Children's Books
Date(s) Published:
Book 1: September 21, 2014
Book 2: July 4, 2015
Book 3: August 18, 2016
The Adventures of Fawn is a ‘coming of age’ series chronicling the exploits of the precocious, young daughter of legendary reindeer, Comet and Vixen. The year is 1849, and all three tales happen in the months leading up to….but ending just before Christmas. A deadly North Pole blizzard; a fierce, hungry arctic wolf; a scheming sea captain capturing animals to take to a New York City zoo; an evil former elf princess out to destroy the pendulum that enables Santa and company to live for hundreds of years; the trials and tribulations young Kristoff Kringle faced before he became the icon of Christmas; and a conniving stranger with a magic stone determined to steal Santa’s reindeer team …all of this and more await the young reindeer and her companions.
Interview
Is There a Message in
Your Novel That You Want Readers to Grasp?
The books are basically about friendship,
love and self-sacrifice. I suppose if there is any ‘message’ being put
forward…it’s that love for family and friends…when it’s real, should be
somewhat akin to the title of the first book---‘til the last snowflake falls.
It just keeps going…without end. And when you have that kind of feeling for
someone…you can’t help but give everything you’ve got…without hesitation, or
reservation
Is there anything you
find particularly challenging in your writing?
While I’m
certain it’s different for every author, for me….writing three books has been a
learning experience. I suppose the old adage: ‘Nothing is written in stone.”
holds especially true for me.
A number
of times…I have liked a certain wording…or passage….only to have to eventually
discard it, or revise it…in order to make the overall scene, dialogue, or
chapter better or more coherent.
That…and
the job of editing and editing, and re-writing and re-writing. I’ve learned the
best method (for me at least) is to write something…and let it sit for a few
months before trying to edit it. By doing so…I read what is actually ‘written’ on
the page…rather than what I’m assuming is there….just because the story is so
stuck in my head already. Much too often…I didn’t read what was on the page…but
rather what I thought was on the page.
Developing characters who were decidedly unique from one another…and engaging
for the reader was an interesting process. In the beginning, I had to decide
what each one was like…and try to stick to it/bear it in mind. But as I
progressed into the other books…I ‘knew’ the characters and that, in itself,
made the stories flow quite nicely.
Also…I’m
not that great an artist…but I ‘know’ what my characters look like. Doing
illustrations is always time-consuming…and I’m quite often disappointed with my
work. I want something a little less ‘Disney-looking’ and a little more akin to
the illustrations one would find in books from the 19th century. I
suppose I’ve compromised with something ‘in-between’.
On the
other side of that coin…the easiest part is the writing itself. I usually sit
down at the keyboard and let the story tell itself. Many times I’ve found
myself writing 20 or 30 pages without missing a beat. I’ll sit back in my chair
and think: “Wow! That was interesting…I wasn’t expecting that to happen!” With
each book, the story I thought I was going to write…and the story that
eventually appeared on the pages turned out to be distinctly different.
How many books have
you written and which is your favorite?
To date, I’ve written just three. While I
certainly like them all…if I had to choose my favorite, I’d have to say the
third book, ‘Far And Yet So Near’. Because I ‘know’ the characters so well at
this point, it was a very enjoyable experience. The passing of a few months in
the storyline allowed me to illustrate the main character’s growth and maturity
in a number of interesting and fun ways.
If you had the chance
to cast your main character from Hollywood today,
who would you pick and why?
As the main character is a young reindeer,
the role would certainly be one of ‘giving voice’ to her. I’d have to say
either Emma Watson, or, Kristen Bell.
When did you begin
writing?
I began in the spring of 2014…at the ripe
old age of 60.
How long did it take
to complete your first book?
I wrote the first book over the course of
about 8 months. The reason for this was because I originally wrote a short
story…perhaps 4,500 words in length. At the time, I thought I’d written a cute,
short children’s story. I imagined it might make a nice picture book.
About 5 months later, another idea came to
me, and I began writing again. This time I had about 35,000 words. This was
considerably longer than the first…even though it employed the same characters.
I knew there was no way Book 1 could be so short…and Book 2 so much longer.
So…I joined them together. Once that was
done, it was just a matter of fleshing out the story to its obvious conclusion.
Did you have an author
who inspired you to become a writer?
The authors who inspired me
the most are:
Margaret Atwood ‘The
Handmaid’s Tale’.
James Clavell ‘King
Rat’.
J.K. Rowling ‘Harry
Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone’.
Charles Dickens ‘A
Christmas Carol’.
J. Meade Falkner ‘Moonfleet’.
What is your favorite
part of the writing process?
I think just sitting back after I’ve
written a number of pages and reading what I have is the best part. Generally,
the stories tell themselves, and I often sit back laughing at what I have on
the page…or thinking to myself, “Wow! I wasn’t expecting that to happen!”
Describe your latest
book in 4 words.
Inspiring, heart-warming, humorous, and
adventurous.
Can you share a little
bit about your current work or what is in the future for your writing?
At the present
time, I’m toying with the idea of writing a fourth installment for The
Adventures of Fawn. The first three books carry the reader from late September
1849 through to mid-December…about two weeks before Christmas.
A voice in my
head keeps asking, “What happened then?”
Through almost 40 years as a Santa Claus, Al E. Boy developed quite a repertoire of tales to explain and answer the many questions children ask about Santa, the North Pole, his reindeer, and his friends, the elves.
It was this collection of tales which prompted him to begin writing The Adventures of Fawn. Through the young daughter of legendary reindeer Comet and Vixen, he's been able to weave an exciting, colorful, imaginative world which will delight readers of all ages!
Mr. Boy not only hopes you enjoy these tales, but make reading them part of your Christmas traditions, as well.
Contact Information
Purchase Links
Amazon
3 comments:
Thank you for posting
These sound so cute! My Sister in law is trying to read more indie authors to her kids so I'm going to suggest these ones :)
-Kimberly @ Turning the Pages
Thank you. It looks great!!
Al E. Boy
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