Today I welcome Susan Abel Sullivan to Best Dog Books, a blog that features interviews with authors who’ve written a canine story for kids or young adults.

AOB: What is the title of your book? Pub date and publisher? Genre? Targeted age group? Illustrator?

The Weredog Whisperer

December 31,2013, World Weaver Press

Paranormal Mystery

Target age: adult, although middle grade and teens may enjoy the three teenaged characters in the book

AOB: Who is your key dog character(s) and what kind of dog is he/she? Feel free to list as many different breeds or mixes as necessary. Tell us a little more about him/her.

Luna is a white American pit bull terrier.  Bertram and Cleo Tidwell adopt her from the animal shelter as a trail run for having a baby.  She’s about a year old.  Everyone loves Luna.  She’s an easy going, fun loving dog and is based on my real-life pit bull, Moxie.

AOB: In 70 words or less, provide a succinct plot description of your story.

The Tidwells might have adopted a pit bull as a test-run for having a baby, but had no idea that they’d wind up with an instant were-daughter when their dog is bitten by a weredog while on a spring break vacation to the Florida Gulf Coast. The Tidwells’ trip has gone to the dogs as they jump through hoops to protect their unexpected new daughter from a dog-eat-dog world.

Praise for The Weredog Whisperer

“Fun, quirky, suspenseful, and outrageous — this paranormal adventure will have you laughing, gasping, and turning the pages.”
—Jeanne Cavelos, best-selling author of The Passing of the Techno-Mages

“If The Weredog Whisperer doesn’t have you busting a gut then your sense of humor has definitely gone… well, you know the rest.”
—Scott Barnes, NewMyths.com

“The Weredog Whisperer is LOL funny… Whether readers are from the southside of Dee-troit or south of the Mississippi, Sullivan’s true Southern humor and charm are sure to appeal to them all.”
—Michelle Lowery Combs, award-winning author of Heir to the Lamp and the forthcomingSolomon’s Bell

“Cleo Tidwell’s wacky adventures rank right up there with Stephanie Plum’s and Sookie Stackhouse’s; what fun to enter the world of author Susan Abel Sullivan’s novels!”
—Barbara Rowell, Director Jacksonville (AL) Public Library

“Even better than the first! The Weredog Whisperer puts Cleo Tidwell firmly on my must-read-her-next-adventure list.”
—Jeep Diva Reviews

“The Weredog Whisperer is a delightful, fun-filled fantasy! Engaging, humorous, and full of surprises.”
—Beth Duke, Author of Delaney’s People and Don’t Shoot Your Mule

To see my “dream cast” for the novel, visit Heidi Ruby Miller’s Cast Your Characters”.  

AOB: What inspired you to write this story?

I wanted to try a fun and funny twist on the werewolf story and wound up with silly weredogs like a Chinese crested, Jack Russell terrier, and a basenji, as well as weresharks, a weregator, and a were-killer-whale.  And since my dogs are like my children, I wondered what it would be like if my dog turned into a teenager during the three nights of the full moon.

AOB: What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?

I don’t outline my discovery drafts.  I hit a snag in Act III when the plot delved into dog fighting.  There’s really nothing funny about dog fighting.  After a few false starts, I came up with a new direction that was both suspenseful and funny involving a couple of crazy weresharks.

AOB: What other YA/MG books have you written? Do any of them feature a key dog character? If so, which ones?

What are these stories about?

I have a couple of short story collections that are for YA/MG. Cursed: Wickedly Fun Stories and Fried Zombie Dee-light! Ghoulish, Ghostly Tales. The latter has a story, “Finding the Way Home” about a ghost dog.

AOB: What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it about a dog? If so, what is it about?

Luna the pit bull turned were-daughter will show up in my next Cleo Tidwell paranormal mystery, working title: Top Vampire Chef.  I’m also working on a YA series—The Simon Sylvestri School for the Supernaturally Challenged—that has a weredog character named Louie.

AOB: What else would you like us to know about you or your story?

The Weredog Whisperer takes place on the Florida Gulf Coast and my family moved to Pensacola, FL when I was eleven, so I’m very familiar with the area and had a great time setting a novel there. There’s even a flying saucer house in the book that was inspired by a very real flying saucer house on Pensacola Beach.

AOB: Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? And why?

