TLS: I am passionate about nonfiction. I just love coming across a little known piece of history, or an interesting topic in science and finding a way to get kids just as excited about it as I am. Of course, one of the advantages to nonfiction is that the story already exists! But it's challenging and fun to find creative ways to approach a nonfiction topic. And the more I write nonfiction, I find, the "edgier" I am getting.
4. SR:: What advice would you give to someone who wants to get started in work-for-hire writing? Is this a good way to break into the business?
TLS: I don't do much work-for-hire, unless it seems as though the flat fee offered might turn out to be better financially than the royalties may earn. However, sometimes starting out with a work-for-hire assignment is a really good way to get your foot in the door--not because of the financial arrangement, but because the companies that tend to work this way are the same companies that tend to offer "assignments," as opposed to pitching a finished manuscript through the regular submission process and waiting to see if an editor is interested in acquiring it. This is another advantage to having an interest in nonfiction. But I don't think someone who isn't excited about nonfiction should do it simply to get their foot in the door. You have to write what you love.
5. SR: You have written many excellent biographies. What do you think is the key to writing an interesting biography?
TLS: For me, it's to read as much as possible about that person's life before I ever start writing. That way, I start to get a sense of who they are, what they like or don't like, who their family is, what matters to them--and I can fill up my mind with sensory details about them. I like to have as much of a sense about that person as possible before starting to write. And usually through that process, the right "angle" comes to me.
6. SR: What is the most gratifying part of writing for you?
TLS: The process itself. That wonderful, magical, impossible-to-explain phenomenon that takes place when you are suddenly hit with how to fix a "problem" you're experiencing in a manuscript. You know, when you wake up at 5 am knowing exactly what was wrong with your character, or how something that made no sense is suddenly crystal clear and you know just what to do. I'm fascinated by those experiences--I mean, how does that happen, where do these solidifications suddenly come from? It's a mystery--and perhaps it's best it stay that way!
