Dotti was interviewed yesterday by Karen Lee, me today, and will be interviewed by Ruth McNally Barshaw Wednesday, Kim Norman Thursday and Barbara Johansen Newman on Saturday. Joe Kulka (the illustrator) interviewed Dotti on his blog as well. Visit around to learn more about Dotti's successful career with novels and picture books.
Hi Dotti.
Congratulations on your newest picture book release, "Grandpa for Sale!" This is your third picture book now, after many successful novels in your "Fortune Tellers Club" series. How do you feel about creating picture books vs. creating novels?
Picture books are definitely more fun to promote. I love seeing the looks on the kids' faces when I read one of my picture books out loud at a public event. But they are harder to write. With novels you have a lot more leeway, adding as much description and dialogue as necessary. With picture books you have to tell the story with both words and pictures. And since I'm not the illustrator, I have to make sure the plot and characters are lively enough to carry 14 various illustrations.
You actually co-wrote "Grandpa for Sale" with Vicki Sansum. Is there a story behind this collaboration?
There's a story behind everything I do! Vicki and I have been good friends for a long time. We met through the Houston SCBWI, and she and I got together regularly to critique each other's work. While she was reading a chapter from one of her novels that took place in an antique store, the idea for Grandpa for Sale popped into my head. I ran it by her, and she loved it. We each wrote our own version, then combined them. After several drafts, and lots of cutting, we ended up with a colorful and fun book.
What's your favorite part of creating a picture book. Is it when you first write the story, when you see the illustrations for the first time, when it's released?
Actually it's the anticipation of seeing the illustrations for the first time. Sort of like waiting for Santa. I always have pictures in my mind when writing a picture book, but they're never as fun as the ones that the illustrators come up with. So, while I enjoy seeing the illos, it's the anticipation of what they might look like that makes me happy.
What's next in the pipeline? Do you plan to do more picture books, or will you return to novels?
Hopefully both. I have two more picture books coming out next year. One is a follow up to The Cotton Candy Catastrophe at the Texas State Fair. It's called The Fat Stock Stampede at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It'll be fun promoting it here in Houston during "Go Texan" week. I also have another picture book coming out with Pelican Publishing called Gingerbread Man: Superhero! I think you can guess what that's about. And I have two upcoming middle-grade novels, one this fall called Hidden, and another with Delacorte Press called Man in the Moon. I'm currently working on a YA.
I have to ask this. Do you still wear the pink wig?
Rarely. It was lots of fun for promoting The Cotton Candy Catastrophe, but it's cumbersome and limiting, and I've pretty much retired it. Though I'm not opposed to digging it back out should the occasion call for it. :-)
Thanks Dotti!
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