Yes, even kids' books require research. Fortunately, I was able to milk a lot of it from real life situations. For instance, I was called to jury duty in federal court. I don't know how they do it in your state, but here I had to drive over to Tampa (long drive) nearly every morning for a month and wait around until I learned whether or not I'd have to sit on a jury that day.
I tried to explain to the judge that I was self-employed and on deadline, but that excuse didn't fly. So when I was picked to serve on a jury, it turned out to be a counterfeiting case. Ta da! That case became THE CASE OF THE COUNTERFEIT CASH.
By the time I was contracted the write the final three books, I had begun to research for my first adult novels, set in Ireland and England. So I sent Nicki and her friends to London and Ireland, naturally, and used that trip to research for several books.
Most of the books deal with suburban young life, which was one thing back when I was writing, and is another thing now. I'd have to immerse myself in the middle school culture again were I to tackle writing for this age group again. My hubby's still a youth pastor, but I'm not nearly as active in his ministry today as I was in the early years.
Any questions? Ask them today and I'll try to answer them tomorrow.
~~Angie
5 comments:
Research from real life... you need the shirt I got for a friend that says "Careful! You might end up in my novel." :-)
How do you know what level you're writing at? What differentiates a YA novel from an adult novel?
Do you know when you did the BOM for Uncharted? I'd like to read that one.
I'd like to read the BOM, I mean. I've read the book!
I looked it up. :-) UNCHARTED was BOM in June 2006.
Angie
Post a Comment