An Interview with Pat McCarthy - Children's Author

Pat McCarthy has written more than twelve non-fiction children's books. Her newest, "Heading West: :Life with the Pioneers" is now available on Amazon.com. Pat's love for nature, photography and history inspire her to share this love with her readers. Pat McCarthy is also and expert author at Ezinearticles.com Please welcome Pat McCarthy to Carma's Window.

Q: Hello Pat, I understand you write mostly non-fiction for children. Your newest book, “Heading West: Life with the Pioneers” is about pioneer children and their families who traveled in covered wagons. Is this story about a particular group? What time period does this story cover?

Pat: No, the book is not about a particular group. It pretty much covers the whole pioneer era, which was mainly the 1800s, especially the last half of the century.

Q: What types of activities did you include in “Heading West”?

Pat: I tried to balance the activities, including crafts, writing activities, games, and recipes. They include making a model of a cabin, pretending you're on the Oregon Trail and writing a letter back home, playing Blind Man's Bluff and making cornbread and butter.

Q: I see that you have written biographies of Henry David Thoreau, Abigail Adams and so on. What is the most difficult thing about writing on the subject of these historical figures? You say biographies are your favorite. Tell us why.

Pat: Probably the most difficult thing about writing biographies is sifting through all the information available and trying to decide what is true. Well, we all like talking about people and hearing about what people are doing, so I guess I like learning about a person's life. It seems like everyone is interesting when you find out more about his or her life. I'm always looking for little tidbits that I think kids will like.

Q: What are your writing habits? Do you work on an outline before starting the actual story?

Pat: I work best under pressure, so I work a lot harder as the deadline comes closer. This isn't necessarily a GOOD thing, so I wouldn't recommend it! I definitely do an outline first. I have to do one in order to get a proposal approved, but I would anyway. I do a very complete outline of each chapter, and once I plug all the info into the outline, the chapter seems to write itself.

Q: I have heard that many publishers do not encourage authors to contribute any art work or photographs with their submissions. You are an avid photographer. Do you supply your own pictures for your books?

Pat: The publishers I have worked for not only encourage, but REQUIRE the authors to provide the photos for the books. I took about half the pictures for the pioneer book. Some are stock photos of famous people and many are old ones from the Library of Congress that are out of copyright or were never copyrighted. I think this is much more common with nonfiction than with fiction, where they definitely don't want you to provide illustrations unless you are a professional illustrator.

Q: Which element of writing comes more naturally for you—plot, characterization, description, dialogue? Which one gives you the hardest time?

Pat: I write mostly nonfiction, so plot and dialogue don't really apply. The plot is already there - I just have to discover it. And in true nonfiction, there isn't dialogue unless you're writing an autobiography, where you were there to hear the conversations. When I'm writing fiction, dialogue comes easily for me. Trying to get the plot to all work together is the hardest.

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring children’s writers who are trying to break into the field?

Pat: Don't give up. Perseverance is more important than talent, but it helps to have both.

Q: Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? What seems to work for unleashing your creativity?

Pat: I don't really have writer's block. There are times when I don't feel like writing, but I don't think that's exactly the same thing. And a looming deadline does wonders to cure it!

Q: What type of book promotion seems to work best for you?

Pat: There wasn't a lot I could do to promote my other books, as they were sold to schools and libraries. I'm hoping to have more book signings and to do lots of school visits with this book. I also am working on a website. I'm on Facebook and have a Blog.

Q: What future goals or projects are in the works?

Pat: I'm working on a proposal for another book for Chicago Review Press. I do have a mid grade novel that I'm sending out, but no bites so far.

Q: Where can readers learn more about you and your books?

Pat: They can look at my Blog, which can be found at www.patmccarthysauthorblog.blogspot.com When I get it set up, my website will be www.authorpatmccarthy.com I'm hoping to have it up early in August.

Thank you so much Pat for taking the time to answer my questions.

Carma

Wounded Knee - A Story of Two Proud Cultures

Wounded Knee
Author Neil Waldman
Reading level: Young Adult 8 – 12 years
Hardcover: 64 pages
Publisher: Atheneum; 1st edition (April 3, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0689825595
ISBN-13: 978-0689825590

Neil Waldman writes the account of Wounded Knee for the young reader in a way they can understand historical chronological detail without being bored. Waldman expertly weaves a story of historical facts that reads like an action filled fiction novel. In addition, Waldman's distinctive illustrations add texture to this factual account. Many of the paintings are based on well-known early photographs from the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress collections.

The story of Wounded Knee sheds light on why two cultures and two warring nations battle to preserve their own way of life. Author, Neil Waldman handles the violent and heart wrenching events between the American government, white settlers and Indian tribes who lived around the Black Hills of South Dakota in a factual and balanced way. Waldman’s account cannot change the facts on either side but he does bring to light the cultural misunderstandings, journalistic rampages of the press and unintentional as well as intentional betrayals.

Waldman puts the reader in the shoes of Black Elk as he races to the top of a high ridge overlooking Wounded Knee Creek with a vivid description of the massacre on the morning of December 29, 1890.

Then suddenly, a volley of gunfire erupted in the distant hills to the east, and Black Elk froze.
“The sounds went right through my body,” he would say later, “and I felt that something terrible would happen.”

Waldman points out that potential for conflict had been brewing for centuries. For more than 400 years white settlers had been filling the east coast with cities, villages and farms. About a thousand miles away the seven warrior tribes of the Lakota had also been living for many generations in an area that stretched from Missouri to Wyoming. Both sides had a sense of possession for the land and both disagreed on what that meant.

Writing historical non-fiction is not easy just because “plot” and characters are already formed. In fact it is more difficult because with fiction you can make up anything (almost) to move the story along. It has been said that “truth is stranger than fiction” but maybe we should say that “truth is more difficult to write than fiction”.

There is also historical fiction. This means that the story has truthful facts but may have fictional characters. For more information on the difference between the two and advice on how to write historical fiction or non-fiction, visit the sites below.

Visit Lila Guzman who writes non-fiction and historical fiction
Suzanne Lieurance. A writing coach for fiction and non-fiction
Eleven tips for writing non-fiction for kids by Fiona Bayrock
Creative non fiction by Susan Taylor Brown
On Writing Non fiction for Children by Lindsay Mannell


Write it down,
Carma