Foxy Answers to Kit-Centered Questions

November 11, 2019 in booook stuff

As promised, here are some kid-friendly Q’s & A’s about Foxes:

https://spookymiddlegrade.com/2019/11/03/interview-with-christian-mckay-heidicker-author-of-scary-stories-for-young-foxes/

Foxy Answers to Grown-Up Questions

October 25, 2019 in booook stuff

A friend of mine chose Scary Stories for Young Foxes for her book club, and they sent me some pretty hard-hitting questions.

So I thought I’d share the answers here!

Fair warning: Spoilers abound. And while there’s no inappropriate content, I answered these like I’m talking to adults. I’ll post a kids Q&A next week.

1. The book brings up current issues facing children - bullying, body shaming - was it your intent to bring those issues to the forefront?

The short answer is not at all. I’ve never been the victim of bullying or body-shaming, so I would feel uncomfortable purposefully tackling those topics. I think people who have lived those experiences would be much better suited.

For the more complete answer, I have to magically transport us back to the first draft of Scary Stories for Young Foxes.

Uly was born without a front leg because I needed him to remain in the den long enough for his father to return. Fox fathers tend to keep away throughout most of the kits’ development process, only dropping by a few times early on to bring prey to the recovering mom. But later, the fathers do not take kindly to male heirs. They see their sons as competition and will attack them if they cross paths. The original draft had Uly hanging around the den for several weeks after his siblings had departed so his mother could continue to hunt for him. He couldn’t do it himself. This led to a showdown with his father.

But as the story developed and I drew parallels to the horror movie Six Sisters is based on, things started to shift. Also, by having Mia leave the den weeks before she should have, I had to have the same thing happen to Uly so they could meet.

By this point Uly’s missing leg seemed like a natural part of him. And that’s how he’s been ever since.

2. There aren’t any strong adult male figures - in fact Mr. Scratch is a classic father figure who is cruel, controlling, and scary - what was your reason for having a lack of adult male mentorship? Is this life in the world of foxes?

I have no issues with strong adult male mentorship! At least, I don’t think I do. I was raised by a single mom . . .

But really, Mr. Scratch was based on the fact that fox fathers are hostile toward their male offspring. Although, I’ll admit I did crank up the evil juice (ew) once Mr. Scratch became one of the major villains and the fox parallel of Dracula.

3. You’ve thoroughly researched the hazards that a fox may encounter throughout life. Were you surprised by any of those hazards?

Strangely, I was surprised by something I thought was a hazard but isn’t. When I wrote the original anthropomorphic version of these stories, I had a mom eat her brood during a famine. But it turns out fox moms rarely if ever eat their young. This fact completely scrapped one of the planned stories, although, let’s face it, that probably would have been too horrific.

4. Is it common in a den of foxes for the male to mark his females with a nip on the ear?

That was my invention.

5. The reader will never look at Beatrix Potter the same again. Can you add anymore to her story? Any insight into her seemingly love of little creatures while harboring a totally cruel way of studying them and ending their lives?

I know, I know. I’ve ruined Beatrix Potter for so many people. I’m . . . not really sorry.

Beatrix Potter was a naturalist. She loved animals, but she also strived to know how they worked, inside and out. Her methods of putting them to sleep with ether is common practice and relatively merciful.

I had a ton of autobiographical details that I had to leave on the cutting-room floor—her deceased husband, her publishing woes, her struggle to be recognized in the scientific field for her legitimate genius articles and sketches. I will tell you that many of her lines are near-direct quotes from her diaries. “You must know how frost smells” is one. The fact that she called baby piglets “little cherubs” is another. The other day, someone asked me if Miss Potter ever stuffed/ate her pet Peter Rabbit, and the answer is almost certainly no. But she did collect other specimens.

6. What would you like your young reader to take away from your book? It’s not a book a reader simply puts back on the bedside table.

This book started out as a love letter to the spooky Berenstain Bears books (Bears in the Night, The Spooky Old Tree), which I absolutely adored as a kid. At first, I was just trying to recreate that cozy Halloween feeling I had when I was young. But as I made the book more realistic, I had to admit to myself that I do want people to think about foxes. Not humans that look like foxes (a la Berenstain Bears) but real foxes.

I don’t think people think enough about the plight of animals, many of which lead miserable lives. And humans are only making it worse. How many people who consume meat would actually be willing to watch what happens inside a factory farm? We’re all like Beatrix Potter in a sense. We love to watch videos of adorable pigs and cows, but when it comes to what’s going to bring us maximum pleasure, we turn a blind eye. In a way, I think we’re worse than Miss Potter because we don’t do it with our own hands.

