Author Interviews

Author Matt McMann Gets Monsterious!

By Beth McMullen on May 15, 2023 / Author Interviews

I was so excited when Escape From Grimstone Manor, book one in Matt’s new series Monsterious, showed up at my house. While book mail is always a thrill, this spooky read was high on my list. And of course, Matt did not disappoint. I read it in one sitting!

Monsterious is pitch-perfect middle grade, ideal for both reluctant and avid readers, and fans of Goosebumps and Five Nights at Freddy’s. Each book comes in at fewer than 200 pages, and every chapter ends with a chilling cliffhanger that will keep kids turning the pages. With the first two books publishing simultaneously, each book in the series completely stands alone, with a different setting and main characters—and different monsters—in each installment, and can be read in any order. I see these books as a great addition to summer reading lists.

And fortunately for us, Matt was up for chatting about Monsterious and how it came to be.

Welcome, Matt! Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us over here at Mixed Up Files! Let’s start at the beginning. What inspired the Monsterious series? Can you remember the spark?

My wife, author Lisa McMann, was reading an article aloud and mispronounced the word “mysterious” saying “monsterious” instead. I said, “That would be a great middle grade book title,” and she replied, “No, it’s a whole series, and you should write it.” So I did! I loved the idea of crafting a series of spooky middle grade monster mysteries.

In Escape from Grimstone Manor (series book #1) is there one character you identify with the most?

Escape from Grimstone Manor features three best friends who are trapped overnight in a haunted house amusement park ride and discover the monsters are real. Taylor is outgoing, brave, and spontaneous to a fault. Zari is cool, level-headed, and intellectual. Mateo is timid, cautious, and artistic. While there’s a bit of me in all of them, I definitely relate the most to Mateo. I was a scared, artistic kid like he is!

The books in the Monsterious series can also stand alone. What made you decide on this approach? What are the challenges of starting over with a whole new cast of characters each time?

Since the idea for Monsterious came as a series concept vs. an individual book concept, I took the opportunity to choose the type of monster mystery series I wanted to write before thinking of the stories themselves. A dynamic series features the same characters in a multi-book story arc (ex: Lord of the Rings). A static series features the same characters in episodic adventures (ex: Nancy Drew). In an anthology style series, the books are tied together by a place or an idea or a theme, but each entry is a standalone story with a unique cast of characters (ex: Goosebumps).

I chose an anthology style series because I liked the freedom it gave me to write about any monster, anywhere, with anyone. Since it’s a less common format, I thought it might help me stand out to editors in a crowded marketplace. Not being constrained by a single meta story arc was also appealing—I knew if I could sell Monsterious to a publisher and find an audience, then I could write in this series for a long time, which I would love.

The challenge with this type of series is needing to write new characters for each installment who are both interesting and well-rounded. There’s also a lot of names to come up with! It definitely takes additional work and imagination, but it’s totally worth it.

What do you hope young readers will take away from your books?

I was a scared kid. I grew up being afraid of almost everything—the dark, bullies, the woods, our basement. But I loved spooky stories. Seeing the characters in those books face their fears gave me the courage to face my own. And they were just so cool! I hope readers will find the same courage and fun in Monsterious books that I found when I was that age.

What was your favorite book as a kid? Did you like scary stories?

I had so many! I read a lot of adventure and sci-fi books when I was quite young, then got hooked on fantasy with the Earthsea trilogy by Ursula K. LeGuin and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley was a game changer for me. I was captivated. That led me to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and then I checked out every book in the library on Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, werewolves, vampires, you name it!

What do you mostly read now?

I’m reading a lot of great middle grade to steep myself in the voice and emotions of that age group. Lindsay Currie writes incredible spooky middle grade, and Starfish by Lisa Fipps was fantastic. I’m reading a lot of standout realistic contemporary work from my 2023 debut middle grade author group, including Good Different by Meg Eden Kuyatt, It Happened on Saturday by Sydney Dunlap, and Miracle by Karen Chow.

Talk to me about your path to publication. Did you encounter surprises or unexpected twists in the road?

