I am very pleased to introduce to you, G.Z. Schmidt and her debut novel, 'No Ordinary Thing'. Without further ado, let's hear from Gail about this intriguing middle grade story and the processes she went through in writing this book. Tell us about your new book. No Ordinary Thing is about a boy who finds a magic snow globe that allows him to travel back in time. It connects him to three different strangers, decades apart, who have backstories interwoven with the boy's own mysterious past. I recommend it for people who like dual narratives and multiple storylines. What inspired you when working on this project? As a child, I loved the book Holes by Louis Sachar, and that book influenced this story. I was also inspired by the award-winning international film Your Name, which tells of two teens who live 3 years apart. I love stories with a little bit of magic that's set in the real world, and that's what No Ordinary Thing has. Tell us about the creative process for this book. I finished this book's first draft in three months. The storyline and everything hit me very fast, and I pretty much exploded in a burst of creativity. Other books have taken much longer! Did you encounter anything unexpected while working on this project? When I first started revising with my editor, I was surprised at how detailed the revisions process can be with a publishing house. They look at every single word placement and take out words that are too repetitive. I also had to change the timeline and change a major character, and in the end, it's definitely made my story much better. Now for something completely different! What superpower would you have? Why? I can't choose between talking to animals or turning invisible. Talking to animals would be awesome, because if I'm ever stranded in the woods and an angry bear comes, I can talk my way out. And being invisible just allows me to hide! Thank you, Gail, for taking us through the different aspects of your new book. We wish you all the best for the launch and for future projects. Sandra Yoong-Chia Bio - G.Z. Schmidt Gail Zhuang Schmidt was born in China and immigrated to the U.S. when she was six. She grew up in the Midwest and the South, where she chased fireflies at night and listened occasionally for tornado/hurricane warnings. After working for four years as an analyst, she began her new chapter in life by moving to Europe. She currently lives in Switzerland with her husband and their tuxedo cat. Her debut novel, No Ordinary Thing, which involves a magical time-traveling snow globe, comes out fall 2020. I had the privilege of interviewing Helle Norup for her debut middle grade fantasy book, The Missing Barbegazi, back in February 2019 and I am glad to be posting this interview for her new book, The Hungry Ghost, which will be launched at the Asian Festival of Children's Content 2020. Let's hear more about this exciting new book from Helle. Tell us about your new book The Hungry Ghost is the story of Freja, a twelve-year-old girl, who moves to Singapore to live with her father and his new family. When a mysterious girl in a white dress appears, Freja follows her on an adventure to unravel old family mysteries and uncover long-buried secrets. What inspired you when working on this project? When I began writing The Hungry Ghost, I was living in Singapore. Quite early on, I noticed the offerings on the pavements—little collages of food, joss sticks and candles—for ancestors and forgotten restless spirits. During the seventh month in the Chinese calendar, these ghosts are said to be on holiday from the realm of the dead, and they roam the streets, seeking nourishment. I was intrigued! The focus on remembering and honouring ancestors fascinated me, and I thought a lot about these forgotten spirits, especially on my hikes in the wilderness of an old Chinese graveyard. The idea for The Hungry Ghost sparked, when I asked myself: “What if a girl who had just moved to Singapore met a hungry ghost who needed her help to remember her past?” From there, the story, which explores themes of families under stress, grief and acceptance, evolved. Tell us about the creative process for this book. This book was a long time in the making and went through three different incarnations of the plot. I began writing the story in early 2017, before I had a publishing deal for my debut novel. When I then signed with Pushkin Press, I put The Hungry Ghost on hold, while I worked with my editor on The Missing Barbegazi, so I didn’t finish the first draft until early 2018. My editor, the brilliant Sarah Odedina, liked the story, but she suggested I developed it into a more emotionally powerful exploration of loss and grief. That summer we moved back to Switzerland, so I didn’t get much writing done. I mulled over the story and had some good discussions with Sarah about it, including at an editorial meeting in the graveyard-setting of the book, when we were both in Singapore for a writer’s conference. I kickstarted the second draft at the SCBWI Switzerland retreat in late 2018, and finished it a few months later, but this time the plot was too complicated. The last major rewrite, the third draft, was therefore focused on removing superfluous subplots and strengthening those that remained. After the structure was in place, I went through my self-editing process, and then came line- and copyedits until the final text was ready in March 2020. Did you encounter anything unexpected while working on this project? I learnt many interesting and unexpected things about the traditions surrounding the Hungry Ghost Festival. For instance, that, in addition to offerings of food and burnt joss paper, stage performances are also held as entertainment for the roaming spirits. At these Getai shows, the first row of seats is reserved for the hungry ghost, and terrible things can happen if a living spectator takes one of these seats. Throughout the writing of the story, I was aware that I was writing about a culture that isn’t my own and a place where I was only a resident for four years, so I anchored the book in the perspective of someone with my own background. Therefore, the main character, Freja, comes from Denmark. I also used SCBWI Singapore friends as sounding boards and Denise Tan, a wonderful Singaporean children’s bookseller, as my ‘cultural’ sensitivity reader. Now for something completely different! Classical Music or Pop Music. As background music for writing, it definitely has to be classical music. I can’t listen to anything with lyrics while I’m working. Thank you, Helle, for sharing with us your creative journey in getting this book from idea to print. I am particularly eager to read this one because it is set in my home country! We wish you all the best for the launch. Sandra Yoong-Chia Bio - H.S. Norup H. S. Norup is the author of The Hungry Ghost and The Missing Barbegazi—a Sunday Times Book of the Year in 2018. Originally from Denmark, she has lived in six different countries and now resides in Switzerland with her husband and two teenage sons. She has a master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration and sixteen years’ experience in corporate marketing strategy and communications. When she’s not writing or reading, she spends her time outdoors either skiing, hiking, walking, golfing or taking photos. Here is the 9th post in this series of interviews with our published members. This post is special because it's the first time we are talking about a series of books which have two authors. Please welcome Katie Hayoz and Laurie Theurer who have just self-published their series of picture books entitled 'A Monster's Guide to Life... In a Pandemic'. This is a series of four books: Zombie Covers His Coughs, Witch Washes Her Hands, Werewolf Howls at Home, and Mummy Wears a Mask. Tell us about your new series of books. Katie: The books are actually a subset of a different series that we haven’t yet published. We were originally planning on writing A Monster’s Guide to Life series about monsters learning life skills. However, the pandemic is something that we could not ignore and it only seemed right for the monsters to learn how to deal with life in these weird times as well. The children’s books that we’d read on the pandemic were mostly informative and/or serious. We wanted to talk about some COVID issues through humor. Laurie: Katie hit the nail on the head here. As soon as we got started on writing the original series, the Coronavirus started spreading exponentially. It made sense to switch focus and concentrate on pandemic-related books that we hope can help children to understand what’s going on and what all these new social rules mean. We also hope to give them a giggle or two and make the whole thing a little less scary for them. What inspired you when working on this project? Katie: We got inspired by bouncing ideas off of each other. In early March, we went on a writing retreat together. We both have a similar sense of humor, so when discussing a monster project Katie had put aside for years, together our ideas snowballed into something bigger and better. The enthusiasm and creativity of two brains was inspiring. That’s when we decided to partner up to write these books. Laurie: Exactly what Katie said! The most inspiring part for me was not only our very similar senses of humor, which is terrific and keeps us laughing, but what turned out to be an incredibly good balance of knowledge and experience when it comes to writing and self-publishing. This made us able to support each other in areas where one of us had more experience and the other less. No matter what challenge came our way, at least one of us seemed to have the answer to it! Tell us about the creative process for these books. Katie: We had to figure out how to go about writing a series together because we have quite different writing styles. We’re used to giving each other honest feedback, though, as we are in a critique group together. We each took the lead on two of the four books but exchanged thoughts and suggestions. Sometimes we wrote passages together over Skype. Laurie: It’s been an absolute pleasure developing these books together. As Katie mentioned, we’ve been in a critique group together for some years, so we were already able to be open and honest with each other. I cannot stress enough how priceless these are in a collaboration. If certain parts of a given book weren’t working for some reason, this ability to communicate openly with each other allowed us to work through the text together until we had something we both felt was strong. Did you encounter anything unexpected while working on this project? Katie: Unexpected? The whole writing a monster series for the pandemic was unexpected! But as we were in confinement, it became clear that was what we wanted to do. In order to go quickly, we decided to publish them ourselves. The work involved finding an illustrator, creating the layout, editing, setting the books up for sale, etc.—all a bit of craziness in the midst of working at home with our families. But another unexpected plus was connecting with the illustrator, Maria van Bruggen. We never thought we’d come across an illustrator who was as quick and easy-going as she is. Laurie: Ditto what Katie said. The whole series was quite unexpected, that’s for sure. There we were, calmly planning for a “regular” series of books about monsters and along comes a pandemic. I was working on the book dealing with Witch learning to ride a bike when I had the sudden realization that she could be learning the importance of washing her hands instead. Next thing you know, Katie and I had four re-imagined books solely about the pandemic...with a very unclear timeline. We had no idea at the time whether it would pass by quickly, whether a treatment or vaccination would be available shortly, or whether the virus was here to stay. So, we got to work. Now for something completely different! Hiking in the Mountains or Lazing by the Pool, Why? Katie: Uh…lazing by a stream in the mountains? Not a hiker. Not a pool person. But definitely a lazing about person… Laurie: If these were my only two options, I guess I’d choose hiking in the mountains (with a splash in the pool afterwards). I’m not very good at lazing anywhere, though. Thank you so much, Katie and Laurie, for such an interesting interview. It's wonderful to see how co-authorship can work so well. We wish you and your monsters in a pandemic series all the best. Sandra Yoong-Chia Bio: Katie Hayoz (Katie Lee Koz) Katie Hayoz is originally from Wisconsin, USA, but has been living in Geneva for 23 years. She