Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "jill-warren"

As a reviewer for Bookpleasures.com, I often choose to read children's books as I have young nieces and love to pass the books to them when I'm done with reviewing. Recently, I was lucky enough to receive a review copy of Abe's Lucky Day by Jill Warren. I was very impressed by the book. I just had to invite Jill to my blog so you could all meet her and find out more about her and her book.

As well as agreeing to answer my questions, Jill has very generously offered to give away one copy of the 'Abe's Lucky Day' to readers of my blog. If you'd like the chance to win a copy, just leave a comment below or 'like' this post. A winner will be chosen on the 16th August 2011.

Here's the interview:
What kind of books did you like to read as a child? Did you have any favourites?

I read quite a lot when I was a child. I read all of the The Black Stallion books, and every other horse-oriented story that I could find in the school and local libraries. I also liked books such as Sybil: The True and Extraordinary Story of a Woman Possessed By Sixteen Separate Personalities, Flowers for Algernon, and The Miracle Worker. I was very interested in psychology from a fairly young age. In addition, I really enjoyed books by Ray Bradbury such as The Illustrated Man and Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series. I loved horror stories, too, such as Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum and The Tell-Tale Heart. Stephen King books are my one guilty pleasure!

Tell us a bit about your background and how you got into writing.

I have been writing in one way or another for a very long time. I started out in junior high writing poetry, which I did up through college, when I had a few pieces published in the college paper. In 8th grade English, we had a short story assignment, and I remember really enjoying it - I wrote quite a messy horror story! I also enjoyed a mini-course on classic literature, during which time I read Les Misérables. It was the best book I had ever read up until that point, and I remember wanting to be able to write like that. I tried to sit down and write at different times over the years, but just couldn't get anything going. Then about 3 years ago, the urge became stronger, and I started writing again. This time, the stories began to come easier, and I found that I had a style all my own that I truly liked. From then on, I have had periods where I feel like maybe I will never write another story, and then a thought comes into my head, and I have to write again. The drive is so strong that most of the time, I can't stop writing until the story is finished.

Is ‘Abe’s Lucky Day’ your first published book?





'Abe's Lucky Day' is my first published book, but I am currently working with my illustrator on the pictures for my next project. I have written between 20 and 30 children's stories, and would like to publish about half of them.


Your bio says that you work with children. Have you read ‘Abe’s Lucky Day’ to them? If so, what types of reactions have you been getting?

I do work with children, but I have not read the book to them yet. I work with preschool-age children with autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders, and they sometimes find it very difficult to sit in a group for a story unless it is one with an accompanying CD, especially if it is musical. They also don't respond well at times to a "new" story. They seem to prefer hearing stories that are familiar, with a new book slipped in once in a while!. I have been getting responses, though, from friends who have read 'Abe" to their children, and so far, the children have reacted positively.

How did you come up with the idea for the character ‘Abe’?

Abe's character was the product of a movie I was watching at the time called Unleashed. In the story, there is an unfortunate young character played by Jet Li, who is taken in by a very kind older man played by Morgan Freeman. Through the course of the story, the older man teaches the younger character how to do things like cooking and shopping for himself, but also teaches him about love, trust, and what it means to be part of a family. I was hit by a need out of nowhere to write "Abe's Lucky Day", which I did in one sitting.


How did you go about finding the illustrator?

Finding my illustrator was quite a project, and one of the reasons that it has taken me approximately 3 years to get 'Abe' published. I had the story, was very excited about it, and actually paid a self-publisher to publish it. Then I found out that I needed illustrations. The publisher referred me to a firm that they had sent many other authors to, and I was hooked up with a gentleman that I knew only as 'KJ'. I sent him a scene description, and he went to work on a sample. Well, when I received the sample scene, I went bananas! I knew then and there that I wanted this gentleman for my illustrations. I asked for a quote, and was completely devastated when I received it. There was no way I could pay that amount. I went everywhere I could think of to ask for loans. I looked into grants. I sold my personal belongings to raise money, but there was still no way. I sadly told KJ that I couldn't do it, and went about looking for someone else. The only problem was that no matter what samples I received, nothing held a candle to KJ's work. Then out of the blue a year later, I got an email from KJ saying that he could do my illustrations for less money, and that he would allow me to pay over time for the 28 illustrations that I needed. I was ecstatic! It was like a dream come true. KJ is now working on the illustrations for my next book, and they are awesome!


Did you know what you wanted Abe to look like, or did you leave that to your illustrator? How much input did you have into the illustrations?

