Friday, August 31, 2018

Author D.G. Driver, on her Award-Winning Book

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME A WRITER? 
I wrote as a hobby when I was young and dabbled with my first novel in college just to see if I could do it. My real passion was performing, and I majored in Theater Arts. I really got hooked on writing after taking a class called “The Literature of Fairy Tales” my senior year in college. I was inspired to write my own original fairy tales and then was eventually hired to write an original fairy tale for a children’s theater company in Los Angeles. After that I started pursuing writing, particularly writing for children, as a career.

WAS THERE A TEACHER OR OTHER MENTOR WHO INFLUENCED YOUR WRITING?
I didn’t have a writing mentor. When I was first starting out, I read Zen and the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury, and I followed a lot of his advice. I read (and continue to read) a lot of middle grade and young adult books to see what works and what doesn’t. I also have been a member of SCBWI since 1999 (Midsouth region since 2004) and learn so much from their conferences and workshops.

HOW DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR YOUR AWARD WINNING BOOK? 
No One Needed to Know is based loosely on my personal experience of being the younger sister of a brother with Developmental Disabilities. He is four years older than me, and we always had lots of fun playing together when we were kids. When I hit about twelve-years-old, I lost interest in playing pretend, but my sixteen-year-old brother did not. That’s when I first really noticed how different he was from other boys his age. This book is based on that time in my life. I also was bullied (for different reasons) in sixth grade, and so was my brother throughout his life, so I used those experiences to create this story.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LINE FROM YOUR AWARD WINNING BOOK?
So, in this book, Heidi’s best friend Bobby has moved away. Since his departure, Heidi had gained a little popularity with the girls in her class, but when they find out about her brother, they tease and bully her relentlessly. Life has gotten hard for Heidi, and she writes to Bobby about it. He writes a sweet letter back to her. This line comes right after his letter.

“I hugged the letter to my chest after reading it several times, grateful that we made a pact to write real letters instead of emails. You can't hold and hug an email.”
It’s my favorite line because I have a love of real mail and handwritten notes. Another one of my books, Passing Notes, is about the art and importance of writing letters.



WHICH OF YOUR CHARACTERS FROM YOUR AWARD WINNING TITLE DO YOU BELIEVE ARE MOST LIKE YOU?
 As I mentioned above, this book draws from my real life. So in a lot of ways, Heidi is me at 11. That said, she is good at sports, and I was not. She is bad at spelling, and I am not. The way she handles her bullying was similar to mine, but the way she confronts it was not something I ever thought of back then.

WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HOPE READERS WILL GLEAN FROM YOUR AWARD WINNING BOOK? 
Treat people kindly. There’s never a reason to bully, but you should especially not bully someone who has special needs. They are already having a tough time. Why would you want to make it tougher?
I do school presentations about anti-bullying and autism awareness (and I’m willing to travel).

TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE AS A WRITER: 
When I was younger, I was better about writing whenever and wherever. Now, I need more structured time. That said, I used to have a tutoring job in an after school program for gifted students in Los Angeles. I worked primarily with a group of 4th-grade boys. At the time I was writing a historical fiction middle grade novel about the California Gold Rush. When the boys were done with their work and had some free time to play and hang out with each other, I would get out my notebook and add to my novel. The boys liked giving me ideas to add to the story. I wound up using a lot of their names, but the funniest addition was when one of the boys insisted I add a monkey to my story. Well, I did it, and the monkey wound up being essential to helping my main character solve a puzzle in the mystery I’d created. (I haven’t thought of this book in a long time. It was published and went out of print back in 2008 when the publisher went out of business. Maybe it’s time to dust it off and put it out in the world again.)

IF YOU COULD BE COMPARED TO A WELL-KNOWN AUTHOR WHO WOULD YOU MOST WANT THIS TO BE AND WHY? 
Well, (blushing) a review from Kid’s Book Weekly compared my writing to Katherine Patterson and Paula Danziger. I’ll take that.
I was a huge fan of Judy Blume as a kid, and Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy was my favorite book when I was in 6th grade. I feel like if you like those authors, and Wonder by A. J. Palacio, you’ll like No One Needed to Know.

