Interview with Larry Schwarz and Iva-Marie Palmer, Authors of THE JULES VERNE PROPHECY

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Interview with Larry Schwarz and Iva-Marie Palmer, Authors of THE JULES VERNE PROPHECY

Short and sweet: Give usthe elevator pitch for The Jules Verne Prophecy :

Iva-Marie Palmer: Three kids finda book that leads them on a madcap and exciting hunt to find a treasure JulesVerne supposedly hid in the city of Paris.

I’m always interested inwriting partnerships. How did the two of you get together to write the book?Who initially came up with the idea for the Jules Verne Prophecy? Or did youbrainstorm it together?

IMP: Larry’s agent, who I’d workedwith before, introduced us because she thought we had similar sensibilities. Westarted out working on a different project of Larry’s, and our editor for thatliked Larry’s idea for The Jules Verne Prophecy. I was much more of a JulesVerne novice when we began this book – the overarching idea was definitelyLarry’s – but as we talked about it, we developed the story and adventure inParis together.

Larry Schwarz: I was in an oldbookstore in Paris and saw gold embossed set of Voyages Extraordinaire JulesVerne works and I was amazed by how many stories he wrote and then I thought,“wouldn’t it be cool if someone discovered yet another one that no one knewabout before.” I told Iva-Marie, and we worked on the story from there.

The two of you have workedtogether before–this is obviously a pairing that works. How do you approachworking together? What tools do the two of you rely on?

IMP: We try to develop an outlinewe both like before we start writing, which I think helps a lot – we may changethings as we go along but it keeps things moving to plan ahead a bit. As far astools we use, there’s nothing fancy in terms of the writing but I think whathelps a lot is that neither of us is a person who freaks out to take anunplanned phone call. In general, I hate texting and emailing and waitingaround when you have a great idea you want to run by someone, so it’s nice tojust be able to call Larry and hash things out instead of gettingstalled.

LS: When we see each other inperson, it’s really just to eat and we can’t let writing get in the way ofthat!

Y ou’re both storytellers,but the two of you have somewhat different backgrounds. Iva-Marie, you’vewritten several MGs, and Larry, you’ve worked in animation. What do yourbackgrounds bring to your writing partnership?

IMP: Larry’s television backgroundhas helped me a lot in terms of thinking about set pieces in books and thosebig plot moments. I’ve always had an affinity for character and dialogue, butmy stories can meander sometimes. Working with someone who’s done televisionreminds me that you can “cut to” new scenes without letting the previous scenedrag on too long. Readers are smart, and they don’t need to see every decisionor thought on the page.

LS: For whatever medium I’mwriting for, it’s important for me to create great characters first that kidscan really relate to, and I want the stories to keep moving at a pace that’llmake a reader want to turn the page and will make a viewer not want to turn thechannel. And that pace doesn’t just mean action sequences, suspense and cliffhangers. It means a steady reveal and build of who the characters are and howthey relate to one another.

As a child of the ‘80s, Ilove the fact that this is something of a modernization of The Goonies. How so?What will Goonies fans love about The Jules Verne Prophecy?

IMP: I’ve seen the movie countlesstimes, as well as other ‘80s kids’ fare that is fast-paced and funny. I lovethat this book feels like a summer blockbuster for kids. I think we’ve gottenaway from those at theaters – now summer blockbusters are mainly comic bookmovies or new entries in existing franchises – and you don’t get to see atotally fresh and original adventure where kids get to go on an adventuretogether and the adults in the story are there but not the central characters.I’m hoping this book satiates Goonies fans who long for more movies like it,and it would be great if there was a film version, too. Adult Goonies loverscan bring their kids!

LS: I’m definitely very much aproduct of those 80’s movies, too. I think what made them so special was againunique characters that you still remember today and that felt like real kidswho you would want to hang out with and be part of their adventure. And thoseadventures were also grounded in real world kid relatable experiences to startwith and then became fantastical.

This is an action-packedbook. I find action to be really challenging. How do you approach writingaction?

IMP: It is hard! At least for meit is. So much of writing is spending time alone and somewhat sedentary thatthere’s a danger of having characters who talk and think more than they do.That’s where planning ahead comes in handy, I think – deciding at the start whereyour characters might go and what might happen there, even loosely, is likehaving an itinerary. And then once you get them there, you become achoreographer or stunt coordinator – we’re in this space, and how are mycharacters going to move through this space, what’s something funny,terrifying, or exciting that can happen to them here, and so on? Then I writein layers … the first draft is just really sometimes awful and skeletal sketchof what can happen, the next is refining the details of the scene – who’s doingwhat and the action around the characters, and the final stage is making sureyour characters are still acting like themselves in scene – that’s where itgets really fun because Owen, for example, is going to act different in anaction sequence than Nas or Rose.

LS: It’s in the action sequencesthat I really draw on my experiences I have as a visual storyteller in liveaction and animated TV series. I try to make sure the reader is really able tovisualize the scene. I also think a bit of comedy and even a little vaudevilleschtick is really important in action sequences even if they’re very seriousones.

Voice is also crucial toMG work. How do you tap into that MG voice? How do you keep voice consistentwith a writing partnership?

IMP: Writing for this age groupmeans never losing hold of what it’s like to be a kid. I don’t want to be theadult trying to make kids think I’m cool, I want to be myself at age 12 or 13trying to make sense of the story my characters are in. I hope it comes acrossas authentic, and I do sometimes run things by my own kids, who are 12 and 8,to see if it seems off. As for consistency, Larry and I will be blunt with oneanother if we think something sounds way off base – I think for anypartnership, you have to be able to say, “Okay, I hate this” as often as you’reable to say, “Okay, I love this.”

LS: The Jules Verne Prophecy isabout a group of friends who go on an incredible adventure together followingsecret clues across Paris in the hopes of finding an awesome treasure, but It’simportant that the characters relate to each other in a way that real kids doand sound like real kids do when they are just going to school or hanging outand going to the mall in the real world. Having a writing partner (especiallyIva-Marie) really helps so much in this because when we’re writing together,we’re also hanging out on the phone and just talking like friends.

What do you hope youngreaders take away from The Jules Verne Prophecy?

IMP: That the Catacombs areincredibly creepy but also worth visiting for that exact reason. But seriously,I want young readers to feel alive to the possibilities of the real world. Ithink this book – though set in modern day – is a throwback to the excitingstories I grew up with, and even if the scenes are over-the-top, they’re set inplaces that really exist with the characters moving through those spaces. Iknow technology and screen lives aren’t going away but I’d love for a kid whoreads our book to decide they’d like to see more of the world or find anadventure in their own neighborhood – just get out of their comfort zone andsee what happens.

LS: Jules Verne wrote, “All thatis impossible remains to be accomplished.” That was something that inspired mefrom reading Jules Verne stories as a kid and I hope that our readers will feelthe same way from reading The Jules Verne Prophecy.

What’s next? Are the twoof you going to work on another project together?