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Hello Mixed-Up Filers!

Today, I am pleased to welcome to our site, a friend of mine, Kim Ventrella, who is also a fellow member of the Spooky Middle Grade Authors. Her book, Hello, Future Me, came out last week from Scholastic Press. 

JR: Hi, Kim and thanks for joining us today!

KV: Thanks, Jonathan! I’m super excited to be here!

JR: First off, I was fortunate enough to get an advanced copy of Hello, Future Me, and really enjoyed it. As I like to tell people, it had heart, humor, and Big Foot, which is basically all the ingredients you need for a great book. For those who aren’t yet familiar with it, can you tell us a little bit about it and where the idea for this story came from?

KV: Awww, thanks so much Jonathan! Sending you a bucketful of hearts and baby unicorns J Here’s a bit about the story: June Day is a problem-solver. Some people might call her a busybody, but that’s okay. Just look at all the couples she’s helped find love! So when June learns her parents are getting divorced, she’s determined to use her matchmaking skills to get them together again. While brainstorming ideas on her new secondhand laptop—purchased from a mysterious store in town called The Shop of Last Resort—June gets a strange IM from someone named JuniePie28 . . . someone who claims to be an older version of June messaging her from the future.

At first, she assumes it’s a prank. But JuniePie28 knows too much about her life to be a fraud, and future June warns her against interfering. But she can’t just sit around and watch her parents’ marriage dissolve, not when there’s a magical shop in town that could be the answer to all her problems! Will June prove her older self wrong and stop the divorce? Or will she have to accept that there are some things in life she can’t fix?

JR: No, you never accept that! 🙂 You tackle a delicate subject with a lot of humor and heart. How difficult was it to get the proper balance when writing this?

KV: Hope and humor are so important in MG, and I always strive to achieve that perfect balance. It was extra fun in this story, since there’s such a light tone and so many quirky details to balance the heavier stuff. I do it all through trial and error. I wrote two completely different versions of this story, both with a more serious, somber tone. They each had elements I loved, but this version by far has the most humor and the wildest magic.

JR: Don’t know the other versions, but I agree that this one has plenty of both. Big Foot plays a role in the story, which grabbed me, since I love everything about Big Foot. How long have you been fascinated by the legend, and what about it has appealed to you?

KV: I too love all things mysterious, especially bigfoot. With bigfoot, you have this delicious possibility that he or she is really out there, hiding deep in the woods, waiting to be discovered. Bigfoot reminds me there are still places left in the world to explore. In fact, did you know that scientists are discovering new animals every year? In 2018 alone, London’s Natural History Museum described 272 new species! I love how bigfoot toes this line between fantasy and reality, which is the same thing I like to do in my books.

Tanglewood Crossing, the quirky small town where June lives, is totally obsessed with bigfoot, since they are the (fictional) bigfoot capital of the world. You can go on daily bigfoot tours, buy literal bigfoot hats, attend the bigfoot ball. The possibilities are endless!

JR: Prior to this, your other books were spooky-themed. What made you veer course for this book, and do you have a preference?

KV: Ooooh, I do love spooky. There is one spooky element in Hello, Future Me, i.e. the owner of the mysterious magic shop that pops up in town. Let’s just say, the magical items might be cheap, but you could still pay a price!

It was really fun to explore my lighter side in this book though, especially with June’s voice and humor. Her voice is basically the way I talk in my head, so I really enjoyed letting loose and getting quirky with it.

JR: Can you tell us a little bit about your writing journey getting to this point? 

KV: And where to begin? In sixth grade, I wrote a picture book about five adults who form a club to deal with their grief, called The Wednesday Mourning Club. I guess it all started there. I had completely forgotten that book existed until well after my first two books were published. Skeleton Tree and Bone Hollow also deal with grief, as does my upcoming book, The Secret Life of Sam, all from different angles. Skeleton Tree looks at what leads up to losing a loved one, Bone Hollow goes at it from Death’s perspective and Sam tackles the aftermath. It’s so interesting to me that the thread for all this started back in sixth grade. It goes to show that kids are yearning for ways to understand these difficult topics, and also that some big questions stick with us our entire lives and will always beg further exploration.

