Today I have the honor of interviewing Marsha Wilson Chall, the author of the new picture book, The Secret Life of Figgy Mustardo, and her editor, Jill Davis.
Marsha
Wilson Chall grew up an only child in Minnesota, where her father told her the
best stories. The author of many picture books, including Up North at the
Cabin, One Pup's Up, and Pick a Pup, Marsha teaches
writing at Hamline University's MFAC program in St. Paul, Minnesota. She lives on a small farm west of Minneapolis with her husband,
dog, barn cats, and books.
Jill Davis has been an executive editor in children’s books at
HarperCollins since 2013. A veteran of children’s books, she began her career
at Random House in 1992, and worked there at Crown and Knopf Books For Young Readers
until 1996, after which she worked at Viking until 2005. After that, she held
positions at both Bloomsbury and FSG. She is the author of three picture books,
editor of one collection of short stories, and has an MFA in Writing for
Children and Young Adults from Hamline University
Mark: The Secret Life of Figgy Mustardo
came about in a different way. You were asked to write a story based on
illustrations of a character. Could you tell us about this process and a little
about the story?
Marsha: You're
right that this story evolved differently than my others. My amazing editor,
Jill Davis, sent me Alison Friend's thumbnails of an adorable canine character
she had named Figgy Mustardo in a variety of human-like poses and costumes. For
me, it was love at first sight! So I set about the process of creating Figgy's
story based on my impressions of him through Alison's art and then, via Jill, Alison's
written notions of his characterization and story ideas.
An imaginative,
spirited fellow, Alison visualized Figgy zipping through many adventures on his
scooter. In the book, I took the liberty of changing the scooter to a race car
and also cast Figgy as a rock star and a pizza chef who organizes and stars in
a neighborhood rock concert, pizzeria, and stock car race with his animal
friends. Lots of Figgy fun, but this did not a story make. I needed to know why
these activities mattered to Figgy and how he grew as a character.
I also had to
think about the nuts and bolts of how Figgy might transform from dog to
dilettante. I was fairly certain of my own dog's boredom and loneliness while
our family is away, so I started my story exploration there. We all know that
dogs, as social creatures, dislike being left alone and are often fraught with
anxiety leading to certain not-so-flattering behaviors and/or the escape of
sleep. A story with a sleeping dog would not be too interesting, so I chose the
much more exciting, destructive route. What if Figgy ate things--any things--in
his frustration, fell asleep, and dreamed about himself as a manifestation of
what he ate? We all know "you are what you eat," so in Figgy's case,
for example, he eats Mrs. Mustardo's Bone Appetit magazine, falls
asleep, and dreams of being Italian Pizza Chef Mustardo serving Muttsarello and
Figaro pizzas to adoring gourmands. When he wakes, he knows his dream is a
sign, so he makes a real one of his own, "Free Pizza," and serves his
entire animal neighborhood at Figgy's Pizzeria.
Most
importantly, I needed to develop a motivation for Figgy's adventures; how were
these events connected to him? What did they mean? How would they affect
Figgy's world outside and inside? The answer arrived in the form of loss; every
animal neighbor came to Figgy's concert and pizzeria and car race except Figgy's
family, the Mustardos, especially George (his boy). In desperation, Figgy
creates the sign "Free Dog" to find a family who will talk and walk
and play with him like all the other families he sees through his window. Where
are the Mustardos? The family Mustardo arrives in time to show Figgy how much
they care with a promise to take him wherever they can and to provide him
companionship when they can't in the form of new pup named Dot. Figgy and Dot
go on to enliven the neighborhood with Free Shows nightly.
Mark: What kind of revising/editing
process did you and Jill go through?
Marsha:
Once I knew my character and his problem, I dashed off the story, sent it to
Jill who loved it at first sight, then sat back satisfied with a good day's
work.
Ha!
Not the way it happened, but I did write a first draft within a few days that
Jill found promising. So many drafts later that I can't even recall the
original, Jill exercised plenty of patience waiting for the story she and
Alison hoped I could write. I know she'll protest my tribute, but I have never
worked with an editor so open to my trial and error. Her abundant humor carried
us through the process that I think would have otherwise overwhelmed me.
Mark: Will there be
any more books with Figgy and his further adventures?
Marsha: Figgy
hopes so and so do Jill, Alison, and I.
For now, I hope
Figgy wags his way into the hands and hearts of many human friends where he
belongs.
WOOF!
Mark: How was this project
different having a character first and then having to find a writer to tell his
story?
Jill: It was kind of hard. The
illustrator had invented this little dog who she wanted to be an adventurer—yet
she wasn’t sure how to make the story happen. When I saw the dog, I thought of
Marsha’s One Pup’s Up—and I knew how
talented she was. Seemed like a slam dunk! But all of us—Marsha, myself, and
the illustrator, Alison Friend had to
share plenty of feedback, edit, and revise
a bit before Marsha was able to tell both the story she envisioned as well as
the story Alison had in mind. Marsha pictured Figgy at home, and really loved
the idea of using signs. Alison seemed to feel Figgy was some kind of James
Bond. So how were those two visions going to meet? They finally did when Marsha
realized that Figgy would go to sleep and dream about his exciting alter-ego.
And we all loved the idea. The book may seem a little bit sad because Figgy is
always being left at home, but Marsha told it in such a great way, that Figgy
showed his grit! If he’s hungry, he eats what’s there—but then the magic
happens and he goes to sleep and dreams of something related to what he ate.
It’s so fun and so imaginative. I love what Marsha did with Figgy’s story, and
Alison did, too.
Mark:
What was it like to work with Marsha in this new role as editor after being her
student in the MFA in Writing for Children program at Hamline University?
Jill: It felt
very wonderful and natural. Marsha does not use intimidation as a tactic in
general. She’s the rare combination of brilliant and super silly. That’s one
reason she’s so loved at Hamline and in the continental United States,
generally speaking.
There were times
when she should have been frustrated or wanted to spit at me, but she was cool
as a cucumber in the freezer in the North Pole. So professional and what I
loved also about working with her is how much I learned: a lot. I learned how
she makes use of repetition, alliteration, and very careful editing. I can be
sloppy, but Marsha walked straight out of Strunk and White. She’s exact and
wonderfully detail oriented. She was also involved at the sketch stage.
Actually at several sketch stages. We worked on the phone, we worked at
Hamline, and we worked until we thought it felt perfect. And she loved it
because she could use it in her teaching! And I just loved working with Marsha!
Mark:
Thank you, Marsha and Jill for taking the time to tell us about your
collaboration on The Secret Life of Figgy
Mustardo. The book is now available
at your local independent book store.
