Meet My Character

As usual, it has taken someone else to inspire me to blog. A big thank you to Romelle Broas who asked me to participate in the Meet My Character Blog Hop. Her own post about the main character in her new book, The Running Boy, can be found here.

Although there is still another year before my next book is published, I thought I’d take this opportunity to introduce my main character from that book—Delia. So without further ado, here are the questions:

1. What is the name of your character? Is she fictional or a historic person?

Delia is the main character of my forthcoming picture book entitled It’s Raining Bats and Frogs. She’s a young witch and—like the magic she makes—she’s pure fiction. I knew when I started the book that I wanted give my main character a name that began with ‘D’ and that had a slightly old-fashioned ring to it. Delia was the first name to pop into my head.

2. When and where is the story set?

The setting for the book is a witch parade. Unfortunately, it’s raining on the parade and none of the witches are happy about it. Delia sets about trying to make things better by changing the rain to other things like cats and dog, hats and clogs, and ultimately, bats and frogs.

3. What should we know about her?

Like me, Delia is very persistent! When at first she doesn’t succeed in making things better, she tries again…and again…and again.

4. What is the main conflict? What messes up her life?

The main conflict is her struggle with the weather. Every change to the weather makes the situation worse for the witches and for their parade.

5. What is the personal goal of the character?

Her goal is to make the other witches happy again so that the parade can proceed.

6. Is there a working title for this book, and can we read more about it?

Oops! I mentioned the title above. It’s called It’s Raining Bats and Frogs. A description can be found elsewhere at my website under ‘Books’ but I’ll save you the time and cut and paste it here:

Delia has been looking forward to flying in the annual Witch Parade all year. When the rumors of rain come true and the other witches start complaining, Delia takes action. Using her best magic, Delia changes the rain to cats and dogs. At first this goes over well, but then the animals cause problems. Delia changes the rain again–this time to hats and clogs. Finally, she tries bats and frogs. But each new type of rain brings its own set of problems. Will Delia find a spell to save the day?

7. When can we expect the book to be published?

The book is due out with Feiwel & Friends (an imprint of Macmillan US) in the summer of 2015. The illustrator is Steven Henry. And never fear, I’ll be shouting from the rooftops once it comes out!

Thanks for stopping by! I’ve tagged fellow picture book writer, Julie Fulton, to continue the blog tour. Julie is the author of the Ever So rhyming series that include: Mrs MacCready was Ever So Greedy, Tabitha Posy was Ever So Nosy and Dorothy-Jane was Ever So Vain. Look out for Julie’s post on on her blog on 7 July!