Author Interviews

Interview – Christine Virnig, author of A BITE ABOVE THE REST

By Patricia Bailey on August 26, 2024 / Articles, Author Interviews

I had the great luck to get to read an early copy of Christine Virnig’s latest middle-grade – a Halloween themed adventure set in the very unique town of Samhain,Wisconsin. And, even though Halloween is still a few month’s away, I’m sure my interview with Christine is going to have you itching to break out the wax vampire fangs and your best monster lawn decorations.

Please tell us a little bit about A BITE ABOVE THE REST.

First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to interview me! I really appreciate it!

A Bite Above the Rest is about a kid who moves from California to Samhain, Wisconsin, a tourist town where it’s Halloween 24/7. Halloween decorations stay up year-round, people wear costumes every day, and the town hall keeps vampire hours, of all things. Being the new kid is hard enough on its own, but then a terrifying encounter with the mayor causes Caleb to wonder: Could there be more to his new hometown than meets the eye? Could real vampires and werewolves and witches be hiding amongst the fakes? He immediately sets out to uncover the truth, aided by his quirky new best friend, Tai.

The premise of this book is super interesting and super fun. What inspired you to write this story?

I was inspired to write A Bite Above the Rest from the moment the main character, Caleb, popped into my head one day. The poor kid was walking around with a wooden stake in his back pocket because he was terrified that he’d encounter a vampire or werewolf or witch at any second. But as scared as he was, nobody around him was frightened. They were all just going about their business as though nothing was wrong. I was immediately filled with questions—Who was this kid? Where was he? Why was nobody else scared?—and A Bite Above the Rest was basically my attempt to answer these questions.

You tackle some very real issues in this book. A parent’s death, a new town, bullying, and anxiety among others. What do you hope readers will take away from Caleb and Tai’s adventure?

I actually didn’t write A Bite Above the Rest with any lessons or take aways in mind; my only goal was for readers to have fun reading it. But despite this, I do hope that Caleb and Tai’s adventure will show kids that we can all be brave when we need to be, especially when we’ve got a good friend at our side.

Caleb and Tai do a lot of research on monsters. Werewolves, vampires, witches, and merfolk all play a part in this book. Do you have a favorite scary being? If so, what about them do you love?

Probably vampires?? I find their lore absolutely fascinating, and I love the idea of living f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

I have always been terrible at coming up with Halloween costumes/decorations. The thought of doing it every day is exhausting to me, so I really appreciated Caleb’s approach. What about you? Are you a Halloween superfan? Do you have a favorite costume from your childhood? Do you go all out decorating your house now?

Apart from the candy, I actually didn’t like Halloween that much when I was growing up. A large part of this dislike was the costumes; they always made me feel awkward and exposed. I still feel this way as an adult, so I’m a huge fan of Caleb-style punny costumes myself. This year I think I’ll go as a fork in the road!

And no, I don’t go all out decorating my house for Halloween. But thanks to the throngs of spiders that LOVE living by our front door, we’re at least bound to have a bunch of very authentic-looking spider webs hanging about 🙂

Will you tell us a little bit about your writing process? In particular how did you go about tackling this story?

My writing process for fiction is supremely inefficient. As soon as I come up with an idea—which might be a character, a setting, a theme—I brainstorm just enough so that I can start writing, and then I let the characters do their thing. This writing style is definitely fun (for example, I didn’t know if Caleb’s suspicions about his new town would end up being real or not until I was halfway done writing, which meant I got to be surprised too!), but it does mean I need to do a lot of revising and rewriting once I finally finish my first draft.

We know no writer is created in a vacuum. Could you tell the readers about a teacher or a librarian who had an effect on your writing life?

Yes! When I was first considering writing for children, I asked the youth librarian at the public library in Verona, Wisconsin to point me towards a few of their most popular middle grade titles. Among others, she grabbed How They Croaked by Georgia Bragg. This nonfiction book was my first introduction to the world of FUNNY nonfiction, and it inspired me to write my first two books: Dung for Dinner and Waist-Deep in Dung. I wish I knew that librarian’s name so I could thank her for unknowingly giving me the inspiration I needed to just start writing.