writes for adults, teens, and now—under the name Katie Lee Koz—also for children. Her young adult novel, Untethered, took second place in the Mslexia international children’s novel competition 2012-13 and is an Indie BRAG medallion winner. Her Clockwork Siren series (for adults) has been chosen to be part of the curated Library Journal’s Self-E Select module. In 2018, her unpublished chapter book, Kelsie Carter and the Evil Chihuahua Army, was included in the Europe/British Isles SCBWI Undiscovered Voices anthology. She’s written picture books and video scripts for Kyowon publishing. Her shorter work has appeared in various places. Bio: Laurie Theurer Laurie Theurer is originally from California, but left the USA shortly after completing university to volunteer for 2 ½ years with the US Peace Corps, assigned as an English teacher to a secondary school in Loei, Thailand. Afterwards, she relocated to the Zurich region, where she’s remained for the past 23 years. She writes for adults, primarily flash fiction and poetry, as well as for all children of all ages. She’s published several flash fiction and poetry pieces with Café Aphra, GWG Offshoots, Flash Flood, Into the Void, 100 Voices, Reflex Fiction, Lunate Fiction, and is a regular contributor to The Woolf Literary. She’s also been shortlisted for the Fish Flash Fiction Award and Flash 500. Her debut children’s’ book, Swisstory: The Untold, Bloody, and Absolutely True History of Switzerland was published with Bergli Books in late 2019 and won the SCBWI 2020 Crystal Kite Award for the region Europe, Africa, and Latin America. This is the 8th in our series which highlights new books by our members. Please give a round of applause for Katelyn Aronson and her debut picture book, Piglette. Tell us about your new book Piglette is a story I originally wrote for my sister as a birthday present, so it was truly a “heart piece” of mine (as all writing should be). It’s about a very particular little piglet, who isn’t sure of where she fits in the world, but she’s eager to follow her snout and sniff out new horizons. Her passion is flowers, and when she leaves her farm to work at a perfumery in Paris, she thinks she’s finally found her perfect place. Major themes are leaving home, trying new things, homesickness, the search for belonging, and the ties that ultimately bind us homeward. What inspired you when working on this project? Even though Piglette is set in France, the spark of the story came to me thanks to a chance encounter in Italy. I was wandering the streets of Bologna and came across a magical perfumery, which you can read about on my blog. I never forgot that place, and months later, when the character of Piglette appeared in my mind (as characters often do!), I knew that a similar perfumery would be part of my little piglet’s destiny. Tell us about the creative process for this book. Piglette is one of my earliest manuscripts (I wrote it about five years ago now). So while I don’t remember the exact process, it started as my stories often do. A character appeared in my imagination, and I could tell right away that she merited a story all her own. So I spent time with her, trying to get to know her, finding out what that story was. At the very beginning, Piglette’s name was actually Paquerette (which in French refers to the little wild daisies that spring up on lawns and gardens). There were also a few more French references sprinkled through the text, which were removed to make the story more accessible to a young American audience. Did you encounter anything unexpected while working on this project. The most unexpected thing about Piglette’s publication process was…it’s speed! (We don’t often get to say that in the book industry, eh?) From offer to publication, my manuscript became a book in just one year. What a ride! I had the most wonderful experience working with my editor, Tamar Brazis, and fashion illustrator Eva Byrne. So I couldn’t be happier to announce that I get to work with them all over again. Piglette 2 is already slated to release in summer 2021, only a year after the first installlment! Now for something completely different! Beach Resort or City Getaway, Why? City Getaway for sure. Even if I do miss California every day, in general, lying on a beach is not for me. I like wandering a city, getting lost in it, discovering hidden treasures in little side streets—like the Italian perfumery that inspired Piglette, which I found by accident. Serendipity is to blame for my some of my favorite memories. Thanks Katelyn for a lovely interview. It's very interesting to see how wandering the streets of Bologna, Italy and a character like Piglette come together to create a beautiful, heartwarming story. I'm sure kids everywhere will enjoy getting to know Piglette and we eagerly await the second book coming out next year. Sandra Yoong-Chia Bio: Katelyn Aronson I was born and raised in Orange County, California. I went on to work in independent children’s bookstores there until the age of 25, when I followed my “European dream" and moved to France. Today, I divide my time between France and Switzerland, teaching French and English as foreign languages and writing stories. Here's the 7th instalment of this series of posts which feature new books by our members. Please put your hands together for Sandra Nickel and her children's non-fiction book called Nacho's Nachos! Tell us about your new book. It’s the deliciously true story about how nachos were invented—about what happened when a regular customer asked Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya for something new and there were no chefs in the kitchen. This year is the 80th anniversary of the invention of nachos and Oliver Dominguez has created a fantastic retro vibe for the story. The book also includes the original recipe, which has inspired variations that have literally spread all over the world, from Texas to Paris to Egypt! What inspired you when working on this project? Around six years ago I was making nachos in my kitchen and wondered: where did these come from? I hopped online and discovered that Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya had invented them. It was unbelievable to me that I didn’t know my favorite snack was created by a man named Nacho. I had eaten nachos every