JR: I need to read The Wednesday Mourning Club! How about getting an agent?

KV: On the agent side, I was lucky enough to connect with my awesomely witchy agent, Brianne Johnson of Writers House, based on her Publisher’s Marketplace description. She said she adored dark, macabre MG, and I was hooked. I wrote a lot of completed manuscripts before I ever submitted to an agent, at least seven, and those are forever trunk novels. Since my process is so much about trial and error, and I do tend to write fast, I had no problem tossing those novels on the dumpster fire, but applying the lessons I learned to other projects. As my agent will tell you, I am kind of notorious for being a dumpster-fire writer. I will toss something out so-so quickly if it’s not working. Seeing it through requires major mental gymnastics. If I hadn’t learned how to do that part, i.e. sit with imperfection and mixed emotions, I would have never been able to write professionally.

 

JR: I’m always amazed at how fast you write your novels. I read on your website, https://kimventrella.com/ , that you used to play the evil clown ‘scare actor’ in a haunted house. I can’t even go into those places because I’m always looking to see who might jump out. Can you tell us what that experience was like? Anyone ever almost slug you for scaring them?

KV: Haha, yes I VERY briefly worked as an evil clown in a haunted house. It was, in a word, exhausting! I never knew how tiring it would be scaring people for like seven hours straight. There was definitely a reason all of my coworkers were sixteen 😛

And no, I never got punched, but…full disclosure…when I was a teenager I punched someone in a haunted house at the same theme park. I feel terrible now, but it was a total gut reaction. Fight or flight. I’m definitely fight J

 

JR: I don’t know, flight has always worked well for me! You also state that your dog, Hera, is your co-writer. Is it a fifty-fifty split, or does one do the plotting and one the writing? Also, can we please have Hera on to corroborate your answers?

KV: Hera is busy being an adorable, sad potato dog right now, so…but she does corroborate in spirit. She’s my emotional support puppy, and I’m her emotional support human, because we can both be total balls of doubt and anxiety. Fun fact: I wrote my first published book, Skeleton Tree, sitting in her dog bed!

JR: She most definitely is adorable! What’s your writing process like?

KV: A rollercoaster where you’re trying to be chill but really you want to scream. Also there are really fun parts, promise! I adore creating new characters and the worlds they live in, but my process (i.e. trial and error with major doses of self-doubt) can be exhausting sometimes.

JR: What’s your favorite book from childhood?

KV: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

JR: We’re going to have to fight. I have so many problems with that book, but I’ll allow it for you. What’s your favorite childhood movie?

KV: The NeverEnding Story, The Wizard of Oz and also…Rocky Horror 😛 I loved me some Tim Curry as Dr. Frank N. Furter.

JR: I love all three, and will stretch your answer to loving Tim Curry in ANYTHING! Now, something people would be surprised to learn about you?

KV: I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kyrgyzstan, and it was an amazing, life-changing experience. I also spent a year living and volunteering at a women’s drug rehabilitation shelter in New Orleans during college. Technically, I was the sole overnight staff person, so at nineteen I was essentially in charge of the entire facility from close of business till the next morning. Should a totally inexperienced college kid have been in charge? Nope, but I definitely learned a lot.

 

JR: Very commendable work. What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve received and is there any advice you can give to writers looking to break in?

KV: Don’t fight your writing process, learn to embrace it. No matter how strange and circuitous it may be. People know me for writing fast, but they may not know that I usually do at least two incomplete versions of a story before I start the version I will actually finish. I can’t get a real sense of a story by outlining, so I have to discover the characters, tone, etc. through trial and error.

My other piece of advice would be: Don’t let guilt overwhelm your process. I am big on feeling guilty when I’m not getting in my requisite 2K words a day or whatever it may be. Try to chill out with all that, because otherwise the guilt can become the thing that actually derails the process and kills your motivation.

 

JR: That is great advice! What are you working on next?

