Guest Post: Interview with Susan Ross by Lindsay Vandermeer

I mentioned in an earlier post that I have been teaching Children’s Lit, and that it has been an exceptional semester. The students in my class are themselves exceptional, and I have learned a lot from them as the weeks have raced by. I’ve moved away from traditional exams, preferring to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge in different ways. Lindsay Vandermeer presented me with this interview with children’s author Susan Ross as an end-of-term project, and she has graciously allowed me to post it here. Without further ado…

Interview With Susan Ross by Lindsay Vandermeer

I had the great privilege of attending London’s Wordsfest festival on November 6th, 2016. The event was attended by a wide variety of authors, spanni[image error]ng dozens of genres. Their stories took place in many settings, with eye-catching covers. The table that drew me in the most, though, was that of local children’s author, Susan Ross. She had a selection of her works with her, from Say Please to the Honeybees, to The Rose and the Lily. Ms Ross stated that her main goal in her writing was to make children smile.

While I had Ms Ross with me, I asked if there was anything she felt couldn’t, or shouldn’t be put into children’s literature. With a chuckle and a grin she stated “You can put anything in children’s literature, but it will narrow your audience.” She went on to regale me with amusing tales of her own encounters with other people’s view on what was, or was not, appropriate.

Flipping through a few of her books, Ms Ross explained that at one point she was told the pose held by the sheep in The Great Bellybutton Cover-Up[image error], was far too provocative for a children’s book. She was also encouraged not to use the word naked. While she changed her word usage, she stood by her illustrator’s choice and kept the original pose.

In her book Dogs Don’t Go To School, the illustrator had drawn one of the young girls with heavy makeup, which she didn’t feel was appropriate and asked the artist to change. On the other hand, when Ms Ross’ religious sister protested one of the children being depicted in a sleeveless top, the author felt that particular protest was unreasonable.

At this point I had other lectures and workshops to attend, but Ms Ross graciously agreed to answer more questions for me if I sent them to her e-mail, which I rather eagerly did later that night. Despite a comedy of technical errors which caused our e-mail providers to refuse to  communicate with one another, the wonderful Ms Ross persevered and we finally found a pair of e-mail addresses willing to talk to one another. Below is the exchange of questions and answers that were sent.

 

LV: We spoke briefly about how a writer determines what is or is not appropriate in children’s literature, and how it determines your audience, is there any kind of litmus test you use to make that decision for yourself?

SR: I try to determine how much using certain words, or images in pictures, or certain topics, will decrease my reading audience. Then I decide if that loss of audience (and income) is acceptable to me.

LV: How do you feel about addressing topics like death and disease in children’s fiction?

SR: Interesting question. I wrote a book called EMMA THE MOUSE BRINGS JOY TO THE HOUSE. I do not bring it to shows because it is for a niche audience. It is about a mouse who wants hair like her human friend, Sydney, and then ends up helping Sydney cope with her loss of hair due to chemo (for leukemia).

LV: Is there an age that is too young in your opinion?

SR: Books are targeted to certain ages and written accordingly, so no. In retrospect my book is too detailed for children under six. My target audience was three to eight. I have rewritten it with very little mentioned about the actual illness to make it acceptable for a wider audience and simpler for ill children, although I have not yet published it.

LV: Animals feature heavily in your work, what are your reasons for that?

SR: I love animals and I believe a love of animals should be fostered in children. The Violet books were inspired by a sheep shearing event at Fanshawe Pioneer Village. The other books have animals because animals delight children.

LV: I find a lot of children’s authors write with a specific audience in mind, who are you writing for?

SR: I am writing for all children between ages three to eight or nine, depending on the book.

LV: How closely do you work with your illustrators? How do you pick them?

SR: REALLY CLOSELY. Looking-over-your-shoulder closely. Much closer than most authors work with their illustrators. It is not an overstatement to say the artwork is a collaboration. I have a vision and I want the illustrations to reflect that vision.

I don’t know if people know that when you work with a publisher you have no say in the illustrations (unless you are able to do them yourself which, unfortunately, I’m not.) Giving up control would be very difficult for me.

I pick illustrators based on their artwork, the way they present themselves to me (their introduction letter should be well thought out and well written) and their ability to work with me.

LV: How do you start your stories? Do you have the main idea first and build around it, or do you start at the beginning and work your way to the end?

SR: Stories just come to me so I have the main idea first and build around it. I don’t have a storyboard. I think in “scenes” which can come to me as I’m going about my day or while writing or while working with the illustrator. Sometimes there are triggers, like the sheep shearing event. DOGS DON’T GO TO SCHOOL was created when I was teasing kids while walking Abby. I was asking them if Abby (my dog) could go to school with them. Then I came up with my scenes as I wrote and rewrote…. the book.

LV: Your stories span a wide variety of ideas, with very different styles, is there one that appeals to you the most?

SR: They span a wide variety of ideas but I think the styles are all similar with the exception of THE ROSE AND THE LILY. I don’t have a style per se, but I love using alliteration, and using multiple synonyms so kids expand their vocabulary.

LV: Is there anything that you would say connects your stories? Any over-arching themes?

SR: Humour. Laughter is everything. Most of my main characters are also “characters.” So that’s probably the over-arching theme.

LV: Thank you very much for your time, and for coming out to the event.

SR: You are very welcome, Lindsay.

All in all, Susan Ross was an amazingly accommodating, helpful, and amusing individual. Having the chance to meet with her, and to ask her a few more in depth questions about her process was an opportunity that I am extremely grateful to the Wordsfest committee for making possible. I was particularly drawn by her comment about how you can address any topic, even the scary ones, to children of any ages, but that it could affect your market, because parents, in the end, determine what they let into their children’s world.

Other Resources

Ross, Susan. “Susan Ross Children’s Books.” Susan Ross, http://susanross.ca/.