I had hoped to send this out before the end of September, but there were a few deadlines that needed my attention, including my next Scholastic horror novel, which I hope I can start talking about in a few months time.
Anyway, to round out my rapid fire (for me) series on The Ghost of Drowned Meadow, I though I’d end on a more lighthearted note: manga and anime!
Most of the time when I begin a novel, the protagonist comes before anything else. Whether it’s Hope or Sonya, Jael or Boy, I find their voice, and everything comes from that. But with this book, I stumbled across the history of Camp Siegfried, and felt like I just had to write about it. One problem, who was the protagonist?
It felt a bit strange, coming at it from the opposite side. I needed a hook into the character. Something fun to at least somewhat balance out the absolute darkness of a real life Nazi summer camp in Long Island. Ultimately, the inspiration came from my son, who is such an ardent manga and anime fan that he’s actually turned me into one as well. Even though he’s 18, off in college and doing his own thing, we still chat every week about the latest episode of That Time I Got Reincarnated Into a Slime, or whatever the latest show is that we both fancy. At an age when it’s a real challenge for a parent and their adult offspring to find common ground, we still have this, and I am grateful for it.