I met C. Alexander London purely by accident at my other middle-grade project (on Twitter), #MGlitchat.  But it’s no accident that I invited him to the blog today to talk about his Accidental Adventure series and celebrate the books by giving away copies of both.  The first book, WE ARE NOT EATEN BY YAKS, came out February 2011, and the second book in the series, WE DINE WITH CANNIBALS, releases this week.  Both books follow twin siblings Celia and Oliver Navel as they go on adventures throughout the world, though they aren’t happy about it.  They’d rather stay home and watch television instead.

C. Alexander is also an author of nonfiction for grown-ups (under the not-so-secret pseudonym, Charles).  In addition, he is a skeet-shooter, a SCUBA diver, and, most action-packed of all, a fully licensed librarian.

Welcome, C. Alexander!

The Navel twins spend most of both books not at home in front of the television, which is where they’d rather be.  Are you a TV watcher? 

Oh yes, indeed I am. That’s how I got the idea for the series. They aren’t just some kids I made up. They’re me. Not exactly, of course. I’ve thrown in a good chunk of daydreaming, but I thought Oliver and Celia while I was on a flight between Rangoon in Burma and Mumbai, India. Mass protests had broken out in Rangoon—mostly led by thousands of red-robbed monks—and the military government had sent in hardened government soldiers to end the uprising. I literally walked into the middle of it, in the middle of downtown, beneath a temple that was said to contain a hair of the Buddha. It was also a busy traffic circle, so the scene was chaotic. Within days, the government had sealed off the country, shut down the internet and scrambled all foreign television stations. No CNN. No Cartoon Network.

And I really missed it.

Even as things were going insane in the world around me, TV made me feel safer. Even though I was having the adventure of a lifetime, all I wanted was to be curled up on the couch at home watching TV. It was on my flight out of Burma to India that I pulled out my little black notebook (I always carry a little black notebook) and wrote out the idea for Oliver and Celia Navel, who are doomed to have a life of adventure, when all they want is peace and quiet.

But you are a librarian.  You must have chosen books over TV when you were younger.  Right?

I’ve always been a TV watcher. When I was younger, TV and video games were how I got my story fix. I loved stories, but I didn’t like to read. At least, not until a teacher got me to pick up Redwall, by Brian Jacques. It was the first big book I read on my own. I loved it! The action, adventure, and heroism, the richness of his imagination. So I wrote to him. And he wrote me back! I was 11 years old, and I don’t recall what I said to him, but in his response, he wrote: “I hope you will grow up to be a writer, and remember, you need to use your imagination, a writer needs to have a vivid and lively imagination.” That letter played a large role in setting me on a path to become a reader and writer. I hope to live up to the vividness of his imagination and to his generosity of spirit with my own readers.

Once I started to read more, it got easier for me, and I quickly came to realize that with TV (and video games to a lesser degree) you have roughly the same experience as everyone else consuming that media, but with reading, you get your own private experience that can take you anywhere. You do half the work of building the world of the story in your mind and in that way, it becomes your book. My Redwall Abbey or Hogwarts School (before I saw the movie), looks a little different than anyone else’s in the world. I love that about reading. I like TV to unwind, but I love reading to explore.

Speaking of exploring, the hero and heroine in your Accidental Adventures series (we won’t call them explorers; they wouldn’t like it) do spend a lot of time in some pretty cool places.  How did you bring those settings to life? 

So considerate of you! Indeed, they would HATE being called explorers! I do like traveling a bit more than Oliver and Celia Navel do (although their dislike of travel is also based on me). I’ve traveled a lot and many of their accidental adventures are based on my own, although the settings are a bit different. I’ve been bitten by a lizard of some kind in a jungle, although it was in Thailand, not South America, and I’ve been stuck in a Buddhist monastery near the Himalayan mountain range, but in Burma, not Tibet. While I’ve been to similar places where the adventures take place, I love doing research. I studied Tibetan Buddhism in college, so many of the ideas in the first book, We Are Not Eaten By Yaks, came from that. For We Dine With Cannibals, I did a lot of reading and going through the journals of explorers, and of course, the occasional TV documentary.

Perhaps because I spent a few years as a journalist before I started writing fiction for the middle grade set, I like testing the limits of my imaginative empathy to write about people and places I’ve never been. I couldn’t do that as a journalist. If it didn’t happen or wasn’t said, I couldn’t write it. But in fiction, just because something is made up, doesn’t make it untrue. Of course, there is a danger of getting things wrong, so I try to be very careful with my research, as I am writing about real places and real cultures in these books, some of which are facing very real challenges to their survival in the 21st century.  I like writing about all these places through Oliver and Celia’s eyes, because, unlike them, I am in awe of all the different ways humans have found of being human, from malls in Minnesota to the Buddhist monks at the Jumping Cat Monastery on Inle Lake in Burma.

