In which I interview some famous authors

If you have a reader in your house who's between the ages of about 7 and 12, you're no doubt familiar with The Spiderwick Chronicles. Written by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi, the five-volume serial recounts the adventures of the Grace children and their strange encounters with the world of faerie.

Black and DiTerlizzi followed up their huge success with Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, a three-volume serial featuring new characters and a new setting, but the same familiar population of goblins, sprites, giants and other mysterious magical creatures that made The Spiderwick Chronicles such a success.

Now on tour promoting The Wyrm King, the final installment in the Beyond Spiderwick series, Black and DiTerlizzi will make a stop in Cincinnati next week to meet their fans and sign a few autographs. You can catch them on Monday, Sept. 28, at 6 p.m. at the Blue Manatee Children's Bookstore on Madison Rd., and at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Rookwood Pavilion on Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m.

Black and DiTerlizzi were kind enough to answer a few questions for me recently -- read on to find out a bit more about their creative process, the origins of the Spiderwick books, and what the two are planning next:

Q: I understand all eight of these books grew from your childhood love of stories about faeries, goblins, trolls and other magical creatures. Can you talk about that, and what it’s been like for you to bring your childhood imagination to life in these books?

Tony: For me, it has been beyond a dream come true. What’s been amazing is the response from many that this was the first book their child read on their own. That means a lot because we aimed these stories for the younger-than-Harry-Potter-and-Snicket reader who may feel overwhelmed by longer books. That’s also why I drew so much art for these – there are lots of places for young eyes to take a rest and soak in some visuals to aid in comprehending the tale.

The other aspect that comes through in these books is our love for the fantastic. I have been drawing monsters like goblins, dragons and trolls since I was a kid. I was so inspired from Brian Froud & Alan Lee’s drawings in the 1979 book Faeries, and playing Dungeons & Dragons. So the idea of our stories inspiring the next generation of storytellers is just totally awesome.

Holly: I definitely grew up believing in ghosts and faeries and all kinds of other things. I lived in an old spooky house and my mother told me how she used to play with the ghost that lived in the attic. I was pretty much terrified all the time. The thing I try to remember most when I am writing the books is that feeling of certainty that the supernatural is real and the world is a more interesting but dangerous place because of it.

Q: These books remind me a lot of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen in terms of tone and mood. What influence did those writers have on both of you when you were kids?

Tony: We had big collections of those two authors in the DiTerlizzi house growing up, so your observations of them influencing Spiderwick are correct. I love how the faerie characters in those tales were not so nice -- in fact, many were downright dangerous. I think as adults (and parents) we forget how much we enjoy thrilling, dark adventures when we are younger. I loved the Grimm tales and still do to this day. In fact, I just purchased an 1890’s copy of Grimm’s Tales by German illustrator Hermann Vogel – the drawings are exquisite.

Holly: I had a huge, unabridged Brothers Grimm on my bookshelf and I would page through it a lot, along with a bunch of other beautifully illustrated fairy tale books. But I think the book that had the biggest effect on me in terms of Spiderwick was reading Brian Froud and Alan Lee's book, Faeries. It pushed me to start researching folklore. At that point, like most kids, I'd read a lot of mythology, but not a lot of folklore. When I started looking for information on faeries, I realized that the public perception of them as kindly, sparkly sprites was wholly different that the capricious and dangerous beings they were in folkloric stories. I was totally fascinated.

Q: It’s unusual that two people who are both interested in these types of things would find each other and end up working together. How did that happen?

Tony: My wife, Angela, and I moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 1996. We met Holly and her husband, Theo, shortly thereafter when Holly came to interview me about my illustrations for the game Dungeons & Dragons. Sadly the magazine she was interviewing me for went under, but our friendship blossomed.

One of our favorite things to chat about was story and plot in books we’d read, movies we’d watched, or video games we’d played. This chatty dialogue (you know, the kind of conversation you have when you go with a friend and get a cup of coffee after seeing a film together) evolved into us plotting and scheming up a story of our own. I had shown Holly an early version of Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You which I had pitched to Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers back in 2000. Since she knew the faerie lore so well, she began helping me with the research. I wanted this book to stay true to traditional folklore, but re-imagine some of the well-known creatures in a (hopefully) new and exciting way.

Along the way, my editor and I realized there was more to this project than just a faerie field guide and the man who created it. We began tinkering with the idea of modern day kids getting thrust into the world of old faerie folklore. Since Angela and I had helped Holly land her first young-adult dark faerie novel, Tithe, at Simon & Schuster, I knew she and I could create this story together for them.

