Shelly Burns, over at Write for a Reader, asked me to answer a few interview questions to help her celebrate Children’s Book Week on her blog, and she’s giving away an advance reader copy of THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z.
To enter her drawing, just read her blog post and leave a comment. She’s offering extra entries to folks who post or tweet about the contest, too.
This post is part of a year-long series of blog interviews I’ll be hosting with my fellow 2009 Debut Authors, called "How They Got Here."
It should be an especially helpful series for teens who write, teachers, and anyone who wants to write for kids. 2009 debut authors will be dropping by to talk about how their writing in school shaped the authors they are today, what teachers can do to make a difference, how they revise, and how they found their agents and editors. (You’ll even be able to read some successful query letters!) If you know a teacher or two who might be interested, please share the link!
Today…Deva Fagan, author of FORTUNE’S FOLLY!
I had the good fortune (no pun intended) to read an early copy of Deva’s book, and I SO wish this book had been around when I was ten years old. FORTUNE’S FOLLY is the kind of book that made me a reader — the kind of book I would have disappeared with into my room for hours on end, until I knew everything would be okay, because these characters from another time and place feel so very, very real.
Thankfully, I haven’t grown up all that much. I still love stories like this, and most of all, reading this ARC, I was excited for my students and my daughter because they’re just going to love Fortunata, a heroine who doesn’t wait around waiting to get saved. This book has an enchanting romance, to be sure, but in no way does Fortunata compromise her sense of self or forget where she came from. In fact, she’s the one who does the rescuing, with bravery, cleverness, humor, and pure will that will leave kids cheering.
Welcome, Deva! Tell us about the first thing you ever wrote that made you think maybe you were a writer.
When I was in the fourth grade we did a unit on mythology, and had to come up with our own myths. I wrote a story about a bard who gives his lyre to a toothless whale so it can strain the krill from the ocean and get enough food to eat (thus bringing baleen into the world). What was even better, though, was that our teacher printed up a collection of stories, poems, essays and book reviews from everyone in the class (including my whale myth) and then we bound them into little books. I was so excited to have a story in a "real book"!
What books did you love when you were a kid?
I particularly loved (and still love!) L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables series, Laura Ingles Wilder’s Little House books, the Mrs Piggle-Wiggle books by Betty MacDonald, the All-of-a-Kind Family books by Sidney Taylor, the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace, the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary, Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series, Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain, Dragonsong and Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffery, The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley, C.S.Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, Dogsbody and Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones, So You Want to be a Wizard? and Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane, and The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce.
Is there a particular teacher or librarian who was a mentor for you in your reading and writing life?
When I was in High School, we had this excellent program in which some of us got matched up with students from nearby Princeton University, who served as mentors for whatever field we were interested. I worked with a young woman named Cara Garofalo, who was studying creative writing and English. She (very very kindly, I recognize in retrospect) encouraged me on my first novel (which is horrible, full of purple prose and a girl with silver eyes and an anti-hero who looked like my favorite pop star at the time). She also introduced me to the wonderful musical Into The Woods, which was really inspiring. And just going to visit her in the old gray stone towers of the wisteria-covered dorms was a really positive experience, seeing how much people valued education and literature and talking about ideas and books. I wish I knew how to find her now, so I could thank her for everything!
Moving on to the here and now, most writers admit that making time to write can sometimes be a challenge. When and where do you write? Do you have any special rituals? Music? Food & beverages?
I write in the early morning, usually. Since my day job involves sitting at a computer too, I like to do my creative work before I get burned out. I usually turn on the computer, make a cup of hot black tea with milk (the first of many!), and sit down. If I am in the groove, I sometimes just start writing. Other times I re-read what I wrote the day before, or turn on inspirational music, or spend some time playing out a little mental movie of the current scene.
Do you have a favorite strategy for revision?
If I am working on my own first revision of the rough draft and there is substantial work to do, I usually create a brand new document and cut and paste everything I want to keep into it, with big "TO DO: " notes in bold red sprinkled throughout. I also like to redo my outlines when I am doing a major revision, to get a mental framework in place. If I am working from an editorial letter or feedback from critique partners, I generally do the smaller things first, then tackle the bigger issues.