I wanted to be author since I was a kid, but studied music in college and was a professional musician for twenty-six years. When I burned out on music about five years ago, Lisa suggested I go after my dream of writing books. We went to a hotel for a weekend getaway, and she said we couldn’t leave until I wrote my first chapter!

I had a chance to pitch that first book to an agent over dinner and he requested the manuscript. After reading it, he said it had potential but needed a lot of work, and if I was willing to make significant edits, he’d read it again. I did everything he suggested, and after that second reading, he signed me!

We went on an exclusive submission to an editor at a Big Five publisher, and she said the same thing—it had potential but needed a lot of work, and if I’d do some edits, she’d read it again. I made her changes, she liked it, and said she was taking it to her team. I was floored. What I thought was going to be a throw-away practice novel not only got me an agent, it was going to get me a book deal on my first submission! And then it didn’t. The team wasn’t excited, and she passed. The manuscript went out on multiple waves of submissions for over a year and never sold.

During that time, I wrote a second book. That went out and got rejected by everyone. I wrote a third book that never even went out on sub. Then I came up with the idea for Monsterious, and my agent loved it. He took it on an exclusive submission to Penguin Random House, and it sold immediately in a four book deal. My childhood dream has come true!

You have the good fortune to be married to New York Times bestselling author Lisa McMann. What did you learn from watching her journey that helped with your own?

I was the luckiest aspiring author in the world to have Lisa as my mentor and writing coach. I’ve learned too many lessons from her to count, but one of the biggest was that being an author is business. If you want a long-term career, you need to know as much about marketing and admin as you do about writing. I think that’s where a lot of really talented writers struggle—to think and operate like a small business. Lisa is the most creative person I know, but she also has a great business sense, so I’m trying to emulate that in my own career.

What advice would you offer to aspiring authors of all ages?

Read great authors
Write what you love
Find a supportive writing community
Share your work with writers you trust and believe their critiques
Listen to good writers talk about writing (podcasts, videos, webinars, books, live events, etc.). I highly recommend the Writers With Wrinkles podcast for craft, inspiration, and entertainment value!
Write! Practice, practice, practice, and don’t give up

Do you have any writing rituals you swear by?

When drafting, I write at least 1000 word a day. Having that as a minimum gives me a clear sense of accomplishment and, when I know my target book length, allows me to map out how long it will take me to complete a first draft. I also start each drafting session by editing what I wrote the previous day. It gets me back in the flow of the story and when the draft is completed, I’ve already finished one round of edits.

Where can readers best find you if they want to reach out?

I really pumped about my newly revamped website MattMcMann.com (thank you Deena at deenawarnerdesign.com!). Readers can contact me there and get my free spooky short story for signing up for my newsletter. I’m also @matt_mcmann on Instagram and Twitter.

Thank you, Matt!

A Work in Progress: Jarrett Lerner Interview + Giveaway

By Natalie Rompella on May 5, 2023 / Articles, Author Interviews

A Work in Progress

Jarrett Lerner —Interview

I am been following author/illustrator Jarrett Lerner on Twitter for years. What really caught my eye is how during the pandemic he posted drawing activities for kids. He is the author/illustrator of the humorous EngiNerds and Geiger the Robot series as well as the new Nat the Cat series. Now he has a new book out written in verse on a more serious topic.

About the Book

Hi Jarrett! I was so honored to get to read A Work in Progress. Can you give us a short summary about the book?

Thank you! Here’s the official description from my publisher:

Will is the only round kid in a school full of this ones. So he hides…in baggy jeans and oversized hoodies, in the back row during class, and anywhere but the cafeteria during lunch. But shame isn’t the only feeling that dominates Will’s life. He’s also got a crush on a girl named Jules who knows he doesn’t have a chance with—string beans only date string beans—but he can’t help wondering what if?

Will’s best shot at attracting Jules’s attention is by slaying the Will Monster inside him by changing his eating habits and getting more exercise. But the results are either frustratingly slow or infuriatingly unsuccessful, and Will’s shame begins to morph into self-loathing.

As he resorts to increasingly drastic measures to transform his appearance, Will meets skateboarder Markus, who helps him see his body and all it contains as an ever-evolving work in progress.

