January is jam-packed with terrific debut novels, and among these is
Bonnie Doerr's ISLAND STING. I'm excited to feature an interview with Bonnie as today's post.
Congratulations on the publication of your novel, ISLAND STING! I understand it's an "environmental mystery." Intriguing! Can you tell us a bit about the story and what inspired it?Thank you, Janet. I’m very excited about
ISLAND STING. It was a long time in the making. I can’t point to any single experience that inspired it, so I’ll share pieces that contributed to the whole.
From the time I was a small child nature was my place of worship, inspiration, and refuge. In grad school I majored in reading education, but briefly taught middle school science and loved doing so. I searched for fun, fast-paced novels to incorporate into the ecology curriculum and found very few. Fast forward a few years to my move to the Florida Keys. It’s impossible to ignore the human impact on these fragile islands and the water surrounding them. There I taught reading and study skills to college students, skills that can’t be taught independent of writing. My past and present collided, producing a revelation: I could write what I’d wished for years before.
The Florida Keys! What an exotic, beautiful place to set a story. Hundreds of acres of wildlife refuge surrounded me. The adorable endangered Key deer would be delightful subjects. There was a rich human success story in their survival. Wonderful science behind it. What mystery could surround them? How could teens get involved? Add a little danger, unique characters, a taste of the wild on land and sea. Shake it up and write it down.
How long have you been writing for children/teens? Have you written other books or is this your first effort?
I’ve been writing stories and poems for use in my lessons ever since I began teaching. (Thank you for not asking how long ago that was.) But I didn’t submit pieces to publishers until about twelve years ago. I’ve had a short story published and a novel for middle grades which was the predecessor to Island Sting, but was not marketed outside of the Florida Keys. So the publication of
ISLAND STING is a dream come true for me.
Can you describe your path to the publication of ISLAND STING?Long, painful, persistent, and finally lucky. Initially, a small, regional publisher believed in me, providing just enough confidence to last until I found a national one.
Do you have any advice for beginning writers?Study, study, study—every aspect of the craft. Develop a thick skin. Celebrate your rejection letters because each one brings you that much closer the one that says YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can you tell us something about your personal life – inspirations, plans for the future, goals, etc.?Inside I am still the little girl inspired by nature. A personal goal of mine involves travel. I’ve seen a great deal of the United States, and now I want to explore Ireland, Italy, and France. Then on to adventures in other foreign lands. Major goals are to inspire readers to become environmentally active like the Keys Teens Care members in
ISLAND STING and to appreciate and experience nature whenever and wherever they can.
Do you have any new writing ventures underway?I do. I’m polishing a second eco-mystery,
STAKEOUT, set in the Florida Keys. This mystery involves endangered sea turtles. It’s scheduled for release in 2011. I am also working on a new manuscript set in Key West, Florida, but this one is not heavily eco-oriented.
Do you have a website where readers can learn more about ISLAND STING? Yes, please visit
http://www.BonnieDoerrBooks.com where you can view videos of wildlife in the Keys, read an excerpt of
ISLAND STING, and find other interesting tidbits. There readers can also contact me about their green activities so I can share them on
http://www.bonnieblogsgreen.blogspot.com/Bonnie also has a book trailer for
ISLAND STING at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L54xiWa8IDc
I’ve been writing stories and poems for use in my lessons ever since I began teaching. (Thank you for not asking how long ago that was.) But I didn’t submit pieces to publishers until about twelve years ago. I’ve had a short story published and a novel for middle grades which was the predecessor to Island Sting, but was not marketed outside of the Florida Keys. So the publication of ISLAND STING is a dream come true for me. 
Joan Aiken, The Way to Write for Children. This little book is no longer out of print, I'm delighted to report. After I read it on loan from a friend, one of my advisors at Vermont College of Fine Arts found it on EBAY and made a gift of it to me (thank you, Sarah!). But you can now find it here. Simple, easy to read, and still fresh in outlook, this text is a fabulous introduction to children’s book writing.
Eve Heidi Bine-Stock, How to Write a Children’s Picture Book. If you want to write picture books, you really must read this craft book. Bine-Stock analyzes the story-arc structure of a large number of well-known picture books (which you also must read) and she makes it look almost easy. Which it is not. Which Joan Aiken (above) will clearly spell out.
Darcy Pattison, Novel Metamorphosis. I’ve raved about this one before. If you are revising a novel, pick up this book, available on order or on line. Walk through her exercises. You’ll learn a lot. Better yet, find out where she’s holding a workshop and take this book along with your manuscript – you’ll have a far better novel in the end.
Thomas McCormack, The Fiction Editor, the Novel, and the Novelist. Odd title, terrific book. This text takes a very different approach – McCormack comes from the editorial side and is speaking to editors. But as a writer, I learned what this talented man was searching for in a great literary work, and his idea of the “master-effect” (what you might call theme, although that’s a crass way of putting it) is nothing short of brilliant.
Francine Prose, Reading Like a Writer. If you want to be a writer, you must also be a reader. Prose tackles every aspect of writing but from the outside in. This is a dense and meaty book that took me a couple of weeks to read. I need to read it again. And I want to read each of her examples as I go.
We want to live fully, but our lives are held in a trap – maybe we are dead (THE LOVELY BONES) or maybe we’re vampires (ETERNAL.)
So I’ve been on a desire hunt. I’m trying not only to find out what my characters want, even when that desire is not safe (in fact, I’d like it to be at least as impossible and unsafe as Katniss’s desire is in THE HUNGER GAMES), but also trying to make my protagonist take risks to fulfill that desire.