And in We Dine With Cannibals, you have poisonous pet lizards, cannibals, and key-poop (readers: you’ll have to read the book to find out what that is!), rapids, death traps and that dreaded game of dodgeball.  How do you fit so much adventure into your adventures?  

Well, I have tried to lead an interesting life so far. I was in the Eastern Congo on my 22nd birthday when a volcano erupted, I accidentally wandered into the middle of an attempted revolution in Burma, and I have always been very very bad at dodgeball. I’ve found that unexpected peril keeps things interesting in life and in this kind of story, so when writing, I imagine myself in Oliver and Celia’s shoes and then I ask, what would I really hate to have happen now? Then I do it. I feel bad for the twins, as I’m constantly putting them in mortal danger, but I have faith in them to find their way out of it. They are far more resourceful than I ever was. When whatever it was bit me in Thailand and my foot swelled up all red and puffy, I freaked and complained about it far more than even Oliver would.

As for Oliver, I noticed in some places that he almost LIKED being an explorer.  And Celia isn’t too bad at exploring, either.  So give us a hint: in future books are they going to plan an On-Purpose Adventure?

Well, I don’t want to give too much away, but the twins do come to accept the role they have to play as the greatest explorers in the world. While they aren’t exactly thrilled about it, they do start to enjoy some parts…in different ways. Part of the series is these two twins evolving into different people. While these are certainly plot (and joke) driven stories, the characters do change and grow into their own as their adventures work on them the way adventures do. You can’t trek through a sacred landscape in Tibet or explore the last unexplored regions of the Amazon without being changed by it. And yes, to some degree, there will be an on-purpose adventure. They may come to regret it…

This has, however, been one of my challenges in writing the series. When it begins, Oliver and Celia are essentially passive characters. They don’t want to go anywhere or do anything. They’re desires are essentially to negate plot. So, coming up with ways to motivate them and to motivate actions was hard. They had to want something.

I can’t wait for the next installment!  Thanks, C. Alexander, for stopping by From the Mixed-Up Files.  

In celebration of the release of WE DINE WITH CANNIBALS, we will send one lucky reader signed copies of both books in the series.  To enter, please leave a comment letting C. Alexander know where you’d like to see Celia and Oliver end up on future accidental adventures.  We’ll post the winner on Saturday, November 19th.  Giveaway open to US/CAN residents only (sorry, international folks).

Elissa Cruz accidentally wrote a children’s book after trying for years to write for adults.  She now writes middle-grade fiction on purpose.  You can follow her writing life on her blog, www.elissacruz.blogspot.com, or catch her talking about writing on Twitter during the weekly #MGlitchat, Thursdays 9pm Eastern.

Welcome Anna Staniszewski to the Mixed-Up Files! Her middle-grade novel, MY VERY UNFAIRY TALE LIFE, just released into the wild on November 1st. Born in Poland and raised in the United States, Anna grew up loving stories in both Polish and English. She was named the 2006-2007 Writer-in-Residence at the Boston Public Library and a winner of the 2009 PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award. When she’s not writing, Anna spends her time teaching, reading, and challenging unicorns to games of hopscotch.

Here’s a sneak peek of MY VERY UNFAIRY TALE LIFE (from IndieBound)

“You know all those stories that claim fairies cry sparkle tears and elves travel by rainbow? They’re lies. All lies.” Twelve-year-old Jenny has spent the last two years as an adventurer helping magical kingdoms around the universe. But it’s a thankless job, leaving her no time for school or friends. She’d almost rather take a math test than rescue yet another magical creature! When Jenny is sent on yet another mission, she has a tough choice to make: quit and have her normal life back, or fulfill her promise and go into a battle she doesn’t think she can win.

Anna, stop me if you’ve heard this one. A carrot-topped gnome, a mouthless Queen sheep, and a 12-year-old girl run into an evil sorcerer clown…wait, what?! Where did you come up with this idea? It’s like Fairy Tales Gone Wild (the G version).

Fairy Tales Gone Wild–I love that! And I guess that’s actually a very fitting alternate title for my book. When I first started working on this project, all I had was a feisty main character named Jenny, but I wasn’t quite sure what her story was. Then I started thinking about all the magical quests I read when I was young about heroes who were whisked away to other worlds to save the day. I wondered what life would be like if those heroes spent years saving the day on a regular basis–wouldn’t they get sick of it? Once I had that idea, I put Jenny into the mix and threw all sorts of wacky ideas at her to see how she would react. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun to write.

