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I nterview
Questions:
1.
When did you start writing?
A.
In 3 rd grade,
I wrote the still unfinished "Grave Diggers." When I was eleven,
I had a dream I couldn’t forget, so I started writing it down. As I
wrote, I got more ideas until, three years later, I had a book done.
2.
Where do you get your ideas?
A.
Dreams, pieces of popcorn, tree branches, interesting pieces of dirt,
things people say, billboards, animals, pretty much everywhere. Sometimes
at night I wake up to find myself writing ideas down with my lamp turned
on and I don’t even remember waking up.
3.
Do you think that being one of six brothers creates a problem if you write
about girl characters?
A.
My mom’s a girl, and she edits my books, so she catches any mistakes. I
also have friends and cousins who are girls, so I eventually figure it
out.
4.
Is it true you don’t have TV at home? Why?
A.
When I was 10, the TV antenna blew over on our house. When we realized no
one missed TV, we didn’t bother fixing it.
5.
Since the average teenager watches 35 hours of television a week, what do
you do with your missing TV time?
A.
Sometimes I watch videos or play computer games with my brothers. We’ve
made swords, a ballista, a waterfall out of paint trays, a tandem bike out
of two single bikes, a watch out of a belt, and I’m making plans for
building a trebuchet.
6.
Another thing you do is respite care for a mentally challenged classmate
of yours. Is that difficult?
A.
I’ve gone to school with him since 4 th
grade. Besides, my aunt has
Down Syndrome, so I’m used to it.
7.
Do you use people you know as characters in your books?
A.
I don’t know that you can help using bits of people you know when you
write. I didn’t purposely use any single person.
8.
What is "Bone Warriors" about?
A.
Two boys’ families are taken by an evil necromancer. When they go
through the forbidden woods in search of them, they find their only help
comes from a creature they can’t trust.
9.
Why did you write this book?
A.
I had a dream when I was eleven that I couldn’t forget. So I started
writing it down and it kept getting longer and longer as new ideas came to
me.
10.
How is your book different from other fantasy books?
A.
It has creatures you’ve never heard of before, and dangers that I haven’t
read about in other books. I think the way it’s resolved at the end is
kind of unique, too.
11.
Do you have ideas for other books?
A.
Yes. There are two more for the "Bone Warriors" series, then I
have ideas for at least 18 more.
12.
What is one of the strangest things that has happened to you during your
writing?
A.
One time I was at the theater with my brother watching a movie while my
mom was editing my book. When I got home, she asked me if it would be okay
to put Tweaks’ circle of lightning struck quartz that he uses to see
better into a wire frame he could wear. She’d come up with a glasses
frame idea that went over one ear and the side of the nose. I said,
"Mom, that’s just the kind of contraption they showed in the movie
I just watched." She thought we had some kind of mental telepathy
thing going on since she got the idea while I was watching the movie. |