KV: So many things! I have a new MG novel, The Secret Life of Sam, releasing with HarperCollins on September 29, 2020!!! It’s about a boy who gets dragged across the country by his estranged aunt after his dad dies in a car accident. It’s part Big Fish, part Bridge to Terabithia, with my requisite blend of wonder, magic, loss and, most of all, hope.

JR: Can’t wait to read! How can people follow you on social media?

KV: Find me online at https://kimventrella.com/ or follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

 

JR: Okay, lastly, two-part question. As I mentioned, we’re in the Spooky MG group together, so can you tell me who your favorite person in that group is, and part two, why it’s me in 20,000 words or more?

KV: Phew, thank goodness you set a reasonable word-count for this, because I will be needing at least 20,000. On that note, I’ve created a separate Google Doc with my essay entitled, “Jonathan Rosen, Author, Friend, Hero for the Ages.” Check it out!

JR: I can already tell that it’s a brilliant masterpiece! 

Thanks again to Kim Ventrella, and make sure you go out and get a copy of Hello, Future Me!

Hello Mixed-Up Filers!

We are in for a real treat today! As all of you know, our site is named after the E.L. Konigsburg classic, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, a book many readers still hold dear. Well, I thought it would be fun to interview John Doran, who played Jamie Kincaid in the 1973 movie version, (Also called The Hideaways) so I reached out, and he graciously agreed!

JR: So, let’s please welcome John Doran to Mixed-Up Files!

JR: I recently went back and watched the movie again, and it brought me right back to my childhood, and reminded me about all the things I loved about the book. How often do you go back and rewatch it?

JD Honestly, it has been a very long time since I watched the movie.  Like a fair number of  former actors, I really do not like watching myself on the screen.  I have a cringe reaction to some of my acting choices in scenes, so it is a bit unpleasant.  That being said, I did try to get my kids to watch the movie since they are all middle-schoolers, but they were not all that interested.  Maybe if I could get the movie onto TikTok…

JR: That’s a great idea, or show them the movie in thirty second intervals. Had you read the book prior to filming?

JD: I read it right before we began shooting.  I had not heard of the book before I auditioned, as it would have been mandatory reading for a class grade or two older at the time. 

JR: Did you get to meet E.L. Konigsburg during the production, and if so, what was that like?

JD: I never met her, unfortunately.  It struck me as odd at the time because she was a regular topic of conversation on the set during filming. 

JR: Mixed-Up Files was your first film, and you had some real Hollywood heavyweights in it. Some of whom went on to stardom after, like Madeline Kahn, and Richard Mulligan, but you also had some heavy hitters in Ingrid Bergman, and George Rose who’d already had a lengthy career in theater. What was that like for a kid to go in filming?

JR: I already had a lot of non-movie experience under my belt by that time.  I had co-starred in an Off-Broadway musical, co-starred in a Broadway show with Gwen Verdon, and much more.  So I was very aware of the moment I was in.  I knew very well who Ingrid Bergman was, having seen Casablanca many times before we filmed Frankweiler.  I was not star-struck, but I was keenly aware of how unbelievably cool that experience was going to be before we started.

JR: Wow, Gwen Verdon also! What are some anecdotes you can share with us from the making of the film?

JD: I did not meet Ms. Bergman until her first day of shooting.  Before that, everyone spoke of her in extremely reverent and seemingly hushed tones.  Crew members tripped all over themselves to ready the set for her first day, to anticipate her every need even before she arrived.  To me it seemed as though the crew might be afraid of her.  So I expected the worst.  And when I first saw her, already in costume and makeup, she seemed even more imposing than I had surmised from the crew’s behavior.  But as soon as she saw me from across the courtyard, she donned a brilliant, beautiful smile and called to me “You must be Johnny.”  She called me over to her, she gave me a big hug, and told me how excited and lucky she was to be working with me.  She had an amazing gift for putting people at ease and she treated everyone on the crew and cast as though she was there to serve us. 