Basically, I wanted to challenge readers to think about the foxes themselves, not how it relates to humans in a fable sort of way. That being said, whatever my readers take away from the book is just fine by me. It’s theirs now. I’d much rather the book raise questions (like these!) than provide answers. I hate any story that rings like an after school special.

7. You’ve done a great job of creating a tender read with a scary undercurrent. You’ve taken themes with which we are all familiar and given them a tweak and a twist that makes those themes fresh and new. What would you have done differently? Anything?

Another great question! And I can’t shake the feeling that you have something specific in mind . . . haha.

Um . . . I might be too close to the book right now (it came out less than two months ago) to give you a solid answer right now. I know how I would change my first two books. But right now? Hmm. Hmm. I’m typing words hoping that something will come to me. Um um um um um . . .

No. I kept editing and editing and editing this book until I feel like I’d struck upon what happened to these characters. Not what I wanted to happen. Not what I think the reader would want to happen. But what happened.

I’ll tell you that killing Baby Bizzy was really hard on me. Really hard. I still don’t like to think about it. But I knew it had to happen. The old storyteller had told me so. And Mia was actually there, so she would know. Every other time I’ve killed a character in a story, it’s been kind of . . . delightful? Like, oh boy, this is gonna surprise the reader. But when I realized what had to happen to Bizzy, I grew really depressed. And that’s when I knew it had to happen. It’s a new writing rule for me now. Don’t kill any character unless it’s going to hurt.

Ask me this question again in a year. Or two. I’m sure I’ll have recognized plenty of flaws by then.

8. All the adults let the young foxes down. Do you feel that is the current state of affairs in today’s world? Was this a necessity in order for our young foxes to grow into the foxes they became? Does the lack of strong adults imply they too will be weak adults in the end? That would be a depressing thought.

Close your eyes and imagine a popular children’s book.

Now imagine what the parents are doing in the story.

Now do this with a few more children’s books.

Without knowing which stories you picked, I can tell you right now that the parents are occupied. They might be dead or distracted or divorced or at work or under a spell or evil or they didn’t fall through the same magic portal their kid did or or or or or. From Hansel and Gretel to Harry Potter, it’s been the parents’ job to get out of the main character’s way so that the child can be the one who solves the problem. Not the adult. That’s how kids (and kits) grow.

It also makes for better storytelling.

Imagine how disappointed you would’ve been if I’d had Mia’s mom romp into the final story at the last moment and save the day by defeating Mr. Scratch and taming zombie Roa. Would you have walked away from the book and thought, ‘Parents are the best! What a great book.’ Or would you have felt ripped off because Mia and Uly didn’t solve the problem themselves?

There’s an old children’s writing rule that says ‘Kill the parents.’ But that rule has created plenty of lonely orphan clichés. More modern children’s stories find new ways to get the parents off the page. They’re abusive or cowardly or addicted or just plain not smart (Roald Dahl does this a lot). But whatever they are, they cannot solve the problem for the main character.

(As an aside, I don’t think Uly’s or Mia’s mom fail them and that Mia’s father’s failure is just a part of fox culture, but I’ll let you suss out why.)

As to whether or not Mia and Uly will become terrible parents themselves, I’d say these harrowing experiences will turn them into some of the best adults/parents in the wild. Then again, if I were to write stories about their kits, then I would need to get rid of Mia and Uly somehow. Not kill them or turn them into Mr. Scratches or anything like that. But something . . .

Thanks to the writing group for such excellent questions!

Survival Tips for Humans Venturing Into Scary Stories for Young Foxes

July 30, 2019 in booook stuff

Good evening, humans.

SCARY STORIES FOR YOUNG FOXES is out today!

Because you don’t have whiskers or tails, great senses of smells or four paws to escape with, I wanted to give you some tools to prepare you for your journey ahead.

First, some warnings from professional reviewers, who out of the kindness of their hearts, spoil the ending:

“. . . animal lovers might need to be assured of the books happy ending.” —Bulletin Center for Children’s Books

“The stomach-clenching fear and suspense are resolved by a happy ending.” —Kirkus Reviews

“The ending of this book is happy, but in such a way that you understand that that happiness might be fleeting.” —Betsy Bird, School Library Journal

“Kids able to brave the harrowing adventures of Mia and Uly are in for a chilling roller coaster of a read.” —Booklist (starred review)

If you don’t trust professionals, here are some Goodreads reviews:

“Be warned, these stories are quite scary . . .”

“Be aware that these stories really are scary.”

“A word to the wise- these stories are not for children who are faint of heart.”

“Rabies, taxidermy, murderous badgers, merciless fox dads coming back from the dead...this story is not for the weak of heart.”

“I had no idea how scary it was to be a fox.”

“I had to keep reminding myself that I am not a young fox, and badgers and steel traps and humans are not *that* scary.”

