Interview with Angelina/Ace Hansen

So who is this little green guy? Well, I have it on good authority that this is Ace Hansen, and Ace has a funny MG novel out from MuseItUp Publishing called Julius Caesar Brown and the Green Gas Mystery! Yes, as you may surmise, Ace does have an alter-ego, and she is Angelina Hansen of the blog yascribe.

 

MH: First of all, Angelina (or should I say Ace?:)) congratulations on the release of your book. Humorous MG mystery written by an alien is quite different from your literary historical YA that I've had the pleasure of reading. Is this a new direction for you, or do you naturally have a wide range?

 

AH: I'm a neophiliac, which means I'm addicted to change, which means every project is completely unlike the last.

MH: So you DO have a wide range. Awesome! Do you view your MG writing as quite different from your YA writing, in general? How do you see Angelina's work vs. Ace's work?

AH: Most wouldn't believe the same person wrote both my YA and MG. That's why I use a pseudonym for the MG. Angelina's work is serious, bent toward the literary. Ace's work is outrageously funny.

MH: What was your inspiration for this story?

AH: A breath-mint commercial.

MH: LOL! A story's initial spark can be such a surprise, can't it? All it has to do is get our "what if?" thoughts working and we can go off in any direction! Is the book based on your childhood memories of being surrounded by boys? Did you set out to write a boy-friendly book?

AH:  Not really, but being surrounded by boys sure did give me a wacky sense of humor. I wrote this book for fun. Along the way, I discovered there's an 11-year-old boy inside of me.

MH: How long did the book take you to write? Was there a difference in this from your more literary (and more researched) work?

AH: This book was the fastest I ever wrote. Three months to draft it and there wasn't a whole lot of major revision to do.

MH: I'd love to know how JCB got his name. What significance does his name have? What impact on him?

AH: I'll let Julius explain it in his own words, taken as an excerpt from the first chapter:

Parents should think before naming their kids.

Before I was born, my parents got married and spent their honeymoon in this Italian city called Rome. Mom loved the story of how she stood in that giant stadium, the Coliseum, and decided if she ever had sons, she'd name them after those dead Roman ruler dudes, the Caesars. A year later, her first little Caesar arrived. Me. Julius Caesar Brown.

I stuffed my test into my backpack and waited for the bell to ring, cursing my mother. Why couldn't she have just named me John or David or Mike? 

MH: I've always thought parents should think before naming their kids, so he's got my sympathy. :) Ace/Angelina, where can readers get Julius Caesar Brown and the Green Gas Mystery?

AH: From the publisher, MuseItUp Publishing. The ebook is available as of July 12, 2013. The print book will be available before December 2013. It is also available on amazon.

MH: Can you give us any hints on WIPs?

AH: A time travel set in the Southwest. ^_^

MH: Will JCB solve more mysteries?

AH: He might! 

Congratulations again, Angelina/Ace, and I'm sure MGers looking for uproarious, kid-friendly stories will thank you! 

Interview With Author Chris Eboch

Today, I get to interview Chris Eboch, who has written a variety of fiction and nonfiction for middle-graders, including a humorous ghost-story series called Haunted, and a new historical mystery called The Eyes of Pharaoh (are we sensing a mystery theme here? :)) A versatile writer, Chris has also done biographies, adult fiction under the name Kris Bock, and the subject of today's interview, a new writing book titled Advanced Plotting.

Advanced Plotting is designed for the intermediate and advanced writer: you've finished a few manuscripts, read books and articles on writing, taken some classes, attended conferences. But you still struggle with plot, or suspect that your plotting needs work.

This book can help.

Learn to identify and fix plot weaknesses, flesh out an outline, get off to a fast start, prop up a sagging middle, build to a climax, improve pacing, and more. Read the book straight through or dip in and out at random -- however you use this book, you'll find fascinating insights and detailed tips to help you build a stronger plot and become a better writer.

MH: Thanks so much for joining me, Chris. Why did you decide to write Advance Plotting?

