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by Donna M. McDine

I recently had the privilege of conducting an email interview with K.L. Going. She is an award-winning author and lives in Glen Sprey, New York, where she writes full-time for children of all ages. She is the author of The Garden of Eve, Saint Iggy, an ILA Best Book for Young Adults; Fat Kid Rules the World, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book; and The Liberation of Gabriel King, her first book for middle-graders and a Children’s Book Sense Pick. Prior to becoming a successful writer, Ms. Going worked as a literary agent. With her experience on both sides of the fence in the publishing industry she is a wealth of knowledge. Visit her at: http://www.klgoing.com.

DMc: Do you have any children? If yes, how do they feel about having a mom as an author?

KL: I have a ten year old step-daughter who is awesome. Most of the time she doesn’t seem to notice one way or another that I’m an author, but the one time she got excited was when The Liberation of Gabriel King was one of the choices on her Scholastic Book Fair flier. That was cool for both of us!

DMc: What or whom inspires you to write?

KL: This is going to sound like a cliché answer, but I mean it… these days I am most inspired to write by the kids who send me fan mail. Their letters are so honest and poignant and wonderful that it makes me want to produce the best books for them that I possibly can.

DMc: What did you find to be the most exhilarating or frustrating process in getting your first novel published?

KL: The most exhilarating moment has got to be when I received the official offer from my editor. Up until that moment it’s all hope, and then it becomes real.

The frustrating moments came later, after my first book, once there were expectations and deadlines for the next book, yet I was still working full-time at my old job and feeling completely overwhelmed.

DMc: Do you have an agent? If yes, what do you feel are two of the most important questions to ask when querying an agent?

KL: I have an agent I adore — Ginger Knowlton of Curtis Brown, Ltd. I think two of the most important questions to ask when querying an agent are what kinds of books they love to read (regardless of what type of books they represent) and whether they will be committed to the one particular project they’re taking on, or whether they’ll be committed to you as an author. This is especially true if you write diverse material.

DMc: What advice would you give someone who wants to get a book published?

KL: If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. There are many, many people who want to get published. Many of those people have great ideas, but most will give up without ever writing their whole book. A percentage of those ideas will be turned into great books, but their authors will never take the time to properly edit them. An even smaller percentage of those polished, well edited books will be submitted but rejected by a publishing house and their authors will give up. You want to be in the final percentage — the people who have a great idea, execute it well, follow through with editing, and don’t give up if they meet with rejection.

DMc: Have you ever been asked to change the title of any of your novels?

KL: Yes. Almost all of them, actually! The Liberation of Gabriel King was originally called The Liberation of Harper McCormack, but the title was changed due to an early change of plot. The Garden of Eve was originally called Eden. Again, the plot shifted during editing, but even before that the title was deemed too religious. And my newest teen novel’s title is still up in the air even though we’re almost done editing.

DMc: Which is your own favorite book or character?

KL: Okay. You’re not supposed to choose because it’s like choosing one of your children, right? But I’m actually going to answer this. My favorite book is The Liberation of Gabriel King because it is the book that most expresses my heart and it’s the book I am most proud to share with children. There’s a nostalgia to that book that affects me deeply, and I drew on such an important part of my own life to create it.

DMc: Are your characters based on yourself or anyone else you know?

KL: Usually it’s a mix. Troy in Fat Kid was based on me and my own warped brain. Curt was based on Kurt Cobain — kind of a tribute character. Gabe is also a bit of me… but Iggy, Evie, and Frita are all their own people.

DMc: What do you enjoy the most by conducting school visits?

KL: Getting to meet the kids who read my books and see their genuine enthusiasm. Younger kids especially are always so free with their excitement — something adults often lack.

DMc: What would you be if you were not a writer?

KL: I would either be a literary agent or I’d work at a non-profit of some kind. Those are both jobs I was doing before I became a writer, and both suited me well. I still critique manuscripts in addition to writing simply because I loved that part of my job at the literary agency and I remember how hard it was when I was first getting started to get good feedback from knowledgeable sources. I always felt like publishing was such a mystery, so now I enjoy helping people figure out the puzzle.

Non-profit work is still important to me too, so I try to feature different organizations on the Give It Away Now page on my web site. (That’s a Red Hot Chili Pepper’s reference in case you didn’t catch it!) I also feature people who are doing great things in the world on my Very Cool Person of the Month page of the site. I recognize that a lot of what I can do now as a published author is raise awareness of great people and great causes. I hope you’ll check them out at www.klgoing.com and feel free to nominate a cool person!

Unfortunately owing to timing issues and being out all day Saturday, I found out too late that Midwestern Lodestar was hosting the 12th Carnival of Children's Literature, but do check it out - it's huge ! (And if you want to know what a "Carnival of Children's Literature" is, check out this explanation from Susan at Chicken Spaghetti). Fortunately, I already know that Jen Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page is hosting the next one, so the date's firmly in my "diary" to participate.

Talking of the lovely Jen, she's the latest Blogger to be interviewed by Jules and Eisha over at the fantastically named Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast (because why stop at Six ?!) Blog. I love "7-Imp" as it's affectionately known, though I've only recently started reading it (and must add them to my Blog roll !). Jules and Eisha also do a new series on a weekend called (at present) "Seven Good Things Before Monday", to which everyone's invited to contribute seven (or more, or less) good things that they've read, seen, heard, experienced - it's meant to be a celebration of the good things in life, to make up for all the dire news and grotty things that fill the newspapers and news stories.

And finally, Camille over at Book Moot linked to this FANTASTIC Hobbit House that was designed as a "fitting repository for a client's valuable collection of J. R. R. Tolkien manuscripts and artifacts" - I SO want to live here !! Do check the page out as the photos are awesome.