Author Q&A with Peter D’Hollander

Children of Little Might (Young Adult Fantasy)

1. Tells us about your writing/ published book(s)

My debut in fiction is also my debut on the English market: Children of Little Might. Before that book, I wrote 45 books in my mother tongue (Dutch) on IT-related subjects for companies such as Pearson Education, Sybex (when it still existed), Academic Services and a local publishing house, Easy Computing. I’ve written books on Adobe Premiere Pro, how to fight spam, freeware games, how to work with Office applications, how to burn cds and dvds (in a time when that was still hot) and many other subjects.

Children of Little Might, however, is my first English novel. As a Tech Author I already wrote for 15+ years in English, so I had no issue writing that story. I have 2 children with autism: a boy and a girl. The girl always heard she was ‘handicapped’. Every time she hears that, she says she isn’t. She’s just a different flavor. I therefore wrote Children of Little Might, to show her that limitations can become advantages, too.

The book is about a boy (Monty) with autism who finds a manuscript that promises to grant his every wish – once he translates it. We find Monty five years later when he’s about to translate the last sentence. Overcome with doubt (who believes wishes get granted?) he makes an impossible one: he wishes for the princess from the book he translated. Calling her his Paper Girl, he wishes she falls in love with him, certain that never happens. But when Aislinn appears, that’s the start of a wild adventure. Is this his chance at first love? Will he accept that his autism just might be his ‘superpower’?

2. Where’s your favourite place to write?

I write everywhere – as long as I have a computer at hand. I used to write in my room as a teenager, and after I married in my home office, but I learned to write almost everywhere. I find it easy to lock the world outside and immerse myself in the world I’ve created.

3. How do you approach starting a new book?

I don’t need much. I know where the story starts and – often – where it ends. In Children of Little Might I wanted to show my children that autism isn’t ‘just’ a limitation. It offers something, too. Knowing the start and the end, I discover the ‘in between’ while I write. So what I discover, the reader discovers at the same time. That’s why things may happen that the reader didn’t see coming – simply because I didn’t see them coming, either. Nevertheless, it requires IO sometimes return to an earlier part of the manuscript to make sure that what happens later, is somehow ‘foreshadowed’. If my MC needs a tool to communicate, I make sure there is something lying around a few pages earlier. What happens next may come as a surprise, but it’s never impossible.

4. What’s your favourite genre to read?

Science-Fiction and Fantasy, though I read a lot of different things: from historical fiction (or non-fiction) to realistic adventures and anything in between. It must be well written, that’s all I ask.

5. Have you always wanted to write?

Not really. I started writing when I was 13 because I had a sprain knee. We had two hours of sports every week and since I couldn’t participate for 2 or 3 months, I had to keep myself busy. At first I did my homework, but that quickly tired. So, I started to write stories in the universe of my favorite characters, being Ged from the EarthSea books (by Ursula LeGuin) and Star Wars. A year later I created my own universe (a science-fiction story) which a teacher read. It was horrible, but he got me started.

Actually: the first story I ever wrote was a short story. Of one sentence. It was for a report in school (I was 6 at the time). It read: The Chicken Leaks. No one understood what it meant, until I explained them a chicken went into the woods, got shot and hence leaked – and died. It’s probably the first and last horror story I ever wrote.

6. What do you do when you have writer’s block?

I generally go back to an earlier point in the story where I force my characters into a new direction. My Writer’s Block generally comes from being stuck in the story with no way out. So, I create a new way out and continue from there. It generally (always) works.

7. Tell us about a scene that you loved but had to edit out of your book

There was one at the end of the first chapter of Children of Little Might. I wanted my readers to feel the same confusion people with autism often felt: they didn’t understand what happened. So, I wrote that my MC jumped out of a building with 3 floors, without specifying from which floor he jumped (actually, it was the first). As a result, a lot of proof readers came back to me asking if Monty possessed superpowers because he was able to jump from the third floor. They almost always felt betrayed when I told them I never said he jumped from the third floor. I just explained he jumped out of a building with three floors. In reality, Monty never left the first floor. My publisher convinced me to remove it because of the ‘frustrated’ readers.

8. Do you like reading the same books you write?

Yes, though I started with Science-Fiction (due to my father who has a large library of SF & Fantasy books). But I like to read a lot of different books, too. And actually, I hope one day to be the writer of a comic book series, where I create fantastic worlds, but also realistic stories. As long as they are action oriented, I can create them all.

9. Do write under a pen name? If so, tell us about how you chose it

Originally I planned using one, but the one I chose (Peterand TheDragon) had a sexual connotation I didn’t plan for (and wasn’t aware of, because I come from Belgium and English isn’t my mother tongue). It was my publisher who made me aware of the problems with my pen name. Eventually, I decided to write under my own name. I preferred a pen name because it allowed me to hide behind it, but decided that, maybe, it’s important for readers to come to know the real me behind the pen as well.

