Interview With Author Dianne K Salerni About her New MG Novel: Eleanor, Alice, and The Roosevelt Ghosts.
I had the pleasure of reviewing this paranormal MG historical novel when it was in the final stages before submission. Dianne's announcement of the sale appeared in the same issue of PW as my deal for WISHES, DARES, A ND HOW TO STAND UP TO A BULLY. So, it is a thrill to share her wonderful book with MG readers here on Smack Dab in the Middle. Here's Dianne to talk about Eleanor, Alice, and the Roosevelt Ghosts.
In my experience, inspiration for a story often occurs years before the plot, characters, and themes reveal themselves. That’s certainly true for my newest book, Eleanor, Alice, and the Roosevelt Ghosts, where inspiration arose during a critique of someone else’s manuscript. A new writer was seeking feedback on the opening pages of his ghost story, and the first thing I noticed was how he introduced the ghost before the end of the first page. After suggesting he consider building a spooky setting and mood first, I added: Show the readers what’s ordinary before revealing the extraordinary. If there’s a ghost on the first page, we might think ghosts aren’t unusual in your world.
Little did I know my advice to him would end up haunting me. What if ghosts weren’t unusual? What if they were so common they could be found everywhere, like cockroaches and mice? Would you be required to disclose a ghost when selling your house, the way you would mold or a leaky roof? (I decided yes.) Late one night, I wrote the following in my ideas notebook:
- Friendlies are ghosts that interact with the living in harmless ways.
- Unawares are ghosts that do not understand they are dead.
- Vengefuls are ghosts that intentionally seek to harm the living.
This would be the beginning of Eleanor, Alice, and the Roosevelt Ghosts—but there was a long way to go (and several years) before those three lines transformed into this book.
First, I wrote a mystery set in modern times about step-siblings battling a ghost that had been dangerously misdiagnosed. Beta readers responded that, while they found my alternate reality intriguing, the characters were too generic to pull off the story. I set the manuscript aside to await further inspiration.
It came (again, late at night) while reading an article about the irrepressible Alice Roosevelt, the most famous First Daughter to ever scandalize the White House. I was already familiar with Alice, but I knew a great deal more about her cousin Eleanor, by virtue of having taught an Eleanor Roosevelt biography to my fifth grade students for many years. It occurred to me that these two girls, one bold and ornery, the other introverted and awkward, might be the very protagonists I was looking for.
Research started with biographies of Alice, the Roosevelt family, and Eleanor’s autobiography. As I scribbled down facts and dates and copied quotes from notable people, my attention soon zeroed on a specific time and place: February 1898 in New York City. That was when Alice’s exasperated parents shipped her off to her aunt, Anna “Bye” Roosevelt Cowles. They couldn’t handle the girl in Washington D.C., but they hoped Aunt Bye could straighten her out. Orphaned Eleanor lived nearby with her oppressive grandmother, her life brightened solely by visits to her beloved and newly pregnant Aunt Bye. I suspected that shy Eleanor wouldn’t have been thrilled to share her aunt with her rambunctious cousin. To make matters worse, mere days after Alice’s arrival, the U.S.S. Maine blew up in Havana harbor, sparking a war and sending Aunt Bye’s naval officer husband into the fray. This, I realized was a perfect starting point:
- Two cousins who didn’t get along.
- A pregnant aunt of “advanced maternal age.”
- An impending war and an uncle on the front line.
These facts were straight out of history. All I had to do was open up a new document and add the ghosts!
I loooove a good ghost story. This sounds fantastic!
ReplyDeleteIt's very entertaining Holly!
DeleteLOVE the cover!
ReplyDelete