CE: Well, like you, Marcia, I'm a writing teacher as well as a writer. I teach through the Institute of Children's Literature and also edit private clients and trade critiques with professional writer friends. I see how even experienced, published writers can struggle with plot, especially when it comes to novel-length work. It's just too hard to keep the entire big picture in mind while you edit page by page. And although I've seen plenty of books and articles covering the basics of plot -- beginning/middle/end structure and so forth -- I didn't see anything that covered many of the techniques I was learning through trial and error.

I developed an exercise called the Plot Arc Exercise to help myself take a step back from the work and see it as a whole, in order to identify flaws such as missing pieces, weak spots, and repetition. I tested this exercise with other people in a novel revision class. I felt it was successful enough that I wanted to make these techniques available to a larger audience.

The book also includes expanded versions of a dozen articles I've written about plotting techniques, covering everything from the promise of the first chapter to cliffhanger chapter endings. I teach a popular workshop called "What I Learned From Nancy Drew," and turned that into a couple of articles for the book as well. 

To make the book even more valuable, I invited other authors to share essays on plotting topics. I even have a long essay from my brother, a professional scriptwriter who wrote Sweet Home Alabama, on plotting like a screenwriter. Sharing these other voices gives readers a broader perspective.

MH: Where can people get the book?

CE: It's available on Amazon in paperback for $9.99, or as an e-book for $2.99 on Amazon or Smashwords. People can also check out excerpts this month on my blog.

MH: Chris, what else have you been up to lately?

CE: My latest book for young people is The Eyes of Pharaoh, a mystery set in ancient Egypt. A temple dancer and an apprentice toymaker get drawn into a world of intrigue when their friend, a young soldier, disappears. I loved ancient Egypt when I was a kid, and still do. My first historical novel, The Well of Sacrifice, is set in 9th-century Mayan Guatemala and is still in print and used in many schools. I can only hope The Eyes of Pharaoh has a similarly long life. 

I've also started writing romantic suspense for adults under the name Kris Bock. Rattled is my first book, a treasure-hunting adventure set in the wilds of New Mexico. 

MH: How do you build a career when you're writing in different genres under different names?

CE: It's a challenge. I have two websites, one for Chris Eboch and one for Kris Bock. I have to promote the work separately, targeting different audiences. But I have an agent who is supportive of my decision to start writing for adults, and I'm starting to network with people in the romance and mystery fields. The decision was really a personal one. I wanted to try something different. If I'm always learning, I don't get bored. And if I'm having fun and making discoveries along the way, I think that fun infuses the work and reaches the reader.

Thanks, Chris, for sharing your time with us. Best wishes in all your endeavors! And thanks for sharing what you've learned about plot with writers everywhere.

Interview with Author Bobbie Pyron

Two weeks ago, I talked about Bobbie Pyron's wonderful middle-grade novel, A Dog's Way Home. Today, I have the privilege of interviewing Bobbie on this blog! Read on to hear what she has to say about authors she admires, the freedom to write what you want, the need for research in fiction, and, that big question: Plotter or Pantser?

MH: Bobbie, it's pretty much a given that writers are readers. What kinds of books do you most like to read?

BP: I've always been a voracious reader. I most like to read books that are character-driven and have characters that are complex yet very believable. I also love beautiful writing. I don't tend to read what's popular with everyone else. 

MH: Who are some authors you admire, especially MG/YA, and why?

BP: Being a librarian and a writer, I admit to having very strong opinions about books and writers! Alice Hoffman, Anne Patchett, Kate DiCamillo, Cynthia Rylant, Sharon Creech, Sonya Hartnett, and Julia Glass, just to name a few. I have such admiration for writers who are willing to take a risk, whether that's writing something completely different from what they're "known" for, or choosing a particular subject matter, or not following the latest trend. For instance, I have tremendous respect for Libba Bray because she doesn't allow herself to get pigeonholed. I also greatly respect authors like Chris Crutcher, Sherman Alexie, Cheryl Rainfield, Ellen Hopkins, and Laurie Halse Anderson for writing about tough subjects with grace and humor, and Gary Schmidt, Kate DiCamillo, Barbara O'Connor and many more who write heartfelt, compassionate books that actually show the best in people.

