Author Sara Celi has stopped by today with a guest post for The Undesirable Blog Tour!
How Fostino became...Fostino
Naming a character might be one of the best parts of writing a book, but it can also be one of the hardest. You want to get the character names just right because (if readers are anything like me) impression are sometimes created by the name of character.
When it came to Fostino, the male love interest for The Undesirable, I had a really hard time naming him. I kicked around about ten different names for him, and not one of them felt right. I could see him in my head, and almost hear him speaking in my mind, but I didn’t think any name I tried out for him worked.
Would you believe an early name for this character was Derek? Yes, friends, it was.
Fostino needed a certain name--an unusual name, a name that would immediately put him at odds with a community hellbent on conformity and “fitting in.” But after several weeks of trying on different names, I just couldn’t figure out a name that fit. In short, I was stuck.
Enter my friend Jacob. He works with me at my day job as a photographer (I’m a TV anchor and reporter) and we sometimes work on stories that take up several hours of our day. It’s the kind of work environment that allows you get to pretty close to your co-workers. After almost two years of working together often, he and I are pretty tight.
By the time we got in a car one day on the way to Ft. Sill from Oklahoma City, he knew I had started writing a book. He knew about where I was in the story. And he even know how much anguish the male lead’s name had been causing me.
So, he did what he usually does. He forced me to talk about it. He asked probing questions and even teased me a little until I opened up.
And that’s when it began.
He tossed out a name. I toss out one. I pulled out my trusty Moleskine notebook and started jotting them down. He said another. I brought up two others. By about 10 miles from Ft. Sill, that notebook had a list of about 25 names.
Only one of those names had a big circle and star. It was the one that rang true.
Fostino.
Title: The Undesirable
Author: Sara Celi
Publisher: Lowe Interactive Media
Pages: 225
Book Description:
*This book is Mature YA/ New Adult. It is recommended for readers 14 and over.
What if everything you knew turned out to be a lie?
Charlotte Walker knows how to live under the rule of The Party. She has managed for 18 years. She helps out her drunken mother and keeps life going at a familiar, steady pace. She doesn’t ask questions, even though she has many of them in her heart.
Fostino Sanchez knows how to live under the rule of The Party, too. For 19 years, he’s worked to be the perfect Party member. He knows what must be done to keep Maxwell Cooper in power, and how find the The Undesirables that threaten to take away everything that matters.
As the months go by, what matters most to Fostino is Charlotte Walker.
While their love blooms, danger comes to Charlotte and Fostino’s small hometown of Harrison Corners, OH. Threats they never knew existed could take away all that they care about. And just when these two teens think they know what will come next, Charlotte learns the truth about a secret she has long suspected.
What Charlotte finds out changes everything.
EVERYTHING.
THE UNDESIRABLE is Charlotte Walker’s story, from her point of view. It is a thrilling, suspenseful tale of love, curiosity, adversity, and maturity against the backdrop of a futuristic war.
Should Charlotte trust Fostino with what she knows? Can she trust anyone? Will she find it in herself to rise up against terrible odds? What if the ultimate Undesirable is her?
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About Sara Celi
New Orleans born Sara Celi has lived all over the United States. She calls the Greater Cincinnati area and the Queen City home.
She's currently a TV reporter and anchor in Oklahoma City, and has spent more than a decade working in journalism. She graduated cum laude from Western Kentucky University in 2004.
Celi is also a contributing author to Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Positive.
The Undesirable is her debut novel.
In her spare time, she likes to read, shop, write, travel, run long distances, volunteer with the Junior League, and fundraise for Cooperative for Education, a non-profit providing educational opportunities for Guatemalan kids.
