research - Laurie Ann Thompson

Author interview with Tara Dairman and book #giveaway!

Laurie Thompson — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 18:22:50 +0000

A very happy book birthday to Tara Dairman and her latest middle-grade novel, The Great Hibernation! This story has mystery, politics, coming of age, science, and a healthy dose of girl power, and it’s available NOW from Wendy Lamb Books/Penguin Random House. I loved it, and I highly recommend it!
As a special treat, Tara agreed to do an interview for us today. So, without further ado, let’s hear from Tara!
LAT: What kind of reader do you think this book will appeal to?
TD: A wide variety, I hope! Fans of my All Four Stars series should enjoy the humor and the foodie elements that those books share with The Great Hibernation. But I think that Hibernation will also draw in readers who like mystery, zany/madcap adventure, and a bit of political content, too. Plus, I just have to say, my mom really likes it. She pretty much told me it’s her favorite of all my books. 🙂
LAT: It’s so hard to pick a favorite, but I also really loved this one. How did you first become interested in writing The Great Hibernation? What were your incentives for sticking with it?
TD: I first got the idea in 2013… from a dream! In the dream, two kids were out in freezing open water in a tiny boat, trying to flag down a bigger boat to help them because something had gone terribly wrong back on shore in their town. When I woke up, I knew I had to find out who those kids were and what had gone wrong. (And that dream inspired one of my favorite scenes in the whole book.)
LAT: I remember that scene! There are some great details and observations in that one, as well as others. It seems like a ton of research must have gone into this book to get those details right. Can you tell us about that? How was that different from previous books? Do you think you’ll get to reuse any of that research in future stories?
TD: Working on The Great Hibernation did give me an opportunity to research a lot of fun topics, from sheep farming to Thai cuisine to liver function. I was lucky to have some expert beta and sensitivity readers look at the manuscript and answer my questions at various points to that I could make those details as authentic as possible. As for the small town of St. Polonius-on-the-Fjord (where the book is set), it’s loosely inspired by the northern coast of Iceland. I had the pleasure of traveling through that area a few years ago, so when I was drafting, I did have a sharp picture in my head of what the town and its environs would look like.
TD: I kind of doubt I’ll ever get to reuse any of my research, but if I write another book in which a sheep needs to go down a staircase… well, I know now that he can. (With a little help!)
LAT: Were there any surprises or stumbling blocks along the way to the finished draft? How did you end up dealing with that?
TD: I struggled to get the opening chapter right for this book. There’s a lot of information and backstory to convey, plus a lot of characters to introduce, and of course I didn’t want things to feel info-dumpy. I started over from scratch several times—and then, after I sold the book for publication, I threw the whole first chapter out and rewrote it all over again. Luckily, my beta readers, editors, and I all really loved the final version, so I got there in the end!
LAT: Oh, I can certainly relate to that! Persistence is the key, right? To that point, though, how do you decide when a book is “done” and ready to send to your agent?
TD: When I literally cannot fathom looking at it for a single second more. 🙂 (That is usually after I’ve done at least two major revisions on my own based on critique partner feedback, though. My agent never sees my earliest drafts!)

LAT: I think every book teaches us something new, about the world, about ourselves, or about the craft of writing. What have you learned as a result of writing this particular book?
TD: I’ve learned that, just because a book doesn’t pitch well, that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a good book. My agent and I originally tried to sell this book on proposal, and the feedback we got from editors was that they liked the sample chapters but thought that the proposed plot sounded… well, a little crazy. It turned out I just had to write the whole book for them to see that I could pull the crazy plot off.
LAT: Wow! It sounds like you took quite a leap of faith with this one. (And I’m so glad you did!) Was that your toughest moment on the path to publication or were there others, and how did you make it over that hurdle?
TD: I’d still say that finishing the first draft of my first book (All Four Stars) was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, because I didn’t know what I was doing. I’d dreamed of being a novelist since childhood, but until I actually finished writing a book, I didn’t know whether I could do it or not! And that one little book took me years upon years. Writing “the end,” though—definitely one of the best moments of my life.
LAT: What tricks have you learned for balancing your writing time with the demands of keeping up with the industry, promoting existing work, taking care of your home and family, personal recreation and self-care, etc.?
TD: Oy vey. I’m still learning! I have bad days and better days. What I have learned over the last few years is that “balance” is going to look different depending on the month, the week, the day. There are going to be stretches when I’m writing almost every day and really in that creative zone. And there are going to be stretches when a book release is looming, or a new baby is getting born, and I don’t do any creative work at all for weeks or months. And that’s okay! I’m not a great multitasker anyway, so I’d rather really focus on whatever is calling to me most in the moment—which is a privilege that I know not every author can afford.
TD: In short, I guess I’d say that balance has become a long game for me, rather than something I’m able to accomplish on a daily basis.
LAT: Excellent advice. I suspect that knowing it’s a long game is the #1 secret to finding that ever-elusive “balance.” So, what are you working on right now?
TD: I do have a middle-grade WIP that I’m hoping to get back to once The Great Hibernation is properly launched into the world. But I’m also having a baby in November, so once he or she arrives, my focus will likely be off writing for at least a few months.
LAT: Congratulations! I’m definitely looking forward to hearing more about that adventure (and seeing pictures)!!
LAT: Before I let you go, what do you wish I would’ve asked you that I didn’t, and why?
TD: I wish you’d asked me “What are some of your other favorite recent middle-grade books?” There are SO many good ones out this year! My answer would be:

Contemporary: Saturdays with Hitchcock by Ellen Wittlinger
Nonfiction: Poison by Sarah Albee; Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive! by Laurie Ann Thompson and Ammi-Joan Paquette
Mystery: The World’s Greatest Detective by Caroline Carlson
Humor: This is Just a Test by Wendy Wan-Long Shang and Madelyn Rosenberg
Historical: Bobby Lee Claremont and the Criminal Element by Jeannie Mobley; The Last Grand Adventure by Rebecca Behrens (coming 3/18)
Fantasy: The Changelings and In a Dark Land by Christina Soontornvat

TD: I could go on and on, but I’ll stop myself there!
LAT: Thanks for the shout-out for Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive!, Tara. (I swear, I did NOT put her up to that!) And thank you so much for visiting today and answering all of my questions. I’ll be recommending The Great Hibernation far and wide, and I wish you much continuing success in ALL of your endeavors!
Find out more about The Great Hibernation by Tara Dairman here. And leave a comment below for a chance to win your own copy!

UPDATE: The giveaway winner is JennaO! Congratulations, JennaO!!

Interview with Mary Cronk Farrell, author of PURE GRIT

Laurie Thompson — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 13:00:32 +0000

I have a confession to make. Normally I read every book before I post about it here, but–just this once–I was going to cheat. As much as I’ve been dying to read PURE GRIT by Mary Cronk Farrell, my to-do list is huge right now: writing new books (I’m currently working on EIGHT separate manuscripts and/or proposals!), promoting BE A CHANGEMAKER, volunteer projects (SCBWI Western Washington conference anyone? There are still a few spaces!), critiques (three full-length novels await!), family, pets, home… and let’s not forget, TAXES! To top it off, I was still recovering from the flu when I came down with this most recent cold. I’m months behind on a few things, with many other deadlines looming dead ahead. So, I sat down planning to just skim it for the time being, write the post, and come back later when I had time to settle in, read it in more detail, and take it all in.

PURE GRIT book cover

Several hours later, I was surprised to notice the time! I hadn’t checked Twitter or Facebook or even email all day, despite the “helpful” little alerts coming from my phone. I hadn’t even eaten lunch. Instead, I’d spent the better part of the day reading PURE GRIT, in detail, from cover to cover. I simply could. not. put. it. down. An engrossing blend of fact and storytelling, PURE GRIT tells the harrowing tale of U.S. Army and Navy nurses who endured first battle, then internment in the Philippines during WWII. Despite increasingly deplorable conditions, these female POWs continued to help others during their years in the prison camps. Amazingly, every single one of them eventually made it home alive.
I urge you all to devote an afternoon to reading this beautifully done book ASAP, but first, I’m delighted to introduce you to the author, Mary Cronk Farrell, who graciously agreed to answer a few questions for me.

