INTERVIEWING THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR

Leslie Connor is the author of several award-winning books for children, including THE TRUTH AS TOLD BY MASON BUTTLE, the 2019 winner of the ALA Schneider Family Book Award, WAITING FOR NORMAL, also a winner of the ALA Schneider Family Book Award, CRUNCH, MISS BRIDIE CHOSE A SHOVEL, and the young adult novels DEAD ON TOWN LINE and THE THINGS YOU KISS GOODBYE. She lives with her family in Connecticut.

We talk about:

-character development. Why it’s so important, how to do it, and when.

-how Leslie’s characters go deeper, and are so fully realized the reader feels like they know that person, leaving them sad to leave these people when done with the book.

-does Leslie think of the story first, or the character or characters?

-does she outline first, either mentally or physically?

-how to keep it straight when you write out of order.

-using verbal tics, like Mason’s “Tell you what…”

-revealing a character's learning disability through his language is a great “show don’t tell” method.
How does she tap into that without overdoing it?

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