by Gloria G. Adams
Dori Hillestad Butler is the author of more than 50 books for young readers including
the two-time Geisel Honor award winning King & Kayla series, Edgar award winning Buddy Files
series, and the Haunted Library series. Dori has also been a ghost writer for the Boxcar Children and
other popular series. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, board games, walking her dog, and
playing with the Seattle Mandolin Orchestra. She grew up in southern Minnesota, spent 19 years in
Iowa, and now lives in the Seattle area.
the two-time Geisel Honor award winning King & Kayla series, Edgar award winning Buddy Files
series, and the Haunted Library series. Dori has also been a ghost writer for the Boxcar Children and
other popular series. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, board games, walking her dog, and
playing with the Seattle Mandolin Orchestra. She grew up in southern Minnesota, spent 19 years in
Iowa, and now lives in the Seattle area.
Dori, what inspired you
to write your first book?
That was a long
time ago! 😊 My first book was the Great Tooth
Fairy Rip Off and I guess I was inspired by the kids who lived in the house
behind mine. I was working on a short story for a magazine and I could hear the
neighbor kids playing. It sounded like the little brother had lost his first
tooth and all the kids were bragging about how much money they’d gotten from
the tooth fairy. I started thinking about what would happen if this little boy
didn’t get as much as the other kids got. What might he do? That became the
Great Tooth Fairy Rip Off.
Who are some
Authors that you admire?
I read and enjoy
many books by many different authors, but I try not to “admire” other authors
because that can start a dangerous spiral of comparisons.
What kinds of
books do you like to read?
Mostly
contemporary fiction. Mysteries. Humor. Dog stories. You know…the same kind of
stuff I like to write.
What is
your writing process? (Outline, start in the middle, scenes, etc.)
I usually outline.
Then I start at the beginning. I tend to revise (a lot!) as I’m writing. The
downside to that is it takes me a while to write a draft. But the upside is it
tends to be a pretty clean draft. That’s not to say I don’t revise after I have
a draft. I revise a lot! I will revise until my editor says I can’t revise
anymore. I love the revision process because then I have words I can work with.
The blank page scares me.
What was your most
unusual/funny/heartwarming experience as a writer?
I think the most
heartwarming experience I’ve ever had was when a 5th grader raised
the money for my author visit all by herself. I didn’t know that’s what she was
doing. She was a fan of my Monkey Man books and she e-mailed me and asked if
I’d visit her school. She wasn’t the first student to ask me about school
visits. I told her the same thing I told the others: I would love to visit her
school, but an official invitation has to come from an adult at her school, not
from her. I thought it that was the end of it. It usually is. 😊 But a few months later, I received an official
invitation from the school. And they told me they thought I should know that
this student wanted me to come so badly that she raised the money for my visit
herself. You can still read about it in her own words right here: http://www.kidswriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Elises-guest-blog.pdf
Congratulations on
winning an Edgar Award! What made you decide to write mysteries?
Thank you! I’ve
always loved mysteries. Reading them and writing them. I was in high school
when I was first aware of the Edgar Award. I worked in my city library in high
school and I was shelving a book by Joan Lowery Nixon, who was one of my
favorite authors. The cover of the book said she was an “Edgar Award winning
author.” So I looked up what that meant…and dreamed of winning that award
myself one day.
Have you written
one particular book that you love more than the others?
No, that’s like
asking me to choose between my children.
The Haunted
Library books are fun to read. What gave you the idea for writing them?
It was actually
book 6 of my Buddy Files series. I had created this family of ghosts that I
thought would live in the school where Buddy, the hero of my Buddy Files
series, was a therapy dog. He’d be the only one who could see and interact with
them. But my husband thought my story was too much about the ghosts and not
enough about the dog. He said, “If you want to write a ghost series, write a
ghost series. But this is your dog series. This book needs to focus more of the
dog.” He was right. Also, I did want to write a ghost series. So, I took that
family of ghosts out of the Buddy Files and gave them their own series: The
Haunted Library.
What are the
challenges of writing series books?
I love writing
series books, but I think my biggest problem with them is sometimes I want to
do something in a later book and can’t because it would be inconsistent with
something else I’ve already established in the series. You can’t go back and
revise previous books once they’re already published, so you’re limited by what
you’ve already written.
What is one piece
of advice that you would give to writers?
The best advice I
have to offer is: never give up! It sounds pat, but it’s true. Never give up is
the secret to becoming a published writer.
Short
and Sweet:
·
Pantser or Plotter? Plotter
·
Guilty Food Pleasure? Chocolate
·
Favorite Hobby? Playing mandolin
·
Dog or Cat person? Dog person. Well…both. But really
dog.
·
Do you do your best work in the Morning, Afternoon, or
Evening?
Morning