MH: Sometimes new writers are surprised to learn that fiction (other than historical) requires research. What kind of research did you do for A Dog's Way Home?

BP: I did a TON of research! Even though I know dogs, and shelties in particular, it was important to me to check facts such as what colors they can actually see. I also wanted to make sure that, if a coyote kills a porcupine in a particular way, that's actually the way it would happen. I read books about the flora and fauna of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I have a horror of some kid reading my book who lives in that particular place and being disappointed because I "got it wrong." For Tam's route home, I had a map of the Blue Ridge Parkway in front of me at all times. I respect my readers too much to let the facts slide just because it's fiction, and especially because they're "just kids."

MH: Plotter or pantser? Have you ever tried the opposite method?

BP: Oh, totally a pantser! I usually have a pretty good idea of the beginning, middle, end, and core conflict when I start. But I like to leave myself lots of room to be surprised and to see where the characters take me. I don't outline before I start. What my agent taught me to do, however, is outline AFTER the first draft is done. I go through chapter by chapter and write down the main things that happen in each. Outlining that way allows me to see "dead zones" -- places where nothing happens to advance the plot or characterization. I also get a bird's eye view of story arc. I highly recommend this technique to even the most hardcore pantser.

MH: Your "Fido and Friends in Five" blog series is cool! Would you say a few words about it?
 
BP: I'd love to! My editor for A Dog's Way Home, Molly O' Neill, really wanted me to blog after the release of the book in March. I, however, am not a natural blogger. We were brainstorming ideas on how to focus the blog so I didn't feel like I was just saying "Yay me" in every post. We came up with the idea of interviewing other authors about their dogs. I've been amazed by the authors who've been happy to talk about their dogs on my blog -- folks like Kathi Appelt, Gary Schmidt, Patricia MacLachlan, Lisa Yee, Katherine Erskine, Pete Hautman, Marilyn Singer, just to name a few.

MH: It sounds like you've provided them a great outlet to talk about their dogs, Bobbie! Your first novel, The Ring, is a YA about boxing, and A Dog's Way Home targets a different audience. You've mentioned that you admire authors who don't let themselves become pigeonholed. But so many authors have heard they should be concerned about branding. Can you comment a bit on career strategy?
 
BP: Ha! You assume I have a career strategy! I think for me (maybe because I'm an old hippie), I have a real fear of being "branded" as a certain kind of writer. I write the stories that insist on being told. My trick has been to find an agent and editor who will let me write these stories and trust me. I have a quote pinned on my bulletin board in my room where I write from Sonya Hartnett, an author I greatly admire. It reads in part, "I write whatever comes to me, and I write whatever the book requires. My first responsibility is to the work."

MH: You have a new book coming in the fall of 2012. What can you tell us about it?

BP: The working title is Mercy's Bone, and my sense is that it's for grades 6 and up. It's a fictionalized account of a true story: After the fall of the Soviet Union, there were tens of thousands of homeless children living on the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg. This is the story of one of those children. Talk about research! I researched for years before I felt ready to write it. I'm very excited that the book will be published by Arthur A. Levine Books, and edited by Arthur himself!

MH: Can you give us any hints on WIPs?
 
BP: Oh, I have lots of voices banging around in my head. I have written about half a MG novel set in Florida, about a boy who gets struck by lightning and lives. I was born and raised in the Florida panhandle, so it's been fun to write about a place I know so intimately and fondly. It was really nice to go from writing about the bitter cold of Russia to the warmth of the Gulf of Mexico!

Thanks so much, Bobbie, for allowing us this peek into your life as a writer. You've really shown us how stories can be found in many different aspects of one person's life! Your breadth as a writer, too, is admirable. :)