Dance of Thieves
Mary E. Pearson
You say you used to wake up as a different character every day. What is the most memorable character you remember claiming to be as a child?
Little Red Riding Hood. I was so stubborn in claiming this character as my identity, that once, when I was lost in a store, I refused to give the salesladies who found me, my real name. They had to page the parents of “Little Red Riding Hood” over the store intercom, to get them to come claim their child. My parents knew immediately that it was me.
Since you do so much work developing your characters, what do you tend to figure out first when writing a new one?
The first thing I need to know is their want and their need, which are usually two different things. This is what drives them in all their actions and what drives the plot.
Our festival slogan is “Read Everything.” What one book would you like to see on our official Read Everything list for 2018?
Choosing just one book pretty much sends me into a tizzy. One that quickly comes to mind is National Book Award Winner, FAR FROM THE TREE, by Robin Benway. It’s an amazing book with characters that will grab your heart and not let go.