Q&A with Laura Lavoie

 

 

 

Laura Lavoie is the author of the new middle grade novel The Thirteen Doors of Black House. Her other books include the picture book Cousins!. She lives in northern New York. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Thirteen Doors of Black House, and how did you create your character Maya?

 

A: I was inspired to write this book after a summer trip to Maine. A relative we were visiting there mentioned that Stephen King’s house was a little drive up the coast from where we were staying. My husband and I are both big fans, so we decided to go check it out.

 

After we got home from our trip, I wondered, What if you could visit your favorite author’s house but actually stay there, like a vacation rental? The idea for The Thirteen Doors of Black House was born, and the rest evolved from there.

 

As for Maya, I wanted to create a character who is a relatable middle-schooler—hence Maya having a conflict with her best friend over a new boy at school—but I also wanted to create a character who was really different from me.

 

Maya and I have a few things in common, like running track, but unlike me, Maya is a super-fast runner! She also tends to charge onward without considering the consequences of her actions, which is very unlike me.

 

I’m a type-A planner, more like Maya’s cousin Riley in the book, so writing a character who charges head-first into everything was a lot of fun.

 

Q: The Publishers Weekly review of the book says, “Crackling dialogue and unsettling apparitions abound in this eerie prose debut, a gripping puzzler full of mystery and ghoulish giggles by Lavoie.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: Honestly, and this might sound silly, but I was thrilled that they mentioned the dialogue. I tried to infuse some humor into this spooky story via the back-and-forth between Maya and her cousins, who visit Black House with her, so I was happy that came through.

 

“A gripping puzzler” was a great compliment, too. When you’ve written a mystery, it’s hard to know how readers will perceive it because, as the author, you already know all the answers. I hope the book is full of fun twists and turns for readers!

 

Q: This is your debut middle grade novel--do you prefer writing middle grade novels, or picture books?

 

A: I truly love both, and alternating between the two uses different parts of my brain. After writing a rhyming picture book, I usually need a break from rhyme and meter, so writing something totally different, like a middle grade novel, feels fun.

 

But after going through the entire novel-writing process, from the first draft all the way through pass pages, I usually don’t have it in me to write another full novel any time soon, so going back to writing a snappy, short picture book feels like a treat.

 

Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I’m a “plantser,” a mix of a plotter and a pantser, so I usually know what’s going to happen a few chapters ahead from where I’m writing and that’s it.

 

I had no idea how the story would end when I started writing the book, but I knew how I wanted it to end when I was maybe five chapters away from finishing. Then my editor and I changed the ending together, so even as the author, you never always know exactly what will happen!

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I just finished working with my editor on my second spooky middle grade novel, Beware the Jacks, which will be out next summer. Now it’s off to the copy editor and I’ll have it back on my desk soon to make any final tweaks.

 

I’ve also worked on a couple of new picture book manuscripts recently that I hope my agent and I can send out on submission this fall.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: During the same month that The Thirteen Doors of Black House came out, I also had a new picture book released called Cousins!. I drafted the two stories several years apart, so it’s a complete coincidence that I had two books with a “cousins” theme come out in the same year, let alone the same month!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Laura Lavoie.