138: Interview with Leslie Connor

Leslie Connor is the author of several award-winning books for children, including THE TRUTH AS TOLD BY MASON BUTTLE, the 2019 winner of the ALA Schneider Family Book Award, WAITING FOR NORMAL, also a winner of the ALA Schneider Family Book Award, CRUNCH, MISS BRIDIE CHOSE A SHOVEL, and the young adult novels DEAD ON TOWN LINE and THE THINGS YOU KISS GOODBYE.

We talk about:

• Character development. Why it’s so important, how to do it, and when to do it.
• How Leslie’s characters go deeper, and are so fully realized the reader feels like they know that person, leaving them sad to leave these people when done with the book.
• Whether Leslie thinks of the story first, or the characters first
• If she outlines first, either mentally or physically?
• How to keep your manuscript straight when you write out of order.
• Using verbal tics for your characters
• How revealing a character’s learning disability through his language is a great “show don’t tell” method.

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