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A Nose for Children's Fiction

© Paula E. Kirman

Richard Scrimger is one of Canada's premier writers for youths aged eight to eleven. Consistently nominated for awards every year, Scrimger's humour and understanding of young lives is apparent in his writing. His latest book is A Nose for Adventure, (Tundra; $8.99; trade paperback; 160 pp; ISBN 0-88776-499-1) the sequel to The Nose from Jupiter, which was a Finalist for the 2001 Young Reader's Choice Award. Alan, whose parents are divorced, takes his first airplan ride supposedly to meet his father in New York. Snag after snafu happens, as Alan;s dad is not at the airport, he has to deal with a cranky seatmate, and to top things off, an alien who had previously resided in Alan's nose makes a comeback.

Scrimger lives with his family in Cobourg, Ontario, and is also the author of two novels for adults, several newspaper articles and a book of short pieces about his experiences raising his four children.

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Paula: What is your inspiration for writing children's books?

Richard: The inspiration part is easy: an idea falls into my head, sometimes the way a feather will fall into a basket, sometimes the way piano will fall out the window and onto the road. The idea tends to be fully formed: SOME SPECIFIC THING will happen to our hero, causing a life-changing moment. If the specific thing that happens is the sort of thing that happens to a kid -- bullies, nostrils, flatulence -- then it becomes a kids' book. If the specific thing is, let's say, Alzheimer's or adultery or creative withdrawal, then the book will be an adult book. I'll write it in very much the same way. I don't write down to kids, or write up for adults.

Paula: How do you create your characters? Are they based on your own experiences and/or people that you have known?

Richard: Characters are a stew of ideas and experience. Sometimes you can see bits of the original meat or veg in the stew, but very often it's disguised by sauce and context so that you can not tell where it comes from originally. Which is probably just as well. For what it's worth, all (and I mean ALL) characters in my stew taste of the chef -- that is, there is a bit of me in everyone I write about. Even the bullies. Even the dementing old lady. (Maybe especially the dementing old lady.)

Paula: What do you think is the most important part of writing for young people?

The copyright of the article A Nose for Children's Fiction in Canadian Literature is owned by Paula E. Kirman. Permission to republish A Nose for Children's Fiction in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.