10. How do you choose your book’s title(s)?

Children of Little Might came from a song where I misunderstood the lyrics. Billy Joel sings in We Didn’t Start the Fire of children of thalidomide, I understood that as Children of the little might (apparently, a lot of people make that mistake). I found that such an intriguing title that I chose it, and eventually dropped the ‘the’ because it sounded awkward.

For me, it refers to the power we all have. The Big Might is what everyone sees: we can be brutal, or self assured, or strong. It’s what people see, or at least conceive about us. But the Little Might is the real power; the one hidden deep within us. In Monty’s case, his Little Might is his loyalty toward his friends. He does everything for them, mostly without thinking. That lands him in hot water, but his friends appreciate him for it.

11. What advice would you give to someone wanting to write their first book?

Keep writing, but if you want to get published faster, take the non-fiction road. You still need to be able to write, but it’s a lot easier to pull off and you can write a lot more books that way. The book I wrote the fastest was one about Adobe Premiere (for beginners). I had never worked with the software before, didn’t know it at all, but I wrote that book in 10 days because the publisher needed it urgently. It contained 256 pages, and I used the internet to explain me how everything worked. It’s probably one of my best books and landed me a few more video editing titles later on.

12. Do you do research for your books? If so, what kind of research?

It really depends. For Children of Little Might I chose an MC with autism. I have 2 children with autism and a lot of family members (extended family) have autism as well. For Monty I chose my youngest child as an example and used his character to flesh him out. I only changed it slightly to fit the narrative. For example: Monty had to be good in languages. So I used Google Translate to make sure I translated single words in a foreign language correctly. I also chose a neighborhood in America to situate the start of the story where I had been myself – so I knew how it looked and felt like.
For Aislinn’s world, I delved deep in my own fantasy – and created a world I loved to live in. Kalpana was the result.

13. How do you fit writing into your everyday life?

As a Tech Author I write on a daily basis, but that’s different from what I truly love to write. I have a blog (in Dutch, being my mother tongue) and I write my stories. The reality is that during the day I write for a company (professionally). During the evening I write for my blog (2 articles a day on IT related stuff) and in between I write my books. I learned to write fast – sometimes maybe even too fast. And I have to admit: once in a blue moon I write other stuff when I’m not supposed to work on that.

Writing really is a way of life for me because it allows me to understand the world around me. Whenever I run into something, I create a story around it to grasp what happened. Hence Children of Little Might. I wanted to understand people with autism better, and I also wanted to create a story in which autism not merely was the issue, but also a solution. Actually, I believe a reviewer said it best: Children of Little Might lets you look at your own limitations in a different way.

14. How do you approach ‘world building’?

Since Children of Little Might happens in a fantastic world, I can create the world I like best. World building, for me, doesn’t end with the world itself. It actually starts with the characters of the different people I bring to life in my story. I try to make them as believable as possible, as if they could be your neighbors. I always try to create a world with a twist. For example: I wanted a magic system in Children of Little Might, but not an ‘ordinary one’. So, I went for the one thing we all love to do: make wishes. Each wish you make, happens in this world, except for on,e caveat. When you make one about people, they have to ‘approve’ the wish. So, even though Monty wishes for Aislinn (the princess) to fall in love with him, that doesn’t happen automatically.

15. How do you handle criticism?

You can’t write for everyone. That’s something I learned from my non-fiction books. When I get criticism I don’t agree with, I put it aside and ignore it. Helpful criticism, criticism that gives me something to ameliorate, I will generally follow and try to implement.

That doesn’t mean criticism doesn’t hurt me when I think it’s wrong. It does, but I am able to look at it from a distance and see it for what it is: the thoughts of someone else who doesn’t necessarily know why I wrote what I wrote.

16. Describe your perfect character to me

The perfect character is someone both strong and vulnerable. Monty is strong (his Little Might), but he’s actually more vulnerable than strong. He doesn’t realize he has that strength in him. My favorite character from Children of Little Might is therefore fifteen year old Aislinn. Raised as the next in line for the throne, she knows precisely what she wants. She knows she needs Monty to help her save her own kingdom, simply because he has powers no one can negate that easily (his autism). She therefore uses her own powers (she’s one of the prettiest girls around, and she knows Monty likes her (a lot)) to ‘persuade’ Monty. While she uses him (for the better good of her nation), she also stands up for him whenever he needs it. She’s surprised both by his strength, and his vulnerability. Aislinn is strong, supportive and empathic and she’s probably the strongest character in the book, not scared to tell Monty she likes to ride horse naked while she lures him into her web.

