Hi, Treasured Tales followers. Today, I am very excited to be sharing with you a guest post by author Kirsty Eagar. She is the author of the newly released novel, Night Beach. Kirsty has written a guest post introducing readers to one of the characters from Night Beach – Abbie. Welcome to Treasured Tales, Kirsty and thank you for the lovely guest post. 
**********
Happy Birthday Treasured Tales for Young Adults!
Night Beach, my third book, has just been published, and Alishia asked me if I’d introduce you guys to either Abbie or Kane, who are characters in the story. I’ve gone with Abbie, partly because I believe Kane’s the sort of guy you should form your own opinion of without any heads-up from me. And partly because when I’m writing, the starting point of any story is the main character, so it’s Abbie who’s been there from the beginning. I should say, too, that the beginning was back in 2008, so Abbie’s been with me for a while now.
So, way back then, there were a couple of things I knew about Abbie. And all of them ended up feeding the story.
1. Abbie’s parents divorced when she was young, and she and her sister, Anna, have spent most of their lives moving between the two of them. Abbie’s had to deal with a lot of change, and feels like she’s straddling two worlds – her father’s world, and her mother’s world. It’s not necessarily bad, but it is different. The other thing is, Abbie’s seventeen, moving from being a child to an adult. So in that way also, she’s split.
2. She loves art. Creating it, viewing it, and hearing what other artists have to say about what they’re trying to do. What I was really interested in, though, is that thing that happens when you’re immersed in what you’re painting, when you’re in the zone, so to speak, and it feels like it’s coming from somewhere outside of you; sort of like you’re channelling something. Part of Abbie’s journey is to do with that thing – which in her case might be her subconscious, or perhaps something more supernatural.
3. The ocean is equally important to her. It’s been the one constant in her life.
4. She has an attraction for Kane, her step-cousin, that’s bordering on obsession. When your feelings are that intense, what happens isn’t necessarily rational. It meant that I didn’t always know what choices Abbie would make.
Well, I hope that gives you some feel for Abbie and her world.
Thanks for having me Alishia!
Kirsty 
**********
Wasn’t that an amazing guest post? Have you read Night Beach?
~*~
More information about Kirsty Eagar and her novels:
~*~
Author bio (from author’s website) -
Kirsty Eagar grew up on a central Queensland cattle property and spent her school holidays at the beach. After studying economics, she worked on trading desks in Sydney and London before changing careers, wanting a life where she could surf every day. She travelled around Australia for a couple of years, living out of a car, worked a variety of jobs and began writing fiction. Her debut novel, Raw Blue, was published by Penguin in 2009, and won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Young Adult fiction. Her second novel, Saltwater Vampires, was shortlisted for the 2011 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Kirsty lives with her husband and two daughters on Sydney’s northern beaches.
Doesn’t the Portrait Gallery, where Aimee wrote a lot of Illuminate, sound lovely?
