Kim Purcell, Irvington
Author of Trafficked
Where do you get your ideas? My ideas come from real life and the news, and then I expand the story with my imagination. I find it very useful to go to the actual place where the story takes place to get the details right. For Trafficked, even though it takes place in a home in America, I had to travel to Moldova, where my girl comes from, so that I could see the world through her eyes.
What were you like as a young adult? As a kid, I was quirky and super-imaginative, always writing stories and making up dances and plays. As a teen, I was as far away from my real self as a person can be. In eighth grade, I was bullied and excluded because I was too weird. This made me anxious and desperate to be popular. When I finally made it into the outskirts of the popular group, I found myself hating who I was and feeling that nobody knew the real me. I was miserable. When I finished high school, it was a huge relief.
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