“Middleview” Interview with Debut Author Dana Alison Levy
Posted
by Tamera Wissinger
Today, Dana Alison Levy
is joining Smack Dab In The Middle Blog for a guest “middleview” interview.
Dana’s debut middle grade novel THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY
FLETCHER, released from
Delacorte Books for Young Readers on 7/22/14! Congratulations, Dana!
Here is
a bit about Dana:
Dana
Alison Levy pursued English Literature and Marketing in school, and has worked
for a variety of business and nonprofit organizations. Several years ago she
began to write full time, working for corporate and academic clients as well as
writing fiction. Dana lives in Massachusetts with her family. THE MISADVENTURES
OF THE FAMILY FLETCHER is her first novel.
Here’s a description
of THE
MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY FLETCHER:
Meet the Fletchers: four boys, two
dads, and one new neighbor who just might ruin everything.
Sam, age 12
Mostly interested in soccer. And food. And his
phone.
Jax, age 10
Psyched for fourth grade. Thinks the new
neighbor stinks, and not just because of the skunk.
Eli, age 10 (but younger than Jax)
Delighted to be starting
this year at the Pinnacle School, where everyone’s “the smart kid.”
Frog (not his real name), age 6
Wants his new friends at
kindergarten to save a seat for his invisible cheetah.
The start of the school year is not going as hoped for the
Fletcher brothers. Their miserable new neighbor, Mr. Nelson, complains about
everything. Even worse, each boy finds his plans for school success veering off
in unexpected directions. As the year continues, the boys learn the hard and
often hilarious lesson that sometimes what you least expect is what you come to
care about the most.
From camping trips to scary tales told in the dark, from
new schools to old friends, from imaginary cheetahs to very real skunks, the
Fletchers’ school year—as always—is anything but boring.
Now it’s
time to hear from our guest:
Smack
Dab Middleview with THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY
FLETCHER author Dana Alison Levy:
1. In a nutshell, what do your
main characters, the Fletcher boys, want?
Oooh,
this is kind of a tough nut (shell) to crack, because they each want their own
thing. And what they think they want is not exactly what they turn out to want!
(But I don’t want to give anything away…)
Sam
thinks he wants nothing more than to make the elite soccer team;
Eli thinks he
wants to be at his new school;
Jax thinks he wants to be just like
Sam;
Frog...well, Frog does know what he wants. He wants a play date
with his new best friend Ladybug.
2. What is in their way?
Sam
finds himself pulled in a new direction that might threaten his soccer
passion;
Eli’s not sure that what he got was what he wanted after all;
Jax has
to figure out who he is separate from his brother or his (soon-to-be-former)
best friend;
Frog has to convince his family that Ladybug is a real person, and
not a figment of his imagination!
3. Did you know right away that
this was your story, or did you discover it as you wrote? How did the story
evolve?
This
story really did spring full-blown onto the page. I somehow just knew these
boys - I knew who they were right away. Some of the stuff that happens
evolved as I went along. The neighbor, Mr. Nelson, definitely was NOT who I
expected to show up!
4. Was THE MISADVENTURES OF THE
FAMILY FLETCHER always for middle grade readers or not? If so, why did you
choose middle grade? If not, what had to change for it to be considered a
middle grade novel?
This
was always a middle grade story. I write for older teenage readers as well, but
this was always for younger kids. I wanted to write a book that was in the
spirit of my favorite middle grade books as a kid: Elizabeth Enright’s THE
MELENDY QUARTET, Edward Eager’s HALF MAGIC, Sidney Taylor’s ALL OF A KIND FAMILY.
They’re the books I read and reread, and now my kids are doing the same.
5. What is the best part of
writing for middle grade readers?
I
adore books for this age group! I love to read them, even as an adult, because
the best ones can do two things at once: they tell a tale engaging enough to
keep kids reading, but also exhibit glorious writing, or a heartbreaking
character, or an mesmerizing plot that holds its own for the adult readers as
well. Writing for this age group challenges me, because I want to write those
books that kids will adore but adults will find engaging too. Also, my kids are
in this age group, and I read them each chapter as soon as it was finished.
Nothing’s more motivating than them rushing up after school, asking if I’d written
anything new!
6. Is there any downside?
Well,
as I said, I write for teenagers as well, so I tend to write with kind of bad
language. I had to edit out all the swears and even the semi-swears. Which felt
a little false, to be honest. In our house at least, these words find their way
out (maybe a little too often)!
7. Is there one question you
wish you could answer about writing, your book, or the author's life, but have
never been asked? Here's your chance to Q &A yourself.
One
question I always wish I could ask authors of books I love is, “What happened
next?” I can’t believe that they don’t know where the characters go once we
close the covers of the book. If someone asked me that question, well...I
have lots of thoughts about what happens next for the Fletchers. But to answer
in general terms, (and to avoid giving anything away), I’ll just say that they
definitely get more pets; Sam makes the elite soccer team; Jax decides to play
ice hockey, even though none of his brothers play; Eli goes to the regional
championship for his science project; and Frog, even though he eventually grows
out of believing that Flare, his invisible cheetah, is real, maintains a wild
imagination.
Thanks for joining us at Smack Dab in the Middle Blog, Dana.
Again, congratulations on the release of THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY
FLETCHER!
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