Tell us who would especially enjoy this book?

I worked had to make sure this book would be enjoyable for as many readers as possible. The book is physically big – 360-something pages – but is only 18,000 words long (other Middle Grade books of that page length contain probably four or five times that many words). It’s also highly illustrated. I hope kids (and adults!) who see bits of themselves in Will’s story will read it, and that they’ll find comfort and hope. But I also hope just as many, if not more, kids (and adults!) will read it, too, and hopefully be left with greater empathy for their peers.

I saw your tweet about misconceptions of eating disorders. What misconceptions did you address in your book?

I think the biggest misconception is that disordered eating and eating disorders are things that are only developed by girls. Growing up, when I was going through what Will goes through in the book, I sought out books that addressed body image, disordered eating, and body dysmorphia (though I certainly hadn’t learned all those terms yet). I found very few, and all of them had two things in common: the protagonists were girls, and they were always extreme cases. It wasn’t until a couple years ago, when I had already begun working on what would become A Work in Progress, that I first read a book about a boy who had a troubled relationship with their body and food and eating, but whose troubles didn’t require medical intervention. I hope Will’s story helps fill that still-enormous gap in the literature. We need those books that I did find on shelves back when I was in middle school, but we also need ones about the kids silently suffering with problems that fall just short of grabbing adults’ attention. Unfortunately, when it comes to bodily insecurity and disordered eating, there are a tremendous number of kids suffering.

About the Author/Illustrator

How did your childhood help to shape this book (both content and format)?

Will’s story is a fictionalized version of my own. My own story took place over more time, and featured a larger cast of characters. In order to make the book as powerful as possible, I had to compress time and characters. And while having had all these experiences certainly gave me the ability to authentically tell this story, that doesn’t mean it was easy. Making A Work in Progress was the toughest creative challenge of my life. I’d been trying for over a decade to get the story out of me in a way that felt “right.” It wasn’t until I finally landed on the idea of telling the story as if it were being set down in real time in Will’s private notebook/sketchbook that things started moving in that “right” direction. And Will’s notebook looks very much like my own notebooks did back when I was his age – a mishmash of free verse, doodles, and drawings.

What authors and/or illustrators would you say influenced your writing and illustration style?

So many. Too many to name. There’s a quote I think about (and share) nearly every day of my life: “Reading is breathing in, writing is breathing out.” Pam Allen said that. It’s just brilliant. And so very true. You can’t write well without reading. And you can’t draw well without “reading” drawings. These two things – reading and writing (and drawing, if you tell stories visually) – are two parts of the same process. The more you do one, the better you get at the other. So I read constantly, and have been influenced by so, so many. Along with that, I’m constantly exposing myself to new authors and illustrators – always seeking to be influenced in new ways and continue growing as a creator.

Do you share any personality traits with Will Chambers and/or Markus?

I think there’s a part of me in every one of my characters. I’m not sure if it starts that way, or if the process of writing and drawing them engages my empathy in a way that I just, by the end of it all, feel so connected and close to them. I guess, when it comes to Will and Markus, I’d say that I’m just where Will is at the end of book – he’s still himself, but he’s trying his best to adopt some of the approaches to life that Markus embodies and shares.

For Artists

I love how the artwork adds an additional layer to the story. Do you incorporate the artwork in your brainstorming/early draft? Please share your process.

Yes. I start all of my projects longhand, usually in composition notebooks. I write and draw, back and forth, sometimes leaning more heavily on one or another – whatever language, verbal or visual, I can use to get my ideas out of my head and down onto paper at any given moment. Usually, once I’ve got a clearer idea of the story I’m trying to tell, I try to figure out what specific format will best serve the story. Sometimes, I decide that it’s best to stick with just text, that I want my readers to provide all the story’s visuals in their imagination. Sometimes I decide text with occasional illustrations will be ideal to tell a story in the most funny or exciting or powerful or emotionally resonant (or whatever I’m going for) way. And sometimes, I have to sort of create my own form. My editor has taken to calling many of my upcoming books “hybrids,” because the usual terminology can’t really capture what they are. They’re not traditional chapter books, but not full graphic novels – I’ve taken to telling each part of a story using whatever tool best accomplishes what I want that part to do. There are a lot of other creators who’ve begun doing this. Each season, more and more books get published that defy these easy classifications. I think it’s one of the most exciting trends in publishing right now, and will only grow in the coming years.