WHAT BOOK INCIDENT HAS HAD THE GREATEST IMPACT ON YOUR LIFE? 
Two things come to mind. In 6th grade I stayed home sick from school one day. My boyfriend called me that afternoon to break up. The next day, I went to school ready for all the sympathy, and instead, I got hate. Apparently the day I was out everyone decided I wasn’t deserving of friendship anymore. I got mean notes passed to me and was bullied and picked on for the next two years. I lost all of my friends. To this day I’m still not clear why that happened.

The other thing that was the greatest impact was that I joined Musical Theater class in 8th grade. I met a bunch of Drama nerds, and we became best friends. We stayed like that all the way through high school, and I had an amazing, unforgettable high school experience.

Being bullied was a terrible experience, and I don’t wish it on anyone. It did, however, change my life, opening me up to the possibility of meeting better people, and it taught me to value real friendship.

HOW DID YOU GET PUBLISHED? 
With regard to No One Needed to Know, it was published once before, back in 2004 by a tiny press in Florida called Denlinger's Publishers, same publisher as that historical fiction book I mentioned before. It was titled Special back then. That publisher went out of business, and the rights reverted to me. In 2014, I learned that Schoolwide Inc. was looking for books to fill their Zing! digital subscription book service and were open to books that had been previously published. I did a major rewrite of my book, gave it a new title, and submitted it. It was accepted and went through several edits before they published it in December 2016. They only bought the ebook rights, however, so I took the book they’d professionally edited for me and published it in print through Create Space and Ingram Spark. If you prefer to read the ebook version, I have information about that on my website at or you can visit Schoolwide.

IF A CLOSE FRIEND OR LOVED ONE WANTED TO WRITE A BOOK, WHAT GREATEST PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE THEM? 
Take your time writing the best book you can. It isn’t a race. Also, really investigate your options with traditional publishing versus self-publishing. There are pros and cons to both, and decide what fits you better.

CAN YOU OFFER ANY ADVICE FOR WRITERS ON HOW BEST TO PROMOTE THEIR BOOK? 
I try my hardest, but I’m not the best at promotion. What’s helped me the most is joining groups of other hardworking authors with similar kinds of books. I pay attention to what they are doing and take advice. I also read, read, read everything that comes my way about what sells and what doesn’t.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR GREATEST LITERARY ACCOMPLISHMENT? 
That’s a hard question to answer. I have several different kinds of published books, and each has had its journey. I’m very proud of the nonfiction work I did for Morgan Reynolds Publishers (writing as Donna Getzinger) because it was challenging work and all of those books got great reviews from the big presses like School Library Journal. Those credits also helped open a few doors for me as a writer. My YA environmental fantasy trilogy The Juniper Sawfeather novels concluded this year, and that was a long journey close to my heart. That said, No One Needed to Know is my most personal book to date, and I’m thrilled at the honors and reviews that it is receiving.

WHAT ARE YOUR GREATEST LITERARY ASPIRATIONS? 
What I dream of is to be the kind of children’s author in demand for school presentations, writing conferences, and book festivals. I’m an actress and a teacher, and I love getting up in front of people to talk about writing and my books. I’d like to see my books in libraries everywhere and have kids doing book reports on them. This is what keeps me writing.

TELL US SOMETHING PEOPLE MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU THAT THEY MIGHT FIND INTERESTING: Funny enough, I’m assuming most people reading this don’t know much about me at all. That said, I’ll share something super random. I have a freckle on the tip of my left ring finger. My daughter has one on the tip of her left ring toe. Weird, huh? We also like to celebrate each other’s half birthdays, because they are exactly six months apart from each other.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH OUR READERS? No One Needed to Know is about bullying and autism awareness. If you know a tween that suffers from bullying, or you know a school or class that might like a book to help them start the conversation to stop bullying and be kinder to those with special needs, please recommend this book.