single Saturday growing up, and I didn’t know that! I immediately thought: People need to know this. Kids need to know this! I started researching and discovered the stories about the invention didn’t agree. My curiosity drove me to travel to Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. The families of Anaya, Mamie Finan—the woman for whom nachos were invented—and Rodolfo de los Santos—the owner of the restaurant where nachos were invented—still live in the area and very generously agreed to speak with me. What I discovered was that even in Piedras Negras, folks have different versions of the story. It made me double down on research and look beyond the internet. I found two archived newspaper articles, where the reporters interviewed Anaya himself. When I read them, I felt that I was as close as I was ever going to get to the truth. With those articles and the details I gathered from photographs and interviews, I at last had my story! Tell us about the creative process for this book. I wrote my first drafts from what I found on the internet, before my trip to Mexico. They were narrative nonfiction, and I imagined conversations. I also imagined the setting since I didn’t have photos or descriptions of the restaurant where nachos were invented. After my trip to Mexico, gathering photos, discovering the archived articles, and interviewing the families, I decided to write the story as straight nonfiction. So many of the details out there are wrong. People have even posted photos of Anaya that aren’t him. In fact, there isn’t a single accurate photo of him on the internet. I wanted to be sure that my version only included details that I could verify. I also provided all the photographs I collected to Oliver Dominguez so his artwork could be as accurate as possible too. Did you encounter anything unexpected while working on this project? The great thing about writing, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, is that it’s always filled with the unexpected! My favorite unexpected discovery for Nacho’s Nachos was that the original nachos were different from the piles of tortilla chips we now see all loaded up with lots of toppings. Anaya’s original creation was pure and simple: a freshly fried tortilla quarter, with melted cheddar cheese and a single strip of pickled jalapeno pepper. It really is perfection! Now for something completely different! Hot Air Balloon Ride in the sky or Hovercraft Ride through the swamp, Why? Ooooh, that’s a hard one for me. I’m hugely scared of heights and I get motion sick on boats. That said, I have tested my acrophobia by skydiving and paragliding, so I’m going to go with hot air balloon ride. I have a lingering hope that confronting my fear of heights will one day make it disappear. Wish me luck! Good luck, Sandra, for both the hot air balloon ride as well as the launch of your new book! It was very interesting to find out how invention stories get muddled as time passes. Great to have writers like you who are committed to delivering historical truth to kids! Sandra Yoong-Chia Bio: Sandra Nickel Sandra Nickel writes books and poetry for young readers. In 2020 and 2021, she has three books coming out: Nacho's Nachos (Lee & Low), The Stuff Between the Stars (Abrams) and Breaking Through the Clouds (Abrams). Sandra's poetry can be found in SCOOP magazine. Sandra holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has presented workshops on writing for children and young adults throughout Europe and the United States. Sandra has twice won the Katherine Paterson Prize for picture books. In our 6th post of this series, we are happy to speak with Laurie Theurer, who has recently launched her non-fiction children's book on Swiss history, Swisstory. Tell us about your new book Finally, the real history of Switzerland for clever kids and clever kids-at-heart: dukes slaughtered by filthy peasants, innocent “witches” hung up by their necks, secret gold, female mountaineers and, of course, all those murderous cows. Not the fake history of Heidi and William Tell, but Swisstory—from ancient cave people right up to women’s right to vote. Hilariously illustrated by bestselling Swiss artist Michael Meister, Swisstory is outrageous, fascinating, gruesome—and completely true. What inspired you when working on this project? The initial concept for Swisstory was actually as an activity book with word games about Switzerland. The publisher was interested in the idea, but not completely sold on it. So, we ended-up brainstorming together for the next six months, going through idea after idea and trying multiple formats. During this time, I started researching bits of Swiss history and discovered that it was just as gruesome—if not more gruesome—than for most of the rest of Europe. That’s when it occurred to us... Swisstory wanted to be a history book. Not being a historian, I was naturally a bit concerned about tackling this task. However, I quickly found that my inexperience in Swiss history actually helped me. Through my research, I came across people and events that truly shocked me; not fitting in whatsoever with my pre-existing concept of a clean, organized, humanitarian Switzerland. I applied this sense of surprise, shock, and horror to each chapter, presenting it for children and adults alike who might appreciate knowing the “less-savory” sides of the history of Switzerland. Tell us about the creative process for this book. As mentioned above, the creative process for this book changed out of necessity time and again until we finally realized what the book actually wanted to be! Of course, the creative process didn’t stop there. There are twenty chapters in Swisstory, each addressing a different aspect of Swiss history. We pre-selected many of the chapter topics, as it’s nearly impossible to have a book about Swiss history that doesn’t include the unique Swiss political system, meat and dairy industries, or something about banks. However I discovered many more interesting topics during my research that the editor had not previously considered...especially those that were particularly shocking or totally gross. He had me checking my resources more than once to make absolutely sure that what I was writing had actually happened. More traditional history books are unlikely to go into the types of details that I explore in this book. Did you encounter anything unexpected while working on this project. About 90% of my research took me completely and totally by surprise. I’d call that encountering the unexpected! Like most people, I had a pre-existing image in my head about Switzerland as a tidy, organized, wealthy country. However, that image really only established itself in people’s minds within the past 100 years, or so. I’d had no idea of what had come before and how different Switzerland was prior to this time. This pre-conceived notion is so strong that many choose to overlook the less savory things that have happened in Switzerland within the past 100 years, as well. Now for something completely different! Beach Resort or City Getaway, Why? Neither! I’m a country person at heart. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy beaches and cities for a short time, and then find myself dreaming of green pastures, towering mountains, sparkling blue lakes, and walking along country paths. I guess I’m living in the right place. Thank you, Laurie, for this in-depth look into the creation of Swisstory. History is indeed a fascinating aspect of any country and to discover shocking things about a country is very intriguing. We wish Laurie all the best as her book goes out into the big wide world. Sandra Yoong-Chia Bio: Laurie Theurer Laurie grew up in southern California, graduated from university, and then set off as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer, teaching English in a secondary school in rural Thailand for two years. After returning to the U.S., she promptly met a Swiss man...finding herself moving to Zurich a short time later. She’s lived there ever since, working as a consultant in the pharmaceutical industry and raising two gorgeous girls. After dreaming about writing for years, Laurie finally decided to pursue her dream in 2012. Since then, she’s had work published in literary magazines, anthologies, and is finally about to see publication of her debut book, Swisstory: The Untold, Bloody, and Absolutely Real History of Switzerland, takes a humorous look at Switzerland and Swiss history and will be available in both English and German on October 15th, 2019. This is our 5th post of this series. This time it is with one of our members who has recently self-published a really cute-looking picture book. Let's meet Justin Plunkett and get to know him and his wonderful little book. Tell us about your new book Oskar and Nanuk is my first children's book. It is a story about a llama and sloth helping each other find themselves. When a storm threatens to turn Nanuk into a soggy mop, she decides to leave her hill and find shelter from the rain in the jungle. The following morning she awakens to the alarming sight of an odd looking beast with long, clawed arms, hanging above her. It’s Oskar, a sweet but slightly smelly sloth. When Nanuk realises that she’s lost, Oskar offers to help. The marvellous view from his perch in the tallest tree for miles is filled with rainbows and promise. But something scary keeps him from chasing adventure - a rather unsettling earthworm experience. Together, Oskar and Nanuk work to overcome their fears and they find far more than what they were expecting. The story is told in rhyme. It has super colourful illustrations throughout, it is 32 pages long and is self published. What inspired you when working on this project? There were two books in particular that inspired me, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ by Maurice Sendak and ‘Hello Lighthouse’ by Sophie Blackall. Far from children’s literature, the songwriting of Nick Cave always blows me away. Listening to him, I imagine the words leaving his mouth, where, instead of falling clumsily to the ground, the words dance with each other like smoke. I love reading lines that are playful but carefully crafted, often with the use of assonance, onomatopoeia and rhyme. In the early stages of writing I joined the Masterclass website and watched most of the writers’ courses. Tell us about the creative process for this book. When my son was born, I knew that I would make start making something for kids. I didn’t exactly know whether it would be furniture, clothing or something else. I decided to develop a kids brand using two names I’d resonated with during the process of naming future babies, Oskar and Nanuk. I chose the sloth and llama as they both had really distinct visual characteristics and they could play off each other well. They were a funny combo, opposite in so many ways. To get to know them better I drew cartoons and developed lots of little vignettes that helped me clarify who they were and what they wanted. I thought a lot about the structure, the conflicts and character arcs and then I wrote the story. I loved it when it was done and shared it with a few people. It became clear very quickly that it was far too long. It rhymed in some places and not in others. But it was way too long. I think I ended up writing 4 or 5 versions, with each one getting shorter. By the second version I felt ready to start illustrating and over about three months I went from sketches to finished work. The illustrations were done on my iPad Pro with the Apple pencil and the software I used was Procreate. Even after the drawings were complete I kept editing and tweaking the writing. The rhyming spread. It was getting really hard to stay motivated towards the end. When I learned that the process of getting a publisher on board could take 6 months to a year I decided to self publish. After all that work, waiting 6 months for a response was too great an anticlimax. I want to get this book out into the world. Much of my careers has been focussed on branding and marketing so, equipped with a relevant skill set, I feel optimistic about building brand awareness. I remain open and interested in finding a traditional publisher as they are clearly experts, while I am merely impatient. Did you encounter anything unexpected while working on this project? I guess I was naive and enthusiastic when I started. It felt easy at first. The editing process was harder than I’d expected, writing became more and more difficult. The illustration was largely a breeze but when I needed to prep the artwork for IngramSpark, the Print