We're very excited to have Meg Medina on the Undercover blog this week, writing from across the pond. Meg is the author of The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind, published here in the UK next week.
This a story of change in difficult times. A tale of sacrifice. And, most of all, it is about fighting for a better future - for love. It's a poignant and spellbinding novel, with the perfect mix of romance, folk lore and magical realism.
We also think the cover looks pretty amazing...
Today, Meg has written a great post all about the characters from the book. Enjoy!
"The writer’s original perception of a character or characters may be as erroneous as the reader’s.”
Stephen King on what he learned while writing his blockbuster novel, Carrie
I once lived under the sweet illusion that I was in control of the characters in my novels. They sprang from my imagination, after all. Why wouldn’t I be able to make them do whatever I pleased?
Silly me. If I’ve learned anything over the course of writing my latest novel, The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind, it’s that characters are like real people in every way, including how you get to know them. Your first encounters are always polite, measured. Then they show their fangs.
Early on I thought I was telling the tale of a girl who has to undo a terrible lie. The novel is about Sonia Ocampo, a girl mistakenly believed to be a holy child in her village and pinned (pretty literally) with her neighbours’ bottomless requests and petitions. But as more and more characters appeared, I began to see that Sonia was part of a bigger story about young people desperate for a future and willing to take unspeakable risks to achieve it.
A few times, I was nearly overrun with strong personalities, all of them clamouring to show me what it’s like to be young, poor, and without opportunities. It took some discipline to decide who would be allowed to stay and who would simply have to wait for another story.
Pancho is by far my favorite survivor. He’s one of the main characters, a bike taxi boy hopelessly in love with Sonia. I had no idea of this when I first met him, of course. In an early draft, he was in the background, sipping a soda and waiting for a fare. He had a single line. “At your orders, señorita.”
But an interesting thing happened when Sonia climbed into his taxi. She mentioned that he was a school chum and noticed that he looked handsome in his pressed uniform, so different from his worn shirt at school.
Uh-oh.
A few days later during page revisions, Pancho noticed Sonia’s pretty legs as she climbed into his taxi, and soon he made it known that he was a good writer and spent time entertaining her with his stories under the shade of a tree. His ambition: to recite a poem for el presidente. The only trouble: How does an orphan ever earn the chance for such an honor?
It was hopeless to contain him after that. He had “reluctant hero” written all over him, and he simply wouldn’t let me forget it. Each time I finished writing a chapter for Sonia, he’d creep into my imagination and pester me with questions. “Will Sonia miss me?” he’d ask. “Does she know I love her? Don’t you think I might know a secret or two about what really goes on in this town? Are you aware that poets are the bravest people of all?
In the end, I’m glad I followed his voice, just as I’m glad that I listened to the others who muscled in for space on the page, parading their delicious personality quirks like peacocks fanning their tails. Look at the cast today. Gossiping schoolgirls with unshakeable loyalty. A handsome rascal trying to find a way to care for his family. Knife-wielding bartenders with a passion for adventure stories. Bossy tías who aren’t above a few lies to get what they want. And then, there are the thieves, murderers, and predators – all cleverly disguised as reasonable people, naturally.
In writing – and in life – you never know whom you’ll meet or how they’re destined to make their mark. From my author’s chair, I’d say that’s all the fun.
Intrigued? We've put a sample from the book below. You could also read some of the great reviews for the book on Goodreads (where it has the US cover)
The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind is out on the 7th June. Pre-order now:
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