Cabin Tales for Young Writers

It's the final Cabin Tales interview! With Frieda Wishinsky, award-winning author of more than 70 books for young readers, both fiction and non-fiction. Hear about her aversion to horror, her fondness for chronological order, and the similarities she finds in writing and gardening. 20 minutes, all ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show Notes [0:00] Intro [1:20] Interview with Frieda Wishinsky CA:… Are you a planner or a pantser? FW: Used to be much more of a...

An interview with Karen Bass, award-winning author of 8 young adult novels including Graffiti Knight, The Hill, and Blood Donor. Hear about her favourite fictional monster, her preference for third-person point of view, and her memory of growing up on a farm telling herself stories. 25 minutes, all ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show Notes [0:00] Intro [1:15] Interview with Karen Bass CA: Are you a planner? Do you know the ending of your story when you begin? KB:...

An interview with Chris Jones, illustrator of 25+ picture books and leveled readers plus multiple magazine features, and author-illustrator of graphic novels and comics for all ages. Hear about his love of wild settings, his resistance to the bound pages of a sketchbook, and his method of creating narrative tension by putting his characters through emotional workouts. 25 minutes. All ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show Notes [0:00] Intro [1:15] Interview with Chris...

An interview with Katherine Battersby, Peggy Collins, and Christine Tripp. Chris has illustrated more than 50 children’s books for educational publishers; Peggy has illustrated over a dozen books and she’s the author-illustrator of several. Katherine Battersby has illustrated 12 books, 7 of which she authored herself. Hear about their delight in touching young readers’ hearts, their early days of drawing and writing stories, and their disciplined ways of carving out time for their heavy...

An interview with Marty Chan, playwright and award-winning author of 18 books for young readers. Hear about his intricate revision process, his deep appreciation of young readers and writers, and his delight in making things hard for his characters. 25 minutes, all ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca Show Notes [0:00] Intro [1:10] Interview with Marty Chan CA: Are you a planner? Do you know the endings of your stories, or some of the major plot points, before you...

An interview with Jeff Szpirglas, author of over 20 books for all ages, including scary novels, short story collections, and “choose your own ending” adventures. Hear about his love of the horror genre, his interest in dramatic ironing and shifting points of view, and the inspiration for his scary stories. 20 minutes. All ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show Notes [0:00] Intro [1:10] Interview with Jeff Szpirglas CA: You do write spooky stories. JS: I do. I mean,...

An interview with Lisa Dalrymple, author of 11 books for young readers, picture books, novels, and non-fiction, most recently Fierce: Women who Shaped Canada. Hear her advice on creating tension, her attraction to wilderness settings, and her lifelong fear of dark water. 20 minutes. All ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show Notes [0:00] Intro [1:10] Interview with Lisa Dalrymple CA: …How do you feel about tormenting characters? LD: It’s fun. … I can best torment my...

An interview with David McArthur, author of the bestselling picture book, What Does a Caterpillar Do? Hear about David’s preference for first person point of view, his love of fantastic takes on real-world settings, and his favourite scary story. 20 minutes. All ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show Notes [0:00] Intro [1:10] Interview with David McArthur [1:30] CA: Do you tend to know the end of your story when you begin? DM: So I will try and plan. But actually,...

An interview with Dr. Sarah Raughley, author of young adult fantasy novels including The Effigies series – Fate of Flames; Siege of Shadows; and Legacy of Light – which she describes as “Sailor Moon meets Pacific Rim.” Hear about her love of third-person point of view, her advice on getting unstuck in your story, and her experience of getting the best ideas when you stop trying to find them. 25 minutes. All ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show Notes [0:00]...

An interview with Don Cummer, author of the “Jake and Eli” series set during the War of 1812: Brothers at War; A Hanging Offence; and Blood Oath. Hear about Don’s love of historical characters, his thoughts on the business of writing and publishing, and his collection of beautifully polished first chapters for books he hasn’t finished. (I have such a collection myself.) 25 minutes. All ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show Notes [0:00] Intro [1:20] Interview with Don...