Holly: When I came up to interview Tony about his artwork, we got to talking and realized we had a ton of interests in common. He had just moved from Florida with his wife, so we wound up hanging out a lot. We always loved talking about stories and decided that it would be fun to work on something together. Tony had just the project.

Q: Usually children’s books are presented as “written by so-and-so” and “illustrated by so-and-so.” This is the first time I’ve ever encountered a book for which the writer and illustrator get equal billing. Why is that? Can you talk about your collaboration and why you felt it was important to present the books that way?

Tony: Once Holly came onboard and we began plotting the stories, we soon found that both of us had great ideas and approaches to telling this story. Having written and illustrated a couple of picture books prior, I came at it from that viewpoint, whereas Holly was working on older, teen fiction. Spiderwick became our creative meeting ground in the middle.

We didn’t hold back on our participation for plot, art, book design, touring, marketig . . . anything. At the end of the day, she went off and wrote the manuscript and I drew the art, but there was so much interaction along the way that we felt it was not accurate to simply put “written by” and “illustrated by.” We’d used every trick up our sleeves to make these stories the best possible books they could be. As many may know, this is unusual in crafting an illustrated book. But it somehow worked for us and I think the books are much richer for it.

Holly: We wanted the credits on the book to reflect how they were made and also our unusual way of working together. From the beginning, we've had huge, sprawling conversations before either of our pens hits the paper. We would map out some of the things that were going to happen in the story, then I'd go off and write and Tony would go off and draw. We'd check back with one another a lot and exchange stuff. Tony would send me drawings that would inspire new scenes I hadn't previously planned on. Making all the Spiderwick books was an extremely collaborative process.

Q: Given the dark nature of the subject matter, and the age group at which the books are aimed, why do you think The Spiderwick Chronicles and Beyond Spiderwick are so popular?

Tony: You have to remember that Spiderwick debuted in a time when Harry Potter and A Series of Unfortunate Events dominated book sales. I absolutely love those books, but I don’t know if I would have read them all had they been released when I was eight or nine years old.

This became apparent to me when I was on tour for The Spider & The Fly. To my delight, I was speaking to groups of fourth and fifth graders who liked my latest picture book; however, I was reminded of the chasm of reading levels present in that age range. Some kids were reading Magic Treehouse, others the latest Harry.

All of us involved in developing Spiderwick wondered if there was a way to create an older-aimed, 500-page story that somehow was less daunting to younger readers. I think it was our editor extraordinaire, Kevin Lewis, who suggested serializing the books. Keep in mind, a serial is different than a series in that there is no recap at the beginning of the book – it simply picks up where the previous story ended, like a comic book. So you could be seven years old and tackle these one by one, or 10 and read them all in one sitting. Plus parents seemed to enjoy reading them with their children, and that’s always a big seal of approval in my book.

Holly: I hesitate to guess why anything is popular, but I think that kids appreciate some darkness in their books. Grimm's fairy tales are dark. I think darkness can feel really honest. I remember being that age and I remember that I was frightened of a lot of things. Stories where kids were able to overcome monsters were definitely important for me.

Q: The children in both sets of books face real-life issues as well as the fairy tale sort – divorce, an inattentive father, problems in school, death of a parent, stepfamily issues. Why was that an important element for you to include in the stories?

Tony: I think none of the fantasy elements would appear believable if there was not some sort of “real life” thread that our readers could hold onto. Also, that sort of friction sets the stage for a (hopefully) more dramatic tale. I don’t think it would matter how many neat faeries and curious creatures we stocked the stories with if the reader didn’t care, or feel, for what the heroes were going through. Sadly, the issues you listed are quite common with American children these days.

Holly: I think the more real the characters are and the more real their problems are, the more readers will believe in them and their adventures. But I also believe that as storytellers, we have to tell the truth as we see it. Facing problems in school, death, divorce, and family issues are things kids have to do on a daily basis and those kids deserve representation in their literature.

Q: Florida seems like an unlikely place to find faeries. How and why did you choose Florida as the setting for the second set of books?

Tony: After the initial five books chronicling the Grace kids were completed, Holly and I wanted to show our readers that the fantastic world could be entered anywhere. Since the Beyond Spiderwick books are forged from the opposite approach of the first books, a humid, tropical landscape seemed like a nice change from a cool, autumnal New England.