The Annotated Dracula by Bram Stoker. Not only did I fall in love with Stoker’s novel, but Leonard Wolfe did an exceptional job with the fascinating annotations about Transylvania and Victorian England.

AOB: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Learn how to write well before worrying about getting published. Join a writers’ group and attend well-reviewed writing workshops.  I’m a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop for speculative fiction and it was the best thing I ever did for myself. http://www.sff.net/odyssey/

Learn more  about Susan Abel Sullivan on her web page and follow her on Facebook or Twitter. 

Thank you, Susan Abel Sullivan, for joining us at Best Dog Books!

For other great books about dogs, check out 101 Best Dog Books for Kids.

For published authors and unpublished authors, check out our writing contests.

The Writing Process Blog Tour is spinning a web through the community of children’s book writers, catching two new authors with every post!

Lisa Doan, fellow Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) alum and author of the middle grade series The Berenson Schemes, tagged me. Find her responses here.

And here are mine:

What am I currently working on? 
I am currently revising a story set in Thailand about a girl named Tida who is sold to a brothel by her uncle, but learns to use her village weaving skills to buy back her freedom. Tida’s story is inspired by what I saw in Thailand and other developing countries where I worked or spent significant time. It is primarily born out of my fear for girls like Tida and what happens to them. I wanted to write a story that give them a voice and lets them be heard. I also wanted one girl to fight the odds and figure a way out. That is how Tida came into my dreams and eventually landed on the page. I have a fairly clean draft completed, but want to go through it one more time before I send it to Erin Clarke, my editor at Knopf. While she’s reading it, I plan to complete the companion story to Lara’s Gift.

How does my work differ from others of its genre? 
That’s a good question. All of my stories are set overseas in places where I have lived or worked for a good chunk of time. Most, if not all, of my stories will likely include a key canine character. For me dogs and kids go hand in hand. Most of my childhood memories feature a dog front and center. My stories will likely always feature a strong female character who becomes empowered by the obstacles she faces and overcomes.

Why do I write what I write? 
When I was a kid, I enjoyed reading and learning about kids my age in other countries. As I got older, I looked for books set outside of the United States because I was very curious about the world and other cultures. It was often hard for me to find this kind of book so I vowed in high school that I would one day write the kind of book that I would have wanted to read as a kid. And I’m very grateful that Erin Clarke made my dream possible by publishing Lara’s Gift which is set in Imperial Russia about a girl who learns to fight for what she believes is right for her and in so doing finds a way to follow her heart.

How does my individual writing process work?

Some of the best advice I got while I was a MFA student at the Vermont College of Fine Arts was from Marion Dane Bauer. She shared the five questions she asks herself before she starts writing a story with me and they’ve been my north star ever since. The questions include:

1)      Who is my main character?

2)      What does my main character want?

3)      What stands in my main character’s way?

4)      What is the inciting incident, ie the moment that sets the story in motion?

5)      What is the climax, ie the highest point of tension in the story?

If I don’t have answers to these questions, then I know that I don’t have a story arc and keep plugging away until I do. Once I nail down the critical plot points [inciting incident and climax], I get a poster board and map it out. I work out the scenes between these two points until I feel confident there is a strong “cause and effect” linking the scene that follows.

My first drafts read much like a screenplay in that I’ve got lots of action and dialogue. I call this the skeleton of my story. The frame holding up the story must be solid before I start layering the skeleton with details that evoke the five senses. I find this process of identifying my critical plot points works best for me and allows me to stay focused on my story. I am not big on outlining because I like to let my characters show me the way through the story. And in the process I find I am always surprised. If I knew everything that was coming, I would probably grow bored with my story and never finish writing it.

So that’s me.

I’m tagging one more author, another VCFA alum and friend, Stacy Nyikos who’ll be sharing her answers with you on Monday, May 19, 2014, so be sure to visit Stacy Nyikos’ blog!

Meet the fabulous, witty, brilliant award-winning author, Stacy Nyikos!! She is the author of numerous books for children. Her upcoming releases are Toby, the adventures of a curious little sea turtle as he follows his heartsong from egg to ocean, and Waggers, a new puppy who tries to be good – he tries really hard!  – but his tail gets in the way. Stacy holds an MFA in writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. When she isn’t chasing stories (or being chased by them), she’s on adventures with her daughters and their dog in the wilds of Oklahoma.

