I have always been a big fan of Kate Milford’s books, and so when I heard she had a new book coming out I very quickly knew I would want to write about it. Since I had already written a blog post on her other books, I decided that instead of a review, I could interview her about the book and her writing in general. The Raconteur’s Commonplace Book was released February 23, and, unsurprisingly, it was very engaging and altogether wonderful. In it, strangers are trapped together at an inn, and as the blurb so eloquently puts it, “to pass the time, they begin to tell stories… that eventually reveal more about their own secrets than they intended.” Each story told in the tavern stands on its own, but an overarching story emerges from all of the tales, making the book feel like a short story collection where each short story indirectly contributes to the overarching one. It takes place in the 1930s, in the fictional city of Nagspeake, the same city in which Milford’s novel Greenglass House is set. In fact, in Greenglass House, the story’s main character Milo’s peaceful winter vacation comes abruptly to an end when unexpected guests start arriving at his parents’ inn. One of these strange guests has with her an old book which Milo ends up reading and the book even ends up driving some of Greenglass House’s plot. This book within a book is The Raconteur’s Commonplace Book, which readers can finally read for themselves. Below is a lightly edited version of my Q&A with the author Kate Milford. Sita Welt: Why did you decide to write “The Hollow-Ware Man” [the tale told by Sangwin] in verse? Kate Milford: It was actually one of the first stories I wrote for the book–I think the first three were “The Yankee Peddlers,” “The Devil and the Scavenger,” and then “The Hollow-ware Man.” I wrote the first draft of it back in 2014, when I thought I would be self-publishing The Raconteur’s Commonplace Book. I *think* my thinking at the time was that I wanted to write something that would be as haunting as the idea of this character was for me, and I love ominous old poems and ballads. Plus, since one of the things I wanted to do with Raconteur’s was represent a wide variety of different types of folklore, it would’ve been a bit of an omission not to have included something like a poem or a ballad. (In my head, I imagine there’s traditional music for it somewhere in Nagspeake.) But if I’m honest, I don’t think I was thinking about all that exactly, when I first sat down to write the poem. It was something I thought about later–that I wanted riddles and trickster tales and some form of fortune-telling, etcetera, and how nice that I already had something in verse. SW: Where did the idea of “old iron” come from? Why is old iron such a big part of your stories? [“Old iron” is a magical, self-aware iron in the books] KM: I began writing about Nagspeake’s self-aware ironmongery even before I had the first idea for a book set in the city. It was one of the earliest things I knew about Nagspeake. I actually don’t know why I started in with the self-aware iron in the first place, except I’ve always loved the way ironwork can take damage over the years that makes it look like plants growing at odd angles–like you’ve caught a fence or a railing mid-motion, and it’s frozen in place until you turn your back again. There really wasn’t a reason for it to make an appearance in Greenglass House, so it didn’t; however the iron is also why Nagspeake’s locally-made glass has the green tint that gives the house its name–iron oxide can give glass a greenish hue. But it turns up in the other books set in the city, building to what we see in The Thief Knot and The Raconteur’s Commonplace Book. Over time, it sort of became a character, in a sense. SW: Where did names like Trigemine, Alphonsus, Pantin, etc., come from? KM: Oh, I collect names from all sorts of places! I keep a notebook of names I like and words that I think might make interesting names. Old-fashioned words, obsolete words… right now there’s a tab open on my browser with a list of like a hundred types of seaweeds that I’ve been using for names in a current project. Sometimes if I know something about a character, I’ll pick a word or phrase that has a connection to them, then I’ll look up synonyms, etymology, history, etc., until I find something that sounds like a possible moniker. And sometimes I invent patterns to help me find names, mostly as a game to amuse myself. When I wrote the first draft of the story about the Yankee Peddlers, I gave them all names that were to do with the body. Trigemine, also a peddler, got his name from a body part, the trigeminal nerve. Sangwin’s name fits that pattern too, if you say it out loud. I didn’t invent the ‘Alphonsus,’ but his last name (being a Yankee Peddler) is Lung. Pantin means puppet in French, though I had to look it up just now to remember. The Haypottens got their surname from the word hypotenuse. I love finding names. Coming up with all the names for the different types of fire in “The Reckoning” was some of the best fun I had while writing this book. SW: I noticed that some of your stories seem to have a very eerie feel to them which gives them a very unique tone for a children’s book. Why did you decide to incorporate this into your writing and how did you manage that? KM: It’s just what I like, I guess! I’m a little like Mrs. Haypotten, trying to tell a cheery story to Maisie and
Young Adult Author Interviews