on Demand platform for self publishers, I ran into a really difficult issue. As a designer I’ve printed thousands and thousands of things for clients over the years but I’d never encountered a print specification that included an ink coverage limit. IngramSpark threatened to reject books that exceeded their ink density limit of 240%. I won’t go into technical details, but as a result of this ink limitation I had to spend a week fine-tuning each drawing so that it would print the bright and saturated colours I’d intended. When I received the first printed prototype it felt small in my hands. I needed to push the book to it’s largest possible format, and with a better sense of how to edit the colours, I went back to editing the pictures. Now for something completely different! Seaside or Mountains? Why? While the Alps here in Switzerland are naturally breathtaking, there are shameless tribes of octogenarians who whip past me on the trails, filling me with despair as I desperately need air. I prefer the seaside in spite of my fear of sharks. As a kid, waist deep in the sea, I found myself face to face with a shark swimming towards me in a tall rising swell. When the wall crashed into whitewater, all oceanic sports were permanently washed from my future. But later in life, the natural beauty of Cape Town left an equally profound mark on me. No bite marks, but brilliant orange sunsets over the sea that stay with me still. Thank you for this insightful interview. It's quite inspiring to meet someone who has taken the bold step to self-publish. We wish Justin all the best with his picture book and in future writing/illustrating endeavours. sandra yoong-chia Bio - Justin Plunkett Like most people I wear many hats. I’m dad to a beautiful 3 year old. I’m husband to a wonderful Swiss who inspired me to leave the country of my birth, to join her in the land of hers. I’m a South African designer, illustrator and artist. Today I call the sweet little city of Schaffhausen home. I grew up in a family of avid explorers, every school holiday became an expedition to deserts, jungles and the African bush. I learned to drive a Land Rover at 11 and watched my dad fix them on beaches, salt pans and mountain passes. When I tell stories of my wild childhood to Europeans, they sound far fetched, torn from the adventure books I loved to read during the hours and hours of driving. I had time to imagine and can’t remember being bored as a kid. In my career I’ve zigged and zagged. I’ve had terrific mentors and hopped from advertising to animation to design. I could always draw. As a restless 5 year year old with pneumonia the only way my mother could keep me in bed was sitting in bed with me. She taught me to draw birds. She was an illustrator and interior designer and as a kid I remember looking up through our glass dining room table littered with markers, papers and french curves. My dad was a creative director in an advertising agency and could draw great cartoons. With my mom’s help I won art competitions at school and my hungry ego found a steady source of approval and admiration. Decades later, I picked up awards and professional recognition and created work I’m still very proud of. When I became a dad, the wonderful world of children books reopened doors to the past, and this is the reason you are reading this now. In our fourth interview with our published members, we are excited to speak to Eleanor Peterson whose non-fiction picture book, Jurassic Rat, was published in June 2019. Eleanor lives in Italy and because there is no Italian region at the moment, and she is just a hop across the border, the Swiss region has adopted her as part of our region. Tell us about your new book. Most folks know about dinosaurs but how many know about Jurassic rats? This is the story of one Jurassic rat, the size of a cat, who faces enormous dangers going in search of food for his family. Unfortunately, because he’s a bit on the clumsy side, Rat gets into all sorts of troubles tripping over logs, dropping precious eggs, and coming face to face with a terrifying allosaurus. Will Rat live to feed and snuggle with his family one more time before going out and doing it all over again? What inspired you when working on this project? My roof rats inspired me. I know it may seem strange, but it’s true. If it hadn’t been for them, I wouldn’t have a book. I was surfing the web on how to get rid of roof rats without killing them and fell upon a few articles about rats that were unearthed in Spain and China belonging to the Jurassic period. I had a story about the evolution of a species. I went for it. As for the roof rats, I put my kitty up there, and they disappeared. Now I have the pigeons. Sigh! Tell us about the creative process for this book. I did some research on the Jurassic period, then wrote the story and set it aside for a while. Then I attended an illustration course for picture books with the Children’s Book Academy run by Dr. Mira Reisberg. I had to pick a story to illustrate. Jurassic Rat was my choice. I illustrated the whole story then I had a one-on-one with Mira Reisberg, and she suggested a few edits for both the illustrations and text. Did you encounter anything unexpected while working on this project? Definitely! Illustrating a children's picture book is far from easy. I spent hours illustrating it, but in the end, I had a book dummy. What I didn’t expect, was a call from Mira Reisberg that is the art director for the Spork Imprint. She was interested in the story, but she asked me if someone else could illustrate the book? I was thrilled and accepted. It came to me as a surprise. If you’re curious as to why my illustrations didn’t work for children age 5-8 well, here’s an image (to the right). My illustrations were too realistic and scary. Now for something completely different! City or Countryside, Why? Countryside. I feel at one with nature. Nature walks clear my mind and make me happy. Then, I can go back home and put my butt in seat once again and revise my work. Cities are chaotic, noisy, and stinky. I try to avoid cities, but at times I must go to Genoa (Italy). I come back home a nervous wreck. I don’t know how people cope with living in big cities. Thank you for this delightful interview. It was such a joy getting to know Jurassic