|
|
Let's begin with a bit about your background. Where were you raised?
That's a bit hard to answer in just one sentence. You see, when I was born my parents were moving from Coos Bay, Oregon to Klamath Falls, Oregon. In the middle of their moving, they decided to join the rest of my father's family in Heppner, Oregon for the deer hunting season. As a result, I ended up being born in Pendleton, though I never lived there.
After that, my family spent a year in Klamath Falls and then moved back to Hillsboro. Three years later we moved to Sacramento, California and spent five years there before returning to Hillsboro, Oregon. However, when I was thirteen, I went away to a seminary boarding school where I spent the next five years.
I guess that's a bit more information than you wanted?
That's okay. So, when did you start writing?
I started writing when I was in the 8th grade. Our teacher assigned us to write an eight page story for the 1st graders. We were supposed to keep it simple and illustrate it. After doing the assignment, I ended up writing several more, just for fun.
But, it wasn't until two years later, at the seminary, when I began writing for real.
What do you mean, for "real"?
I started writing a novel. This is a complicated story.
The novel?
No. How I came to write the novel.
You see, I guess you could say I was intimidated into writing.
I still loved to draw. One evening, while at our high school's basketball game, I sat down next to my friend's older sister, Marcia, who was there to watch him play. As I always did, I pulled out my sketch pad and began to draw a picture. Marcia asked me to show her what I was drawing, so I showed it to her. She asked me what it was about, what the story was. I told her it was nothing, just a dumb drawing. She said, I wouldn't be able to draw it if I didn't have a story in mind and she insisted I tell her the story. Mind you, I was a scrawny little kid and she was not only three years older than me but bigger than me - she could beat me up. So, to get her to leave me to my drawing, I made up a short synopsis of a story and hoped that would be the end of the matter. It was not. She told me to write it down because the next time she came to see her brother, she wanted to read it. I told her okay, but secretly I had no intention of writing it.
About a month later, I heard through the grapevine that she was back visiting her brother and asking to see me! I hid from her the entire day. When I heard she had gone, I thought I was safe to leave the dorm building. When I did, a van passed in front of me and slammed on the brakes. It was her! She motioned for me to come over and then she asked to see the story. I told her I wasn't finished with it. She said okay but the next month when she came back she wanted to read it. When she left, I went to the bookstore and bought a ream of typing paper. 450 pages later, I still wasn't finished with the story.
Did she ever get to read it?
No. No one did. I still thought of it as dumb and that no one would really be interested in it.
Did you ever finish it?
No. I tried several times but once I figured out the ending, I hit a wall and couldn't finish it. I carried it around for thirty-something years before I decided to throw it away and start over. Still I haven't finished it.
So, when did you stop thinking your ideas were dumb, as you said?
It wasn't until my senior year, two years later. Even though I couldn't finish the novel, I wrote other short stories. One story I wrote was about a plane that crashes into the ocean and sinks. The plane doesn't break up but stays together so there are survivors inside. The story is about how they get out and are rescued. I still have it somewhere.
Anyway, my senior year I was passing by the bulletin board and noticed an ad for a new movie. I froze. It was an ad for Airport '77 where a plane crashes into the ocean and sinks with survivors on board. At that point I thought, if someone else could have the same idea as me, maybe mine wereN'T so dumb after all.
That was my turning point and I began taking my writing more seriously.
Your novel Charlie MacCready is a young reader series. Was that inspired by your years spent in the seminary?
Yes. I've always wanted to write a story set in a boarding school. It was such a unique experience for me. I struggled for years with how to do it and make it work. I didn't want to write a biography, I'm really not that interesting. It wasn't until I saw a name in the obituaries that Charlie MacCready was born. While each book in the series is inspired by actual events in my life or of stories I heard of other boys, they are all a work of fiction and imagination.
You've published three of the series. Can you give us an idea of when we can expect the next?
Sure. I'm currently working on the 4th Charlie book, Charlie MacCready The Missing Angel. I hope to have it out by December.
Shifting gears, your book AWAKE seems to be a departure from your young reader series. Where did that come from?
<Laughs> AWAKE was inspired by a dream I had. I had intended to write it as a serial series, releasing a new "chapter" every month, but my readers wanted it all put into one book. So, I did. The story centers on a family living in Hillsboro, Oregon. The son, Tim, doesn't measure up to his father's expectations but the son still loves him and is there to help when his father is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. While all of this is happening, the government orders everyone into stasis to sleep for 20 years so the world, free from humans, could renew itself. But when Tim wakes up, he realizes something had gone terribly wrong. Now he has a choice, stay the way he was or become the man his father never thought he could be.
That is heavy. I look forward to reading AWAKE. That is all the time we have today. Thank you for taking the time to sit down with me. Keep us updated on the status of Charlie MacCready The Missing Angel. If you would like to learn more about author James M. McCracken and his books visit his website at jamesmmccracken.com.