A Bite Above the Rest ends with Caleb getting some worrying information. Can you give us a hint about what we can look forward to next from you?

Of course! As much as I’d love to revisit the world of Caleb and Tai and Samhain at some point—and I already have some ideas!—my next book is another standalone that I hope fans of A Bite Above the Rest will really love. Slated to come out in late 2025, it features a cast of ghostly main characters who attend Phantom Academy, a school for underaged ghosts. I also have a picture book coming out sometime in the next few years, but those details are still hush hush.

Christine Virnig is a fan of books, candy, spooky stories, poop jokes, and coffee…in no particular order. As a former physician, Christine now spends her days writing books, reading books, and working at a library where she is surrounded by books. Christine lives in southern Wisconsin with her husband, two daughters, a ridiculous number of dust bunnies, and one incredibly lazy cat. You can visit her on the web at ChristineVirnig.com.

A BITE ABOVE THE REST is out now and available for purchase here or at your favorite bookstore. You can follow Christine on at her website or on Instagram.

Are you ready for some Halloween fun? If so, let us know in the comments.

The Secret Dead Club: Interview with Author Karen Strong

By Natalie Rompella on August 23, 2024 / Articles, Author Interviews

I recently got on a scary-story kick and am eating up all the horror books I can find—especially ghost stories. The Secret Dead Club by Karen Strong was a fun one as you jump right into the terror.

About the Book

Hi Karen! Super fun book (I ended up reading the whole thing in one day because I couldn’t put it down!). Can you give us a short summary about The Secret Dead Club?

After a perilous encounter with a wicked ghost leaves Wednesday Thomas shaken and terrified, she decides to ignore the dead. Never mind that she and her mother have moved back to Alton, Georgia, and into the haunted Victorian house where her mother grew up. Wednesday swore she’d stop talking to the dead, but at her new school, she receives an invitation to be the medium of a secret club and learns there’s a lot more going on with the ghosts in Alton and the girls who can see them.

When another malevolent ghost threatens to harm Wednesday, it will take the help of new friends both living and dead banish the evil being to the spirit realm where it belongs.

Did you have any particular type of reader in mind when you wrote it?

I think this book will be perfect for readers who like a mix of spooky moments and heartfelt relationships.

About the Author

Karen Strong is the critically acclaimed author of middle grade novels Just South of Home, Eden’s Everdark, and The Secret Dead Club. She is also a Star Wars contributor featured in Stories of Jedi and Sith, and the editor of the young adult anthology Cool. Awkward. Black. Her work has been praised by Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and School Library Journal and has also received recognition as a CYBILS award finalist, Ignyte award finalist, BCCB Blue Ribbon, and Junior Library Guild Gold Selection. Born and raised in Georgia, Karen is an avid lover of strong coffee, yellow flowers, and night skies.

So Karen, what is your connection to the supernatural?

I’ve always grown up around ghost stories so that kind of storytelling has always been a part of me. In the American South, ghosts play a major part in the culture.

What is something from your childhood that you snuck into the book?

The setting of The Secret Dead Club is based on my hometown, so there’s plenty of inspiration from actual landmarks.

What was your favorite scary book growing up?

When I was a kid, I read a lot of Stephen King, so that was my introduction to horror. One of my favorite horror books for kids is Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn. This book also plays an important role in The Secret Dead Club.

Ah yes. Neat how you were able to work that in. What was/is your favorite scary movie?

The movie that has left the most lasting imprint on me is Aliens. Ripley’s character was so inspiring because she was brave, and the aliens were also very scary.

Do you share any personality traits with Wednesday?

Wednesday has to start over at a new school in seventh grade, so she has to figure out the best way to make friends. I was in the same situation in seventh grade, so I shared some of Wednesday’s anxieties.

Research/Writing

What was your original spark for The Secret Dead Club?