PURE GRIT author, Mary Cronk Farrell

LT: Welcome, Mary! Wow, what a powerful book. I learned some valuable lessons and insights from reading it. Other than the facts involved, what did you learn from the process of writing this book?
MCF: This book taught me a number of things. First, do not attempt a huge project like this unless you have a tremendous amount of passion for it. Something has to carry you through to the end and beyond. Something has to keep you going when you are crying at the keyboard. I could not have done it had I not been so deeply inspired by the courage, compassion and resilience of these women.
MCF: I also learned how important it is to write a good proposal for a non-fiction book. From the beginning I wanted to tell the story as simply as I could because I thought it would be most powerful that way. The key was hammering out the narrative arc while putting together the proposal. That was very intense, but once I had that down, the rest was just a matter of putting down one bit of the story after another. My first draft came in too long. My editor told me to cut it in half! I think I managed to cut a bit more than one third.
LT: I am blown away by the amount of research you must have had to do for this book. How did you manage it all? What kind of system do you have? Did it evolve over the course of the project?
MCF: Ha! That is a great question! I would not call it an organizational system at all. And I wish I could say that it evolved into something better over the course of the project. I can only hope that my system will evolve into something better for my next book.
MCF: I used a lot of books for my research. As I read through them I attached sticky notes to the pages where I found a detail I might want to use. Some books had scores, maybe hundreds, several to a page. Later I went back and scratched an identifying word on some of the sticky notes so I could find subjects more quickly. Then I had pages of interview and research notes on my computer, including a lot of links to information I found online. Pages listing people and organizations that I had talked to or hoped to talk to, or thought I probably should talk to. Then pages of people I was trying to locate and whatever information I had found or ruled out. Then there was the file box of articles from inter-library loan, pages copied from books from inter-library loan, notes in pencil from the National Archives, as well as photos and documents copied from the National Archives. And I must mention the notes scribbled on pieces of paper that happened to be handy when the phone rang. Then there were the e‑mails…tons of e‑mails, some going back five years. I kept them all to try and remember who I had talked to about what aspect of the story. Many were dead ends, but I wanted a record of whom I had contacted and about what. Probably the most amazing thing about this book is that I managed to get it into any semblance of order from the chaos of my research!
LT: Ha! That sounds frighteningly similar to my process. Did you do all the photo research for the book too? Can you tell me about that part of the process?
MCF: The photo research was like a treasure hunt. I wanted to use unusual photos which either had never been published, or had only rarely been published. Whenever I interviewed someone, one of the first questions was—Do you have any photos of the nurses? When I started the project in 2007 there were a few photos from this time-frame in the Philippines on the internet. Each year I found more collections of photos had been uploaded. I found a lot of photos through Google image search, and many in the LIFE/Getty archives. I found other photos at the National Archives and many through personal collections and museums such as the MacArthur Memorial Museum. When I submitted the final manuscript, I submitted over 300 photographs, and I feared my editor would have a heart attack when he got them. But then he had suggestions for other photos which might add to the story and eventually, I submitted about 400 total. The final book features about 100, including maps.
MCF: Because PURE GRIT unfolds in the early 1940s, the most difficult aspect of the photo research was finding photos of size and resolution suitable for publication. It broke my heart that one photo of a child the nurses cared for in the camp hospital could not be used because I couldn’t get a high-resolution copy. One wonderful surprise came after I turned in the first draft of the manuscript when I discovered film of the nurses in captivity that had been shot by the Japanese. I was able to take a couple still photos from this film and include them in the book.

Sascha Weinzheimer, aided by the nurses after a complicated tonsillectomy

LT: What was the hardest part of the research and/or writing for you? How did you deal with that?
MCF: The hardest part for me was immersing myself in the details of war and POW camp conditions, the brutality, the suffering, the loss of so many, many, many lives. Sometimes I broke down in tears in the middle of writing. What helped me get through it was my conviction to tell the story honestly, and knowing I couldn’t do that if I were to sugarcoat it for myself. I called to mind something I heard Libba Bray say at a conference. “Don’t be afraid to go to the dark places…a book should cost you something to write.”
LT: That’s great advice, and it’s something I try to remind myself while I’m writing, too.
LT: I’ve always said that I will know I’ve made it when I receive one letter from one child saying that something I wrote made a positive difference in his or her life. How do you define success?
MCF: For this particular project, my goal was to portray the POW nurses as honestly and accurately as possible and honor them for their service, sacrifice and, well, their pure grit. And I wanted to write their story in such a way that people would be drawn to it and want to read it.
LT: Do you feel like you’ve achieved it?
MCF: When I began hearing from the relatives of the nurses I’d interviewed for the book, and other sources close to the topic, I knew I had succeeded in my first aim. They are happy with the book and supporting it fully. Judging by the comments I’m getting from readers, I have succeeded in the second as well. I’m truly grateful for the many people who generously shared their stories and their knowledge so that I could write PURE GRIT, and also to those family members and friends who supported me through the long and arduous process. I could not have done it without them.
LT: Well, I’d say you succeeded. I was certainly drawn to it! And the last sentence of the book, right after you explain how the nurses got through all of the hardships by simply continuing day-to-day and helping others around them, will stick with me for a long time: “This may be the deceptively facile recipe for courage, and possibly it is even evidence that each of us carries the capacity for such grit, should it be demanded of us.”
LT: I hope it isn’t demanded of us, but if it is, I sincerely hope you’re right about possessing it. Thank you so much, Mary!

research - Laurie Ann Thompson

Author interview with Tara Dairman and book #giveaway!

Interview with Mary Cronk Farrell, author of PURE GRIT

(This review is based on a copy I purchased at my local indie bookstore for my own home library.)