WHAT (IF ANY) OTHER BOOKS HAVE YOU PUBLISHED?

The Juniper Sawfeather Novels: YA fantasy with environmental themes
Cry of the Sea
Whisper of the Woods
Echo of the Cliffs
Passing Notes: YA sweet romance novella

I have short stories in the anthologies Fantastic CreaturesSecond Chance for LoveKick Ass Girls of Fire and Ice YA Books, A Tall ShipA Sail, and PlunderTomato Slices, and Winter Wonder – an anthology of children’s Christmas stories.

There’s more, and you can learn about it all, read excerpts, and find purchase links at my website
DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW BOOKS IN THE WORKS? I’m currently working on expanding my novella Passing Notes into a full-length book titled All the Love You Write. It will be a collection of three related stories about love letters. My hope is that my publisher Fire and Ice Young Adult Books will put out this new book next year. When I finish that book, I plan to work on another middle-grade novel about special needs to be a companion for No One Needed to Know. If you follow me at Facebook or on Twitter you can keep up with when I have new projects in the works.


LITERARY CLASSICS Book Awards & Reviews International Book Awards • Top Honors Youth Book Awards • Seal of Approval http://www.clcawards.org

Friday, August 24, 2018

Beverly Stowe McClure on her award-winning book



WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME A WRITER?
My students. When I was teaching 5th grade my students read Newbery Winning and Honor books. Then they did book reports. They had so much fun, sometimes even dressing up as the characters in the books, that I started thinking how nice it would be to write my own book. So I did. Several, in fact.

WAS THERE A TEACHER OR OTHER MENTOR WHO INFLUENCED YOUR WRITING?
I guess my 5th grade students were my mentors, since they were my inspiration. They did not give me advice or encouragement. They had no idea I was learning to write a book. At the time, I was writing articles for children’s magazines based on science and art activities we did in the classroom. They knew about these. I did take two different writing courses. The first was on writing for children’s magazines, which was a great course. The second was writing novels. My instructor was great. Together she helped me learn the basics. I mailed her my different assignments and finished a whole book. It wasn’t published, but I learned a lot.

HOW DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR YOUR AWARD WINNING BOOK?
A Family for Leona is loosely based on my mother’s life. She was an Orphan Train rider, from New York to Texas. I knew little about her life as a child. Her mother died when my mother was young. Six children were left. Times were different then. They were poor. Their father could not take care of his children, so a couple were adopted there in Brooklyn, a couple were in their teens and got jobs. My mother and the youngest girl were put on the train, along with other orphans and sent to different states. So, I took what I knew of my mother’s life and created the rest from what I knew about her foster family, hoping to show the love that foster parents can give a child, and the child can love them back.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LINE FROM YOUR AWARD WINNING BOOK?
“We now have three precious daughters.” (Leona’s foster mother says this.) It shows that family is family, whether you’re born into it, adopted, or a foster child. It’s the love that counts.

WHICH OF YOUR CHARACTERS FROM YOUR AWARD WINNING TITLE DO YOU BELIEVE ARE MOST LIKE YOU AND WHY?
I’d like to say Leona, but she’s independent, daring, outspoken, and does what she wants to. That’s not me. The oldest sister, Florence, is more like me. She thinks rationally, doesn’t get excited, and tries to help others.

WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HOPE READERS WILL GLEAN FROM YOUR AWARD WINNING BOOK?
Love is what makes a family.

HOW DID YOU GET PUBLISHED?
I searched for an agent for a long time, but never found one. So I started sending my work to publishers that sounded good, and surprise, I was published. It took a while, but I now have fifteen books published.

IF A CLOSE FRIEND OR LOVED ONE WANTED TO WRITE A BOOK, WHAT GREATEST PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE THEM?
Do it. Never give up. And be patient.

