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Monday, November 9, 2015

Damage Done

by Amanda Panich

Amanda PanitchDamage Done


This past Friday, November 6, 2015, Marcy and I posted our answers to Amanda’s debut novel Damage Done. Today, you get to read Amanda’s favorites!

Great in depth answers! We can’t wait for our readers to read the novel. And hopefully to give us a few of their favorites, too.


1) What is your favorite line or paragraph from the novel as it relates to the main character's development and/or growth?

When Julia thinks, "Lucy Black, rest in peace. She'd lived a quiet life, and she'd fallen in love, and then she'd disappeared like she'd never been."

Up until this point, Julia's been living under a false name, living a false life, pretending she wasn't the girl whose brother had killed eleven people. Here, she's finally realizing that she can't hide anymore. She has to confront her past head-on.


2) What is your favorite chapter ending or cliffhanger?

My absolute favorite chapter ending is the last line of the book, but I don't want to spoil anything! My second-favorite chapter ending is the last line of Chapter 6:

"She was the only person who knew that, at the time of the shooting, exactly zero of the eleven kids [who died] in the band room had been my friend." It's clear throughout that Julia isn't the most reliable narrator, but this is where it gets driven home that hey, she's really hiding something big.


3) Who is your favorite secondary character and why?

I grew to quite like Dr. Spence - Ryan and Julia's psychologist - as I wrote and rewrote the novel. His role changed and developed into a far more significant one once my agent suggested I include his case notes and journal entries throughout. 


4) What is your favorite line or paragraph of description?

There's one line early on that has stuck with me whenever I think about telling secrets: "I wasn't going to be one of those people who stretched out and yawned and let all their secrets float away like dandelion fluff."

Julia knows that, once you tell a secret, you can't control where it will end up and where it will grow - or what it will grow into.


5) What is your favorite line of dialogue?

Is it cheating to choose a conversation? I especially like the conversation Julia has with Jenny, the prying reporter, at the end of Chapter 2.

She tells Jenny all these details about the shooting, and then thinks, kind of offhandedly, "I just hoped she didn't ask me to repeat myself. I'd lied so many times over the course of our conversation I was having a hard time keeping track of all I'd said." 

This is the place where we learn that Julia's a pro at lying, and that just because she says something happened doesn't mean it actually happened the way she said.


Congratulations to Amanda on her debut novel, Damage Done. To read more, please go to:

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