I knew exactly what I wanted Abe to look like right away, along with all of the other characters, the colors I wanted used, and everything about the book. I had spent so much time with 'Abe' that it was all very clear to me what I wanted. I first sent all of my character descriptions to KJ, and then all of the scene descriptions. He would do a sketch of each one, send it to me, and I would give feedback. Each scene then would go back and forth like that until I liked the finished product. It was actually very scary to me because I had never published a book before, and here I was responsible for every aspect of it. All I could do was hope that I was making the right decisions!


When you wrote the story, did you intend it to be a picture book, or were you writing it as a children’s story and were the pictures added later?

I did intend for 'Abe' to be a picture book, so I had to do some research and educate myself on the industry standards, what number of words is considered appropriate for each type of book, how many pages, all of that stuff. I did make some adjustments to make 'Abe' fit the standards for a picture book because i tend to be wordy - always have been so I'm told!- and then the pictures came along much later.


Are you working on any more books featuring Abe?

I am not currently working on any other books featuring Abe. I tend to write on a need-to basis, when I have a thought that I just can't resist and I have to write that particular story. The last story I wrote came to me when I was visiting with my neighbors and I had to excuse myself and run next door to get the story written. I researched for a couple of hours and the story was done in two days total. I do have a character I used in 2 stories and she is a little girl named Grace. I really like her, and she may come back again.

What is the target age-group for the book?

The target age for 'Abe' is technically 5-8 or something like that, but I believe that our children today are much more sophisticated and savvy than children were when I was young. My son as a youngster was able to understand much more, and wanted much more, than books that were targeted for his age group. What I originally intended was that 'Abe's Lucky Day' would be technically written for children of a certain age group, but enjoyable by anyone who picked it up. When I was younger, I was really inspired by Shel Silverstein's The Missing Piece and The Giving Tree. On the outside, they look like they are written for children, but the stories themselves are actually ageless and timeless. That is what I was going for when I wrote this story.

‘Abe’s Lucky Day’ is also available on Kindle. What do you think of ebooks? Do you read them?

I do not currently read ebooks mainly because of the fact that financially, I can't afford to buy the necessary equipment. I am also torn because I can see both sides. Ebooks have their benefits, but I feel in my heart that reading an old-fashioned paper book has a charm that ebooks can't imitate. The feel of the cover, the texture of the paper, the smell of a real, live book...those things add to my enjoyment of reading.

Who are your favourite writers and what is it about their writing that you like?

My favorite writers are fairly diverse, but I have to say that Stephen King is my all-time favorite. I love the way he describes everything to the nth degree...I can see the whole thing like a movie in my head, and I love that! I also really love some authors that I mentioned earlier - Isaac Asimov, and Ray Bradbury are exciting because they make me think about things that i had never imagined before. Shel Silverstein has a way of putting very profound thoughts into just a little bit of text that seems like it is so simple but it's really not.. I also have read quite a few James Patterson books, but then I love the classics, too...


Is there a book you own that you’ve read more than once?

I don't typically read a book more than once, and the list of the ones that I have re-read is fairly short: The Velveteen Rabbit and The Little Prince

What was the last book you read?

The last book I read was the first book in the Twilight saga. I felt left out at work not being able to talk about it with my friends.

Are you reading a book at the moment?

Right now I seem to be on a kick where I am reading more short stories than anything.

What are you working on now?

Right now I am working on getting the illustrations completed for a book called 'Bizzy Bee and the Flowers'. It is a story I wrote last year, but it is also the story that my son loved the most out of all the others I had written up to that point His reaction to the story was the reason it was chosen to be the next one for publishing . My son is a sophomore journalism major at Ithaca College, and quite a writer himself. He has been with me every step of the way through each and every story I have written, and I listen to his reactions and suggestions before I call a story 'finished'. I recently finished a story called 'Noah and the Sea'. My son says is the best so far, by far, and the reactions that I've gotten from people who have read it are very encouraging. I think that 'Noah' will probably be the third one to be published, but then that depends on what I write between now and then!

Where can people buy your book?

'Abe's Lucky Day' can be purchased through my publisher Outskirts Press, and Amazon.com

Do you have your own website or blog where people can read more about your work?

I currently do not have a a blog - I am just a little behind on the technology thing - I turned 50 last month and you know what they say about old dogs...my son had to help me get going with Facebook...what an ordeal! I wasn't even sure what a 'blog' was until just recently!

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Ha, ha!
Thank you, Jill, for being a fabulous guest!

Remember, if you'd like to enter to win a copy of 'Abe's Lucky Day', leave your comment below, or 'like' this post :)
Good luck!