I’ve always wanted to write a book about friendship, but since I write in the horror genre, I also knew that I would incorporate spooky elements into the story. I was inspired by the Baby-Sitter’s Club Netflix series as well as the Pixar film Turning Red, so I wanted to focus on a group of girls with very different personalities and how they would come together for a common cause.

There were different types of ghosts in your book with particular rules they adhere to. Is any of this based on research?

Since I’ve written other novels with ghosts, some of the previous research helped me determine what kinds of ghosts would be in The Secret Dead Club. However the ghosts in this book to have simple rules and common names because I wanted the focus to be on the girls and their friendships.

What kinds of research did you do for the book? Did anything you discovered steer you in a new direction for the book?

I did some research on the Victorian houses in my hometown, which mainly focused on their architecture and history. But one of the things that came after the first draft of The Secret Dead Club was the concept of the “Callahan House” vignettes, which are scenes that take place outside of Wednesday’s point of view. My editor and I discussed how these could play a role of showing the haunted house at different times featuring some of the supporting characters in the story. One of these vignettes also plays a major role in the climax of the book. I’m pleased at how these scenes turned out as they were not originally a part of the story.

Can you share any tips for writing scary/horror books?

I have a spooky scene workshop that I teach to young writers and one of the tips I share is that a writer can elevate the horror and suspense by letting the reader’s imagination fill in the blanks. By staying in the moment of terror and having the character react to what is not yet seen but anticipated lets the reader’s imagination go to scarier places than the writer could ever imagine.

How can we learn more about you?

My website, www.karen-strong.com, is the best place to find about upcoming events and new books. I’m also on Instagram @karenmusings.

Thanks for your time, Karen!

Interview with New York Times Bestselling Author Gayle Forman

By Melissa Roske on August 22, 2024 / Author Interviews

Today, we’re thrilled to welcome New York Times bestselling author Gayle Forman to the Mixed-Up Files! Best known for her wildly popular YA novels, including the If I Stay series, Gayle is also the author of Frankie & Bug, which Kirkus lauded for its “superb” storytelling. Her latest MG, Not Nothing, described by Wonder author R.J. Palacio as “A life-affirming gem,” is out from Aladdin/Simon Kids on August 27.

Chatting with Gayle

MR: Welcome to the Mixed-Up Files, Gayle! It’s an absolute pleasure to have you here. Before we dive in, you should know that I finished Not Nothing in one sitting. And that’s not nothing. I’m a slow reader!

GF: Wow, that is high praise for an author. I love the experience of an immersive, addictive read so when I learn that I delivered that to someone else, I’m very happy.

Not Nothing

MR: Not Nothing is about a 12-year-old boy, Alex, who must endure court-mandated community service at a senior citizens’ home—but the story is so much deeper, and more nuanced, than that. Can you tell MUF readers more about the novel?

GF: At its core, Not Nothing is a book about what happens when you are not invited/encouraged to be your better self—or worse, when you are enticed to be your worst self—and the incredible things that happen when you are invited to rise to the occasion of your life, whatever that means to you. It is also a story about the power of intergenerational friendships, finding commonality with people who seem outwardly so unlike you, and about how stories can unlock so much within us.

Josey: A Bold Narrative Choice

MR: The story is told from the perspective of Josey Kravitz, a 107-year-old Holocaust survivor. For a middle-grade novel, having an elderly narrator is a bold choice. What prompted this authorial decision? (It’s a brilliant one.)

GF: I’m so glad you think so! Josey has always been the heart and soul of this book, and at first I didn’t see how I could do a children’s book with him as narrator. Maybe that’s why at first I tried it as an adult novel, which didn’t work because this book was clearly meant to be what it now is: a middle-grade novel for all ages. So why the old man narrator for a kids’ book? I wanted Alex, and by extension, readers, to benefit from Josey’s experience and perspective. It took some figuring out to have Josey be the narrator and have the voice sound like Alex’s, but once I got there, the unconventional choice of narrators made such sense.