And are these illustrations done by hand or on a computer?

I work on all my art on paper, but once I’ve got a clear conception of what a final piece needs to be, I work digitally. The art you see in my books is all done on an iPad Pro using an Apple Pencil (second generation) and the Procreate app.

What’s your art background? Were you a writer or illustrator first? And how did the second one happen?

I’m self-taught, so to speak. Growing up, I took every art class and every creative writing course offered in school. But I don’t have any formal training in either writing or drawing. I read, and looked, and copied and copied and copied, gradually finding my own approach and processes and developing my own style.

More About Jarrett

How can we learn more about you?

Website: jarrettlerner.com

Twitter and Instagram: @Jarrett_Lerner

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JarrettLernerBooks

Thanks for your time, Jarrett!

Thank YOU! Really excellent questions. I appreciate them very much, and the opportunity to share.

Jarrett will be giving a copy of A Work in Progress to a lucky reader. Enter the giveaway below for a chance to win a copy. (U.S. addresses only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Welcome to Monsterville – Lauran Shovan Interview

By Jennifer Swanson on April 26, 2023 / Articles, Author Interviews

Welcome to Monsterville

I’m so excited that we at MUF got an early peek at Laura Shovan’s new poetry collection called Welcome to Monsterville. And we got to talk to her about it – even better!

About Welcome to Monsterville

Where the residents are anything but ordinary. The monsters here are “friendly! Thoughtful! Shy and scary,” much like their human neighbors. Readers will meet a monster house who plays hopscotch and makes the sidewalks quake, laugh at a bubblegum-headed monster’s epic tantrum, and cry with a monster called Sadness.

Interview with Laura Shovan

MUF: Hi Laura! Welcome back to From the Mixed-Up Files … we’re so glad you’re here and excited to talk about your newest book, a collection of poems called Welcome to Monsterville. What a great title and a wonderful book! I’m still smiling as I think about lines like “Bubblegum head fell out of bed…” What prompted this collection and your partnership with illustrator Michael Rothenberg?

LS: This collection began with a simple gift between friends. I went to visit Michael and his wife Terri in January of 2020. Michael, a poet, was still reeling from the death of his son the year before. Unable to write through his grief, he turned to art therapy. He showed me some of those illustrations, which tended to be abstract.

When I got home, there was a surprise waiting for me. Michael had painted a blue creature with red fish lips, a crown, and six pink feet. I knew my friend was feeling low, so I wrote a poem that began, “A monster bought the house next door.” I recorded the poem and sent it to Michael, hoping it would cheer him up. I should have known the exchange would be the start of something. Michael was a force. He loved collaborating with musicians, artists, and poets on creative projects but also on social justice work.

Introversion

MUF: Another line that really resonates with me is the opening to the poem “Costavablink,” where you say

High on a mountain

called Costavablink

there lives a shy monster

who knows how to shrink

What are you hoping readers will take from this poem in particular?

LS: I hope this poem honors introversion. Susan Cain’s book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking opened my eyes to how much I – an introvert! – had absorbed American culture’s preference for extroversion. When I was growing up, my father was an extreme extrovert. I remember that feeling of wanting to shrink and get away from all of the talking and activity. I view the Monster of Costavablink is a poet. She uses quiet as an opportunity to think and appreciate the natural world.

MUF: (I love Susan Cain’s book — it has taught me so much about the introverts in my life. Invaluable!) Each poem has a child interacting with different monsters. Why use monsters as the common thread?

Monsters Represent Big Emotions

LS: There would be no book without the monsters. Our process was that Michael would create a sketch first. He said, “I found that drawing gave me oxygen, breath, allowed me out of myself to express emotions without narrative, without direction. It was colors and shapes, emotions. I didn’t have to interpret what I was saying … As we proceeded Laura saw something in them, and wrote poetry that motivated me to do more. I remember telling her that I was stunned by her imagination as she gave the creatures a voice and her reply that it was my imagination that was inspiring.”

