Behind the Manuscript: Keeley MacAllister
"If no one fights for change, then things will always be the way they are," - Keeley MacAllister, Through the Moon Door
Dec 14, 2024
Keeley MacAllister is the main character in my published book, Through the Moon Door, but who is Keeley MacAllister and where did she come from? What was the inspiration for the creation of this character? Character’s don’t just appear out of thin air. There’s inspiration and then development and in a world where so many story troupes have been discovered and overused, it’s difficult to create true original content.
Original inspiration for Keeley MacAllister came from reading Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld Series, specifically Bitten and Stolen. I thought I wanted to write some fanfiction – I never wrote any fanfiction.
The original premise was that Keeley would be the female offspring of a werewolf who insists on wanting contact with her werewolf father and is later bitten by her stepbrother.
With this premise, Keeley was created for the same online Harry Potter Role Playing site as Lux Belanger from my book, Primrose; Because I Can’t Live Without You. Her story changed throughout her years at Hogwarts and the discovery of various aspects of her life which she never knew about. When creating Keeley, I wanted a character who has a hero complex and tragic backstory. Keeley’s life was a struggle in the Wizarding World JK Rowling created for us. A pureblood, a werewolf, a blood traitor who is best friends with a muggleborn – Keeley struggled to prove herself but ultimately went on to become Head Auror with the Ministry of Magic.
Eventually, Keeley was retired but her story never felt like it was resolved in my mind and she needed somewhere else to blossom. A child born of prophecy, a child who should never have existed should the Goddess, Bestia, become enraged by the betrayal of her most beloved “pet”. Keeley is a direct descendent of the Immortal Wolf, Alaric from the old myth “Alaric and the Wolf” told among the storytellers of Telasaro. She’s stolen from her father after her mother’s death and protected by the Goddess her father has betrayed, and guarded by one of his own descendants until she comes of age. Raised without any knowledge of her birth right by a kind couple in the forests outside of Falconhurst until her father, a brave Guard, is killed in a battle. Keeley dreams of nothing more than honouring her father’s memory by becoming a warrior like him, even if it’s against the laws of their country.
Through the Moon Door is the tale of Keeley, a girl with a tragic backstory, discovering her destiny and becoming a hero.