ALISON LOHANS: Interesting question! I should add right away that my experience as a parent of children taking music lessons has also influenced my writing.
Music is such an important part of my life that it's only natural for it to show up in my writing. For the past number of years I've been actively playing three instruments: taking cello lessons, and playing in, or teaching in, five amateur groups: cello in the University of Regina Orchestra and also a string quartet; cornet in Queen City Brass Band; and two small groups in which I play and teach recorder.
I'm not sure that my experience as a music teacher has had a lot of impact on my writing, although the mom in Can You Promise Me Spring (Scholastic 1986) was also a school band teacher.
One thing I've noticed is that, as a writer, I pay a lot of attention to how things sound and try to capture these sounds as clear, precise details in my books - whether the bird calls in Collapse of the Veil (Bundoran Press, 2010), the swishing of leaves in The Raspberry Room (Orca, 2006), all kinds of sounds in Germy Johnson's Secret Plan (aemWORKS, 2008, and Scholastic Canada 1992); and the sound of boots in snow in Sundog Rescue (Annick, 1999).
Music does show up in a lot of my books, in one way or another.
In Picturing Alyssa (Dundurn, 2011), my time-travelling character Alyssa inadvertently brings the theme song of a movie into the past, where her great-grandmother Deborah, at that same age, develops a new set of lyrics - which becomes a family song that ends up being passed along through the generations and which Alyssa's own mother sang to her as a child.
Germy Johnson's Piano War (aemWORKS Publishing, 2010), features 8-year-old J.J., and his outrage when he and his best friend Derek get signed up for piano lessons - and their parents insist that they have to take piano.
Don't Think Twice (Your Nickel's Worth, 2009; originally Thistledown, 1997) has music, and the high school band in particular, as one of its front-and-centre aspects. This novel is set in the late 1960s and also in 1997, with the protagonist now a worried mother. In 1967, shy trumpet player Jan finds her repressive small-town existence changed radically when the Crowther family moves next door - with sons Tim and Rob, both brilliant musicians as well as Vietnam era peace activists. Many songs of the late 1960s are mentioned by title in this book, so there's a constant musical backdrop even when the overt focus is on something else. The music themes continue throughout the 1997 sections as well, with one character having become a music professor and symphony player, another trying to grapple with the complexities of piano tuning, and at the same time with the nostalgia of old songs bringing back fresh memories. My favourite part of the research for this book was intensive listening to (and collecting) rock and folk recordings of the 1960s.
Nathaniel's Violin (Orca, 1996) is my book that celebrates the transformative "magic" of music: a strange old woman appears at Nathaniel's lonely farm, and gives him a violin. As he (and others) gradually teach themselves to play this violin, wonderful things begin happening on the farm.
Foghorn Passage (Stoddart, 1992, 1997) also has music front-and-centre. Sammie, 16, plays French horn and feels that her participation in Youth Orchestra is the one thing that holds her life together in the aftermath of her father's difficult death from cancer. Then Matt, the star violinist on their orchestra (only an acquaintance to Sammie), is paralysed in a car crash that also kills his. Against her will Sammie ends up being drawn back to the hospital where her father died, for difficult visits with Matt. This book shows restorative aspects of music in dealing with grief - as Sammie heals from her dad's death, and Matt finally begins coming to grips with his disability and being able to play again, as well as facing the loss of his sister.
Finally, all of the characters of Who Cares About Karen? (Scholastic Canada, 1983) are in a school music group, and the car crash that sets this book in motion leaves the kids stranded in the bush on their way home from a band trip.
Sounds, and music, often appear in my poems as well.
LEC: In addition to your novels, you've written a number of plays. What's it like to watch kids acting out your stories?
KATHLEEN MCDONNELL: In a lot of the young-audience plays I've written, the child characters have been played by adult actors. The reason for that is a practical one: Kids aren't available to act because they're in school during the daytime, which is when the plays are usually shown. But I also work with a Toronto company called Shadowland that produces outdoor shows in the summer, and an annual Mummers' play during the winter season. Those productions feature lots of young actors, and it's truly the most fun I have as a writer. I love seeing kids blossom as performers, taking risks and learning how to connect with an audience. (If anyone wants to know what a Mummers' play is, ask me at one of my sessions, I'd be glad to tell you all about it.)
LEC: The narrator in Free as a Bird has Down Syndrome. As a writer, what compelled you to tell Ruby Jean's story, and how did you capture her unique voice?
GINA MCMURCHY-BARBER: When I first tried writing Free as a Bird I wrote from a third person point of view. But I didn't feel like I was getting close enough to the character that way. So I decided I'd try it again and this time put myself right into Ruby Jean's shoes and try to see the world from her limited perspective. It was a hard thing to accomplish and I'm grateful to a particular friend who read my manuscript and helped me to stay true to the voice even when I was reluctant to handle the tough things.
LEC: A lot of readers may not recognize how much research is required to write compelling fiction (although they're quick to point out mistakes!). Tell us a little about your favorite research sources, what they bring to your stories, and why, if you're doing so much research anyway, you don't just write nonfiction!