Rat. Thank you Eleanor for sharing your creativity process with us. We wish you all the best for your future writing and illustrating adventures. sandra yoong-chia Bio - Eleanor Peterson Eleanor has been called a Druid; she talks to trees, creeping critters, and animals. While she waits to hear back from them she paints, makes puppets, and plays with clay. She has a BS in Environmental Sciences and Territorial Management and has shared her passion for nature by teaching animal tracking to Middle Graders. She is an SCBWI, CBI, CANSCAIP member, and a graduate of the Children’s Book Academy. Eleanor is a Canadian author/illustrator residing in Italy. Website: https://www.eleanorannpeterson.com Here is our second post in this series of interviews with our published members. Please give a very warm welcome to Helle S. Norup. Helle Norup's debut novel, a middle grade fantasy story, was published in October 2018! Congratulations! Here she is to tell us more about it. Tell us about your new book. THE MISSING BARBEGAZI is the story of an eleven-year-old ski-racing girl, Tessa, who gets embroiled in an adventure to save one of the last barbegazi, all while the health of her grandmother deteriorates. It’s also the story of Gawion, a 154-year-old barbegazi teenager, who must overcome his fear of humans to help Tessa rescue his sister. It’s a book about trust, friendship, the power of hope and the magical bonds of family. What inspired you when working on this project? When I had the idea for the book, my two sons were on a ski racing team, and we spent every winter weekend on skis. I love snow and have always been fascinated by mountains, perhaps because I grew up by the sea in a flat country. My admiration for the ski club kids, who show up for training in sub-zero temperatures and band together despite internal competition, was my starting point for the story about Tessa and her struggles to win a ski race. It was supposed to be a story set entirely in the real world without any magic or mythical creatures. But I had not written more than one chapter before Tessa met a strange furry elf in the snow. After some research, I discovered that the creature Tessa had encountered was a barbegazi. Tell us about the creative process for this book. The initial idea for the book came to me while skiing, a couple of years before I began writing the story. At the time, I was rewriting (for the nth time) an MG fantasy novel set in the afterlife, so I wrote my thoughts on the skiing story in my notebook and later copied them into my ideas collection—a Scrivener file with notes about potential future projects—and then I forgot all about it. After a “First Pages session” at AFCC (Asian Festival of Children’s Content) in 2015, my dream editor, Sarah Odedina, read my “afterlife” manuscript. She liked the opening chapters and my writing style, but not how the plot unfolded, and she encouraged me to write something else and keep her posted. Even though we were living in Singapore by then, I immediately knew that the skiing story was my best bet. Over the next six months, I wrote the first draft. As soon as I decided to include a fictional non-fiction book and a barbegazi viewpoint (as described in my answer to the next question), the story flowed. I didn’t plot in detail before writing that first draft, but I had a clear idea of the ending and some plot points in the middle. After finishing the first draft and letting it rest for a while, I spent a month analysing individual scenes and the overall structure of the manuscript. And then I made a detailed plan for the second draft, deciding what to cut, what to enhance, how to solve plot problems and how to raise the emotional stakes. At AFCC in 2016, before I’d begun writing the second draft, I pitched the story to Sarah Odedina, and she was keen to read the finished manuscript. The second draft took me another four months, even though most of the structure remained unchanged. When I was happy with the overall story and each of the scenes, I wrote a third draft where I focused on paragraphs and sentences. That took a couple of months of working on one chapter a day, going through the following key steps: I printed the chapters out and used highlighters to mark dialogue, exposition, internal thoughts and conflict in different colours, getting a visual overview to check the balance of these elements. I also read everything aloud (again) to check flow and rhythm and make sure there was a good mix of long and short sentences. Sometimes, I copied the chapter into ProWritingAid’s web tool, to e.g. check if I repeated certain words or word combinations. And I tinkered a lot, moving words around in sentences and sentences inside paragraphs. When I felt it was ready, I sent the manuscript to Sarah and waited impatiently until she responded a few endless months later with an offer. Through two further drafts, we worked together, discussing in emails and over Skype to resolve the issues Sarah had highlighted in her editorial letter. Finally, I worked with Tilda Johnson, another brilliant editor, on line- and copy-edits. Tilda’s line-editing questions forced me to clarify descriptions and add some lovely details, so the creative work continued all the way up to this point. Afterwards, grammar and punctuation received a final polish in the copy-editing round, and, later, the page proofs were checked by me and a proofreader. In August 2018, more than two and a half years after I began writing the first draft, I received finished copies of The Missing Barbegazi—my little skiing story had become a real book. Did you encounter anything unexpected while working on this project? I discovered the barbegazi! Details about the barbegazi sparked my imagination in curious ways. For example, the fact that barbegazi myths are from the high alps in France and Switzerland, meant that I had to make up a reason for my barbegazi’s presence in Austria, where the story takes place. And, as the name barbegazi comes from the French barbe glacée (frozen beard), I knew their beards were important, so I decided female and young barbegazi needed beards too, and I bestowed barbegazi beards with magical properties. Consolidating folklore and invented barbegazi “facts”, I wrote part of a fictional non-fiction book, called: Habits and Habitats: A