As I wrote before, I met editor/author Deborah Halverson last summer when I was on the faculty of the SCBWI summer conference. Her new book, Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies is released next week and she has a fabulous blog tour with a manuscript critique give away. Check it out at her blog http://deareditor.com
I am so pleased that Deborah agreed to give me an interview for the blog.
When and why did you start writing for children?
I was a late bloomer when it comes to being an official writer: I wrote my teen novels after I’d been a children’s book editor for ten years. You see, the timing was finally right for me to see if my secret dream of being a writer was worth schlepping around any longer: I’d just left my office gig as an editor with Harcourt Children’s Books in order to freelance edit and teach writing classes at night while caring for my triplet babies during the day.
What is the most valuable advice you can give to a newly published writer?
Embrace the world of self-marketing. Educate yourself about the options available—blogging, networking through social media, creating a website, creating a book trailer, speaking to groups related to your subject matter, writing articles and guest blog posts for publications/blogs related to your subject matter, doing mailings, etc. But do not think you must (or can) do it all. Instead, pick three self-marketing items to focus on based on your personal skills and interests, your time, and your financial situation. Three is a doable number. You can grow from there if your situation and interest permits.
What is one of your favorite children’s books that you'd like to recommend?
Just one? You’re killing me! How about the one that I just spent the last three days reading to my three six-year-old boys almost continuously: Lives of the Pirates, a picture book written by Kathleen Krull and illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt. The boys are mesmerized by Krull’s short bios of famous pirates, and I am pleased to see that the reality of pirate doings is included. These guys (and a few gals) weren’t the likeable petty miscreants we like to fashion them as nowadays. Krull keeps the bios accessible and fascinating for my young boys, and Hewitt’s paintings are rich enough that when I’m not reading the book to the boys, they’re pouring over the illustrations on their own.
In the realm of books for older readers, I’ve been crushing for months now on A Crooked Kind of Perfect, by Linda Urban. The voice is so authentically Eleven-Year-Old Girl, and Urban creates a strong sense of place and characters within her very spare journal style. I am absolutely captivated by the star, young Zoe, who dreams of playing piano at Carnegie Hall but ends up with a Perfectone D-60 organ instead. The book is slightly quirky in the best possible way and wholly enjoyable.
What are you working on now?
I put a teen novel on the backburner when I started writing Writing Young Adult Fiction For Dummies. Now I finally get to dig back into that project. I’m excited to be writing fiction again instead of writing about writing fiction.
What is your favorite dessert and why?
Gimme a chocolate anything at any time of the day. Official “dessert” timing is unnecessary. In fact, I rarely eat dessert in the traditional after-you-finish-your-steak-but-before-you-clear-the-table manner. I prefer to make the consuming of chocolate an event in itself.
BIO:
Deborah Halverson is the author of Writing Young Adult Fiction For Dummies and founder of the writer’s advice website DearEditor.com. Deborah edited young adult and children’s fiction with Harcourt Children's Books before picking up a pen to write the award-winning teen novels Honk If You Hate Me and Big Mouth. www.DeborahHalverson.com
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