her past life amnesia. For this reason, she needed two distinct names: one to represent her past incarnations, and one for her current life. To this end, I needed an old fashioned, traditional name in addition to a modern one. The name Rose came easily and the origin is explained in this video on an earlier blog tour stop.

There are lots of names that have only recently become popular, and I mulled over loads of them. Nothing stuck. Then, while I was at the studio where I taught private acting classes, it just fell into my lap. One of my teen students asked if I would name a character after her. Her name was Lenzi and it was perfect. It was a cool, modern spelling of a traditional name. I loved it. Lenzi it was!

Happy for the perfect name, I finished my manuscript, queried, and received an offer of representation. It wasn’t until much later that I realized the name wasn’t quite as unique as I thought. Someone asked me–I don’t remember if it was my agent or a critique partner–if the name Lenzi was a shout out to my husband. Why on earth would my main character’s name be a shout out to my husband, I wondered. Then it hit me. My last name since marriage was Lindsey. Lindsey = Lenzi.

Duh.

I was mortified. I had never even made the connection I’d given her my name. I considered changing it, but honestly, no other name seemed to fit at that point, so Lenzi she stayed.

Thank you so much, Jennifer, for having me on your blog today!

Visit Mary Lindsey at Her Website:

http://www.marylindsey.com

For more information about Shattered Souls, please visit these websites!  And check back here soon for a review of Shattered Souls!

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Shattered-Souls-Mary-Lindsey/dp/0399256229/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312213813&sr=8-1

Barnes & Noble

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shattered-souls-mary-lindsey/1101075440

Shattered Souls at Penguin

http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780399256226,00.html?Shattered_Souls_Mary_Lindsey

Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9366996-shattered-souls

A huge thank you to Mary for stopping by and visiting us today!  And thanks to Teen Book Scene for hosting the tour!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 at 7:37 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.