THREE QUESTIONS FOR LISA BULLARD

THREE QUESTIONS FOR LISA BULLARD

PHOTO by  Katherine Warde 

What made you choose Trav for your hero?

The truth is, Trav chose me! When I started writing this story, I had actually decided to try something very different from my past books (picture books and nonfiction for even younger readers): a mystery novel for adults. But after consistently stalling out around chapter 3, I decided to take a mystery-writing class from Ellen Hart to see if I could figure out why I wasn’t able to make any progress. Ellen is a great teacher (and mystery writer), and the first night she gave the class an assignment to reimagine our story openings. As I wrote my new opening, a voice hijacked my story—

3 QUESTIONS FOR MAILE MELOY

Maile Meloy

3 QUESTIONS FOR MAILE MELOY

The Apothecary

What's your favorite thing about your heroes, Janie and Benjamin?

I like the fact that Janie is curious about the world, and brave when she needs to be.  And I like Benjamin's stubbornness, even when it gets in his way.  They both face adventure with courage and with concern for their friends, which is a quality I admire in people.      

With which do you have the most in common?

I probably identify the most with Janie because I was writing in her voice, in The Apothecary, and I remember being 14 really vividly.  In college, I spent a year in England, and felt very out of place when I got there, so we have that in common.  I wish I were more like Jin Lo, who's tough and smart and always perfectly confident—but has gone through a hard time to get that way.  I don't envy the hard time.  

When you were a kid, who was your favorite mystery detective?

By quantity, it was Trixie Belden, who was tomboyish and intuitive and believable.  My stepmother gave me the books and I read a lot of them.  But I also really loved Turtle Wexler in The Westing Game, who's only a mystery detective accidentally.  (I guess that's true of most of them.)  

THREE QUESTIONS FOR JEFFREY SALANE

JEFFREY SALANE

Lawless

What made you choose M for your hero?

It all goes back to space camp…or at least a conversation about space camp with a friend of mine. She was explaining how the space shuttle simulator worked and I suddenly spouted out, “Wow, can you imagine if you accidentally boarded the wrong simulator and were actually in a space shuttle and launched into space?” Well, that night, I started thinking about a story where a character is shot into space, metaphorically, where they would be not just a fish out of water, but a fish out of atmosphere. Enter M. And I’m not sure at this point that I would call M a hero. She’s more of an antihero who’s still figuring herself out. And that’s what drew me to her, the journey she has is a lot like the journey we all have before us in that she’s figuring out the person she is and the person she wants to be.

What do you have in common with M?

Unfortunately, not too much.  Hmmm, we both have brown hair, does that count?  Seriously though, M is a character who doesn’t hesitate to push the envelope and that’s what I love about her. I’ve never been a leap first look later lad. Of course, as you will read in the book, some envelopes need to be read before haphazardly pushing them and this is what she starts to learn as the story evolves. But I think it’s everything that I don’t have in common with M that keeps me so invested in her adventures.

When you were a kid, who was your favorite mystery detective?

Sherlock Holmes.  There is no other in my mind…maybe save Watson. 

And for my favorite criminal mastermind, well, it would  have to be Moriarty. 

THREE QUESTIONS FOR ELISE BROACH

ELISE BROACH

Missing on Superstition Mountain

 

What made you choose the three Barker brothers for your heroes?

I liked the idea of writing about three brothers.  I grew up in a family with three children, and I have three children of my own, and I have always liked the complexity of three siblings... the shifting alliances and feuds, and all the different possible combinations, the way siblings who are close to each other can become a kind of team, balancing out each other's weaknesses.

Which brother do you have the most in common?

Henry, of course!  I'm a middle child, the bookish one in the family. I always loved to read and make up stories, loved using big words inappropriately when I was that age.  I think I also have a fair amount in common with Delilah, though.

When you were a kid, who was your favorite mystery detective?

Oh, good question!  I read a TON of Nancy Drew mysteries as a kid, and even though I'm not sure there's much to admire in the writing or the way the stories are structured - they're pretty formulaic - I really did admire Nancy herself when I was little.  She was so calm and brave and competent; a really interesting role model for girls my age at that time, because she was very much a girl - or a young woman, I should say - but she never seemed vulnerable because of that.  She was strategic, coolly calculating, a good problem-solver, yet also kind and sincere.  I still think about what she represented to me when I raced through all of those books.

3 QUESTIONS FOR KIM HARRINGTON

KIM HARRINGTON
Sleuth or Dare

What made you choose Darcy & Norah, who are so different from one another, as your heros?

   Norah and Darcy seem like opposites on the outside. Norah is a “good girl” while Darcy gets into trouble. Norah quietly blends into the background while Darcy has more of an edge to her. But they’ve been best friends since they became neighbors in fourth grade and, despite their differences, the friendship works—with a lot of humor! What I love most about them is that they’re nerds and proud of it. And they have their own interests and hobbies that they unapologetically geek out over. Norah’s biggest aspiration isn’t to become one of the popular girls. It’s to be an astronomer. She thinks more about math than nail polish. And Darcy is a tech guru and spy gadget lover. I can totally see her growing up to work for the CIA. I chose them because they're so much fun to write!

Which do you have the most in common with?

    There is a lot of young Kim in Norah, from her dog to her telescope, to some of her likes and dislikes. But I have a little Darcy in me, too. I like to say that Norah is who I was at that age and Darcy is who I wanted to be.

When you were a kid, who was your favorite mystery detective?