CAN YOU OFFER ANY ADVICE FOR WRITERS ON HOW BEST TO PROMOTE THEIR BOOK?
Promotion is hard for me. I hate to sound pushy, but we have to let the world know about our books. I’m on Facebook and Twitter. I have two blogs. I read and review a lot of books for other authors to help promote their work.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR GREATEST LITERARY ACCOMPLISHMENT?
Winning the Children’s Literary Awards for four of my books. That is awesome. I’ve also won some other awards: The Next Generation Indie Book Awards, The Eric Hoffer Award. Also, I think it’s great to hear a young reader say he/she really likes my story. That’s what it’s all about.

WHAT ARE YOUR GREATEST LITERARY ASPIRATIONS?
I just want to keep writing and hope someone reads my books. Winning more contests would be nice too.

TELL US SOMETHING PEOPLE MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU THAT THEY MIGHT FIND INTERESTING:
When I was a child, I hated to read. I read only when required to in school, never at home. For book reports, I used the jacket cover, as if the teacher couldn’t tell. In spite of my lack of reading skills, I went to university, graduated with a degree in education and became a teacher. Yeah, who would have thought it? The best step I ever took.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH OUR READERS?
Just that I thank all the great authors that have inspired me to do my best and all of the great readers who read what I write. You’re all awesome. Thank you.

WHAT OTHER BOOKS HAVE YOU PUBLISHED?

DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW BOOKS IN THE WORKS?
I’m working on four different ideas now.

LITERARY CLASSICS Book Awards & Reviews International Book Awards • Top Honors Youth Book Awards • Seal of Approval http://www.clcawards.org

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Author, Marc Remus, on his Award-Winning Book



WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME A WRITER?
I am a painter and illustrator. In a painting you can only express a portion of a story while in a novel you can tell much more. This limitation led me to writing.

WAS THERE A TEACHER OR OTHER MENTOR WHO INFLUENCED YOUR WRITING?
In college I began taking picture book classes. I had a fantastic instructor, who believed that I was not only gifted enough to illustrate a book but that I could also write a book. After graduating with a BA in illustrations I took classes at the Institute of Children’s Literature for over ten years. There, I learned the foundations of children’s book writing. Along the way, I had some fantastic instructors who influenced me a lot.

HOW DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR YOUR AWARD WINNING BOOK?
One day I was working on an illustration when I wondered how it would be if the painting came alive. This was the start of a picture book story called “Painting Brian.” Soon, I realized that the story was too complex to be told in a short story. I created an entire world inside a painting. This is how the Magora series, with six books, came about.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LINE FROM YOUR AWARD WINNING BOOK?
I use little epigraphs about art at the beginning of each chapter of the Magora books. The very first one is the start of the series and also my favorite: “The line between reality and fantasy has many shapes. It can be thick or thin, colorful or dull, wavy or straight, blurry or sharp. It is always changing.”

WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HOPE READERS WILL GLEAN FROM YOUR AWARD WINNING BOOK?
The leading character, Holly, struggles with self-confidence. It takes a journey into the fantasy painting of Magora to make her believe in her artistic talent. Readers can learn from “The Gallery of Wonders” that they should trust in their talents. And if they work hard on them, like Holly does, they will come out on top.

TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE AS A WRITER:
When I created the different species in Magora in the 90s I was really proud that I came up with an interesting name for a fantasy species. The Ledesmas are humanoid beings who have butterflies in their heads instead of brains.

I was excited when I created the name “Ledesma” and thought it was very unique. A few years later I met a lady. After a few weeks I found out that her last name was “Ledesma” and that the name was a common last name. It was certainly not an amazing, unique fantasy name by an unpublished author. 

IF YOU COULD BE COMPARED TO A WELL-KNOWN AUTHOR WHO WOULD YOU MOST WANT THIS TO BE AND WHY? I have always been fascinated by the creativity of Roald Dahl. He created unbelievable stories for children that still fascinate people today. He always surprises the reader and comes up with completely unexpected twists and turns.