17. Tell me about your current work

I’m working on part 3 of the series. While Children of Little Might is a stand-alone book, I’ve finished part 2 (the contract is signed for that book as well) and I’m presently working on part 3. Part 2 and 3 together form one complete story.
Book 1 mostly happens in the fantastic world. Book 2 happens in our own world, where Monty has to prove that what he learned in book 1, he can use to keep himself safe. In book 3 the adventures return to the imaginative world of Aislinn. There are ideas for a fourth book already, in which Monty will try to uncover his own past – to find out if he has a connection with Aislinn’s world.

I also have another series (the first book is written) about a 16 year-old boy who dies and discovers that there is an Afterlife, in which a feud started by the living, is continued by the dead. I’m looking for an agent for that book.

18. Tell me about your main character

Monty has autism and because of that, he has troubles understanding the world. His father died and though that happened 5 years ago, Monty is still struggling with that. His only friend sits in a wheelchair and sometimes Monty believes that Storm (his friend in the wheelchair) only remains his friend because he can’t run away. He doesn’t understand that Storm is comfortable with his wheelchair and finds walking overrated. The only wish Storm has, is that his friend learns to accept his own limitations, to embrace his possibilities.

Monty has a lot of issues when we first meet him. He broke a classmate’s arm because the boy bullied him, but everyone around him sees that differently. So, when Aislinn appears, he’s surprised by her interest until he discovers who she is and he and Storm get drawn into a wild adventure.

19. Would you want your book made into a film?

Yes! More so, since I tried to show that each limitation has an advantage as well (depending on how you look at things). I actually have an idea for an actor for one of the side characters. Bill Anderson is Monty’s local sheriff, until Monty sees him again in Aislinn’s world and discovers he’s actually the commander of the Royal Bodyguards. I believe Hugh Jackman would be the perfect actor for that role.

Who plays the other characters, is less of a thing. I only hope they take someone who truly has autism to play Monty, even though a talented actor could easily play him even if he didn’t have autism. But choosing an actor with autism would just make the message that much stronger.

But I have to be honest: Monty isn’t saying a lot out loud, so that’s probably hard to pull of in a movie.

20. How many books do you own?

I have two libraries: one for my comic books (almost 3500 comic books) and one for my ‘ordinary’ books. I never counted those, but I guess I’m close to a thousand there as well. If I add my father’s library, I end up with another 3000 books at least (all SF & F).

This or That Questions…

Short books or Long books

Both, actually. It all depends on the story. If it’s well written, I love a long book. Take authors like Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle: they have very long books I love to read over and over again.

Romance or Fantasy

Fantasy. Just like my book they contains some romance (with Aislinn doing most of the work), but that’s not what the book is about. I rather have romcoms on television or as a movie, though Romance is a very popular section and there are some very well written books there.

Bright book covers or Muted book covers

Good question. Both can, as long as they speak to me. I believe that’s the most important part of the cover: it needs to speak to me. I’ve read (and loved)books with a cover I didn’t like, but I will choose a good cover over anything else if I have to choose between two books. That’s what I found very important for Children of Little Might: a cover that spoke to me.

Ebooks, Paperbacks or Audiobooks

I prefer paperbacks, but I have to live with the fact that my book is only available in e-book format. For now, at least, until I sell 500 copies in one semester. That’s what I’m presently going for. ;?)

Writing in the Morning or Evening

All day long. I write whenever I can because it gives me a way out of the mundane reality. The only moment I won’t write is when I’m tired. Actually, you can easily see how I feel by the amount of time I write. The less I write, the lousier I feel.

Character Driven or Plot Driven

Well driven. By that I mean the story needs to make sense. You can write about everything with everyone, but it does have to be believable. You won’t easily find a plot hole in my books because I want to feel that they make sense. I actually feel plot holes because they raise alarms and extra questions about why that happens in the way I make it happen. If I don’t feel good about it, I always return to fix them. Sometimes I have to rewrite an entire chapter, but often it’s just a few items I need to foreshadow earlier, preferably without the reader discovering that.

Finally, what’s the best piece of advice someone has given you about writing, marketing, or just generally about life?

I actually use it in my debut novel: Obey every rule and then don’t. Rules exist for a reason, but there is not a single rule that occasionally can’t be broken – as long as you accept the consequence of breaking that rule. If you don’t follow the common rules of writing (and who says you have to?) you have to accept that it’s probably harder to get published. Or, to go extreme: if you murder someone, you must accept that you end up in jail.

Where can you find Peter D’Hollander?

Twitter

Author Q&A with Peter D’Hollander