One of my favorite picture books as a kid was Harry the Dirty Dog. It’s the one childhood picture book I easily recall from start to finish and one I can read over and over again. This is the story of Harry, a dog who hates his bath. He hates it so much that he buries his scrub brush in the yard and runs away! He gets so dirty on his adventure about the town that he turns from a white dog with black spots into a black dog with white spots. When he starts to miss his family and arrives home, they don’t recognize him! This is the very point in the story that drops me back into the emotional state of a child fearing that Harry will never be reunited. I was so caught up in Harry’s world, I was actually really scared that his family would never recognize him. [Semi-spolier alert] Because Harry is so clever, he figures out a way [I wont say exactly how, you’ll have to read the book to find out.] to show his family that it is really him underneath all the dirt. This moment is so well done in such a “less-is-more-kind-of-gesture,” I am again planted back into my childhood feeling the happiness of their reunion. It’s the books that make us feel our way through story that we love so dearly and Harry the Dirty Dog is certainly one of these books.

Harry the Dirty Dog is bound to delight every child, but will surely hit home with kids who share Harry’s sentiment about taking baths!

From Random House: Gene Zion was born on October 5, in 1913. He attended the New School of Social Research and the Pratt Institute. In 1948, he married artist Margaret Bloy Graham, who then collaborated with him on all his picture books. When their marriage ended in 1968, Zion also ended his career as an author. Zion is best known for his creation of the rascally dog, Harry, who appears in such books as Harry The Dirty Dog, No Roses for Harry, Harry by the Sea, and Harry and the Lady Next Door. He died in 1975.

School Library Journal (Elizabeth Bird*) puts Harry the Dirty Dog at #43 in its top 100 picture books.

*About Elizabeth Bird

Elizabeth Bird is currently New York Public Library’s Youth Materials Collections Specialist. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she’d love to tell you about but that she’s sure you’d find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of NYPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

Here’s a true treat! Listen to Betty White read Harry the Dirty Dog.

For other great books about dogs, check out 101 Best Dog Books for Kids.

For published authors and unpublished authors, check out our writing contests.

Today I welcome Susan Hughes to Best Dog Books, a blog that features interviews with authors who’ve written a canine story for kids or young adults.

AOB: What is the title of your book? Pub date and publisher? Genre? Targeted age group? Illustrator?

Bailey’s Visit: #1 The Puppy Collection, March 2014, Scholastic Canada, fiction, ages 7-9, illus: Leanne Franson

AOB: Who is your key dog character(s) and what kind of dog is he/she? Feel free to list as many different breeds or mixes as necessary. Tell us a little more about him/her.

Bailey is an eight-week-old chocolate Labrador retriever puppy with green eyes. He loves to play. He has two speeds: full speed and full stop! Sometimes the roly-poly puppy goes so fast that he loses his balance and does a somersault, head over tail.

AOB: In 70 words or less, provide a succinct plot description of your story.

Kat and her best friend Maya are dog-crazy. They can’t have dogs of their own, so they are excited when Kat’s aunt opens a dog-grooming salon. Not only that but Aunt Jenn has a special guest, 8-week-old Bailey is board with her for three days. When the girls meet the chocolate lab it’s love at first sight. Can they convince Aunt Jenn to let them help out?

AOB: Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? And why?

When I was a girl, I used to read and read and read. (I still do!) When I was young, I read every book about dogs and horses in our school library and then in our local public library. My favourites were Old Yeller, Irish Red, Black Beauty, the My Friend Flicka series, Misty of Chincoteague, King of the Wind, and all of Marguerite Henry’s other horse books. My dad read me  The Secret Garden, so I have a special place for it in my heart.

AOB: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Read, read, read! Also, to become a writer, you have to write. You won’t always feel like it, but do it anyway, on a regular basis. Be disciplined. Once you’ve “finished” a manuscript, set it aside for a time, and then come back to it. Reread and revise and repeat!

AOB: Where can readers go to find out more information about you and/or your books?

Web page

Twitter

Thank you Susan Hughes for joining us at Best Dog Books!

For other great books about dogs, check out 101 Best Dog Books for Kids.

For published authors and unpublished authors, check out our writing contests.

Today I welcome Tracy Weber to Best Dog Books, a blog that features interviews with authors who’ve written a canine story for kids or young adults.