Author Interview: James Ponti, author of the City Spies books, speaks with blogger Thee
Editor’s Note: Recently, Stone Soup blogger Thee Sim Ling reached out to us to ask if she could arrange an interview with one of her favorite authors, James Ponti. Luckily, the bestselling author of the City Spies series generously agreed! Below is their conversation, where they discuss writing about different cultures, literary influences, favorite characters, and more. Thee Sim Ling: I read that a vacation in Europe first inspired you to write this series on juvenile secret agents. How did that tiny idea develop into City Spies? James Ponti: My wife and I went to visit our son who was studying in England for the year. We went to London and Paris and had the best time. Everything about the cities was exciting and it made me want to write an international story with kids from around the world. I also wanted to set it in great cities on different continents. The first part I came up with was give the spies code names based on the cities they were from and it just grew from that. The first thing I figure out when I write them is what cities will be in this story. TSL: What authors or books have had the greatest influence on your writing, especially for this book? JP: When I was growing up, my favorite book was From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg. That book as well as her others has always influenced my writing. I also loved Donald J. Sobol’s Encyclopedia Brown books. Currently there are many great spy and mystery writers who influence me. A good friend of mine is Stuart Gibbs, whose Spy School books are hugely popular. Stuart’s been very inspirational for me. TSL: In every single one of your books, you are able to create dynamic characters with distinct personalities, making them so real that they almost seem to leap off the page. Not only that, but you also are able to have them interact with each other in an authentic way. This is really crucial for your stories, which often require characters to work together as a team. What’s your secret? JP: First of all, that is so incredibly nice of you to say. Even though the plots of my books are on the unbelievable side (zombie hunters, a 12-year old consultant for the FBI, and a team of teen and tween MI6 agents), it is my main goal for the characters to be totally believable and for their relationships to feel like the relationships of the readers. I think without that the stories don’t work. I also try to give them a mixture of strengths and weaknesses, insecurities and confidences. TSL: You always seem to choose the best names for your stories. (Omega, T.O.A.S.T., Mother etc.) How do you come up with them? JP: I really wish there was an answer for this. Sometimes names come easy – both Omega and T.O.A.S.T. are examples of things that came instantly. With T.O.A.S.T. that was crucial. If Florian and Margaret did everything they do in the books exactly the same way, but didn’t have a name for the skill they developed, I think the books would be only half as popular. Having something to lock onto is important. Unfortunately, many times titles and names take forever and there’s no set pattern to developing them. You just have to keep trying until something sounds right. TSL: Of the five city spies, who is your personal favorite: Sara (Brooklyn), Solomon (Paris), João (Rio), Amita (Kat), or Olivia (Sydney)? Why? JP: I do not have a favorite. I think if I did, they would suffer on the page because I’d give better stuff to my favorite. As it is now, I find myself saying things like, “Rio didn’t get enough, let’s come up with something good for him.” I will say that it started with Brooklyn, because that’s where the story started and I had a vision of her first, but the others quickly developed. Instead a favorite character, I have favorite character traits to write. For example, I love to write the moments where Kat displays her incredible reasoning or the parts that really showcase Sydney’s sense of humor. TSL: How similar or different was writing City Spies, set all across the world, compared to writing Dead City, set in New York City, and Framed!, set in Washington D.C.? JP: I do a ton of research with regard to setting for all of my books. I think it’s such an important part to make the story come to life. For Dead City and Framed! this was easy because I’ve been to New York and Washington so many times that I could give you a tour and you’d think I had lived there are one time or another. For City Spies this is much more a challenge. I’ve been to all the places in the first two books except for one (there are a couple chapters in book 2 set in Oxford and I’ve not been there yet, so I had to talk to people who went to college there), but as I start writing book 3 I am going to have to branch out and that’s coming to make it harder, but also more fun in a way. The really upsetting part is that Covid has made travel so difficult I can’t go do in person research. TSL: I have noticed that as you were born in Italy, you often feature your Italian culture in your books. The narrators in your first two trilogies both have Italian heritage. Why is your Italian heritage very important to you in your books? JP: I don’t think it’s important for them to have Italian heritage, although I like that. I do, however, think it’s essential for them to have heritage of some type. It’s easy for me to write Italian because that’s my experience and
