H. B. Homzie's Adorable Aliens
in order to heighten any fish out of water premise. I also love the principle of comedic escalation: to make sure that if the water starts out at your protagonist's ankles, by the end of the story, it must be a flood. There are dozens or other such principles, and I enjoy speaking at writer's conferences about the rules and principles of comedy. My years on the stage also help me with the public performances of my works. I also enjoy speaking about techniques to improve public readings of literary works.
5.SR: Who are some of your favorite children's authors?
HH: For young adult and middle grade: Brock Cole, Melvin Burgess, Francesca Lia Block, Lucy Frank, Margaret Willey, Robin McKinley, Judy Blume, Roald Dahl, Lisa Rowe Fraustino, A. LaFaye and Laurie Halse Anderson. For chapter and picture books: Margaret Wise Brown, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Dav Pilkey, James Marshall, Barbara Park, Mittie Cuetara, and Margaret Mahy.
6.SR: What is your writing day like? HH:I start writing at 10:15 in the morning after I've delivered my sons to kindergarten and day care. Then I'm back home and ready to start my writing day. Usually, I start by checking my email, which is not wise because it can be a great procrastination technique so real writing doesn't often happen closer to lunchtime. In truth, I should write first, and then, as a reward, read my email, but I can't help myself. I am always convinced that there's some urgent email in my in-box that I must attend to immediately, otherwise, my computer will detonate. I end my writing day at 2:30 when I pick up my older son from elementary school. Although when there is a deadline pressing upon me, I will be up writing at night, as well as surfing the net and writing email. I love the Internet. 7.SR: What is the best writing advice you ever received? HH: Start your book by having your characters responding to some sort of problem that is introduced in the first chapter. Louis Sachar, the author of the Newbery award-winning Holes, gave me this advice after he had read the first chapter of a middle grade novel I had been working on for quite some time. I remember he said, "Hillary, your characters are vivid, the dialogue and situations resonate but nobody is responding to any conflict." I remember saying something like, "but first I need to set up my characters,"
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