AOB: What is the title of your book? Pub date and publisher? Genre? Targeted age group? Illustrator?

• Murder Strikes a Pose, published January 8, 2014 by Midnight Ink. Appropriate for ages 12 and up, but targeted to adults and teens.

AOB: Who is your key dog character(s) and what kind of dog is he/she? Feel free to list as many different breeds or mixes as necessary. Tell us a little more about him/her.

• Bella is an 18-month old purebred German shepherd. She belonged to a homeless man named George, who “rescued” her from an abusive family. Bella is huge, unruly, loyal, and loving. She suffers from a rare digestive disorder called EPI.

AOB: In 70 words or less, provide a succinct plot description of your story.

• George—a homeless alcoholic—is murdered outside Kate Davidson’s yoga studio, leaving his intimidating German shepherd, Bella, alone. Kate digs into George’s past to catch the killer while she looks for a new home for Bella, before Animal Control sends her to the big doghouse in the sky. With the murderer nipping at her heels, Kate will have to work fast, or her next Corpse Pose may be for real.

Links to reviews or blurbs  (Blurbs under the book’s description.)

• Publisher’s Weekly

AOB: What inspired you to write this story?

I love dogs—so much so that my husband has nicknamed me the “creepy puppy lady.” I adore my own dog to a fault, even though she’s no Rin Tin Tin. I’ve read cozies since long before I knew there was a genre by that name. And my lifework is yoga. My mystery series was like a stew that had been slow cooking inside of me for years.

The one day, while trying to distract myself from a grueling workout, a passage in Susan Conant’s Black Ribbon made me burst into laughter. I knew I’d found my author soul mate. I jumped off the exercise bike, ran home, got online, and proceeded to buy every book she had ever written. While I was at it, I stumbled across a site about cozy mysteries. http://cozy-mystery.com/

That’s all it took.

I began to wonder, what would happen if a yoga teacher with a crazy dog like mine got mixed up in murder? And if she did, could I write about it? A feisty yoga teacher named Kate Davidson popped into my head a few days later. She insisted that I tell the story of how she found the love of her life—a German shepherd named Bella—while solving the murder of her homeless friend, George. She promised me that her story was both entertaining and important. Kate is one stubborn woman. She refused to leave, no matter how much I begged her to. I had no choice but to give in.

AOB: What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?

• Self doubt. I’d never written so much as a short story before I sat down one day to write a novel. I had no idea if I’d ever be able to finish it, much less sell it. I overcame those fears by telling people about the book. Their enthusiasm and support kept me going. Basically, my yoga students and friends believed in me more than I believed in myself!

AOB: What other YA/MG books have you written? Do any of them feature a key dog character? If so, which ones?  What are these stories about?

• Murder Strikes a Pose is my first novel.

AOB: What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it about a dog? If so, what is it about?

• My next book will be the second installment in the Downward Dog Mysteries series, tentatively titled A Killer Retreat. It stars Kate, Bella, and a new canine character, a Jack Russell Terrier named Bandit.

AOB: What else would you like us to know about you or your story?

• I would categorize Murder Strikes a Pose as a happily-ever-after, human-animal love story. Although the book is ostensibly a murder mystery, the true story is about Kate’s growing love for Bella and how Bella saves Kate from herself. The story also highlights the issues of both human and animal homelessness in a real, relatable way.

• The series is a personal tribute to my own special-needs German shepherd, Tasha. She is the love of my life.

AOB: Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? And why?

• Books have been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. Honestly, there isn’t any single book that stands out more than the others, but I’ve been a voracious reader since I was six. Reading has transported me to places I’ll never be able to go in real life while teaching me about a world much larger than Billings, Montana, where I grew up.

AOB: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

• Don’t give up! Writing is in many ways a brutal business. You slave over your work, never knowing if it will get published, much less read. You fall in love with your characters. Then, once you are published, your work is on display to the world for strangers to both praise and criticize in public. Dealing with that is all part of the job. Writers are some of the kindest people I know. Reach out to them. They will help you.

AOB: Where can readers go to find out more information about you and/or your books?

• Web page

• Facebook

• Twitter

Thank you Tracy Weber for joining us at Best Dog Books!

For other great books about dogs, check out 101 Best Dog Books for Kids.

For published authors and unpublished authors, check out our writing contests.