What’s your best advice for young writers?
To read broadly, and think about WHY you love the books you love.
What’s special about your debut novel?
It’s the kind of book I particularly enjoyed when I was about 10 or 12: mixing adventure, romance, humor and fantastical settings. Also, it has some really horribly ugly shoes in it.
What were the best and worst parts of writing it?
The worst part was struggling to fix the ending. I knew something was wrong, and for a long time I was trying to just tweak it and coax it into something I liked. Finally I had an epiphany and realized I needed to rework it more substantially, by adding a new chapter and making the main character more proactive. But once I made those changes I knew it was better. Hopefully readers will agree!
The best part was writing it all in a madcap dash for NaNoWriMo. I started the first draft November 1 and finished it about 5 weeks later. I’ve never written so fast, and it was very thrilling! I would love to try writing like that again but I am not sure my schedule nowdays will allow for it.
How did you find your agent and/or editor?
I found my agent first, by researching (mostly online) to find agents who represented books like mine and mailing out lots and lots of queries. Eventually, I started getting positive responses, and ultimately an offer of representation. I had no connections or anything like that! There were definitely points where I thought about giving up and struggled with the hundreds of rejections, but I knew I had to stay determined and keep trying.
And here’s the pitch from Deva’s successful query letter:
All Prince Leonato needs to do to find a bride is to ride off on a snow-white steed, secure a magic sword, vanquish the wicked witch, recover the enchanted slipper, and rescue the princess who fits it. That is the prophecy Fortunata makes for the queen. The problem is: it’s not true!
Ever since her mother died and her father lost his shoemaking skills, Fortunata has survived by telling sham fortunes. Now, if her prophecy for the queen does not come true, her father’s life will be forfeit. To make matters worse, Prince Leonato is handsome, brave and kind, and Fortunata is falling in love with him.
(Deva had more great query letter material here, but it was spoilery…so that’s all you get for today!)
Thanks for joining us, Deva!
You can read more about Deva at her website. You can pick up your copy of FORTUNE’S FOLLY at your local independent bookseller, order it through one of my favorite indies, Flying Pig Bookstore (they ship!), or find an indie near you by checking out IndieBound!
Up next in the "How They Got Here" Debut 2009 series… Leigh Brescia, author of ONE WISH, will be stopping by on Tuesday, May 19.
So I was finishing up Elise Broach’s book MASTERPIECE last night, and the author’s note at the end talked about the spark of idea that led to this brilliant book – a contact lens lost in the sink. That led Elise to wish for some tiny creature who could crawl down and get it for her, and that led her to imagine Marvin, a friendly, talented beetle who absolutely shines as a main character.
I love hearing about the whispers that start a story churning, so I thought I’d share the stories behind my two latest works in progress, both of which started with setting.
Right now I’m working on a middle grade mystery that grew out of my editor’s travel troubles. (She has no idea about any of this, so if you are reading this, Mary Kate, thanks for the inspiration! *waves to Mary Kate* ) When bad weather stranded her in Atlanta this spring, I got thinking about airports and how much I like them and how I’d love to set a book in one. And then I got thinking about being stuck in airports and how I often end up meeting the most interesting people, just because we can’t get to Tulsa or wherever for three more hours, and that’s where my middle grade mystery begins…with three kids, snowed in at a Washington D.C. airport, and a stolen treasure. I’m in the early stages of this book, just a few chapters in and stalled until I get to D.C. for a research trip later this month, so it’s too early for me to share more. But it’s interesting to me that the story started with setting.
That was the also case with SUGAR ON SNOW, the middle grade novel I worked on much of last year. The whispers started here…
…at a sugar house on pancake weekend, where I crunched through the spring snow with my daughter, watched the sugar steam puff into the sky, inhaled the sweet smell of sap being boiled down to syrup, and watched the hustle and bustle of the family that owns this farm. For the next few weeks, I toyed with the idea of a character who lives on a maple farm near the Canadian border, and that’s when Claire showed up and started whispering in my ear.