WHAT HAS HAD THE GREATEST IMPACT ON YOUR LIFE?
As much as I would love to say that a book had its greatest impact on my life, I have to say that it was cancer. Having had cancer ten years ago made me aware that it is important to seize the day and accomplish something wonderful each day without looking at the financial benefits. A day full of boredom is a day lost.

HOW DID YOU FIND AN AGENT / GET PUBLISHED?
After twenty years of writing the six books in the Magora series, I wanted complete control of the layout, design, illustrations, and covers. A publisher usually doesn’t give an author this kind of freedom. As a painter/illustrator I didn’t want someone else to illustrate my covers. So I decided to self-publish the books under “Misty Moon Books.” This way, the paperbacks now look exactly the way I wanted them to be.

IF A CLOSE FRIEND OR LOVED ONE WANTED TO WRITE A BOOK, WHAT GREATEST PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE THEM?
Take a course in writing and have your book edited by a professional structural editor. Many people think, because they are English teachers or have some friends who are good in English, they don’t need editors. But editors make books shine. I worked with about ten editors on the Magora series. Without them, the series would have never reached such a high level of sophistication.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR GREATEST LITERARY ACCOMPLISHMENT?
The completion of the Magora series. I have started writing the Magora series in the mid-90s and finished the series in 2016. Even though the first books seem to have a simple plot, the overall story is very complex. It reaches a metaphysical realm in the sixth book which no one can expect in the first three books. The planning of the series was very difficult, and it took me years. Having won over ten literary awards with this book has proven not only that it is my greatest literary accomplishment but that it is also appreciated by the world outside.

WHAT ARE YOUR GREATEST LITERARY ASPIRATIONS?
As a full-time painter it is always a struggle to pay the bills. Therefore, writing is always something that suffers. It would be wonderful to have a year without financial worries so I could focus more on writing. I would love to get to the point that I could make a living, writing books.

TELL US SOMETHING PEOPLE MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU THAT THEY MIGHT FIND INTERESTING:
When I was a kid I had a chameleon as pet, and I created a dwarf species called Peenoo. As a teenager I played hide and seek in some ruins left from WWII. Later I lived in Tokyo and studied Japanese and Zen painting. During my college years in LA I was in a huge earthquake that left my apartment in ruin so I had to move. After college I spent a year in Honduras and was almost killed there by a stingray. I lived for a while with an Indian tribe in the Mosquito Coast. After my return to Europe, I visited almost every single country in Europe, except for seven in Eastern Europe. My family lives in three different countries: Germany, France, U.S.A., and I commute between them all the time now.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH OUR READERS?
I have worked on a soundtrack with a composer for the Magora series. And one of the fantasy characters, Tenshi, came to life with the help of a great animation team. The critter is waving at you and doing all kinds of things on my website www.Magora.net
WHAT OTHER BOOKS HAVE YOU PUBLISHED?

DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW BOOKS IN THE WORKS?
Yes, I have a few books in the making. The next book in the Magora series is coming out in 2018.  I have also started a younger middle grade story with the working title “Henry’s Giant Chocolate Clouds.” It is about a fantasy candy land.

Another project is a young adult fantasy series called “Mystery Black” with trolls, dwarfs and all kinds of magical creatures.

I am also working on a German translation of “The Gallery of Wonders”, and hope to get that published soon.
The next book is a young adult book called “The Language Thieves.” It is about a mysterious tribe in Scotland that steals languages out of people’s minds.

The book is already completed and it has been edited a few times by various editors. I just need to find the time to illustrate the cover and do the layout.

Once it is done, you will find it on Amazon. But if you sign up to my newsletter you will always stay updated and find out the exact dates of publication. 

LITERARY CLASSICS Book Awards & Reviews International Book Awards • Top Honors Youth Book Awards • Seal of Approval http://www.clcawards.org