Not a loner or an outcast but a secret third thing…

Typically, the found family trope is utilized for characters who are isolated, whose biological family is tragically gone or have in some way rejected them. The moral then becomes, “it’s the people you choose who are your real family.” A message many individuals resonate with. You don’t have to be alone, you can and will find community.

It’s a beautiful message for a beautiful trope, but as I was thinking of all the selling points of my book, the aspects readers would connect with, I began to think about found family in another light.

In my book, The King’s Starkeeper, the main character, Phyliri, is sometimes at odds with her family. The whole course of her adult life was set in motion by an act of rebellion against them, in fact. But as the story progresses, the reader begins to understand that, although she feels a little adrift from them in multiple ways, love for her family is one of her primary motivators.

She has other friends as well, but she can never be honest with them in the way she wants to. Secrets loom large over her life, hindering every connection she tries to make, except one. Or rather, two. Never in her life has someone tried so hard to know her. Never in her life has someone truly depended on her. To me, that’s what family is all about at the end of the day. People you can rely on, who can rely on you. People who want to know you, flaws and all.

I wish I could go into more detail without spoiling it, but I think if you read The King’s Starkeeper through the found family lens, you’ll find a lot of interesting aspects to ponder