I’d talk back to her on my morning run. "Well, sure…you’re a great kid and you have a fascinating life up there, skating on the frozen cow pond in the winter and everything. And sure, it would be fun to write the sugaring scenes, but what are you going to do? You have to do something. You can’t really have your own book until something happens, you know?"
Claire would sigh and go away for a few days, but she kept coming back. I liked her, but I didn’t start to write about her until summer, when I spent a weekend with my daughter at a basic skills figure skating camp in Lake Placid. She was excited to take different kinds of skating classes at the camp, and I was excited to sit in the coffee shop across the street and work on revisions for the first book in my MARTY MCGUIRE chapter book series with Scholastic.
But it turns out I hadn’t read the fine print on the skating camp brochure. When I signed my daughter up for camp, I had also signed myself up for a weekend of "parent education" workshops. So instead of drinking mocha lattes with my laptop, I found myself in the Olympic Center Hall of Fame Room with a bunch of other skating parents, learning about figure skate blades that cost more than my car is worth. Although they weren’t what I had planned, the workshops were fascinating, particularly the one that featured a sports psychologist who works with figure skaters and talked about the stress, the pressure to commit more time and money, the competitive nature of the sport. What if my sweet Claire from the maple farm somehow ended up training here? I pulled out my notebook and started scribbling ideas.
After that, there was a whole lot of research and writing and revising, brilliant critiques from writing friends, more revising, an editorial letter from my agent, and more revising. And here’s what grew out of that pancake breakfast in the March sunshine and not reading the fine print about skating camp. From yesterday’s Publishers Marketplace…
BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z author Kate Messner’s SUGAR ON SNOW, in which a farm girl is discovered by a charismatic Russian skating coach and thrown into the uber-competitive world of elite figure skating, where she must stand up to the mean girls on ice and find the courage to follow her dreams, again to Mary Kate Castellani at Walker Children’s, for publication in Winter 2011, by Jennifer Laughran at Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
This post is part of a year-long series of blog interviews I’ll be hosting with my fellow 2009 Debut Authors, called "How They Got Here."
It should be an especially helpful series for teens who write, teachers, and anyone who wants to write for kids. 2009 debut authors will be dropping by to talk about how their writing in school shaped the authors they are today, what teachers can do to make a difference, how they revise, and how they found their agents and editors. (You’ll even be able to read some successful query letters!) If you know a teacher or two who might be interested, please share the link!
Today…C. Lee McKenzie, author of SLIDING ON THE EDGE!
Shawna Stone is a heartbeat away from making the worst mistake anyone can. She’s close to taking her own life. Kay Stone is a grandmother Shawna has never known, and at sixty-four Kay feels there is little left in her life to look forward to. When they are thrown together they circle each other in a crucible of secrets and distrust until saving a doomed horse unites them and gives each a reason to live.
Welcome! Tell us about the first thing you ever wrote that made you think maybe you were a writer.
The first piece of fiction I ever wrote was a short story for an East Indian magazine. Now that I think of it, that was pretty audacious. I have no first-hand experience about India, but I won the $100 first prize! Naively, I patted myself on the back and decided I could publish just about anything. Not true!
Most writers admit that making time to write can sometimes be a challenge. When and where do you write? Do you have any special rituals? Music? Food & beverages?
I’m an early morning writer. I mean like sometimes 4 am if I wake up with a good idea. I write at my desk on my computer, sip a cappuccino, and work until sunup. Then I take a break, do chores, make my list and get dressed before going back to read what I’ve written and start the re-write or whatever.
Do you have a favorite strategy for revision?
I don’t have a specific strategy for revision. If I’m stuck I often do a printout and take a hard copy someplace away from my desk. Sometimes that gives me a new perspective on the critter that’s giving me problems.
What’s your best advice for young writers?
I guess I’d say, "Keep writing. You’ll only get better."
What’s special about your debut novel?
Well, obviously, the best part is I wrote it. Next, I don’t have to write it again. But if I were to be serious I’d have to say the best part is I think my book has appeal for younger and older readers. That’s what I’m hearing anyway, so I hope it’s true.
What were the best and worst parts of writing it?