The Power of Words

MR: When we first meet Josey, he hasn’t spoken for five years yet he opens up to Alex about his painful past as a young man in Nazi-occupied Poland. Alex, in turn, is able to address his own troubles, which he’s had to tamp down in order to survive. What is it about the power of words—and the exchange of stories—that’s so transformative, and so healing?

GF: Why do we read novels about total strangers who are made-up people? Because something about the transfer of story from storyteller to listener/reader creates connection. It is why storytelling is so essential in our evolution. Alex cannot begin to grapple with his own reality, and is trapped in a cycle of resentment and anger until he hears Josey’s story. Then he can see his story through another story and the parallels allow him to think about what he has done. And what he can do. When people say that stories change lives, I think this is what they mean.

The Central Story

MR: One of the most important stories Josey shares with Alex is about Olka, a seamstress-turned-resistance-fighter from his hometown in Poland, who saved his life—literally and figuratively—by teaching him to sew. Can you tell us more about Josey and Olka’s story?

GF: Among the many things of today’s world that saddens me is our propensity for sorting people into fixed binaries: good or evil, kind or mean. We are so much more complicated than that and we are often all of these things at different points in our lives and we can change. At the start of the book, Olka is angry and frustrated, shrinking rather than growing, because of what she (rightfully) perceives as the unfair circumstances of her life. She does something that could have sent her tumbling down a rabbit hole of resentment but because of an almost offhanded decision of Josey to ask her to teach him to sew, her life goes in the opposite direction and she winds up saving Josey—and so many other people’s—lives.

Real-Life Inspiration

MR: In the Author’s Note, you share that the novel is based in part on the true-life story of Jerzy Bielecki and Cyla Cybulska, an interfaith couple—he was Catholic and she was Jewish—who met as prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp. What was it about this story that inspired you to reimagine it as material for a middle-grade novel?

GF: That part of the story—aside from the star-crossed love story—was a classic heist adventure. It does not play out with Josey and Olka the way it did with the real-life couple, but I definitely incorporated some of the true story. If I say any more, there will be SPOILERS.

It’s All in the Research

MR: Since a good portion of the novel takes place during World War II, in Nazi-occupied Poland, what sort of research did you do to ensure authenticity?

GF: This is the second book I have written that takes place in that time frame (the other one is an audio-only book that draws on my family history), and both books rely heavily on the incredible resources of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which has, among other things, thousands of survivor testimonies.

I also found a lot of the more granular small moments in memoirs written by both survivors from Krakow as well as allies, like the owner of the Eagle Pharmacy, a real-life pharmacy in the Krakow ghetto that features in the book. I also drew from my only family history—my grandparents fled Nazi Germany in 1938—and that of some of the elderly people I have become close with over the years at various assisted-living facilities. And finally, I was very lucky that the copy editor of the book was a daughter of a survivor and had incredible insights.

Presenting Difficult Topics for a Younger Audience

MR: An overarching theme in the novel is what prompts a “good person” to become “evil” and a not-so-good person to become good—or even heroic. You also explore the power of redemption. These are weighty topics for a middle-grade audience, yet you present them with a light, deft hand. What’s the secret to presenting difficult concepts for a younger audience without coming across as preachy or heavy-handed? It’s no mean feat.

GF: Thank you! I’m pretty allergic to anything preachy or performative so that helps me avoid it in my own writing. I would argue that teaching young people about morality and what it means to be aiming toward their better selves is not weighty. It’s exhilarating. To teach someone how to feel good while doing good to others is teaching them how to create, give and receive joy. I don’t think there’s a secret to it beyond trusting your readers, and having written for young people for my 25-plus year career, I know how much they are capable of. It is my job, through my books, to invite them to rise to the occasion of their lives.

Lucky 7

MR: Not Nothing took you seven years to write. What was the process like for you, from initial idea to finished novel?

