by Sam Krol
Sam fell in love with The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom.
Click on the link, please, and read the first page. You'll see why. Since his twin, Victoria got to interview Richard Peck, Sam asked if he could interview Christopher Healy.
Christopher said Yes.
Here is the Interview
Sam Krol |
None are completely based on people I know, but Princess Lila is based partly on my daughter, who, like Lila, considers herself a scientist, always asks a ton of questions, and often has one curl of hair falling into her eyes. And while my son is not an evil genius like Deeb Rauber, he does share a sense of humor with the Bandit King. As for the four princes… well, they all represent different parts of myself. When you put Liam, Frederic, Gustav, and Duncan together you get me: full of myself, afraid of everything, easily frustrated, and embarrassingly weird.
Sam Krol |
Christopher Healy |
Sam Kro |
How many other books have you written?
Christopher Healy |
After The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, there The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle and The Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw, which comes out in May. I’m working on a new book now that is not part of the same series, but has just as many words in the title.
Sam Krol |
How long did it take you to write this book?
Christopher Healy |
It took me over a year to write the
first Hero’s Guide book, but less to write the others. That’s partly because, with the first book, I had to figure out everything—who the characters were, how they would act, what their world was like, and so on. That was some of the most time-consuming work—and it was already done by the time I sat down to write Books 2 & 3.
Plus, I learned to outline—you can write a lot faster when you’ve already decided what will happen in the story.
Sam Krol |
Christopher Healy |
Very hard. Writing is tough, tiring business. I’m getting exhausted just writing the answers to this interview. But it’s fun, too. And rewarding. And hard to avoid when you list your profession as “writer” on most questionnaires.
The hardest parts about writing are getting started (because there’s nothing scarier than a blank page) and finishing (because you can revise your work forever, so deciding when it’s good enough to stop can be an incredibly tough call to make).
Sam Krol |
When did you write this book?
Christopher Healy |
After breakfast, during lunch, and before dinner.
Sam Krol |
How did you come up with the idea of Prince Charming?
Christopher Healy |
Thankfully, I can say I didn’t come up with the idea of Prince
Charming—because Prince Charming is boooooooring.
It was some guys a few hundred years ago who said, “Hey, let’s invent a totally
lame royal guy with no personality and make him the hero of all our stories!” But
I’m glad they did, because if not for all those dull princes in old fairy
tales, I would never have had a reason to create my own, more interesting
versions.
For my character creation process, I read through a bunch of old fairy tales and thought up reasons for all the strange, unexplainable behavior in them. For instance, I asked myself why the prince in “Rapunzel” never tried to get a ladder; and that’s why Gustav is a less-than-genius guy who never thinks before he acts.
For my character creation process, I read through a bunch of old fairy tales and thought up reasons for all the strange, unexplainable behavior in them. For instance, I asked myself why the prince in “Rapunzel” never tried to get a ladder; and that’s why Gustav is a less-than-genius guy who never thinks before he acts.
Sam Krol |
Why is Frederick a scaredy cat
Christopher Healy |
His father tried to feed him to a circus tiger when he was young! Wouldn’t that turn you into a scaredy cat?
Sam Krol |
Did anybody help you write your book?
Christopher Healy |
But seriously, I get input from a lot of people as I write—my wife, my kids, a few close friends. I show them chapters as I go along, and ask for their opinions and suggestions. And then, of course, my editor at the publishing company reads through it all and offers his advice too.
But, mostly it’s the fairies.
Sam Krol |
Christopher Healy |
Chewbacca. Unfortunately I can’t use him in my books due to copyright reasons.
Sam Krol |
Christopher Healy |
Sam Krol |
Did you take breaks while you wrote your book?
Christopher Healy |
The Management would like to thank Christopher and Sam for this interview. Currently Sam is devouring Book two, The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle.
His sister Victoria is urging him to hurry up.
Christopher's third book, The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw comes out April 29th and we all can't wait.
Oh, wow. Sam and Victoria have had some amazing experiences. Loved the interview! Love the book series idea, too. Sounds like great fun and I can hardly wait to read them! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteyou are welcome hope you enjoyed the interview
DeleteYou're welcome. Thanks for reading the interview.
DeleteSounds like a great book . It also sounds like it would have been a Fun book to illustrate KC:)
ReplyDeletethank you.
DeleteLove your interview, Sam. This book sounds like an awesome read.
ReplyDeleteAre you and your twin even now? Or is the "book interview" battle still raging?
Books for Kids - Skype Author School Visits
http://www.margotfinke.com
we are even know with interviews and thank you for the nice comment
DeleteGreat interview, Sam! Congratulations, Christopher! Loved your first book so much that I'm showcasing it in a presentation at the IL Reading Council Conference...
ReplyDeletethat's awesome thanks for the nice reply
DeleteSam tried to reply to all of you on his first MAC computer, but of course, mommy and daddy did such a good job controlling where he can go on the internet, that he couldn't get onto my own site. SO, tomorrow, he will work on my computer and reply to all of you. He was so excited. He's getting an award tomorrow in school for improving his academics and he's never been interested in writing, that was always Victoria, but this process has gotten him inspired and isn't that what we do as children's book authors? I am ever so grateful to all of you. Stay tuned. Hilde
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Sam's great interview with Mr. Healy, I'm hanging up my author interviewer shingle.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Foreign Correspondent in the Northern Hinderlands
awe lupe theirs room for both of us
DeleteWhat a super fun interview by an obviously intelligent reader, Sam, and a fantastic writer, Mr. Healy. I loved the questions and the answers and the photos. Plus, thanks for putting these books on our radar! :)
ReplyDeletethank you that was very nice of you to post something on our blog
DeleteFun interview - thanks all!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lee, My mom says we met once, but I don't remember. She says it was at the pool during the conference, but I was swimming I think. I couldn't reply sooner because I only get to use the computer when mom says I can. And today she was busy, so I wrote down what I wanted to say.
ReplyDelete(Mom is now typing it as per Sam).
Thanks for visiting my interview on her blog.
From Sam