Laurel Decher on writing middle grade and the value of speaking up

Hi, folks. I’m a few hours later than usual releasing this episode, but I’m on my own with the kiddos for a bit again and exhaustion happens. I also realized in my intro I wished everyone a belated Happy Easter and Happy Passover… but Passover is still happening. Whoops.

Aside from some small mistakes, I think I have a great interview for you all with middle grade author Laurel Decher about the first in her planned series centered on stepping out of your comfort zone.

Laurel is incredibly thorough as a guest an provided a bunch of bullet points and links if you’d like to read as you listen. If you’d rather just listen, scroll on down to the bottom for the audio player.

And don’t forget to grab Laurel’s book, The Trouble with Parsnips!

Questions:
1. Tell us a little about yourself and your books.
I’m from the U.S. but I live in Germany. I write middle grade fiction (for ages 9 to 12). I’m working on a series of “Seven Kingdoms Fairy Tales” with a “growth mindset” theme. The first one was published October 2018. It’s called TROUBLE WITH PARSNIPS, a story about the magic of speaking up.
2. How did you first get started writing?

Got back into writing fiction when a friend invited me to a writing workshop.
Started writing after my first child was born when brother-in-law gave me a writing book covered with hand-made paper with flowers embedded in it.
Went the whole route: short fiction—query—writing conferences to meet agents and editors. Moved to Germany, met The Winged Pen colleagues at the online WriteOnCon conference and joined SCBWI Germany & Austria.
It’s a cliché but family health issues made me realize time was short. Taking ten years per manuscript and not getting them out there was demoralizing. I felt like I had taken all the available risks at my level.

What drew you to write for this/these age group(s)?

2^nd child started scouting, but there was no leader after 1^st grade, so I became a leader. My co-leader and I asked ourselves “What has scouting got to offer that the kids can’t get in all of the other fancy after-school programs?” “What if we let the kids lead the meetings?”
At the same time, I started going to Toastmasters, a club that teaches public speaking. Before this, I thought people who ran meetings were born knowing how. Aha moment!
So many castles! When I first saw the castle in Cochem, it had rooks flying around the tower and rows of pink cherry trees blooming down by the river. Everything said: “Fairy tale!”

What is something special that your books offer kids? Why should a parent/teacher/librarian/etc. pick them up?

For TROUBLE WITH PARSNIPS, I had two goals.
1. Delight the reader in every possible way. I wanted this book to be FUN to read. First manuscript where I asked critique partners to mark whatever they found funny. Aiming for the positive feedback was a huge turnaround. We’re all taught to be tough and take feedback and maybe even get the nastiest feedback possible, but the opposite works surprisingly well. It’s fun too.
2. Help the reader imagine their way into a world where speaking up is possible even if they never want to be in the debate or drama club.
3. In the book, another character tells the nameless princess to “Say one thing”.
  - The idea for the book came out of a conversation with a friend. We were talking about how easy it is to “broadcast on more than one channel” when you’re trying to say something difficult. Anticipate other people’s objections before they’ve had a chance to have any. It leaves a kind of conversation fog in the air and the speaker feels like no one heard them at all. Because probably no one did.
  - I was in the audience at a youth music composition contest and realized how scary it is to write a piece with a clear melody. Sophisticated feels safer because it gives you somewhere to hide, but it’s much more dangerous because it leaves people unmoved. A melody is much easier to remember.

What is one piece of advice (writing, marketing, etc.) you would like to give other writers?

Decide, risk, choose—whatever verb resonates with you—pick one thing and create it.

I waited around a long time expecting other people to be able to tell me what I was making and how to make it better.

Choose something that matters to you and go for it. Once it exists, there are lots of brilliant people to help, but until you make it, no one can make it for you. Don’t do what I did and spend ten years writing new manuscripts right over the top of the earlier ones. Write one thing and go on to the next. It’s what I tell myself now. And enjoy yourself! If you can’t find joy when you write, the reader won’t find any either.

Useful links:

About TROUBLE WITH PARSNIPS (including book trailer) https://laureldecher.com/about-trouble-with-parsnips/

TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL https://www.toastmasters.org/

WriteOnCon https://writeoncon.org/

The Winged Pen https://thewingedpen.com/

Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) https://www.scbwi.org/

Other interviews:

Laurel Decher talks TROUBLE WITH PARSNIPS and Self-Publishing https://thewingedpen.com/laurel-decher-talks-trouble-with-parsnips-and-self-publishing/