   I don't think I had a favorite detective as a child, but I was addicted to the Choose Your Own Adventure series and loved getting to be the one who decided what the characters would do. Even then, I wanted to write the story. 

3 QUESTIONS FOR TOM ANGLEBERGER

TOM ANGLEBERGER
The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda

What made you choose a kid like Dwight to be the voice of Origami Yoda?

Well, Dwight and I have a lot in common if you know what I mean....

Which of the boys, Tommy or Dwight, do you have the most in common with?

Dwight. Tommy turned out to be a lot cooler than I was!

When you were a kid, who was your favorite mystery detective?

The Blackhand Gang! Remember them? Scholastic only put out one book and I cherished that book!

But when I did need a new book, I often reached for a new Three Investigators. I LOVED Jupiter Jones... and in fact he has some similarities to Dwight, perhaps.

THREE QUESTIONS FOR CHRISTINE HARRIS

THREE QUESTIONS FOR CHRISTINE HARRIS

UnderCover Girl: Secrets

1. What made you choose a kid secret agent for your hero?

    Everyone likes a mystery. And the suspense is even greater if there is a mystery about the main character, not just the problem he or she is trying to solve. A secret agent who doesn't know about her past gives that.   
    When I was a child I was really into secret codes and mystery solving. I like to write books that I would enjoy reading. 
    Also, being a secret agent with a shadowy past keeps the character, Jesse, isolated from others who might help her. She is alone and must sort things out herself. That is when she discovers her true strength of character.

2. What do you have in common with Jesse?

    That is hard to answer truthfully. And maybe I couldn't answer it. Most people don't see themselves the way others do. 
    What I will say is that Jesse is who I would like to have been at that age - but without the shadowy past. I like her quirky way of looking at things, her irrepressible sense of humour, her courage. I wrote a character that I liked, but put her inside a dangerous mystery.

3. When you were a kid, who was your favorite mystery detective?

    I used to read the 'Famous Five' books, then 'Cherry Ames' ( a mystery-solving nurse), 'Donna Parker', 'Swallows and Amazons'. 

3 QUESTIONS FOR NANCY SPRINGER

Nancy Springer - mystery book review

3 QUESTIONS FOR NANCY SPRINGER, author of the Enola Holmes series

1. What made you choose the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes for your hero?

Well, I guess it's obvious I'm a feminist, so I'm always looking for a strong female protagonist with an applecart to upset. But the immediate cause was an editor who asked for something set in darkest London around the time of Jack the Ripper.  Having never written historical, I was flabbergasted, but considered, thus:  What might I have read as a child that could help me?  My childhood reading had led me to write the Rowan Hood series (daughter of Robin Hood) plus I am Mordred and I am Morgan Le Fay (of King Arthur fame).  Was there anything set in 18th century London?

 

Of course.  Sherlock Holmes.  My mother had a complete set of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works.  I had all but memorized every Sherlock Holmes story Doyle had written. 

 

2. What do you have in common with Enola?

An awful lot, although I didn't realize how much until after I had written The Case of the Missing Marquess.  When I sent the manuscript in to my agent, I was awfully nervous, which was odd, considering how much I've published.  Later I realized I was afraid of rejection because I'd put so much of myself in the book.

 

Specifically:  like Enola, I was a skinny, shy, bookish, isolated child who loved to climb trees and explore the countryside.  And ride my bike. And go fishing.  My parents were in midlife when I was born, and I had two much older brothers who had little to do with me.  Ours was a very British and very nearly Victorian household; my father being Protestant Irish and even older than my mother.  She, my mother was an artist who painted exquisite watercolor flowers.  By the time I became a teenager, my mother had "abandoned" me.  While she did not actually run away, she had little time or attention to spare for me.  In hindsight, I think she was going through health problems related to menopause but One Did Not Speak Of These Things.  Enola R Me.

3. When you were a kid, who was your favorite mystery detective?

Sherlock Holmes, no contest. 

  And did you know that all six of the Enola Holmes books are going to be published in mainland China?  And are already published (and popular) in Japan, France, Brazil, Israel, and I forget where else?  Go, Enola!  

 

 

3 QUESTIONS FOR BRUCE HALE

Bruce Hale              Photo byTom Musselman.

THREE QUESTIONS FOR BRUCE HALE, author of the Chet Gecko series

1. What made you choose a gecko for your hero?

I was living in Hawaii with geckos all around.  I'd already done some picture books with a Hawaiian surfing gecko, so I wasn't intending to use another gecko hero when it came time to write a mystery.  But when I sat down to write from the detective's point of view, he introduced himself on the first page: "Who am I? Chet Gecko, Private Eye."  And the name was so perfect, I had to write about him.

2. What do you have in common with Chet?

We share a sense of humor, a fondness for sweets, and a sense of curiosity. We do not, however, share a tail.

3. When you were a kid, who was your favorite mystery detective?

At around 10 years old, I discovered ALFRED HITCHCOCK & THE THREE INVESTIGATORS series.  Although I also read Encyclopedia Brown and others, the Three Investigators were my favorite.

______________________

Bruce's next book

SCHOOL FOR S.P.I.E.S.: PLAYING WITH FIRE

"His, er, first three fosters died," said the caseworker.

"How?" asked Hantai Annie, eyes on Max.

"Let's see... devoured by crocodiles, executed by Gurlukh warlords, and... 

popped off in an accident involving a bathtub, a radio, and a yo-yo."

"Again, not my fault," said Max.

                                                                 Coming June 2013

www.brucehale.com