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Interview with Danny
Schnitzlein
What sparked your interest in writing? I think that my love of books led me to writing. My parents always made sure we had plenty of books in our bookshelves, and my mother took us to the public library regularly. I also used to read along to stories on phono records….over and over again (the ones that go "DING!" when it’s time to turn the page). I was lucky to have English teachers with high standards. My third grade teacher raised the bar, giving us difficult writing assignments and weekly oral reports to do. It’s amazing what you’re capable of when you’re 8, if it’s expected of you. In 6th grade I wrote a short play in verse that was put on by my school. My high school English teacher, Sylvia Sarrett, always encouraged my writing and her upbeat approach made reading and writing fun. And my college writing professor, Sterling Watson, gave me many gems of writing advice that I still use today. You studied creative writing at Eckerd College. How was that experience? Did it make a big impact on your writing?Eckerd College was a great experience for me. Eckerd puts the emphasis on discussion rather than lecturing, and I think that helped me become more involved in what I was learning. Also, the small class size makes you more of a person instead of a number. There’s a phrase that’s being used a lot now-- "thinking outside the box." I think small liberal arts colleges encourage that kind of thinking. And writers must always be thinking that way. How did you sell The Monster Who Ate My Peas? At one point, I had given up on selling the manuscript and it sat in a drawer for about a year, along with my stack of rejection letters. I approached about 30 publishers before Peachtree Publishers [www.peachtree-online.com] expressed interest. And they didn’t buy it right away. They wanted some major changes before they would give it a second look. I made those changes over about a month’s time, and then they accepted it. But there were still many many changes that I would make over the course of the 2 ½ years it took to turn that manuscript into a book. I was lucky to have talented editors at Peachtree whose suggestions made the book better than the original manuscript. I noticed the book description calls your writing "Seuss-inspired." Is this true? I’m definitely influenced by Dr. Seuss. His books have multiple themes and multiple layers, but he’s never preachy. And there’s always a sense of fun in the bouncy rhythms of his language. "Horton Hears a Who" is my favorite Seuss book. I love stories in verse, but the rhythm has to be perfect. Shel Silverstein, Jeff Moss and Ogden Nash are some of my other heroes. When I was 5 or 6, I loved a book called "The Silly Nothing Book" which is no longer in print. But I’m influenced by all kinds of writing, and all kinds of books; not just children’s books, and not just verse. Where did the idea for this book come from? My older brother convinced me that peas were disgusting. My parents used to make us stay at the table until we had finished everything on our plates. Many nights I sat at the table, staring at a pile of peas, wishing they would disappear. This must have caused some deep psychological damage for me to write about it as an adult. Who needs therapy? Just use those traumas as fuel for your writing! I’ll eat peas now, but I don’t go out of my way to search them out, and I don’t buy them at the store. Canned peas are another story. I will not set foot in the same state where canned peas are being cooked. They smell like rancid feet. They’re putrid and nasty and downright evil. So, as you can see, I’ve completely gotten over my pea phobia! After reading the book, many adults come to me and confess their yucky food phobias and their childhood tactics for getting rid of the hated vegetables. I sometimes feel like the Food Phobia Priest. Maybe I should make up a sort of penance, or give out rosary peas. When formatting this manuscript, did you include pagination or art suggestions? I didn’t include pagination in my manuscript originally, but I was encouraged by my editors to think about the layout as I was doing rewrites. I had originally submitted some colored pencil drawings along with the manuscript (a BIG no-no for submitting writers) to give the publisher an idea of how I envisioned the characters. I had originally hoped to illustrate the story myself, but I now realize that being an artist and being an illustrator are two different animals. Illustrating takes years of training, just like writing. Peachtree felt that it would be good to use an established illustrator since I’m a new author, and so the book would have a head start coming out of the gate. They were absolutely right. I’m a pretty good artist (I teach acrylic painting at an art center), and I think one day you might see me illustrating my books, but right now my time is better spent being the best writer I can be. I want to add that I’m thrilled with how Matt Faulkner [www.mattfaulkner.com] illustrated "The Monster Who Ate My Peas." He’s