An Interview at The Storyteller’s Inkpot!

HERE IS AN EXCERPT FROM MY INTERVIEW WITH MARSHA QUALEY AT THE STORYTELLER'S INKPOT:

Tam(e)ra Will Wissinger's novel-in-verse Gone Fishing was published this past March by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Tam(e)ra lives, writes, and fishes in Vero Beach, Florida.

Please describe the book in under 50 words.

Gone Fishing is a humorous father-and-son fishing adventure and sibling rivalry middle grade novel in verse for children ages six and up that includes a section of poetry information called “The Poet’s Tackle Box.” 

Would you tell us a bit about the story’s development?

Here is the timeline for developing GONE FISHING:

2007: I wrote one poem called Night Crawlers. It was published in Wee Ones Magazine and would become the first poem in the story.

2008: More fishing poems followed and developed into a short collection. I worked on these “on the side” while I was a student at Hamline.

July 2008: Nikki Grimes visited Hamline and lectured on how she uses a traditional story arc to write her books in poetry. Nikki’s lecture lit a spark in my brain…click here to read the full interview.

Thank you Marsha Qualey, Hamline MFAC Faculty member extraordinaire, for featuring me at The Storyteller’s Inkpot!

06.18.13