We were both coping with a great deal of loss and anxiety while working on this collaboration. The Covid-19 lockdown happened about five weeks into the project. Eventually, we recognized a theme, that the monsters represent big emotions and what it’s like to welcome them.

MUF: Is there a poem in particular you wrote for yourself?

LS: That poem is “Green Cave.” I can’t tell you why Michael’s colorful bird monster reminded me of the forsythia bush in my parents’ back yard, but that’s the magic of the monsters. The forsythia bush is where I used to hide as a kid when I was overwhelmed by emotions. I love the idea that a magical bird might come along and show an upset child how to self-soothe.

Collaborative Creations

MUF: Your imagery is just lovely … purple-blue moons and tears that crawl on fuzzy legs … when you’re crafting a poem, what is your creative process? Any craft tips for those of us aspiring to such stunning imagery?

LS: Those details are both Michael’s inventions, my poems simply pick up on his images and build little stories and characters around them. I love ekphrastic poems, which are responses to specific works of art. Because Michael’s monsters are so unexpected and rich with detail, my process for this book was to trust whatever strange idea popped into my mind and see where it led me. For example, Bubblegum Head’s toothy expression inspired me to write about his major tantrum. When the invented words in that poem came, I invited them in without judging them or saying, “That’s too silly.”

There were times when it was challenging to bring all of the elements in one of Michael’s illustrations together. The carrot-like monster in “Underground,” who is holding up flowers underneath a purple moon, took many drafts to get right. It was the emotion of the picture that eventually unlocked the poem for me. I began to ask myself how it would feel to be a Root Monster who “lives without sunshine or air.” On one level, it’s a silly story, but on another, this is a poem about coping with depression.

MUF: Can you talk a little bit about art therapy?

LS: I only know what little Michael shared with me, but I hope readers will check out the introduction to Welcome to Monsterville. It was written by Dr. Mercedes Ballbé ter Maat, who is a past president of the American Art Therapy Association.

MUF: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

LS: I’d love to see the monsters that your readers come up with. Here is my suggestion: Doodle, draw, or paint a monster first. Next, ask yourself, “How is Monster feeling?” Once you’ve identified the emotion, give a poem a try!

MUF: Thanks so much for giving me a chance to read your book and chat with you, Laura. It’s been a pleasure!

LS: Thank you, Heather. It means so much to me that you enjoyed the book!

About Author Laura Shovan

Laura Shovan is a novelist, educator, and Pushcart Prize-nominated poet. Her work appears in journals and anthologies for children and adults. Laura’s award-winning middle grade novels include The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, Takedown, and the Sydney Taylor Notable A Place at the Table, written with Saadia Faruqi. Laura is a longtime poet-in-the-schools for the Maryland State Arts Council’s Artist-in-Education program. She teaches for Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA program in writing for children and young adults. Her latest book is Welcome to Monsterville

Stay in touch with Laura via her website and Instagram

About Illustrator Michael Rothenberg

Michael Rothenberg was a poet, editor, artist, and publisher of the online literary magazine BigBridge.org, co-founder of 100 Thousand Poets for Change (www.100tpc.org), The “Read A Poem To A Child” Initiative, and co-founder of Poets In Need, a non-profit 501(c), assisting poets in crisis. Before his death in 2022, he published over 20 books of poetry, most recently The Pillars (Quaranzine Press) and Drawing the Shade (Dos Madres Press). His editorial work included several volumes in the Penguin Poets series: Overtime by Philip Whalen, As Ever by Joanne Kyger, David’s Copy by David Meltzer, and Way More West by Ed Dorn. He was also editor of The Collected Poems of Philip Whalen published by Wesleyan University Press. He served as Florida State University Library’s Poet in Residence. His book of poetry, In Memory of A Banyan Tree, Poems of the Outside World, 1985-2020, (Lost Horse Press) was published in 2022. Welcome to Monsterville is his first book for children.

Author Interviews

Author Matt McMann Gets Monsterious!

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A Work in Progress: Jarrett Lerner Interview + Giveaway