Newbery Honor Author Margi Preus on the Origin of Inspiration

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well.

Today’s guest for the WHAT is Margi Preus, author of the Newbery Honor book Heart of a Samurai and other books for young readers, including the Minnesota Book Award winning West of the Moon, and the Midwest Booksellers Choice Award book The Clue in the Trees. Her books have won multiple awards, landed on the New York Times bestseller list, been honored as ALA/ALSC Notables, selected as an NPR Backseat Book Club pick, chosen for community reads, and translated into several languages. New titles in 2020 include Village of Scoundrels, The Littlest Voyageur, and The Silver Box, part of the Enchantment Lake mystery series.  

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

I was very excited to write this last book because for the first time ever I knew how the story was going to end. Well, sort of . . . I have always known it would be a good idea to know the ending before beginning a mystery (that’s what the experts tell you, and I believe them), but I’ve never been able to pull that off until this last book of the series. Of course, I can’t tell you the ending, so that’s all I’m going to say about that!

I also knew I would start The Silver Box where The Clue in the Trees (second book in the series) left off. But that is ALL I knew about anything when I started.

Inspiration for the series, or at least for the first book in the series (entitled Enchantment Lake) came from the acrimony that arose among my neighbors regarding a road along the lakeshore where I have a cabin. Some wanted the road “improved” (paved) and some (me included) wanted to leave it a bumpy, twisty, dusty gravel road. Passions rose to a level that made me wonder what would happen if people started killing each other over it.

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

Plot building for me involves a lot of flailing. I always try to write an outline, and usually get one or two points down and then give up and just start writing a random scene. I have to have faith that it will all come together in some sort of plot eventually, which it does, with a little nudging and pushing and shoving here and there. 

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

No, I have never had a plot firmly in place!  It can be frightening, but I do love the surprises that come with having a squirmy plot. 

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

I usually have several stories going at the same time. I don’t lack for ideas. I have a million ideas course through my brain every day. About 999,999 aren’t very good ideas, however. But I think ideas are like mice. Ideas breed ideas. So you might as well use them up—there’s always something better behind the one you use. 

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

It can take some time of going back and forth between or among projects until finally one sort of takes over—it becomes the only thing I want to work on, and I become resentful of anything else that intrudes. Then I know I’m onto something. 

I have 3 cats and a Dalmatian (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting? 

I have a little mini-schnauzer named Pearl who often sleeps on a chair in my little writing house. When it’s time for a walk, she comes over and stands next to me and growls politely. The gentlest little whisper of a growl. She is usually correct—it IS time for a walk! She’s very helpful that way. I find I get a lot of good writing done on walks.