Steve Searfoss's Blog: KidVenture Blog
February 6, 2022
Reading Is My Superpower Interview
Excerpt from the interview:
If I asked your characters to describe YOU as an author, what would they say?
I love this question. Good writing is about creating characters you fall in love with…and then making them struggle and suffer. So on a good day I’d hope my characters would describe their author as unpredictable, but also fair and loving.
Some authors like to hide little things in their stories. Is there anything you have hidden in your book?
The first draft of Twelve Weeks To Midnight Blue had only two main characters, a brother and sister named Chance and Addie. That’s how I grew up, my sister and I were partners in crime. When I read the first draft to my four kids, they were horrified. Why were there only two siblings? Oops. I went back and added a younger sister and a much younger brother who only make minor appearances in this first book, but will grow into main characters in future books.
What do you most want readers to take away from Twelve Weeks to Midnight Blue?
KidVenture books are business adventure stories where kids learn about starting a business and being entrepreneurs. There are a lot of lessons about problem solving, decision making and negotiating packed into the book. But there are also key moments when the characters wrestle with ethical dilemmas. I would hope kids reading Twelve Weeks To Midnight Blue would not only pick up some good business tips, but also be inspired to think of themselves as moral agents with the power to do good.
For example, Chance gets a call from an old man who wants his pool cleaned. When Chance arrives, he realizes this man hasn’t cleaned his pool in years and it would take all day to clean up the mess. There’s no way this job would be profitable. Chance struggles with whether to just walk away, but after looking around and seeing how much this old man is struggling, he decides to spend the day cleaning his pool.
Here is how that scene ends:
I wrestled with how to end this scene. Should Chance have just offered to do it for free? He did spend a full day working. I didn’t want to send the message that he shouldn’t value his labor. He would quickly go out of business if he offered to work for free any time he thought one of his clients was struggling. But I certainly didn’t want him to just walk away either. Hopefully I found a middle ground where Chance respects himself enough to charge money for his work and sees that the service he provides has value; but he also understands having a business creates unique opportunities to go beyond the ordinary and do good.
Read the full interview at the Reading Is My Superpower blog.
If I asked your characters to describe YOU as an author, what would they say?
I love this question. Good writing is about creating characters you fall in love with…and then making them struggle and suffer. So on a good day I’d hope my characters would describe their author as unpredictable, but also fair and loving.
Some authors like to hide little things in their stories. Is there anything you have hidden in your book?
The first draft of Twelve Weeks To Midnight Blue had only two main characters, a brother and sister named Chance and Addie. That’s how I grew up, my sister and I were partners in crime. When I read the first draft to my four kids, they were horrified. Why were there only two siblings? Oops. I went back and added a younger sister and a much younger brother who only make minor appearances in this first book, but will grow into main characters in future books.
What do you most want readers to take away from Twelve Weeks to Midnight Blue?
KidVenture books are business adventure stories where kids learn about starting a business and being entrepreneurs. There are a lot of lessons about problem solving, decision making and negotiating packed into the book. But there are also key moments when the characters wrestle with ethical dilemmas. I would hope kids reading Twelve Weeks To Midnight Blue would not only pick up some good business tips, but also be inspired to think of themselves as moral agents with the power to do good.
For example, Chance gets a call from an old man who wants his pool cleaned. When Chance arrives, he realizes this man hasn’t cleaned his pool in years and it would take all day to clean up the mess. There’s no way this job would be profitable. Chance struggles with whether to just walk away, but after looking around and seeing how much this old man is struggling, he decides to spend the day cleaning his pool.
Here is how that scene ends:
He seemed genuinely happy as he watched me work. Slowly his backyard came to life as I removed bucket after bucket of debris from his pool. After a while he was smiling wide, and I think he got inspired because he started raking his little patch of grass and tidying up the area around the pool. That was its own reward, to see a little bit of joy return to this old man, and to feel like I made a difference. Some payments are even better than money. I hope I never forget that. Business should be about more than just making money. Ultimately it should be about making people’s lives better…
Old Man Lee had been so grateful for the work I’d done, I almost felt bad taking his money. But I also knew I had worked hard to earn it. Both of those things felt good.
I wrestled with how to end this scene. Should Chance have just offered to do it for free? He did spend a full day working. I didn’t want to send the message that he shouldn’t value his labor. He would quickly go out of business if he offered to work for free any time he thought one of his clients was struggling. But I certainly didn’t want him to just walk away either. Hopefully I found a middle ground where Chance respects himself enough to charge money for his work and sees that the service he provides has value; but he also understands having a business creates unique opportunities to go beyond the ordinary and do good.
Read the full interview at the Reading Is My Superpower blog.
January 27, 2022
Jerry Harwood Interview
Excerpt from the interview:
Do you write full-time or around another job? If you have a full-time job, does it ever play into your writing?
Writing is something I do on the side. My full time job is running my business. Now that I’m writing KidVenture stories, I find I’m always on the lookout for a good plot twist or interesting character. They come naturally in business. In Twelve Weeks To Midnight Blue, one of the big setbacks Chance faces is when he tries selling the pool cleaning service at a higher price and promptly loses a customer. That plot point came straight out of real life. I’d been negotiating for a client for a couple weeks on a possible project and when I submitted the final proposal, I decided to come in a little high on the price…and promptly lost the client. I felt terrible…and then felt giddy when I realized it would be fun to make my characters go through the same thing.
Read the full interview at Jerry's Circumlocution blog.
Thank you Jerry Harwood!
Do you write full-time or around another job? If you have a full-time job, does it ever play into your writing?
Writing is something I do on the side. My full time job is running my business. Now that I’m writing KidVenture stories, I find I’m always on the lookout for a good plot twist or interesting character. They come naturally in business. In Twelve Weeks To Midnight Blue, one of the big setbacks Chance faces is when he tries selling the pool cleaning service at a higher price and promptly loses a customer. That plot point came straight out of real life. I’d been negotiating for a client for a couple weeks on a possible project and when I submitted the final proposal, I decided to come in a little high on the price…and promptly lost the client. I felt terrible…and then felt giddy when I realized it would be fun to make my characters go through the same thing.
Read the full interview at Jerry's Circumlocution blog.
Thank you Jerry Harwood!
