Interview with Author Sands Hetherington

Today, I welcome author Sands Hetherington to the Realm. Sands' latest children book, Night Buddies, Imposters, and One Far-Out Flying Machine, was featured on the Realm on January 11. Welcome Sands!
 
When did you start writing?

In absolute terms, I suppose when I was about sixteen.  Little poem-like things and cutesy sketches when I was in high school.  This really foxy student teacher named Ellen gushed over one of these, and that definitely piqued my interest!

I didn't get serious, though, until I was late twenty-something and sent some stories off to the major magazines.  They nearly took three of them, but backed off for various reasons and said for me to hang in there.  When I was thirty I went back and got an MFA in writing and an MA in English and published a couple of stories in small magazines.

Then, like Roy Hobbs says in The Natural, "I sorta got sidetracked."  I didn't hit a lick writing for ten years—until my six-year-old son gave me the idea of trying a kids' story.  He presented me with the main character (a red crocodile named Crosley) and I've been hooked ever since. 

What is your favorite writing style?

I don't like to read hard-to-read material.  It can be rewarding, for sure, but so can other things.  I prefer clear, down-to-earth, plain styles like Twain, Hemingway and Kurt Vonnegut.  And if it comes down to that, I like first-person narrative best.  It provides the most immediacy, and it's what I use in my Night Buddies stories. 

Where do you get your ideas?

From anywhere, really.  I just keep my story antennae up.  I've gotten ideas from interesting experiences, dull experiences like seeing someone trying to catch a rubber ball and missing, even someone crossing the street with nothing else happening.  My six-year-old son gave me the basis of the Night Buddies stories and didn't charge me a nickel. I like taking something ordinary and turning it inside out and making it crazy.  And if I get stuck, I stick a note pad in my pocket and take a long walk.

What’s the best thing about writing?

Really getting it going, and knowing for a fact that you've got it going, and letting it run like that for a good long while, and finally coming to a good stopping place and looking over what you've done and seeing that you got it right.

What’s the worst thing about writing?

Not quite knowing what to say, and trying one thing after another, and banging your head against the wall knowing that last bit didn't work either, and finally getting up in disgust and walking away.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

Everything else is the complete answer, but I suspect you want a few particulars.  I live with my Saint Bernards Dudley and Maggie and keep house and work out at a gym most weekdays.  I manage a number of securities portfolios and travel a lot.  I have three very fast cars that I probably shouldn't have.  I read all sorts of things, grouse about American politics, and watch basketball.

Do you like reading?

Of course.  More and more non-fiction these days, but not exclusively.

What are you reading right now?

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin-----About Lincoln and the War and the men in his cabinet who contested with him for the Republican nomination.

Thanks for joining us at the Realm today, Sands! For more information on Sands, check out the following links:

www.nightbuddiesadventures.com

www.facebook.com/nightbuddies

www.twitter.com/night_buddies

www.pinterest.com/nightbuddies2

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/843998.Sands_Hetherington

Available February 1

Continue to follow Sands on his World of Ink Tour