I loved Aunt Evie! She takes care of animals so much she’s forgotten what humans are all about. Will she ever go on an adventure with Jenny?

Aunt Evie is definitely one of my favorite characters; not only is she in love with animals but she’s also obsessed with tea, something I can definitely relate to. I like the idea of Aunt Evie going on an adventure with Jenny one day, though I’m not sure how she would handle it. I’m afraid if she ever went to a world with magical creatures, she’d start trying to pet all the most dangerous ones.

With your background in theater (Anna studied theater at Sarah Lawrence college), do you ever act out scenes in your novel? If so, which character do you like to play best?

I often read scenes out loud while I’m working on them (which usually makes my dog glare at me and leave the room) but when I was revising the manuscript under deadline for my editor, I went into full theater mode and read the entire book aloud to myself using different voices for all the characters. My favorite to act out was Dr. Bradley since I love doing terrible British accents.

Cheerio! According to your bio, you spend your time teaching, reading, and challenging unicorns to games of hopscotch. So, I’ve got to know. What do you enjoy reading?

While I’ll read pretty much any book that sounds interesting, I adore what I call “light fantasy” where the story is set mostly in our world but there are magical elements to it, books like YOU WISH by Mandy Hubbard and GIMME A CALL by Sarah Mlynowski. I also love more traditional fantasy where I’m swept away into another world, like in PRINCESS ACADEMY by Shannon Hale. And finally, I’ve been a sucker for dystopian since I was a kid; one of my favorites growing up was Z for ZACHARIAH (which gave me nightmares when I re-read it recently!) and THE GIVER by Lois Lowry continues to be one of my all-time favorite books.

I was imagining they were hopping on one leg, since that’s the most unnatural position I can think of for a unicorn! I don’t think there are any solid rules for unicorn hopscotch, though I’ve heard rumors that the National Unicorn Sports Association is trying to implement some.

Jenny uses cheesy sayings quite effectively in the magic kingdoms she visits. What’s your favorite? And does it work in real life?

I can’t think of specific cheesy sayings that I use, though I know I’m always saying things that make people laugh and groan at the same time. I wonder if that means pretty much everything I say is cheesy?

Just keep on, keeping on, Anna. It’s all good. No worries. <cough> Tell us about your writing process. Outliner? Pantser? Outpantser?

I’m a panster at heart. I like to forge ahead with an idea without much of a plan, though I do try to keep an endpoint and the character’s emotional arc in mind as I draft. Once I have the draft to a point where I’m happy with it, I go through and make an outline to help me see the shape of the story, if there are any holes in the plot, etc. Then I use the outline to help me rearrange and revise the manuscript.

What’s next for you? Will Jenny go on more adventures? Perhaps a series of adventures?

Hm, I feel like your question might be fishing for a specific kind of answer…Let’s just say that I’d be thrilled to be able to send Jenny on more adventures, and I hope to have the chance to do that in the future.

To learn more about Anna and MY VERY UNFAIRY TALE LIFE visit: www.annastan.com; Book trailer: http://youtu.be/ITDm9c0OXts

Leave a comment below to win a copy of MY VERY UNFAIRY TALE LIFE!

I have loved audio books ever since I was a kid, so when I heard my first book Heart of a Shepherd would be brought out in audio I was elated. When the audio book producer from Listening Library, Dan Musselman, called me to ask if I’d read the author note for the audio book of Second Fiddle, I was over the moon, although I had no idea what to expect.

Because I did speech and debate in high school, I did know enough to print out my pages double spaced in 20 point font, so I could read without losing my place. I practiced the whole author note aloud several times and then took out a pencil and marked each place where I should take a breath. Then I went back through and underlined where the emphasis should fall in each sentence. And then, because I know I tend to mumble, I highlighted words where I needed to be attentive to articulation. A dozen more practice runs through the 5 page author note, and I felt ready.
I got in touch with Mary MacDonald Lewis here in Portland who is a very well known voice artist. If you have On Star, that is her calm and reassuring voice telling you what to do. She’s also a director, a dialect coach, and a great teacher. Taking a voice class from her before I did my first book events was one of the best investments I’ve made. Mary Mac has a recording studio in her home, so we got together and she taught me how to use a studio microphone. Mary asked me to speak standing up with my mouth only an inch or so from the screen, which felt very awkward at first. And she insisted the most important thing was to smile, because people can hear it when you’re not smiling. I was sure she was making it up, so we recorded a few sentences, smiling and not, and guess what? I could hear it!

