It was amazing and cathartic to give him life, to spend that time with him. While I did do some research into mental illness, it was the experience of knowing and loving this boy that informed my writing the most. As I mentioned, I once knew and loved a boy, and that boy was bipolar. Which character did you “meet” in your head first and what significance did they have for you at that time? We rarely get to hear from the character who’s actually struggling, and I feel that when we do get to hear from that character it makes the experience all the more powerful and real. I’ve always preferred first person narration because I feel it’s the most immediate, and most novels dealing with mental illness and suicide seem to be written from the outside looking in - the main character is either left in the wake of someone who has died or they’re observing that person from afar. I knew I wanted to write from Violet’s POV too, especially because she has to carry the story through to the end. It’s almost as if I’m being told the story in mono, when I want to hear it in stereo. So many times I read a novel from one character’s perspective, and I find myself wondering about one of the other characters. I knew if I was going to try to tell this story, I wanted to tell at least part of it from his POV. I wouldn’t have written All the Bright Places if I hadn’t loved a boy years ago who was a lot like Finch. Why did you decide to let both characters tell the story of All the Bright Places? Did you always intend to include both their perspectives?
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