And interview with Kate Inglis, author of 5 books for all ages, including the middle-grade novels The Dread Crew and Flight of the Griffons; the non-fiction memoir for adults, Notes for the Everlost, and the picture books, If I were a Zombie and A Great Big Night. Hear about her addiction to endless revision, the companionship she finds in fictional characters, and how her first novel began with a story she told her child just to pass the time. 25 minutes. All ages. A full interview...

An interview with Farida Zaman, author-illustrator of I Want to Be: A Gutsy Girl’s ABC, and illustrator of more than a dozen picture books and early readers. Hear about her love of fractured fairy tales, her dedication to creating a signature style, and her own experience of being a gutsy girl when she chose a life in the arts. 20 minutes. All ages. A full interview transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show Notes [0:00] Intro [1:10] Interview with Farida Zaman FZ: I illustrate and...

An interview with Lena Coakley, author of critically acclaimed young adult and middle-grade fantasy novels, including Witchlanders, Worlds of Ink and Shadow, and Wicked Nix. Hear about Lena’s love of worldbuilding, her ambition to write a sweeping Dickensian story, and her thoughts on the importance of daydreaming. 20 minutes. All ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show Notes [0:00] Intro [1:10] Interview with Lena Coakley CA: Are any of your stories based on your own...

An interview with Cary Fagan, multi-award-winning author of over 40 books, including short story collections, picture books, middle-grade novels, and adult novels. Hear about his typically lengthy revision process, his love of texts within texts, and his experiments with narrative voice and how he has come to look differently at the idea of rules for writing fiction. 25 minutes. All ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show Notes [0:00] Intro [1:20] Interview with Cary...

An interview with Dr. Kari-Lynn Winters, associate professor of language arts and author of more than 27 books for the very young, fiction and non-fiction, standalones and series. Hear about her love of unreliable narrators, her balance of many writing projects at once, and her fear of dogs, horses and ghosts. 25 minutes. All ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show Notes [0:00] Intro [1:10] Interview with Kari-Lynn Winters CA: Do you have any suggestions for young...

An interview with Robin Stevenson, author of 29 books for young readers, including board books, picture books, middle-grade novels, young adult novels, and non-fiction for all ages. Hear about her experiments with narrative voice, her experience of losing and finding her way through most of the books she’s written, and the early days of her writing journey, when a short story unexpectedly morphed into a teen novel. 20 minutes. All ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show...

An interview with Raquel Rivera, award-winning author of five books for young readers, including Tuk and the Whale and Orphan Ahwak. Hear about her interest in fairy tales, her advice for creating tension-filled scenes, and her childhood fear of the toilet witch. 25 minutes. All ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show Notes [0:00] Intro [1:10] Interview with Raquel Rivera CA: Have you ever written a story based on the news or a historical incident? RR: All of my...

An interview with Ishta Mercurio, author of the picture book, Small World, and co-author of the non-fiction picture book, Bite into Bloodsuckers. Hear about her favourite first lines, her love of characters that push the boundaries of expectations, and her penchant for telling truths through metaphors. 20 minutes. All ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show Notes [0:00] Intro [1:05] Interview with Ishta Mercurio CA: Have you found a difference before and after Small...

An interview with Philippa Dowding, award-winning author of 13 books for middle-grade readers, including Oculum, Firefly, and Quinn and the Quiet, Quiet. She is also a poet, a musician, and a copywriter. Hear about her attraction to weird plot possibilities, her occasional tendency to spook herself while writing, and her encounter with a gargoyle in a curiosity shop that helped launched one of her book series. 20 minutes. All ages. Read the full transcript at CabinTales.ca Show Notes...

An interview with Wendy McLeod MacKnight, author of three books for middle-grade readers, who shares her habit of drafting quickly and revising painstakingly, her advice on getting to know your characters before you write them, and her delighted surprise at discovering Voldemort under Quirrell’s turban. 20 minutes. All ages. A full transcript is available at CabinTales.ca. Show Notes [0:00] Intro [1:15] Interview with Wendy McLeod MacKnight CA: Do you ever do object studies, either as an...