Every book I write hits the page in a different way. Sometimes the character comes first. She will pop into my mind and demand airtime. Other times, the setting, a historical event or something I love, like elephants and the circus in the 1920s and 1930s, will be the starting point of the story. Al Capone makes my shirts It started with a newspaper article about children who lived on Alcatraz because their parents were guards at the prison above.
Hank Hooperman’s tenth mistake It began with my lifelong fascination with adoptive parents. This interest began when I was a child and my sister was in a foster home-like situation. The new adoptive parents would begin with warm handshakes and big smiles, but their optimism would quickly fade. It was hard work and exhaustion came quickly. We had a revolving door of adoptive mothers and fathers for my sister.
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Once I decided to write about foster care, I did what I always do: I read every nonfiction book and article I could get my hands on on the topic. And I interviewed as many people as I could find.
Many writers research and then write. I like to mix it up. I research and write and write and research. After four months, I had eight chapters written about a girl in foster care. My publisher bought it and I was on a roll. Then I came across a manual for foster parents that had a chapter on “parenting.” Parentification is when children step in and act as parents to their younger siblings because their parents are not available. The example paragraph was about a boy who loved soccer but didn’t go out to play because he couldn’t separate himself from his little sister. Something about that boy reminded me vividly and viscerally of my older brother, Grey. Gray was an unusually loving and creative child. He loved doing fun things for my sisters and me and he took care of us.
That afternoon, I left the eight chapters I had written and sold and began Hank Hooperman’s tenth mistake. The novel is fiction, but because I used the relationship I had with my older brother to create the bond between Hank and his little sister Boo, the story feels true.
From the beginning, the writing of Hank Hooperman’s tenth mistake It felt deeply personal. It wasn’t my story, but my parents had a drinking problem. My beloved father died of alcoholism when I was a teenager. Even the scenes where normal things were happening seemed so moving because the themes were so relatable. During the writing of Hank Hooperman’s tenth mistake I kept telling my husband and daughter, Kai, “I can barely breathe writing this.” And one or the other responded: “You are the author. Do you know it well? Just change it.”
But here’s the thing: I don’t have that much control. When you are in the process of giving birth to a child, you cannot change who that baby is. Her sex, her weight, if she is bald or has full hair, if she cries or kicks. . . None of that is under your control. Your baby is inside you and then she comes out of her and you know her.
As a writer, it’s hard to know how much of the feeling I experience when I write makes it onto the page. Only you can be the judge of that. I’m looking forward to hearing what you think. Hank Hooperman’s tenth mistake. And what my older brother thinks. Wow, I’m curious about that. . .
Meet the author
Gennifer Choldenko is the author of Al Capone makes my shirts which won the Newbery Honor and 20 other awards. He is currently in his 44thth impression. Your series Tales from Alcatraz has sold more than 2 ½ million copies. dogtownco-written with Newbery Award winner and the one and only Katherine Applegate is a New York Times bestseller and independent bestseller. Gennifer’s most recent novel: Hank Hooperman’s tenth mistake A gripping novel based on her older brother’s childhood memories, it has four-star reviews, is a Junior Library Guild selection, an upcoming standalone book, and Amazon’s best children’s book of the year so far.
Twitter (X): @Choldenko
Facebook: Gennifer.Choldenko
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Filed Under: Middle Grade, Middle Grade Fiction, Mind the Middle, Mind the Middle Project
