YA author, Marianna Heusler visits

 

 YA author, Marianna Heusler, is on the blog today. Welcome, Marianna! Tell us something about yourself that readers might be surprised to learn.

 I wrote my first book when I was twelve. It was patterned after a Nancy Drew mystery and some of the girls in my class wrote their book reports using it. I was thrilled. But it took me thirty years to actually publish anything.

How many books have you written?

I have published seven books with one book coming out this winter. I have written at least a dozen books which are still in my drawer!

What has been your most rewarding experience during the writing process?

I love it when I see people reading and enjoying my books.

Tell us about your latest release.

The Day The Fortune Teller Died is a YA mystery, the second in a series. The first book The Night the Penningtons Vanished was nominated for an Edgar. When a fortune teller predicts that great harm will come to a new girl in school, Isabella, Vicki and Lauren are determined to learn who is going to harm Eve. When the fortune teller turns up dead, all the girls are in danger.

Is it available in print, ebook, and Kindle formats?

The book is available in print.

 Were any of your books more challenging to write than the others?

 I find YA more challenging to write than adult books because I write them from one point of view. Everything has to happen to the main character and everything is seen and felt through her perspective. When writing from several points of view, you have more options.

How do you develop characters?

When your characters are teenagers or children, it’s important that they solve the mystery themselves with little or no parental help. Therefore, there has to be a reason why they don’t tell adults the trouble that they’re facing. In my books the adults are either busy with their own problems or the kids have done something wrong, which they’re afraid of confessing. And, of course, left on their own, things often spiral out of control.

How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?  

I went to Catholic school until I was twenty-one and for a while, I was a Catholic school teacher. I can’t resist sprinkling some of my background in my writing.

Thanks for visiting, Marianna.

Nice to be here, Susan.