The best part was when I wrote the chapters from two different points of view (pov). That is, I wrote what happened from my young main character’s pov; then I wrote the same set of events from her grandmother’s pov. That was interesting and fun to do.
The worst part was getting the opening paragraph. That took forever.
How did you find your agent and/or editor?
I always read the SCBWI Bulletin and WestSide was open to young adult submissions with edginess. "I’ve got one of those!" I said and sent off my query.
Thanks, Kate. Your questions were a challenge, but I enjoyed thinking about them.
You can read more about C. Lee McKenzie at her website. You can pick up your copy of SLIDING ON THE EDGE at your local independent bookseller, order it through one of my favorite indies, Flying Pig Bookstore (they ship!), or find an indie near you by checking out IndieBound!
Up next in the "How They Got Here" Debut 2009 series… Deva Fagan, author of FORTUNE’S FOLLY, will be stopping by on Sunday!
The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum is an amazing resource for lake history, so when their educators asked if I’d be part of a book club for families, I jumped at the chance. I love the way they’ve scheduled the book club event to coincide with the museum’s Native American Encampment so kids will get to see and touch so many of the things they read about in Champlain in the Silent One — right down to a replica of a birch bark canoe. Here’s the flyer… Feel free to share the link if you know families that might be interested!
Linda Urban’s fantastic picture book MOUSE WAS MAD is officially out this week, and she’s hosting a contest on her blog. If you visit
To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on Linda’s blog, saying what makes you mad and how you feel better. For example, yesterday, I had one of those terrible, horrible, no-good, etc. etc. days…ala Judith Viorst. Eating chocolate often makes me feel better, but since I’m trying to be healthy at the moment, I went outside and shot baskets. I discovered that I am a remarkably good shot when I’m miffed, and I was wishing my husband had been there to play HORSE because we are competitive with things like that, and I am certain I would have beaten him without even racking up an H.
Anyway…share your story here for a chance to win!
This is just too cool.
In my upcoming middle grade novel The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z, the main character has a monster leaf collection due. It’s a project she’s put off to the last minute, and now everything that can possibly go wrong…does. If only she’d had access to this iPhone application, I might have written a whole different story. The scientists developing this particular app say if all goes well, you’ll be able to identify a plant from a photo of its leaves that’s then uploaded to a database. Ultimately, they say it could help researchers learn more about climate change and changes in biodiversity. And of course…it would make those school leaf collection projects a walk in the park. Thanks to
This post is part of a year-long series of blog interviews I’ll be hosting with my fellow 2009 Debut Authors, called "How They Got Here."
It should be an especially helpful series for teens who write, teachers, and anyone who wants to write for kids. 2009 debut authors will be dropping by to talk about how their writing in school shaped the authors they are today, what teachers can do to make a difference, how they revise, and how they found their agents and editors. (You’ll even be able to read some successful query letters!) If you know a teacher or two who might be interested, please share the link!
Today…Aprilynne Pike, author of WINGS!
Aprilynne Pike’s WINGS is the first of four books about an ordinary girl named Laurel who discovers she is a faerie sent among humans to guard the gateway to Avalon. When Laurel is thrust into the midst of a centuries-old battle between faeries and trolls, she’s torn between a human and a faerie love, as well as her loyalties to both worlds.
Welcome, Aprilynne! Tell us about the first thing you ever wrote that made you think maybe you were a writer.
I had a fiction instructor in college who would occasionally, at the end of a short-story critique, say, "Clean it up; send it out." It was the highest of compliments, and something she didn’t say often. I was part of an extremely talented class and I didn’t (still don’t) think my stuff was as good as theirs. But I had one story that I really liked and worked really hard on. And at the end of the class critique, my professor looked at me, met my eyes, and say, "Clean it up; send it out." That was the moment I thought it just might be possible to someday get something published.
What books did you love when you were a kid?
I loved way too many books to list here, but some of my most memorable ones were The Boxcar Children, anything by VC Andrews, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi, The Fairy Rebel by Lynne Reid Banks, and The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.
Is there a particular teacher or librarian who was a mentor for you in your reading and writing life?