Then we got down to the work of the reading. I read as carefully as I could, but I still needed to stop a dozen times and back up when I misspoke or made a funny mouth sound or shuffled my feet. Also, dropping the page on the floor is a lot louder than you think it is! Maybe the biggest surprise of all was that it took me more than an hour to read 5 pages out loud. I was so relieved that the entire book was someone else’s responsibility.
When I thought about writing this post I know my experience was just a tiny piece of the whole audio book experience, so I was delighted when my voice artist Bri Knickerbocker agreed to be interviewed.

Bri Knickerbocker grew up in Pittsburgh, PA speaking in silly voices and singing, creating and performing plays and writing countless books about black cats. Now she lives in LA, acts on camera, voice acts and writes novels. To learn more, visit her here for writing: http://briknickerbocker.blogspot.com/ and here for voice over: http://brisoundslike.com/ You can follow Bri on twitter @briannanoellek.

How did you get interested in voice acting?

I was originally attracted to voice acting because I love animation and anime; I’m a kid at heart and anytime I get to sound like a 6 year old girl I can’t help but smile and giggle.
I’ve got some anime fans in my house, and those voices do sound so young—even younger than the animation looks. How did you get started?

I booked the first voice over job I ever applied for, which was some goofy animated commercials and it took off from there. Voicing book trailers, video games and audio books– all appeal to my love for dramatic story telling, getting emotionally involved and bringing characters to life through my voice.

Did you take specific training for voice work?

I actually haven’t. As cliché as it may sound, voice acting has always felt natural to me. In that sense, I’m self-taught. But earlier this year I did start taking on camera improvisation and film classes and both of those have only helped me grow and open up emotionally to be a better, fuller voice actress.

Wonderful! I love it when I can squeeze in classes. I took a poetry slam workshop this summer that was a blast! I always come back to the page with fresh ideas when I do something a outside my comfort zone. Can you describe how you got the part for Second Fiddle?

Really funny story, I found an ad on craigslist that stated an audio book company was looking for a voice actress with a British accent. As instructed on the ad, I called the number posted and left a voicemail in a British accent. When Janet Stark (from Random House) called me, I kept up the faux accent, totally unsure if I should let her know I’m not really British. I came in to audition for the project and met Dan Musselman, immediately confessing that I’m just an all American girl from Pittsburgh, PA and he decided to have me audition in my natural voice. I didn’t book that particular project. But a few months later Dan emailed me telling me they’d like me to voice Second Fiddle. It was my first audiobook and a dream come true for me!
That’s so exciting! When Dan called me to ask if I’d read the author note he told me how delighted he was to find just the right book for a promising young voice actor. ☺
What is the process for recording an audio book?

Dan mailed me the hardcopy manuscript straight from LA (I was in Pittsburgh for the holidays at the time) and I read the novel over and over again. First, simply reading and enjoying the story. Second, I put together a journal of all the dialogue and words in foreign languages and dialects, then looked them all up online, except the French, which thankfully I remembered from high school! I flew back to LA and recorded at Random House with Tony Hudz as my director and foreign language consultant/specialist.
I was wondering if you got help with the foreign languages. Dan was kidding me about that.
“Did you really have to put in all those languages?”
“What!? They live in Europe!”
“But Estonian? Really!?”
“Sorry!”
He was kidding. But it’s true that made it a more challenging than a book in just one language. How long did it take to make the recording? Because I was a total slow poke!

It took two days to complete and one more trip to the studio for just a few pick ups.

What happens if you make a mistake?

When I made a mistake, Tony or I heard it right away. Then, I’d simply restart voicing from the last sentence.

Did you have a favorite part of the process?

My favorite part was reading your story, and emotionally involving myself in it as I voiced it, hopefully bringing it to life and doing it justice! Losing myself in the story to be Jody and travel through her suspenseful adventure was magical and exciting and so rewarding.

Gosh, thanks! You’re a writer yourself. Can you tell us something about your work-in-progress or your favorite genre to write?

I’m currently writing an edgy young adult paranormal romance about ghosts and dark ones (demons) and my most recently finished work is a contemporary young adult novel with magical realism. Writing is related to voice acting for me, because they’re both complex storytelling, with three dimensional characters that I have the power and responsibility to bring to life. I get very involved with the story and characters in both mediums; I don’t want to let any of the characters down! It’s up to me to give them their voices so other people can hear what they have to say.
Do you remember a favorite middle-grade book book you’ve read recently?

I recently read a middle-grade novel called Sea, by Heidi R. Kling and The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall—I recommend both!
Wonderful! Thanks so much for spending a little time here at the mixed up files.
Readers, do you have any questions about audio book making process? Have you read a good audio book lately? Let us know what you think in the comments.

At the end of the day I’ll have a drawing from everyone joining the conversation for an audio book of Second Fiddle and you can hear Bri’s voice work for yourself.