Author Interview: Damian Dibben, author The History Keepers, talks to blogger Madeline Sornson
Recently Stone Soup blogger and book reviewer Madeline Sornson had the opportunity to read The History Keepers by Damian Dibben, and ask the author some questions about the book, research, and his writing process. Read their conversation below. MS: How did you come up with the idea for The History Keepers? DD: Growing up, I loved two things. Firstly, history, with its epic sweep, colour and darkness, and its incredible characters. And I loved adventure stories, classic books like the Narnia series and films such as Indiana Jones and James Bond – with their similar casts of heroes and villains, exotic locations, mysteries and romance. I knew one day I wanted one day to write my own series. I was reading a picture book with my nephew about the history of all civilizations and how they linked together, from Ancient Egypt and China; from Roman to the Renaissance. I thought that history itself, would be the most amazing place in which to set my series. Everyone likes imagining escaping to the past. Once the story had begun to set in my head, it was a question of researching the periods so that I could really bring them to life and make the reader feel they are really there. MS: Did you always know you wanted to be a writer? If not, what did you want to do when you grew up as a child? DD: I never thought I’d become a writer. Although I loved stories, more than anything, I was only moderately good at English at school. I was much better with anything that was visual, in particular art, design, film and theatre. I used to put on plays and make short films. I then trained in scenic design, became an actor for a while and, through a series of chances, started writing screenplays for movies. I realised I’d been writing all along, since I was young in fact. I don’t see it as a ‘literary’ pursuit, just the means by which you do absolute justice to an image, scene or character that’s in your head. With all this said, if I hadn’t have become a novelist, I would have loved, for obvious reasons, to have been an archaeologist or an explorer. MS: How do you feel when you finally finish a book? DD: Excited and very content, as if I’ve just polished off a delicious ten course meal. I’m usually in the mood to throw a party. MS: What do you think is the hardest thing about writing? DD: I talk about the easiest parts first. For me, these are at the beginning and the end of working on a book. The beginning is all about research and forming ideas and I find this thrilling, how the story grows organically in my mind, from tiny seeds until it has almost fully taken shape and the arc of each character has fallen into place. The end is satisfying too, tidying up, and signing off on artwork. Luxury jobs! So the hardest part is the long stretch in the middle, particularly the first draft. I liken the process to carving a sculpture out of marble or wood. Exciting to have the concept and do the first sketches, exciting to almost finish – and in the middle a very large amount of difficult, sometimes grinding work. MS: How did you develop the series? (did you plan it all out or piece it together as you went?) DD: I had an idea of how the larger, emotional story was going to play out over the series, particularly with regards to Jake’s family. (The first book starts with his mother and father being lost in history). I knew also that I would be travelling to ancient Rome in the second book, after Renaissance Europe in the first. Some of the other elements, and indeed characters, fell into place as I was writing. I carried on plotting throughout. There is supposed to be a fourth book, probably set in Ancient Egypt, but I am waiting for the go-ahead from the publishers, whilst I finish off two new books not connected with The History Keepers. MS: Do you have a favorite character in the History Keepers series? If you do, why is he/she your favorite? If you do not, why is that? DD: It’s incredibly hard to pick as I developed a bond with all the characters over the years, even some of the nasty ones. In a way, Jake is the closest one to myself (I felt very like him when I was fourteen!) so I’ll chose one of his friends. Nathan always makes me laugh and he’s only vain on the surface. Underneath, even in the first book but increasingly throughout, he has many noble qualities. Like all the History Keepers, he’s incredibly brave, faithful and dependable – and when a situation requires him to be serious, there is no one more decisive. Perhaps more than any though, I love Charlie, his dry wit, can-do attitude, love of food and kaleidoscopic mind. A picture of the author MS: Did you enjoy your research for these books? Was it difficult? DD: I love research and of course it’s a vital part of writing books like the History Keepers. I like to know the facts, what a place would sound like, feel like, smell like; what it would be like to arrive on a ship, on a dark night, into Venice during the Renaissance or come into Circus Maximus on a sweltering day in ancient Rome and witness a hundred and fifty thousand people (double the size of Wembley Stadium) cheering on the charioteers. I start off by reading kids encyclopedias (they often paint more enticing and vivid picture) then I go into more depth, often at the British Library. I like to travel to the country too. I went to Rome for a month to research Circus Maximus and could have walked around the Forum blind I’d done so much research beforehand! The