Janet Cain; my junior English teacher. She taught me to love literature, Not just books, and not just modern texts, she taught me to love all well-written literature. I read more classic literature in her class than any other I’ve ever taken . . . and half of it was unassigned!:)
Moving on to the here and now, most writers admit that making time to write can sometimes be a challenge. When and where do you write? Do you have any special rituals? Music? Food & beverages?
I have three young children and–until recently–a husband in law school. So I write when I can. Ideally, I like to lock myself in my office and get comfy with my laptop, but that’s not always possible. I like drinks and snacks while working, because I’ve learned that writing takes a degree of physical stamina as well as mental. I don’t generally listen to music, because I find myself typing the lyrics instead of my story.:) But I am a Diet Root Beer junkie and often have a cup of tea at hand as well.
Do you have a favorite strategy for revision?
I know a lot of authors who save everything they cut out of their manuscripts, just in case. I have found that I do better revisions when I just delete stuff. After all, if I decide later that I really do need that paragraph that I cut, I can probably write it better the second time anyway. I have to just move forward and not dwell on what parts of my original baby aren’t there anymore. I don’t hang on to them. (Unless they’d make a really fun deleted scene; I give myself one of those per book. Everything else goes.)
What’s your best advice for young writers?
Read. You will never learn more about story and plot than by reading. I think that authors who either don’t read, or don’t read much, are missing out.
What’s special about your debut novel?
I have faeries like no faeries you’ve ever seen before. It’s one of the things I am proudest of!
What were the best and worst parts of writing it?
The best part of writing my book was discovering the perfect ending.
The worst part was discovering that the previous ending that I thought was perfect, well, wasn’t. Not being able to write the right ending on WINGS was the first time I ever cried about my writing.
How did you find your agent and/or editor?
I was lucky enough to have a recommendation for my agent, however, there was a mix-up in the office and she didn’t actually get it for over ten months. During that time, I did the query thing. I got rejections (lots of them) and several requests for partials and fulls . . . and more rejections.;) Even though I ended up signing with the first agent I sent stuff to, I feel like experiencing the full gamut of querying was really good for me. Every author should be intimately acquainted with the sting of rejection. Then they are less likely to forget just how sweet that first yes is.
Thanks, Aprilynne!
You can read more about Aprilynne at her website. You can pick up your copy of WINGS at your local independent bookseller, order it through one of my favorite indies, Flying Pig Bookstore (they ship!), or find an indie near you by checking out IndieBound!
Up next in the "How They Got Here" Debut 2009 series… C. Lee McKenzie, author of SLIDING ON THE EDGE, will be stopping by on Thursday.
My Friday started early, with a rocky, bumpy ferry ride to Vermont for the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Conference. I don’t think I’ve ever been on the lake when it was this rough.
This is my windshield. There was no fog & It was not raining…just a sheet of lake water coming over the front of the boat.
Truth be told, it was kind of fun and exciting. Part of me wanted to get out of the car, cling to a railing and shout, "Batten down the hatches!!"
But I’m not sure they have hatches on the ferry and I would have gotten my conference clothes all wet, so I refrained.
The conference was held at the Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee, Vermont. This has to be one of the prettiest views I’ve ever had from a workshop room.
I loved visiting with the teachers & librarians in my workshop, and one of them made me laugh at the end, when I shared the news that the nice folks at Bloomsbury/Walker had sent along ARCs of my new book, The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z, for everyone who attended my presentation.
"Oh!" she said. "It’s just like Oprah!"
Not quite…but there was a celebrity on hand, of near-Oprah status.
Caldecott Medalist David Macauley, who gave the morning keynote address, was gracious enough to sign books for my kids.
We had David’s new book, The Way We Work, out at the Messner house just last night. We were talking about the swine flu, and my son was trying to explain to my daughter how a virus isn’t really a living thing. "Hold on," I said…and sure enough, we found a fantastic illustration of an influenza virus, along with a great explanation of why it needs a host cell to reproduce.
Vermont’s DCF Committee did a phenomenal job with this conference, and it was lovely to spend the whole day talking about books with people who love them so much. Thanks, Vermont teachers & librarians, for a terrific day!
