Deborah Bruss |
Deborah Bruss and Matt Forrest Esenwine are the authors of the new children's picture book Don't Ask a Dinosaur. Bruss lives in Concord, New Hampshire, and Esenwine lives in Warner, New Hampshire.
Q: How did the two of you end up writing this picture book
together, and can you describe how you divided up the writing?
DB: Years ago, I had a friend who lived in a tiny apartment
in a big old barn. In that barn she unearthed treasures, one of which was a
ragged paperback copy of Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing.
The book sparked the question: What else should animals not
do? Answer: Porcupines should not blow up balloons.
The idea morphed into a birthday party with familiar zoo
animals. I submitted and then revised the story a million times (well, maybe
only several hundred) but I couldn't sell it.
All the versions sat in a dark drawer for nearly 15 years
until one day I asked myself: What genre never gets old? Answer: Dinosaurs!
I tried rewriting it several ways, including with sound
effects (burp, crunch, snort...). But the story still wasn’t coming together so
I brought it to my critique group. Enter Matt....
Matt Forrest Esenwine |
MFE: We were part of the same SCBWI critique group, when Deb
approached me with an idea she had for a book. They were some lines about
dinosaurs causing chaos that she had revised from a previously written
manuscript that she hadn't been able to sell, and she wasn't sure what to do
with these new lines.
Knowing that I write almost exclusively in rhyme, I suppose
she thought I might have a phenomenal idea - which, as it turns out...I didn't.
So the lines sat beside my computer for a couple months
until one day something hit me and I banged out several lines of a potential
manuscript. I worked on it for the next several days, and by the following
weekend I had completed the first rough draft! Twenty revisions and 13
rejections later...here we are!
Q: How did you pick the dinosaurs to include?
DB: First, I googled “weirdest” and “most unusual”
dinosaurs. Slowpoke Archelon, who was bringing the ice cream, delivered a
melted mess. Spiny Spinosaurus, who was decorating, got tangled up in the
streamers. But alas, our story was limited to 32 pages. And some dinosaurs and
their attributes were easier to rhyme than others. Enter Matt....
MFE: This was one of the most difficult aspects of the book,
actually. We wanted to include a few dinosaurs that were well-known but also
include several that kids may be unaware of - plus each dinosaur needed to have
some interesting or unusual feature we could spotlight, AND we had to be sure
the pronunciations of their names would fit within the meter of the rhyming
verse.
Therezinosaurus, in fact, almost didn't make it in because
we had already gone through about 17 or 18 revisions when I came upon this
particular species and felt it was so unusual we had to include it! Alas, we
had to say goodbye to Archelon, Hadrosaur, Spinosaurus, Microraptor,
Brachiosaurus, Microraptor, and Anchiceratops.
Q: What do you think Louie Chin's illustrations add to the
book?
MFE: Deb and I love them! Their features are not only
factually accurate (as best as we can tell these days), but Louie does a great
job of imbuing them with emotion: sometimes they are happy, sometimes mad,
sometimes annoyed! I also appreciate the fact that with so many dinosaur books
out there these days, his illustrations don't really look like any other
illustrators' dinos.
DB: My favorite illustration is of Tyrannosaurus Rex, who
seems to be saying, “Oops! I am so sorry.” Louie also created some fun
illustrations that had nothing to do with the text, such as the polaroid
snapshots near the end, and the end papers, which by the way, would make great
wrapping paper.
Q: What are you working on now?
MFE: I just completed two poetry collections that I'm in the
process of submitting (along with seven or eight other manuscripts!) - one is a
creative non-fiction book and the other is a "sort of" Halloween
theme - and I'm in the process of formulating plans for another really cool
non-fiction poetry collection that I can't really talk about too much, because
of its unique nature.
DB: Properly pronouncing the dinosaurs’ names. Matt had a
head start since his son is infatuated with dinosaurs. When my sons were kids,
their worlds were filled with horses, snapping turtles and soccer.
As for the future, Matt and I are playing around with ideas
for another dinosaur story. Also, I plan to tweak some picture book stories
that haven’t sold, and to do a major revision of a middle-grade historical
fiction novel that takes place during WWII.
Q: Anything else we should know?
MFE: Contrary to popular belief, Dwayne "The Rock"
Johnson and I are NOT twins separated at birth.
Seriously, though, one thing I'd like folks to know is that,
if they're considering purchasing a copy, there's only ONE PLACE ON EARTH that
you can order a copy online and have it personally signed by Deb and me - and
that's at our own local indie bookstore, MainStreet BookEnds.
Because of a special agreement we have with the ownership,
you can place your order and request that it be signed to whoever you'd like,
we'll go to the store and personally sign it, and it will then be shipped right
out to you!
I don't know if any other authors are doing this, but we
really want to do as much as we can for the book-buying public. Certainly, you
can visit us at any of the book signings we'll be holding (the complete
schedule is posted at my blog), but for anyone who doesn't live in the area, I
think this is a pretty unique offering!
Thanks so much for allowing us to spend some time here at
your little place on the web, Deb - we really appreciate it, and I'm so glad
you liked Don't Ask a Dinosaur!.
DB: I’m super excited that my first picture book in rhyme, Good
Morning, Snowplow! (Scholastic), is coming out this fall.
Matt is not only a master of rhyming, he’s also my mentor
when it comes to social media. I didn’t even know what a “blog tour” was. Now
that I know, I’d love to do more. I’m also honored to be invited to Deborah
Kalb’s blog, which features writers from all genres, not just children’s
literature.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Matt Forrest Esenwine.
Thanks again SO MUCH for your support, Deb - we appreciate you taking the time to put this interview together!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome! I'm so glad we could do this interview, and congrats on the book!
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