There are lots of other anecdotes, of course.  I remember the lunch-time softball games with the crew, who graciously allowed me to play even though I’m pretty sure there were some substantial wagers riding on each game.  These games turned me into a huge baseball fan for decades to come.  There was our executive producer, Charles G. Mortimer Jr., who ate, drank, and slept this film, and who I adopted as my on-set dad (with the approval of his great kids and my own dad, of course).  Charlie was a fellow who was full of energy and love, and it showed in the final product.  One of my regrets is that we never got to film his follow-up project, a film adaptation of The Scarlet Ibis, which we rehearsed for hours on end at Charlie’s home in New Jersey, but which never got to production.

JR: Oh, that would’ve been a great movie to film as well. To me, one of the coolest things about the film was your getting to actually film inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. How unbelievably awesome was that?

JD: Words cannot possibly describe the transformative effect of spending months in the Met.  It was simply incredible.  I gained an appreciation for art that I still enjoy today.  I became fascinated by the Dutch grand masters, and Rembrandt and Vermeer in particular.  The Met had a very large exhibit of their works at the time, and I spent many hours there studying their incredible art. 

JR: Did you have your run of the place and are there any good anecdotes from being inside the museum?

JD: We had our run of the Met at times, depending on scheduling, and with certain restrictions.  I was free to walk around the museum at will, which I did, but there were certain areas that were cordoned off.  For example, I remember the exhibit displaying various knights’ battle gear was off limits—if you knocked over one knight by accident it would start a domino effect that would take down twenty of them. 

JR: I’m laughing at the possibility. 

 

JD: Four anecdotes come to mind.  First, I remember telling our Assistant Director (Pete Scoppa) that I was really tired.  He pointed to a bed down a great hall and said I should take a nap down there.  So I took a nap.  I eventually awoke to someone telling me that perhaps I shouldn’t be sleeping in Queen Victoria’s bed.  Second, I remember when we filmed the scene where Madeline Kahn ushers her middle-school students through the museum, a real middle-school student tour watched from behind the camera, which struck me as very surreal (or life imitating art, I suppose).  Third, filming the chocolate Alka-Seltzer scene presented a very unique challenge, at least for me.  The Property Master worked very hard to create a concoction that looked as much as possible like someone dropped Alka-Seltzer into a chocolate shake.  What I didn’t know was that he also tried his hardest to make it taste as disgusting as humanly possible, as a prank to see if I could get through the scene.  Well I made it through the scene, although the taste was appalling.  Unbeknownst to me, our Director (Fielder Cook) was in on the gag and had us do something like a dozen takes of the scene to see if I would puke.  Fourth, the film was supposed to open with Claudia running through a field following wave upon wave of butterflies.  It turns out there is no central casting for butterflies, so the crew was tasked with capturing as many butterflies as possible, to be released at the beginning of the scene.  Words do not do justice to the visual of a few dozen or so Teamsters running through a field with butterfly nets trying to capture butterflies.

JR: Those are some great stories! Have to ask, did you ever feel guilty for cheating Brucie at cards?

JD: Great question!  No, I never felt guilty but it taught me early on that one should never cheat at cards.  Mike Hammett played Brucie, and he was a great actor and a really nice kid.  He actually co-starred with my older brother, Robert, years later in a soap opera called Another World.

 

JR: Do you ever do conventions, and do you ever have any contact with your co-star from that film, Sally Prager?

JD: I have never appeared at any conventions, although I used to attend the L.A. Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Convention as a spectator in my teens.  I never heard from Sally after we completed the film.  That’s just sort of how the movie business works sometimes. 

JR: Sad to hear. You went on to make many more movies and television shows, with some of the biggest stars from the time, including Michael Landon, Peter Ustinov, Vic Morrow, any fun stories that pop out from other moments of your career?

JD: Wow, there are so, so many memories—some fun and some the very opposite.  It’s hard to pull just one out from a nearly 20 year career.  But I suppose my most cherished memory is actually from Frankweiler in a way.  As you know, the book and movie involved a quest to identify the sculptor of a statute of an angel.  After the opening of the movie at Radio City Music Hall, cast and crew all went our separate ways and, as is the case with most film productions, we just didn’t stay in touch.  Five years later, very much out of the blue, I received a package from Rome with no return address.  Inside the package I found a beautiful, antique, hand-carved angel with a lovely note from Ingrid Bergman.  This, to me, was a testament to the grace and class that Ms. Bergman exuded.  The fact that one of the greatest stars of an era would even remember me after five years, let alone send me something to remember our time together moved me beyond words, and it still does. 