And three of my personal favorites:

“Try not to get too attached to minor characters.”

“THIS IS FOR KIDS??”

“Spoiler alert: I cried.”

Here’s a taste of the adventure so you can know what you’re getting yourself into.

And here’s a soothing song to play in the background while you read:

If you buy the book this week, I’ll send you a handy bookmark with specific survival instructions (these are just the first half):

If you need a break from the horror, here’s a video of some happy fox kits playing in the wild:

And finally, those of you who are finished with the adventure might be happy to hear that I’m hard at work on the sequel, which will star our heroes’ descendants, take place in a city, and include more modern horror tales.

Until then . . .

Sleep Tight, Humans

A few Foxy things before the book launch

July 24, 2019

We’re less than a week away from the release of Scary Stories for Young Foxes. There’s been a lot of good news rolling in, so I thought I’d catch it all in a single post.

First, the big one. Elizabeth (Betsy) Bird, venerated reviewer, children’s librarian, and someone whose work I’ve been admiring for over a decade, not only gave Foxes a stellar five-star review, she also recommended it to the Newbery committee. If anyone needs me, they’ll need to mop me up off the floor.

Equally exciting, Booklist gave Foxes a starred review (link not yet available), saying, “Kids able to brave the harrowing adventures of Mia and Uly are in for a chilling roller coaster of a read.”

Interstellar Flight Press gave me one of the best personally-tailored interviews I’ve ever received. Seriously, this kind of attention to detail is rare in an author’s early career. Just look at that headline!

I’m wrote an essay for John Scalzi’s (!) blog about writing horror and animal deaths in children’s fiction.

And finally and most eye-poppingly, my unbelievably wonderful editor, Christian Trimmer, broke down the creation of the Foxes cover on his blog. I’m so happy with where we landed, but some of the other options have got me wistful.

That’s it! For now.

The SCARY STORIES FOR YOUNG FOXES Book Trailer Is Here!

July 02, 2019 in booook stuff

This trailer wouldn't be half so mesmerizing were it not for Junyi Wu's practical shadow puppets, Chris Chambers’s pitch perfect narration, Hannah Leigh Garrett's unbelievably creepy score, digital page turns by Jake Hart, color balance by Zach Johnson, and editing help from Danny Hunt.

Thank you, all, for helping me create this creepy wonder.

Good luck out there, lil foxes <3

Book Giveaway and the Best Email I've Ever Received

March 04, 2019 in booook stuff

Today, I received one of those emails that makes all of the struggles of being an author—didn’t end up getting nominated for Wallflower, worried about taxes, can’t come up with a kid-friendly synonym for Apocatastasis—worth it.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but when I wrote CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE, I was casting a spell on myself. By imagining the trials and tribulations of a kid committed to video game rehab, I was exorcising my own demons. I was always a selfish, lazy kid, who thought I deserved way more than what life handed over. I was controlling in my relationships and only helped other people when I thought it would benefit me. I think there are still traces of this in my character, but I feel much more in control of it now.

I believe this transformation came from reasoning through my issues with fiction—using stories in order to be completely honest about my intentions and the suffering it caused myself and others. I also explored how difficult it is to change those behaviors. Just because I’d been through trials, walked the hero’s path, and made it to the other side, didn’t mean I was now perfect and would receive everything I’d ever hoped for. We all know that life stubbornly refuses to imitate books or movies, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t disappointed when our fairy tale endings remain always just out of reach. I wanted to write a book that refused to tell teens that life was something different than what it is.

It was scary to put CURE out into the world because readers (rightly) could conflate my main character with me. (Okay, Jaxon’s a little worse than I ever was. But only a little.) When reviewers couldn’t get over how much they hated the main character, I became defensive:

It was my first book!

He’s supposed to be that mean! That makes the (albeit slight) change in the end more meaningful!

Um, aren’t a lot of teens are like that?

etc.

So to receive an email from a high schooler, who not only recognized what I was trying to do with the book (even more so than the most flattering reviews from professionals) but was transformed by it . . . well, it’s an honor beyond words.

Here’s the email exactly as it was sent to me:

