Danielle McKechnie is the author of the new novel This Changes Everything. She also has worked in film and television, and she lives in Vancouver.
Q: What inspired you to write This Changes Everything, and how did you create your character Ellie?
A: I had been writing circles around a character named Ellie for a long time. I called her an “LA-lien” because she was a Canadian transplant chasing a dream, struggling through the realities of life in Los Angeles.
I’ve always been drawn to the idea of crossroads in a person’s life. The Sliding Doors moments where you could have gone one way, but you chose another.
Now it’s years later, and the dust has settled, have you accepted the decisions of your past? Do you regret losing the ones you let go? And are you okay with the person you became because of that one choice that “changed everything?”
Q: The author Jessica Siskin said of the book, “A funny, gripping, and honest love story that is just as much a self-love story. This Changes Everything is about what happens when the people who have shaped us never really leave us.” What do you think of that description?
A: I was blown away by what Jessica said. I write to try to understand the world around me, how others may live their lives, the choices they make, and the intentions behind them. I write to try to understand myself, and to feel like someone else may have understood my intentions with this book is a rare gift, one I don’t take for granted.
Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: I knew how it would end, but there were many changes along the way. I try to write with characters’ motivations and objectives, letting those push the book forward. There’s the larger objective that runs through the heart of each character, the smaller objective that carries us from scene to scene, and the obstacles along the way.
While I’m writing, one character's motivation might conflict with another’s, creating an unexpected roadblock and, therefore, drama. So, for me, the most important part of my process is understanding each character's history and who they are at their core. I may have an ending, but I don’t necessarily know how each character will get me there.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?
A: Ellie McCain, Rory Campbell, and Ben Winters are more than just their love story, but it’s love that defines them.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m working on my next love story! Shh… It’s a secret ;)
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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