amazing. He’s left handed like me, and a really nice guy too. I think his style is just right for the book. How did you decide on the rhyme scheme? I’m not sure why I used that rhyme scheme. Dr. Seuss used it in a number of his books, like "Horton Hears a Who," and it’s also the rhyme scheme for "The Night Before Christmas," which I didn’t realize until the book was reviewed by Kirkus Reviews. You have a terrific gift for language. Do you have any "tricks" for coming up with clever rhymes? Do you keep a thesaurus handy? The only trick I know to writing good verse is to spend a lot of time at it… and a LOT of time rewriting. The reason many publishers won’t accept manuscripts in verse is because they get so many bad ones. The reason they get so many bad ones is that inexperienced writers are only aiming to get the lines to rhyme, without paying attention to the rhythm and the music of the language. It’s always good to have someone else read your manuscript out loud. Then you’ll see which parts they trip over. Verse is much more time-consuming than prose. When you change one word it can throw the rhythm completely off. So if you’re convinced that your story must be written in verse, be prepared to get under the hood and get your hands dirty, fine-tuning each line and each word. It’s not unusual for me to spend an entire day working on two lines, and then the story might change and those two lines might get thrown out. "The Monster Who Ate My Peas" is a 32 page book, but so many of the lines were re-written, multiple times, to get the rhythm just right. I do use a rhyming dictionary, but I find that my best rhymes are the ones that pop into my head. I also add words to my rhyming dictionary because there are so many proper names and place names that aren’t included in a rhyming dictionary. I noticed you used the "Rule of Three" in this book (repeating a key phrase or thought three times throughout the text)-- was this intentional? Yes. I think it’s important to be aware of mythic structure and archetypes, no matter whether you’re writing for kids or adults. I’m a big fan of Joseph Campbell’s books, and his studies in comparative mythology. "Hero With 1000 Faces" and "The Power of Myth" are great resources for writers of any sort. If you could give children's writers one piece of advice, what would it be? Marry someone rich! But more important than that… you should write the story that comes from your heart, the story that will make you explode if you don’t tell it. If you try to second guess the market or ride the coattails of the latest "hot" trend, then you’re not writing your best material. Write from your heart. And write something that entertains you. If I’m not having fun writing it, then I know it won’t be fun to read. Tell us about your writing process-- how long does it take to write a first draft? Do you work at night/in the mornings? How heavily do you rewrite and revise? How do you know when it's "ready"? It takes me 2-6 months to write something that is ready to show. I used to write at night, but now I work in the mornings because I’m a stay-at-home dad, and I’m too tired at the end of the day to write. Revision and re-writing is extensive and very time-consuming when writing in verse. Sometimes I write a story five different ways before I hit on the one that is right. I know it’s ready when my wife likes it. She is my first editor and she will always tell me when something is working or not working. Anything else you'd like to add?If you’re writing for children and you haven’t discovered the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, [www.scbwi.org] then you are missing the best source of contacts, inspiration, and information that is available to you. At SCBWI conferences you can meet editors, published writers, and agents, and you can have your manuscript critiqued by fellow writers. For a fee you can have your manuscript critiqued by a published writer. Joining the SCBWI will also help you meet other children’s writers in your area so you can form a writers critique group or join an existing one. Being part of an honest critique group will help your writing be the best it can be, and it will help you learn to accept criticism. Target your submissions. Study the market and know which publishers accept unsolicited unagented manuscripts. Know which publishers accept the kind of manuscript you’re sending. Otherwise you’re wasting your time and postage. Make sure your writing has a unique voice. Read lots of children’s books. Make the commitment to write every day. And last but not least, don’t give up. If you believe in your heart that your story is good, and you do the re-writing necessary to make it the best it can be, then your manuscript will get noticed.
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Danny
Schnitzlein is the author of rhyming picture book The
Monster Who Ate My Peas, (Peachtree Publishers, 2001). He studied
creative writing at Eckerd College and holds a BS degree from the University of
Florida. He lives with his wife, Kerry, and son, Quinn, in Marietta, Georgia.
