Celebrity Corner
Author, Kate Klise
Kate Klise is an award-winning author of 20 books. Her works ranges from picture books to middle-grade novels to young adult contemporary fiction. Kate, who lives in Norwood, Missouri, spent fifteen years working as a correspondent for People magazine. She now leads writing workshops across the country for aspiring authors of all ages. For more information about Kate or her illustrator and sister Sarah, visit www.kateandsarahklise.com.
THE PHANTOM OF THE POST OFFICE
The letter-loving trio at Spence Mansion has something to grieve about—Ghastly’s post office is about to close, which will cut off their connection to their fans. A new invention called VEXT-mail is threatening to replace not only letters, but books, hair dryers, and even garage door openers! Could the mysterious occupant of P.O. Box 5 and his seemingly sinister plan save the doomed post office? Will he strike down Ghastly’s beloved ghostwriter in the process? In this fourth book in the award-winning 43 Old Cemetery Road series, eleven-year-old Seymour Hope and his new friend, Wy Fye, must solve this postmortem mystery . . . before it’s too late!
Questions Regarding THE PHANTOM OF THE POST OFFICE for Kate Klise:
What was your first book about and how old were you when you wrote it?
My first book was about a mouse who goes around the country stealing Cheetos. I was ten years old when I wrote it.
Do you use personal experiences to generate story ideas?
Yes! But I also use ideas from people and events all around me. I also find a lot of book ideas in the newspaper. The secret, I think, is to take a real experience, either your own or someone else’s, and then turn it up and notch or two.
You write a lot about death. Why?
Well, it’s the final chapter, the last page, the ultimate THE END waiting for all of us at the end of our stories, right? Maybe I write about death because it’s something I think about: How can I live my life in a way that makes me feel satisfied and content and not filled with regrets for the things I’ve done or not done when I’m at death’s door? I don’t really think of death as a scary thing, but I do think it’s part of every story, whether we want to think about it or not.
Who is your favorite character from all your books and why?
That’s a hard one! The truth is, I like a lot of my characters. When you’re a writer, it’s important to create characters you enjoy spending time with. Otherwise, it’d be like throwing a party for people you don’t want in your house, y’know? I always enjoy spending time with the ghost of Olive C. Spence from the 43 Old Cemetery Road series. I also like Florence Waters and Sam N from the Regarding series. And Daralynn Oakland from Grounded feels like a friend, too.
What is the process you follow for writing a book?
I usually make a page of notes for myself before I start a book, basically just to force myself to put the premise of the story down on paper. Most of my books begin with a problem, so often I begin by writing “What if . . . “ I don’t try to answer the question before I start writing the book. But I do like to know what I’m going to be exploring.
Besides you, who is your favorite children’s author?
Betty MacDonald. E.B. White. Roald Dahl. Polly Horvath. Richard Peck.
How much editing do you do? What do you look for when you edit?
I write the first drafts of my novels fast and furiously—usually in thirty days or so. Then I write six, seven, ten, twelve, sometimes fourteen drafts. For me, that’s the fun part. When I’m rewriting I either focus on the story or the language. When I’m working on the story, I ask myself these questions: Does the plot move along quickly enough? Is the ending fun and surprising. but does it also feel inevitable? Is there a big enough OH-NO moment at eight or nine o’clock in the story? On other drafts, I focus solely on the language. For some reason I can’t work on the plot and the language in the same rewrite.
How do you and your sister work together with writing and illustrating a story?
I usually hold off showing Sarah a story until I’m three or four drafts into it. Then I send it her, and she starts sketching the characters and selecting fonts. She usually waits to create the final illustrations until I get the text exactly how I want it. But I’m often tweaking the words until the very last minute. Writers are crazy that way. Or at least I am.
How did you get your first book published?
I could tell you how we got an agent and the business side of it. But I think the real story of how I got my first book published was that after ten years of writing lousy books and getting rejected by lots of publishers, I finally wrote a decent book called Regarding the Fountain. I could say that I wrote that book in a week, which I did, but I think it’s more honest to say I wrote the book in ten years plus one week. That’s something I try to remember: Nothing’s ever wasted.
Even when the writing’s not going well, you have to keep going. The bad stuff you write helps you write the better stuff down the road.
What is the best advice you have for aspiring young writers?
Read as much as you can and write books to give to your parents and grandparents for every holiday you can think of.