Historic Account of Alpine Elves, to use in my story about Tessa. But it still wasn’t enough. The barbegazi, Gawion, wasn’t satisfied with a minor role; he wanted to speak for himself and tell part of the story from his point of view. I had not intended to write a dual narrative, so that was definitely unexpected. Now for something completely different! Rain or Snow, Why? SNOW! How can you ask? I still get excited every winter when I see the first snowflakes floating down, and there’s nothing quite like waking up to a newborn glittering world after a night of snowfall. Snow is magical! Thank you Helle for sharing with us in detail your creative process for this book. It's wonderful to know more about the barbegazi! We wish you all the best in your writing journey and hope to see more lovely stories from you. sandra yoong-chia Bio - Helle S. Norup H S Norup grew up on a golf course in Denmark and lived in the UK, the US, Austria and Switzerland before moving to Singapore. Now, she has returned to Switzerland with her husband and two teenage sons. She has a Master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration and sixteen years’ experience in corporate marketing strategy and communications. When she’s not writing or reading, she spends her time outdoors either skiing, hiking, walking, golfing or taking photos. THE MISSING BARBEGAZI is her debut novel. Website: www.hsnorup.com We are excited to launch a new series of blog posts, highlighting our published members and their work. So join in me giving a hearty SCBWI Switzerland welcome to Simona Ceccarelli! Her new book is called “SOIC and SOT: The Microchips” and it’s a lovely picture book. Tell us about your new book. “SOIC and SOT”, written by Jeffrey C. Dunnihoo, is a friendship story…only the friends happen to be microchips! After a harsh separation at the assembly line, they experience all the scary stages of electronics production and finally get to meet again in the most fantastic of ways: through the network. The book is published by Pragma Media, which has set itself the goal of making electronics approachable and interesting for children. It is part of a three-book series, with the next two scheduled for next year. Every page of “SOIC and SOT” has QR codes that link to a webpage with additional information about each step of the friends’ journey - for the most curious engineers-to-be. What inspired you when working on this project? I had to learn a lot about electronics myself to illustrate this book - and it’s a fascinating topic. It was thrilling to have experts review my illustrations and provide feedback. The author, Jeff Dunnihoo, is an electronics engineer. He was always happy to explain the hows and whys behind every detail: I ended up learning a lot more than what is included in the book and stand in wonder at what happens inside all our electronic devices. Having a scientific background definitely helped. Tell us about the creative process for this book. It was a fun challenge to make microchips interesting and relatable as characters, convey emotions and have some dynamic range of expression. That’s why the first step of the process was extensive character design. Finding the right style for the final illustrations also took some time. We wanted the book to have a painterly feel, but there had to be sufficient details as well. At the end, we settled for a colored-pencil look, which allowed to have both texture and fine linework. I work digitally, but in a way that emulates traditional media. The hardest part of creating the illustrations was collecting the right reference, because all technical details had to be caricatured yet accurate. There is a circuit board on many spreads: to keep consistency, I created a model of it in a 3D software to use as reference. Pragma provided a lot of images as well as technical files of the components and there were many changes before the board looked right: it’s completely fictional but looks like it could work! Did you encounter anything unexpected while working on this project. I found myself watching factory training videos to know how the inside of the assembly machines looked like. Now for something completely different! Autumn or Spring, Why? Autumn. Red and yellow are my favorite colors! Thank you very much Simona for giving us an opportunity to learn more about your new book and your creative process. I must say it’s so interesting to hear how much you had to learn in order to produce accurate yet charming illustrations. We wish you all the best on your continued journey as a children’s book illustrator and look forward to more books by you. Sandra Yoong-Chia Bio – Simona Ceccarelli After an exceptionally nerdy childhood, Simona left home with a passion for both art and science, a large library – which has been growing out of control ever since – and a dream that life would offer wealth beyond riches and several roads to travel. Her first journey was to study science and, after earning a doctorate, she worked as a medical research scientist for more than 10 years. Art eventually lured her back to follow "the road not taken.” She studied illustration and visual development at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University, and since 2013 she’s been happily doing illustration and animation projects for magazines, advertising and scientific education. In 2016 she joined SCBWI and focussed almost exclusively on children’s book illustration. She has since illustrated two direct-to-school reading books for Rubicon Publishing (“The Horse of Seven Colors” and “Circle of Friends”), designed the cover and characters for a successfully crowdfunded book by the Microactivist Foundation and illustrated the “SOIC and Friends” book series for Pragma Media, of which “SOIC and SOT” is the first book. She is currently working on several educational titles for Rizzoli/Mondadori and Scholastic. Her first trade book as illustrator: “If You Had Your Birthday Party on the Moon” with Sterling Children’s Books (written by Joyce Lapin), will be released in April 2019. Simona lives in Basel, Switzerland, with her husband and two children. For children’s books, she is represented by Andrea Cascardi, Transatlantic Literary Agency Website: www.smceccarelli.com |
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