Ethan Wate

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Photos by Vania Stoyanova © 2009.

Ethan is a regular guy, who’s about to the start his sophomore year at Jackson High—except he has reoccurring dreams about a girl he’s never met and can’t stop thinking about.

From Boy With Books Interview:

BoyWithBooks: Who materialized first? Ethan or Lena?
Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl: We knew right away that we wanted to tell the story from a boy’s POV and that we wanted a strong female character. So they really emerged together, but Ethan’s was the first voice we heard – and the first one we wrote.

BwB: How did you write Ethan’s flaws to keep him realistic?
K & M: All the teenagers in our lives are flawed, just like the rest of us. Ethan is a real person to us. We saw him as we see the teens we know – brave and fearful, hopeful and hopeless, perfect and messed up – on any given day.

BwB: How early into the writing process did the Kelting come into play? How did you decide between what Lena and Ethan said aloud to each other and what they “thought” to each other?
K & M: We wanted Ethan and Lena to have a connection that was more intimate than spoken conversation. Something supernatural, yet all their own. We chose to have them Kelt when they wanted to share something too private or painful or embarrassing to speak aloud. Wouldn’t you love to be able to “speak” your most vulnerable feelings without saying a word?

Something You May Not Know About Ethan: His bedroom is lined with shoeboxes. He keeps everything that’s important to him inside them, and he knows what’s inside every single one. One of those shoeboxes might hold a very special locket…

In addition to his normal Silver Surfer comics (very useful for English class), Ethan is also quite a reader. Some of his favorites?

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut

ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger

SNOW CRASH by Neal Stephenson

HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams

EP COVER

The last song on Ethan’s Playlist is an Indie: Colored Black by Fast Addie
There’s one song missing… but you’ll have to read BC to find out what it is.