Q&A with Danielle McKechnie, Author of This Changes Everything

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Danielle McKechnie is the author of This Changes Everything, which is available now.

After studying at Circle in the Square Theatre School, Danielle McKechnie moved to Los Angeles and transitioned to behind-the-scenes where she worked throughout the entertainment industry in film, television, traditional radio, and live entertainment. She now lives in her hometown of Vancouver with her husband and two daughters.

This Changes Everything follows aspiring actress Ellie McCain who is torn between following her dreams and choosing between two leading men—her childhood sweetheart and her fellow actor. It’s a heartfelt story about love—first love, one-that-got-away love, and true love—and asks if maybe all those loves can be one and the same.

Let’s get to know Danielle as she talks favorite books, inspiration behind This Changes Everything, writing two different timelines and more!

What are some of your favorite novels?

This is such a hard question because what makes something your favorite? Is it the comfort book you return to again and again? The book that made you feel seen? The one you could escape into? I never know how to answer it, and I feel like as an author, there’s a “correct” or polished answer I’m supposed to give, but I can never quite find it.

I read Stephen King’s The Shining when I was a kid and was obsessed with it. But honestly, part of the obsession was that I read it while sitting on the roof of my house one summer, and I’d never felt cooler. I also kept an entire journal written as if I were Mary Lennox after reading The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Live From New York by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales was incredibly meaningful to me as well. And my most recent favorite? Probably Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.

When did you know you wanted to become an author?

When I started taking my writing seriously, I wanted to be a screenwriter. However, I was constantly told I was getting too “internal” with my characters in my scripts. Writing novels gave me the freedom to live inside my characters in a way screenwriting just didn’t allow. It evolved over time; when a script was finished, I felt like the character’s story wasn’t, so I would write them into books instead. It started with characters I simply couldn’t let go of.

What inspired you to write This Changes Everything?

I started writing about Ellie and what eventually became This Changes Everything over a decade ago, but I could never land the plane, as they say. Cut to many versions later, split across manuscripts, pilots, and screenplays, I had always established Ellie as an adult living in Los Angeles.

Two years ago, while struggling with writer’s block, I decided to write a scene inspired by a moment from my own childhood. I’d just started wearing a training bra, so I was very aware of my body. I found myself giggling while writing, and instead of writing the other thing I was meant to be writing, I wrote another scene about the same young girl who kept embarrassing herself in front of the boy she loved. I realized then that I was writing Ellie’s backstory. I merged the two versions of her, threw away everything else, and wrote This Changes Everything in a two-month fog. As with everything I write, it always starts with characters I can’t put down.

Why was it important to tell this story across two different timelines?

Ellie experiences big love, faces big choices, and makes big mistakes. In the process, she has to reconcile the wide-eyed dreamer she once was with the woman she’s become. My hope is that by living through every version of Ellie (Vancouver-Ellie, New York-Ellie, and Los Angeles-Ellie), readers might relate to the idea that our past loves and former selves don’t necessarily define us, but never leave us.

What was your favorite chapter or part to write?

Chapter 7. There’s a scene I have written and rewritten so many times, trying to fit it into different stories and projects. It’s loosely inspired by a moment from my own life that, even all these years later, I still can’t believe how ridiculous I was. It’s one of those memories that could easily send me into a shame spiral, where I’ll suddenly cringe out of nowhere years later. Thankfully, it makes me laugh instead. The fact that it’s finally getting published really tickles me.

What are you currently reading and what’s on your TBR (to be read) list?

I’ve got on my TBR Kelly Anderson’s debut, The Wild Beneath, and Ann Patchett’s Whistler. Right now, I’m reading Carrie Soto Is Back. I love Taylor Jenkins Reid and still haven’t read this one yet.