GF: My new process seems to be to write a novel, think it’s terrible and irredeemable, leave it on my hard drive for a few years, come back to it, see how it’s meant to go. I initially conceived of this as an adult novel (the terrible version) and once I realized it was middle grade, I showed the terrible version to my editor, Kristin, along with an editorial letter of how I would fix it. Once I nailed how to have Josey tell Alex’s story, it clicked, and things moved relatively quickly from there.

Writing MG

MR: Not Nothing is not your first novel for middle-grade readers. Your debut MG, Frankie & Bug, was released in 2021. As a hugely successful YA author—including the If I Stay series, the Just One series, and several stand-alone novels—what prompted you to turn your writerly attention to MG?

GF: I know this sounds somewhat grandiose, but the stories demand it. With Frankie & Bug, the story I wanted to tell—about how it’s incumbent upon all of us to hurry toward justice—needed to be told in the near past and needed to be about younger people. With Not Nothing, I knew that Josey would be the narrator at the end of life (sorry, no spoiler, he’s 107!) and the grist of the story about his relationship with someone at the start of life.

Gayle’s Writing Routine

MR: What does your writing routine look like? Do you have a particular time of day when you prefer to write? Any habits or rituals?

GF: In my new version of slow novel writing, I actually spend much less time at the computer than I used to. (Would-be writers: this is not an excuse to slack; I think I had to spend all those hours to get to where I could spend less and create more, but it’s also an example of not pushing on a story when it’s not ready.) Maybe I write two or three hours a day when I’m drafting. After that, I run out of steam and the work suffers. When I’m revising, I can spend hours working and they fly by. This is when I get into the flow state. But other than coffee, I don’t really have rituals. I can work anywhere (I’m typing this from a hotel lobby between meetings), although I am probably a better writer in the morning.

MR: What are you working on now, Gayle?

GF: I have a young-adult novel called After Life coming out in January of 2025, so I’m putting the finishing touches on that while starting to think on my next MG and YA novels.

Lightning Round!

MR: And finally, no MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so…

Preferred writing snack? Any leftovers that are in the fridge are like manna to me. No cooking, only re-heating!

Coffee or tea? Cappuccino. I make them myself. I’m a decent barista.

Plotter or Pantser? Cruiser

Superpower? Getting stuff done. I know that sounds boring for a super-power but it’s pretty awesome. You can be the best writer in the world but if you can’t finish a novel, it’s going to be a harder road if you want to do it professionally. And I get lots of stuff that isn’t writing done, too.

Best piece of writing advice? My old journalism professor had a sign on her door that reads: A real writer is one who writes. If you want to be a writer, write. And then revise.

Favorite place on earth? Brooklyn

If you were stranded on a desert island with only three things, what would they be?

My dog
A solar-powered e-reader with 1000 Libby library books on it that never expire. And enough blank pages to write.
I was going to say my family but having been through Covid lockdown, I know this would make them miserable and crazy so I’m just bringing the dog who would be so happy to spend all his days with me.

MR: Thank you for chatting with us, Gayle—and congratulations on the forthcoming publication of Not Nothing!

GF: Thank you!!!!

About Gayle Forman

Award-winning author and journalist Gayle Forman has written several bestselling novels, including those in the Just One Day series, Where She Went, and the #1 New York Times bestseller If I Stay, which has been translated into more than forty languages and was adapted into a major motion picture. Her first middle grade novel, Frankie & Bug, was a New York Times Best Children’s Book of 2021. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family.

Melissa Roske is a writer of middle-grade fiction. Before spending her days with imaginary people, she interviewed real ones as a journalist in Europe. In London she landed a job as an advice columnist for Just Seventeen magazine. Upon returning to her native New York, Melissa contributed to several books and magazines, selected jokes for Reader’s Digest (just the funny ones), and received certification as a life coach from NYU. In addition to her debut novel Kat Greene Comes Clean (Charlesbridge), Melissa’s short story “Grandma Merle’s Last Wish” appears in the Jewish middle-grade anthology, Coming of Age: 13 B’Nai Mitzvah Stories (Albert Whitman). Learn more about Melissa on her Website and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.