JR: That’s a fantastic story. You must’ve loved that. Very gracious of her. I do have to ask about one role in particular. You did an Afterschool Special, based on a YA book, called The Pinballs. I remember Afterschool Specials being Must-See-TV back then. But this one in particular had one of my childhood crushes, Kristy McNichol. What do you remember about that movie?

JD: That was a fun shoot.  I had a huge crush on Kristy at the time, and we actually went out on one date.  I played a boy whose father ran over his legs with a car.  The challenging part of that production was getting the leg casts on and off each day.  I went through several fittings for the custom casts, and getting them on and off each day was like trying to squeeze into (and out of) ski boots that are three sizes too small.  However, I did teach myself how to do all kinds of stunts in the wheelchair I used in the show.

JD: While The Pinballs was a great show, I was extremely fortunate to co-star in another Afterschool Special that I felt was even more impactful.  ABC produced a show entitled The Wave in 1981, which ABC subsequently included in the Afterschool Special lineup.  The Wave told the story of a high school teacher who conducts a social experiment with his class to explain how the Nazi youth movement could have taken place.  I played a class loner who turns enforcer.  It is a chilling story and even today people tell me they were required to watch the show back in middle school.

JR: I was one of them! I remember having to watch that back in school. Since we’re a site dedicated to children’s books, what was your favorite childhood book?

JD: My favorite would have to be Sounder.  It is such a heart-wrenching and powerful story.

JR: Your favorite childhood movie?              

JD: That is a no-brainer:  Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  I read the book when I was very young, because my older brother, Robert, was in close contention to play the role of Charlie in the then-upcoming movie.  For me, the movie was a rare example of a film that actually outdoes the book.  The cast was incredible, the score was amazing, and of course Gene Wilder completely owned that role. 

JR: One of my all-time favorites as well! Out of all your roles, do you have a favorite, and why?

JD: Well, I have to go a little obscure on this one.  I co-starred in Captains and the Kings, one of the first novels for television.  Based on the highly successful Taylor Caldwell novel, the mini-series told the story of Irish immigration and assimilation into the U.S. (with a silent tip of the cap to the Kennedy family).  My parents both being Irish immigrants, and having spent part of my childhood in Ireland, the show always felt like it was part of my story.  On top of that, I worked with more true film superstars on that one show than I did collectively during the rest of my career.  The cast was simply incredible. 

JR: You currently are very successful practicing law in Arizona. How did that transition occur, and does anyone ever recognize you from one of your films?

JD: When I was a sophomore in college, I had a brief recurring role on General Hospital, which caused me to miss classes every once in a while.  One of my professors, who I respected immensely, pulled me aside after class one day and told me I needed to choose between my acting career and my education. I was tired of jumping from one acting gig to another and wondering where my next meal was coming from (literally), so I stopped going to auditions and began focusing intently on college.  I became very involved in inter-collegiate debate, which opened the door to law for me. 

I do hear from people from time to time who remember one or more of my projects.  More often than not, they are from Europe, because I starred in a series called Salty, which only lasted 32 episodes in the U.S. but played for years throughout Europe and Asia. 

JR: Have you thought about writing a memoir about your experiences?

JD: I have, and others have urged me to write one.  But, quite frankly, nobody would believe the stories I have from those days.

JR: Now, I want to hear them more than ever! How can people follow you on social media?

JD: I am on social media mostly as a professional matter.  I am on LinkedIn as John Alan Doran.  I contribute to an employer-side labor law blog from time to time at https://shermanhoward.com/blog/.  I have a twitter account under @johnalandoran, but I have yet to tweet.  Perhaps I should start. 

 

JR: I think after this interview, you’ll have to! John, I’d like to once again thank you for joining us, and you’re welcome back anytime!

JD: Thank you so much for the opportunity to share some of my experiences with your readers.  Your site is wonderful!