This attitude towards the second story is applied in all sorts of ways throughout: Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide is simply purchased in a store versus discovering it in an old musty attic. Also, the Vargas family is a blended family with troubles arising from the family coming together as one – the Grace family was a family being torn apart by divorce.

So there was that, and the fact that I grew up in south Florida and knew we could capture the tone and feel of the area fairly accurately. Holly came down in the summer of 2006, and I took her to many landmarks that I knew very well. I wanted the settings to inspire her for Nick and his adventures.

Holly: We chose Florida, in part, precisely because it seemed like an unlikely place to find faeries. We wanted to make the point that there are fairies and faerie-like creatures in lots of different places and climates. We also both grew up by beaches and thought it would be interesting to get to work more with some aquatic creatures.

Q: I didn’t intend to ask any questions about the Spiderwick movie – I think that’s a different topic altogether. But I have to ask what you thought of the casting of Nick Nolte as Mulgarath the ogre. I thought it was a great choice – they definitely look alike!

Tony: Hee hee! They do! Overall, Holly and I were both quite pleased with the film adaptation. There were changes to the storyline, of course, but that is to be expected when you are adapting five little books into a three-act, 90-minute piece. And they upheld the basic themes of the books (not to mention it looked amazing), so you can’t really ask for much more . . . except perhaps a sequel (crossing fingers).

I thought Nick was a fine choice for the role. He’s always had that deep, smoky growl to his vocalization, so the jump for him voicing an ogre wasn’t a big leap. I think the big surprise for me was Seth Rogen as Hogsqueal the hobgoblin. Sure, I thought he was hilarious in his starring films, but I couldn’t recall his voice being the thing I loved about him. However, when we saw the rough cut, I was completely turned around - he was a perfect voice for Hogsqueal.

Q: Tony, this one is for you: You’re working on a series for young children called Adventure of Meno. The subject matter includes farts, David Hasselhoff, and a child-like alien who talks like an Asian immigrant in a Saturday Night Live skit. Please to explain!

Tony: Ha! Yes, Adventure of Meno is certainly a departure from the picture books I’ve created in the past. But I think that has much to do with the collaboration with my wife, Angela, on the books. Meno was created while she was pregnant with our daughter, Sophia. We had been reading A LOT of the toddler books and had rediscovered our love for Little Golden Books.

So, along with the birth of Sophia, the Meno books were born. They were part Hello Kitty, part Gerald McBoing-Boing and a whole bunch of silliness. I firmly believe that a book can be simply about having fun together as a parent and child while sharing a story. To me, that step can lead down a path of a lifetime love of reading.

As for his Meno-Speak, we were trying to capture that 1950’s, robotic, “Greetings Earthlings, I come in peace” tone to the narrative. We’ll see if everyone else thinks they are as funny as we do.

Q: Do you have plans for additional books/serials/collaborations?

Tony: Because of the surprising success of the Spiderwick books, Holly and I had to put some of our own stories on the back burner. That said, we both have new BIG stories debuting next year. Mine is titled The Search for WondLa. It’s the first in a trilogy aimed for middle-readers (like Spiderwick) that centers around a girl who has been raised on an alien planet under the care of a robot. Throughout the adventure she searches for other humans and learns what constitutes a true family. It is due to release next fall.

Holly: I am working on two new series. One is a series of graphic novels, called Good Neighbors, that I'm working on with the artist Ted Naifeh. The first book, Kin, came out last year. This October, the second book, Kith, comes out. The final book, Kind, comes out next year. They deal with a girl named Rue who has to figure out where her mother disappeared to and whether or not she's human.

I am also working on a new series for teens called The Curse Workers. The first book, The White Cat, comes out in May and is totally different from anything I have ever done before. It posits a world like ours, but where there’s always been magic. One in a thousand people are born with the ability to do curse work. In 1929, in the US, curse magic was made illegal, but it flourishes on the black market. Charms to prevent being worked are so common they’re sold at the check out counter in drug stores.

The series follows a boy named Cassel, who is not himself a worker, but who is born to a family of grifters and curse workers. He’s in school, trying to stick to the straight and narrow when something happens that causes him to investigate his past and his own family.


Thanks, Tony and Holly, for giving us a small peek inside your collaborative process and your very creative minds. Be sure to check out these authors at their appearances in Cincinnati next week, and if you haven't yet read the Spiderwick books, I highly recommend picking them up next week and getting them autographed while you're at it!