That's a bit hard to answer in just one sentence. You see, when I was born my parents were moving from Coos Bay, Oregon to Klamath Falls, Oregon. In the middle of their moving, they decided to join the rest of my father's family in Heppner, Oregon for the deer hunting season. As a result, I ended up being born in Pendleton, though I never lived there.
After that, my family spent a year in Klamath Falls and then moved back to Hillsboro. Three years later we moved to Sacramento, California and spent five years there before returning to Hillsboro, Oregon. However, when I was thirteen, I went away to a seminary boarding school where I spent the next five years.
I guess that's a bit more information than you wanted?
That's okay. So, when did you start writing?
I started writing when I was in the 8th grade. Our teacher assigned us to write an eight page story for the 1st graders. We were supposed to keep it simple and illustrate it. After doing the assignment, I ended up writing several more, just for fun.
But, it wasn't until two years later, at the seminary, when I began writing for real.
What do you mean, for "real"?
I started writing a novel. This is a complicated story.
The novel?
No. How I came to write the novel.
You see, I guess you could say I was intimidated into writing.
I still loved to draw. One evening, while at our high school's basketball game, I sat down next to my friend's older sister, Marcia, who was there to watch him play. As I always did, I pulled out my sketch pad and began to draw a picture. Marcia asked me to show her what I was drawing, so I showed it to her. She asked me what it was about, what the story was. I told her it was nothing, just a dumb drawing. She said, I wouldn't be able to draw it if I didn't have a story in mind and she insisted I tell her the story. Mind you, I was a scrawny little kid and she was not only three years older than me but bigger than me - she could beat me up. So, to get her to leave me to my drawing, I made up a short synopsis of a story and hoped that would be the end of the matter. It was not. She told me to write it down because the next time she came to see her brother, she wanted to read it. I told her okay, but secretly I had no intention of writing it.
About a month later, I heard through the grapevine that she was back visiting her brother and asking to see me! I hid from her the entire day. When I heard she had gone, I thought I was safe to leave the dorm building. When I did, a van passed in front of me and slammed on the brakes. It was her! She motioned for me to come over and then she asked to see the story. I told her I wasn't finished with it. She said okay but the next month when she came back she wanted to read it. When she left, I went to the bookstore and bought a ream of typing paper. 450 pages later, I still wasn't finished with the story.
Did she ever get to read it?
No. No one did. I still thought of it as dumb and that no one would really be interested in it.
Did you ever finish it?
No. I tried several times but once I figured out the ending, I hit a wall and couldn't finish it. I carried it around for thirty-something years before I decided to throw it away and start over. Still I haven't finished it.
So, when did you stop thinking your ideas were dumb, as you said?
It wasn't until my senior year, two years later. Even though I couldn't finish the novel, I wrote other short stories. One story I wrote was about a plane that crashes into the ocean and sinks. The plane doesn't break up but stays together so there are survivors inside. The story is about how they get out and are rescued. I still have it somewhere.
Anyway, my senior year I was passing by the bulletin board and noticed an ad for a new movie. I froze. It was an ad for Airport '77 where a plane crashes into the ocean and sinks with survivors on board. At that point I thought, if someone else could have the same idea as me, maybe mine wereN'T so dumb after all.
That was my turning point and I began taking my writing more seriously.
Your novel Charlie MacCready is a young reader series. Was that inspired by your years spent in the seminary?
Yes. I've always wanted to write a story set in a boarding school. It was such a unique experience for me. I struggled for years with how to do it and make it work. I didn't want to write a biography, I'm really not that interesting. It wasn't until I saw a name in the obituaries that Charlie MacCready was born. While each book in the series is inspired by actual events in my life or of stories I heard of other boys, they are all a work of fiction and imagination.
You've published three of the series. Can you give us an idea of when we can expect the next?
Sure. I'm currently working on the 4th Charlie book, Charlie MacCready The Missing Angel. I hope to have it out by December.
Shifting gears, your book AWAKE seems to be a departure from your young reader series. Where did that come from?
<Laughs> AWAKE was inspired by a dream I had. I had intended to write it as a serial series, releasing a new "chapter" every month, but my readers wanted it all put into one book. So, I did. The story centers on a family living in Hillsboro, Oregon. The son, Tim, doesn't measure up to his father's expectations but the son still loves him and is there to help when his father is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. While all of this is happening, the government orders everyone into stasis to sleep for 20 years so the world, free from humans, could renew itself. But when Tim wakes up, he realizes something had gone terribly wrong. Now he has a choice, stay the way he was or become the man his father never thought he could be.
That is heavy. I look forward to reading AWAKE. That is all the time we have today. Thank you for taking the time to sit down with me. Keep us updated on the status of Charlie MacCready The Missing Angel. If you would like to learn more about author James M. McCracken and his books visit his website at jamesmmccracken.com.