Dan Gemeinhart is the author of the new book Some Kind of Courage, a historical novel for kids set in the American West. He also has written the middle-grade novel The Honest Truth. He is a teacher and librarian, and he lives in Washington state.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for Some Kind of
Courage, and for your protagonist, Joseph?
A: The origin of the idea for Some Kind of Courage is hard
for me to pin down. I'd been all ready to start a new book and had an idea in
mind - a different idea - and then out of nowhere the idea for this story
popped into my head.
And it came fast, too...the little seed sprouted and I
grabbed a pencil and started jotting stuff down and in a few minutes I had the
whole basic concept ready to go.
There were still a lot of details and specifics that had to
be fleshed out, of course, and there were plenty of changes to my original
thoughts, but pretty much the bones and heart of this story came to me in one
spontaneous rush. It was exhilarating.
And then there's Joseph, my protagonist. You know, some
characters you really have to look for and find and create and work on. But
some characters are just sitting quietly in your heart, waiting to jump out
onto the page.
That's how Joseph was. That kid was biding his time in my
subconscious somewhere, and I never once had to work to make him real in my
head or struggle to find his voice and identity.
Honestly, it was awesome. I felt like I knew him and loved
him from the first line, and I never had a problem slipping into his voice and
perspective. I wish all my characters were like him!
Q: How did you research the time period and setting in which
the book takes place?
A: I did a lot of poring through old books from my public
library. I discovered that there isn't a lot of definitive,
"professional" history of my area in this era - and a lot of my
sources contradicted each other as to specifics, timing, etc.! - so to a
certain extent I was able to still be flexible and creative.
I wanted it to be as realistic and authentic as possible,
but since the information was spotty and all my characters and events were made
up, I was able to focus more on the "fiction" than the
"historical" in this historical fiction story.
I did learn lots of cool (and dismaying) stuff in the course
of this research, though, only a fraction of which actually made it into the
book!
Q: Was your writing process different with this book, given
that it's historical fiction, than with your first novel?
A: To be honest, my writing process is always a little
messy. I'm some sort of clumsy hybrid between an outliner and a "make it
up as you go" pantser.
One difference is that my research really helped shape the
story. One of the most important characters (and my favorite) is Ah-Kee, a
Chinese immigrant boy who becomes Joseph's best friend.
I didn't originally plan on having an Ah-Kee character in
the story, but during the course of my research I discovered the significant
role Chinese immigrants played in our local history - and how horribly they
were treated.
It was sickeningly tragic...they were basically erased from
our area. I knew that I didn't want to add to that erasure, too, so I decided
to do my own small part and at least put them into this story. Once he was in,
I totally fell in love with him and he almost took over the story!
Q: Do you know how your novels will end before you start
writing, or do you make many changes along the way?
A: Once I start writing, I generally know only the first
quarter and last quarter of the story, with some vague ideas of stuff that
might happen in the middle.
It's kind of a scary feeling when I get to the end of my
story map and have to stumble through the dark toward the waiting end, but it's
also a pretty fun process of discovery.
And, once I start down that road, it comes together pretty
quick...it doesn't come to me just a scene at a time, but in big chunks. I
mean, once you know your characters and how they behave, and you know what they
have to overcome, and you know where they're going to end up, the story comes
together pretty naturally.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am in the final editing stages of my next novel, Scar Island, which will come out from Scholastic in January or February 2017.
And I'm working on the rough draft of a yet-untitled novel
that should come out in Spring 2018. So I've always got a lot going on, in all
different phases of writing!
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Becoming a published author has been just an absolute
dream come true. I worked years and years with nothing but rejections (99 of
them, no joke!), so I spend a lot of time pinching myself that this is all
actually happening for me.
If you're an aspiring writer, don't give up...keep working
at it, focus on always improving and getting just a little better, and hold
onto that joy of storytelling. Whether you ever get published or not, you'll be
a happier and more interesting person. Thanks for this opportunity!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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