“Let me get started by saying Hi! and I love this book. It was really compelling and cannot believe it did not get an Oscar because it really deserves it. I loved how Jaxon was a person who played video games a little bit too much and was a mean person (keeping it PC) to everyone and learned his lesson in the end to change the way he acts because of a girl. This actually changed me and it started in 7th grade. I had to do a book report for my teacher and I had to buy a book and do some stuff for it, such as make a summary, make pictures, etc. and I went to Barnes and Noble to buy one. The cover was very eye catching, because for one it reminded me of video games and I played video games, and I thought your last name funny. I enjoyed the gamer humor and jokes and it really made me reflect it on my life. I was very similar to Jaxon myself, very out of shape, was such a smart-ass, and really didn't want to do anything out of the ordinary besides playing video games non stop. It made me think of what I was doing with my life and that I should change myself. So I started to play sports, lifting, and working out. I even started making real life friends and started hanging out with them. Then we fast forward to 8th grade, and surprise I have to do another book report, and guess what I do your book again. The teacher was very fond of the book, and was interested and asked if she could borrow the book and she did, she said she loved it because her son was the same way. Then we roll into this year, my freshman year, and I am slowly reverting back to my old self, by playing more video games because I got rejected by a girl. It is really weird how a couple of words can change your whole life, so I went back to the same book again and it helped bring life back to me again. Now I am doing very well, I am fit, doing good in school, and I can see girls eyeing me up. I think I just need to find a way to make myself a better flirter, if that is even a word. I was hoping you can see this and I wanted to ask if you are going to make a sequel to the book, and if not you should, because there are still so many things left that are unanswered. For example, like Aurora's boyfriend, did Jaxon confront him, did Meeki and Jaxon ever become friends, and how did Jaxon's mom react, and will Jaxon ever change physically. I hope you read this and enjoyed it!

I did enjoy it. More than you’ll ever know.

(Also, I guess I’m upset I didn’t win an Oscar now too. I didn’t even realize that was an option.)

(And yeah, my last name is funny, now that I think about it.)

In honor of this wonderful email, I’m giving away fifty free digital copies of Cure for the Common Universe to whoever needs one. I want these to go to kids who would enjoy it as much as this kid did. So if you have someone in mind (think gamers), email me at cmheidicker@gmail.com, and I’ll send them a copy.

Meanwhile, if anyone needs me, I’ll be casting more spells on myself . . . and hoping they help others too.

CMH

WALLFLOWER made the short list for the Bram Stoker award!

January 23, 2019 in booook stuff

Welp, it’s finally happened. One of my books is almost maybe being considered for an incredibly prestigious award. Possibly.

Seriously, I cannot begin to tell you how swimmy my head gets when I see my book listed alongside powerhouses in the horror genre (especially my agency sister Courtney Alameda!).

This is enough. Truly. But if I could go to the awards in a blood-red tux and sit among the masters who make the world’s skin crawl, well . . . that’d be something else.

Sigh. Now, we wait.

From The Vampire’s Coffin (1958)—featured in WALLFLOWER

For those of you voting on which books will officially be nominated, I am more than happy to send you a PDF (that will implode after February 23rd). Or, if you’re stuck in the past like our hero Phoebe Lane, my publisher will send you a physical copy. (I would take them up on that. They’re bee-yootiful.)

Just please, Daniel Framsky, don’t turn the television off before the nominees are announced.

Pods on Pods

January 15, 2019

Good evening.

We here at cmheidicker.com pride ourselves on our honesty and accuracy. Which is why it is with a heavy heart and creased brow that we regret to inform you that we made an error in our previous blog post.

You see, we said we were going to say goodbye to Phoebe for a while. Ahem. But then two incredibly intelligent librarians went ahead and made a podcast about ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WALLFLOWER, and the conversation is so interesting and well-informed that we have to walk back what we said and post about Phoebe yet again. One more time. Maybe.

Enjoy.

P.S. Erin? Ali? I would love to be your friend.

Behind the Scenes of ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WALLFLOWER

December 17, 2018 in booook stuff

Before I say goodbye to Phoebe for a while, here are some behind-the-scenes photos and snapshots from our lovely launch at The King’s English.

(I mixed in some professional reviews too.)

Note: pictures taken by the multi-talented Shawn Saunders and Hannah Leigh Garrett.

Second note: The ant’s name is Ulysses S. Ant.

“Entertaining, sardonic, and covers themes of teenage confidence, independence, friendship, and justice.” -School Library Journal

“Phoebe makes a delightful narrator, having just the right amount of sass and befuddlement, which only increases as she realizes that she may in fact be transforming into a Shiver herself . . . There's a touch of existential contemplation—it's hard to avoid when you've called up the image of a man in the heavens—making this a satisfying mix of mild adolescent angst and creature feature comedy.” —BCCB (starred review)

"This book is wild, weird, hilarious, heartfelt, imaginative, and inventive. The spirit of Kurt Vonnegut is alive and well in its pages." -Jeff Zentner (award-winning author of The Serpent King)

“Phoebe is a plucky, snarky heroine, and her fantastic adventure will entertain teens . . . A fluffy romp with heart and action.” —Kirkus Reviews

“This high-concept meta-narrative works on multiple levels, from its good-natured ribbing of common tropes (like “the gay girl always dies”) to its commentary on female agency, but, more importantly, it’s frightfully fun.” —Booklist (starred review)