Nie: Writer at home with a Florida setting

Arms already overflowing with books to buy, I reached the table displaying copies of Crossing Jordan. I flipped open the cover and read the inside blurb: "Cass is dreading a long, lonely summer until Jemmie and her family move next door -- Adrian Fogelin's unforgettable characters make us laugh, yet poignantly remind us of fences that too often continue to separate us from one another."

I looked up to find warm, friendly eyes watching me.

"Have you read this book?" I asked. "Is it any good?"

"Well, I think it's pretty good," the stranger replied. "I wrote it."

The first time I met author Adrian Fogelin, I knew I had a friend for life. After all, she had three qualities that are instant hits with me: 1. She's a writer; 2. She's a big fan of English teachers (she was a guest speaker at a Florida English teachers' convention when I met her); and 3. She really likes kids -- she even slipped a card with her e-mail address into my autographed book and told me please to ask my students to write to her.

So I'm going to get out of the way and let you meet Adrian Fogelin for yourself, through an e-mail chat we had recently:

Question: Have you always wanted to be a writer? When did you start writing? Is there any particular writer who influences your work?

Answer: I have always written: half-filled journals, short stories that might or might not have had endings, poems. My mother was a writer, so there was a lot of impromptu writing going on in my house -- I did some of my best on the frame of my closet door. I'd recommend it, but maybe only a mother who is a writer would allow it.

What I trained to be, and was for many years, was an artist. I worked as an illustrator for the Baltimore Zoo, I had an art gallery, I taught art classes at a community college. I started writing seriously at the old age of 35. I can't think of any individual author who has influenced my work, but literature in general is a great how-to manual. I look at other people's work and think, "Ah, so that's how you do it." Mostly though, my work is drawn from the world around me, the kids in my neighborhood, classroom visits, conversations overheard in the grocery store -- writers are great eavesdroppers.

Question: Where do you get your ideas?

Answer: I keep my eyes and ears open. I listen to conversations everywhere I go. I watch strangers. If I hear an interesting name or expression, I write it down. Sometimes a place interests me as a setting, then I build the story to fit the place. Stories can start anywhere.

Question: What kinds of books did you read when you were growing up?

Answer: Teachers will hate this answer, but I was a mediocre reader. Sometimes I read a lot, sometimes hardly at all. I read the same books my mother read when she was a girl, because they were the books around my house. I read works by Gene Stratton Porter and Louisa May Alcott. I added Nancy Drew stories and The Fellowship of the Rings. One thing my mother did on summer evenings was to read aloud to my sister and me. She read classics like Treasure Island and Ivanhoe. We kept this up until we were well into high school. While she read, we did needlework. Except for the fact that we were all wearing shorts, we looked like a scene out of Little Women.

Question: Do you have anything in common with your characters?

Answer: I have something in common with every one of my characters -- and if I don't when I begin, I do by the time the story is done. In order to write about someone, you have to be willing to see things through their eyes. Even difficult characters, people you might not like if you met them in real life, become sympathetic if you see things their way for a while.

Question: Your book Crossing Jordan takes place in Tallahassee. How important is setting to a story? How important is this book's Florida setting?

Answer: For me, setting is very important. I like to get the sound and smell of a place right, so I always use a familiar locale, usually my own neighborhood. If I'm stumped, I can stick my head out the door and take a look. I've lived in Florida now for more than 20 years. It's what I know, and the old adage "Write what you know" is a good one.

Question: What is the easiest part of writing for you? What is the hardest?

Answer: The easiest part of writing is writing; getting words down on paper. I love creating characters, writing dialogue, building a setting. What I'm not so good at is plot. Sustaining a plot is like juggling a whole lot of balls. I keep dropping them. Luckily, there are editors to remind me when I've lost a character or left a question unanswered. It takes a little getting used to, changing your writing because someone asks you to; after all it is your story, isn't it? But I've found that sometimes an extra pair of eyes is just what my stories need. So look closely at the suggestions your readers, including teachers, give you. Be willing to make changes, but only when what they say seems right to you -- after all, it is your story.

Question: Are you working on a new book right now?

Answer: I am working on three! I am editing one called My Brother's Hero, which is a sequel to Crossing Jordan and Anna Casey's Place in the World. It will be out in the fall. And I am writing a new book, which will be called either In Real Life or Someplace I've Never Seen. It's hard to pick a title. On my drawing table is a picture book about attracting wildlife to your back yard. Most of the time I write, but I still love to draw.

Question: Do you have any advice for kids who want to be writers?

Answer: Are you ready? This is it in a word: write. Write stories and poems, keep a journal, write on the backs of old envelopes and math assignments. Don't wait around for inspiration. It's a lucky break when it happens, but writers who rely on it don't usually produce much work. Even when you don't think you have a single idea, sit down, put your pencil on the paper, or your fingers on the keys. You'll be surprised by what happens next.

One other thing: Pay attention. Notice the way people move and talk, study the world with all your senses.

And one other thing: live. Any experience you have, even the bad ones, can give you material for writing.

Wonders of Florida
Introduction and previous chapters
NIE

Question: Can kids write to you?

Answer: I love to hear from kids. Write me at AdrianFog@aol.com. Sometimes I'm a little slow, but I always write back. I enjoy the way they write as well as the content. Kids are natural writers.

(Note: Adrian Fogelin's book Crossing Jordan is an ALA 2001 Best Book for Young Readers, a 2000 VOYA Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers and on the Honors List of the IRA 2001 Notable Books for a Global Society.)

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- Holly Atkins, a National Board Certified Teacher, is the language arts department head at Bay Point Middle School in St. Petersburg. Atkins, who has been a resident of St. Pete Beach nearly all her life, has been an instructor at the Poynter Institute's Writers' Camp and is the proud teacher of local and national award-winning student writers.

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