Meet children's book author Lois Wickstrom! Lois earned her BA in biology with chemistry and english minors. She is the creator of the Imagenie videos on YouTube and "Starting With Safety" available from the American Chemical Society.
She co-authored the Nessie's Grotto Books with Jean Lorrah, and the Orange Forest Rabbit books with Lucrecia Darling. Read Lois's interview below.
How long have you been writing?
Since I was 9-years-old, which is nearly 60 years ago.
What is your most recent literary/artistic project?
I recently finished Jack's Mermaid, which is a middle-grade adventure about children who can see, talk with, and have adventures with "imaginary playmates." My agent is now marketing it.
What inspires you to write?
anything that interests or fascinates me will probably inspire or wind up in a story.
Who’s your favorite author and why?
This answer changes with the stories I read. At the moment, I love Laini Taylor, Ursula LeGuin, and Ransom Riggs.
What advice can you give to other authors or writers?
Write out your most compelling scenes. Then write out your plot outline before sitting down for the entire tale. Don't hesitate to change your plot outline as you go along, but it's handy to have notes. Sometimes when writing this way, a scene will come out less exciting than you originally envisioned it. That's okay. That's what rewrites are for. Rewriting is the place where you can take the time to play "what if?" with your characters and your plot, knowing that the structure is already in place.
Where can readers go to find out more information about your work?
I'm scattered around the web. My sites include:
http://www.lookunderrocks.com
http://www.imageniescienceandmagic.com