Friend Friday
Thank you Kirby for the opportunity to share my thoughts,
books, and—well—life with your wonderful followers. We writers don’t always get
a chance to talk about our craft, and when we do it’s like exhaling a breath
we’ve been holding onto for a while. It’s a relief and a pleasure.
I started my writing career as a publisher/editor of small
local magazines. As rewarding as that was, there seemed to be something
missing. Twenty years later, I found what I was looking for—writing fiction.
Not just any kind of fiction. Mysteries and the paranormal was what I really wanted
to write. And it had to be for kids, not adults. Because, not only are kids cool, but all the
psychics (or intuitives as they prefer to be called) that I’d interviewed over
the years had major issues dealing with their gifts when they were kids. They
pretty much wanted them to go away. They just wanted to be normal. And so, the
Zoey Christopher mystery series was born.
Zoey is a typical teenager with one exception—she often has
visions. Sometimes visions from the past, and sometimes visions of disastrous events
before they happen. As much as she’d like to ignore these visions, she feels
obliged to do whatever she can to change things for the better.
In Haunted Echo,
the first book of the series, Zoey is on vacation on a Caribbean Island with
her best friend, Becca, when she encounters a ghost—a former slave who lived in
the mid 1800s. Tempe, the young slave-ghost asks Zoey to help her. Zoey’s
visions of past events help Tempe understand what happened to her and why she
seems stuck in the earthly realm. I based this fictional story on some of the
experiences of an intuitive friend that I’d interviewed.
In Fireworks, the
newly released second book of the series, Zoey’s visions tell her that her best
friend is in trouble. But when she calls, Becca is fine. It isn’t until Becca
disappears that Zoey realizes that she’s been kidnapped and it’s up to her to
save Becca—with the help of Dan, the new guy who has the gift of seeing auras.
Dan’s character is based on a young teen I’d interviewed who had this gift. He
hated being different and tried his best to keep this a secret from his peers,
making him somewhat of a loner. Dan would probably have suffered the same fate
if he hadn’t met Zoey. Ah, yes. Young love prevails. I’m not sure I could write
a novel that doesn’t have at least a hint of romance in it!
When I write I keep two objectives in mind. The first is to
entertain. Kids today have too many outlets (i.e. social media) to give any
book their attention unless they find it entertaining. I’ve found through
school visits and feedback from my readers that ghosts and visions keep their
interest. Secondly, if just one gifted child’s life is made easier because of
my series, all the time and effort put into writing them would be more than
rewarding.
Writing is a joy for me, as it is for my many writer
friends, especially the ones in my critique group. I am so grateful for them
and for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). If any
aspiring writers of children’s literature is reading this blog, I can’t express
strongly enough the benefits of joining this society and of finding a group of
writers that you can share your work with. The rewards are in the sharing, not
only with your readers, but with your writing peers. Best of luck to all of
you.
Original post can be found at: http://www.kirbylarson.com/friend-friday-125/
