~
Today I am handing my blog over to the multi-talented Lorraine Mace. Not only does Lorraine write children's books, magazine articles and advice columns but she judges competitions and teaches writing as well. She also moonlights as crime writer Frances di Plino. Today she is being herself and giving us an insight into the creation of her novel for children, Vlad the Inhaler.
So without further ado, here's Lorraine:
What if?
As a creative writing
tutor, I tell my students the most powerful tool in their writing box
is the what if question. From the point of view of my own
writing, nowhere is this more in evidence than in my children’s
novel, Vlad the Inhaler.
Vlad started out in my
mind as a bit part character in a children’s short story, which, by
the way, never got written because of what if? Vlad was going
to be one of a whole group of characters who lived in the woods and
helped people when they were in trouble. He was going to be a good
vampire, friends with a good werewolf and other good creatures going
around doing good. Yeah, I know, boring, right?
But then I thought:
what if Vlad is vegetarian? How could that happen? I needed to
give him a human parent who made sure he never drank blood – and so
the legend of hupyres was born (pronounced hew-pires). Vlad’s
vampire father would fall in love with a human; he, in turn, would
give up drinking blood and, with his beloved wife, raise Vlad as a
complete vegetarian to ensure he never developed his vampire side.
Hmm, so what? That
wouldn’t put obstacles in Vlad’s way. What if he was also
asthmatic? And scared of the dark? And couldn’t turn into a bat?
But he had two loving
parents who wouldn’t want him out in the forest in case he ran into
danger – so they had to go. What if Vlad’s evil vampire
relatives do away with his parents and take over his castle? What
if they only keep Vlad alive until they find out where the
treasure is hidden?
By this stage I
realised I had too much story for short fiction and needed to think
of a strong enough plot for a novel to send Vlad off on some scary
adventures.
What if he
escapes from the castle only to fall prey to a pack of werewolves?
What if he has to overcome bounty hunters determined to bring
in a hupyre – the rarest of mythical creatures? What if the
people he thinks of as friends are really his enemies? What if
the local townspeople think he is evil?
What if Vlad has
to save his old nurse from the vampires? What if the only way
he can do that is by using vampire traits?
As
you can see, Vlad the boring creature destined for a short story
turned into Vlad the Inhaler, hero of a novel for children
aged 9 to 12. Judging by the feedback I’ve received from my young
readers, asking what if has paid off. The question I get asked
the most during school visits isn’t what if, but that’s
okay. I get asked a much better question: when will the next Vlad
book be out? Just goes to show the power of what if?
~
LorraineMace is the humour columnist for Writing Magazine and a
competition judge for Writers’ Forum. She is a former tutor
for the Writers Bureau, and is the author of the Writers Bureau
course, Marketing Your Book.
She is also co-author, with
Maureen Vincent-Northam of The Writer's ABC
Checklist (Accent Press). Lorraine runs a private critique service for writers. She is the founder of the Flash 500
competitions covering flash fiction, humour verse and novel openings.
Her novel
for children, Vlad the Inhaler, was published in the USA on 2nd April
2014.
Writing
as Frances di Plino, she is the author of the
crime/thriller series featuring Detective Inspector Paolo Storey: Bad
Moon Rising, Someday Never Comes and
Call It Pretending.
