Ask the Author: Kip Wilson
Answered Questions (10)
Kip Wilson
It was really hard! But I also really loved school and didn't want to stop. My favorite part was writing the dissertation because I got to immerse myself in the poet Rilke's life and work.
Kip Wilson
Thank you so much for reading! I just taught a workshop about this very thing, because verse is actually a great way to show description. My advice is to make it small, short, and specific. Looking at photos or images and then imagining how your protagonist would see them is a great way to try this out.
Kip Wilson
Thank you! And thanks for this question! I think the main difference with verse vs. prose is that verse allowed me to get much deeper into the POV character's head and emotions, which I find ironically difficult with all the words available in prose. The verse form lends itself really well to emotional, tragic situations, and the whitespace helps balance the heaviness of the words on the page.
Kip Wilson
I love music and wish I were a talented musician. I love the trumpet and played the guitar for hours on end in high school but just wasn't very good at either. Years later, I married into a musical family, and my kids are more talented than I, so it's awesome having a house full of music even if I'm not the one making it.
Kip Wilson
COFFFFEEEEEE. All the coffee!
Kip Wilson
I'm most definitely an early morning writer. #5amwritersclub is the life for me!
Kip Wilson
I LOVE THIS QUESTION! I have many to recommend. My most recent favorites are THE POET X, BLOOD WATER PAINT, and LONG WAY DOWN. But I also have many favorites I've read again and again, including A TIME TO DANCE, BROWN GIRL DREAMING, ENCHANTED AIR, AUDACITY, TO STAY ALIVE, and THE CROSSOVER.
Kip Wilson
Thank you for asking--I *adore* talking about research. My research for WHITE ROSE included trips to Munich and Ulm, Germany, with visits to archives and sites, as well as stacks of published books about Sophie Scholl and the group in German. There aren't a ton of books written or translated in English, but there is a wealth of information in German, and reading and comparing sources was immensely interesting.
Kip Wilson
I love novels in verse too! My inspiration to write in verse stemmed from a love of reading novels in verse. In the case of WHITE ROSE, I had been trying for *years* to find the right format for the subject, and it was a chat with two verse novelists that allowed me to see that verse might perhaps be the perfect way to tell the story. Now that I've discovered writing in verse, it's definitely my preferred way of storytelling, but every story is different, so we'll see!
Kip Wilson
Thanks for the question! I've been a history buff for as long as I can remember, but when I first learned about the White Rose in high school German class, I found the group's mission--standing up against the Nazis in spite of the danger--to be incredibly inspiring. As the youngest and only female in the group, Sophie Scholl became a personal role model for me. It's been such an honor to work on her story and hopefully introduce her to American teens who might not otherwise have heard of the group and the work they did.
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