Nathaniel's Violin (Orca, 1996) is my book that celebrates the transformative "magic" of music: a strange old woman appears at Nathaniel's lonely farm, and gives him a violin. As he (and others) gradually teach themselves to play this violin, wonderful things begin happening on the farm.
Foghorn Passage (Stoddart, 1992, 1997) also has music front-and-centre. Sammie, 16, plays French horn and feels that her participation in Youth Orchestra is the one thing that holds her life together in the aftermath of her father's difficult death from cancer. Then Matt, the star violinist on their orchestra (only an acquaintance to Sammie), is paralysed in a car crash that also kills his. Against her will Sammie ends up being drawn back to the hospital where her father died, for difficult visits with Matt. This book shows restorative aspects of music in dealing with grief - as Sammie heals from her dad's death, and Matt finally begins coming to grips with his disability and being able to play again, as well as facing the loss of his sister.
Finally, all of the characters of Who Cares About Karen? (Scholastic Canada, 1983) are in a school music group, and the car crash that sets this book in motion leaves the kids stranded in the bush on their way home from a band trip.
Sounds, and music, often appear in my poems as well.
LEC: In addition to your novels, you've written a number of plays. What's it like to watch kids acting out your stories?
KATHLEEN MCDONNELL: In a lot of the young-audience plays I've written, the child characters have been played by adult actors. The reason for that is a practical one: Kids aren't available to act because they're in school during the daytime, which is when the plays are usually shown. But I also work with a Toronto company called Shadowland that produces outdoor shows in the summer, and an annual Mummers' play during the winter season. Those productions feature lots of young actors, and it's truly the most fun I have as a writer. I love seeing kids blossom as performers, taking risks and learning how to connect with an audience. (If anyone wants to know what a Mummers' play is, ask me at one of my sessions, I'd be glad to tell you all about it.)
LEC: The narrator in Free as a Bird has Down Syndrome. As a writer, what compelled you to tell Ruby Jean's story, and how did you capture her unique voice?
GINA MCMURCHY-BARBER: When I first tried writing Free as a Bird I wrote from a third person point of view. But I didn't feel like I was getting close enough to the character that way. So I decided I'd try it again and this time put myself right into Ruby Jean's shoes and try to see the world from her limited perspective. It was a hard thing to accomplish and I'm grateful to a particular friend who read my manuscript and helped me to stay true to the voice even when I was reluctant to handle the tough things.
LEC: A lot of readers may not recognize how much research is required to write compelling fiction (although they're quick to point out mistakes!). Tell us a little about your favorite research sources, what they bring to your stories, and why, if you're doing so much research anyway, you don't just write nonfiction!
CAROLINE PIGNAT: I always start with kids' nonfiction books. They give me a great sense of the topic, a quick overview and some clear ideas of where I see the story going. They also have great pictures that I keep up around me as prompts. After that I check the internet and libraries and track down an "expert" (usually a museum contact) who is a real history buff on that subject and who loves talking about it in great detail. You find the best stuff that way!
I may try nonfiction someday, but for now, I'm drawn in by the characters I imagine in those times and places. I hated history class as a kid. But now that I see the people in the facts, I've got a whole new appreciation for history and for learning from our past.
LEC: A great deal of the inspiration for your books comes from real life. Are there any topics or incidents your family and friends have forbidden you to write about? Feel free to change names to protect the guilty!
JESSICA SCOTT KERRIN: Because I almost always start with inspiration from a real life event, I consider the entire Martin Bridge series to be an autobiography. But here's the thing: sometimes daily events that happen are so bizarre, so implausible, they don't make for good fiction because no one would believe it! So, friends and family are safe, for the most part!
LEC: Many of your books include retellings of traditional folk and fairy tales from around the world. What is it about this material that causes you to return to it, over and over?
RINA SINGH: The world has always fascinated me. I have had a deep interest in cultures- their music, food, costumes, rituals and especially stories. The way people around the world live their lives is so different and yet their stories incredibly universal. The more I share these stories with the young people the more I'm convinced that learning about other cultures is important because it gives us insight into what makes people unique. I'm drawn to stories that are wise, funny and have a touch of spirituality. The folk tales definitely have contemporary relevance because we still cherish the same values and ethics. We also have the same fears, hopes and dreams that people had long ago. The tales promote cultural understanding and global literacy. I think it's the same fascination which compels me to travel to different parts of the world and photograph people and places of far away lands.
LEC: You've written over 30 books for children. What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you wrote the very first one?
ANDREA SPALDING: I wish I'd started writing earlier. If I'd known when I was a young woman that I had the ability to write, then maybe there would have been 60 books!
I never wrote when I was younger. Though my head was full of stories I have a learning disability- dyslexia - and have great difficulty with writing and spelling. I was bottom of the class at school, and no one knew of my head full of stories. It was the invention of computers that allowed me to write my stories down. Spellcheck is my best friend!
Thanks for joining us today, and have a great tour!
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