5th Grader Reviews for Island of Fog Part II...

Previously, a teacher at Jones Dairy Elementary in Wake Forest, NC, read the novel aloud to his class of 5th Graders (see post from March 2010). This year, Mr. Clopper has a different class...

Twenty-six 5th Grade students wrote me letters and drew fantastic pictures of all the characters from Island of Fog, and I would love to share those letters again like I did last year. But it would involve a LOT of copy-typing, so instead I've picked out questions that I can answer directly here. All the pictures are scanned and displayed at the foot of this page.

"I was wondering how big the fog hole was?"

The fog-hole is the full width of the tunnel, around six feet in diameter. Most holes are about that size, although there's a legend that one of the largest holes spanned the horizon long ago, and the ocean spilled through it from our world to the other. This is probably where all those stories about "the end of the world" came from, and it was probably sea serpents from Miss Simone's world attacking all those old ships. That hole closed long ago, though, luckily!

"Where did the virus come from?"

Ah, well, you'll have to read the third book, Mountain of Whispers, for a full explanation of this!

"Do you have kids? What are their names?"

I have a little girl named Lily Beth, and she's six (as I write this). She has all my books and is not quite ready to read them, but will be soon.

"Are you going to make a movie out of the books?"

Me personally? No. But I really hope that one day some big movie producer will come along and snatch it up with excitement, and throw millions of dollars at it and make it into the biggest monster movie in history, and I'll be famous and rich and... and...

"Are you writing any books at the moment?"

Yes! I'm writing the FOURTH book in the series, Lake of Spirits, which should be available in Summer 2011. I also have a couple of other projects, but they're kind of "as and when I can fit them in."

"How many books are going to be in the series?"

I'm not sure. I'm writing the fourth at the moment, and already have the fifth planned, and I definitely expect to write the sixth. I'm writing these in groups of three, you see, so if there's a seventh a few years from now, then there'll also be an eight and ninth to follow.

"Do you like to write poems in your books?"

Funny you should ask that, because Dewey is attempting to write poetry in the fourth book, Lake of Spirits. He's not very good, though.

"How long did it take to write Island of Fog and where did you get the idea?"

I honestly can't remember where the idea came from. I started it back in 2002 and wrote bits here and there for the next six or seven years. In 2008 I finally buckled down and revamped it all, and finished it off. But the idea for the book... I don't know. A lot of people ask me that but I can never think of a good answer. I get ideas all the time, but I never write down where they come from. The idea sticks, but the origin fades from memory.

"How many books have you written?"

Apart from the three published Island of Fog books (and the fourth, which is halfway complete), I've written a couple of other books that are finished but not fully edited; I plan to publish those one day, too. I'm also halfway through various others books, and it would be nice to knock those into shape if I ever get time.

"Why did the green balls always come back to the same spot?"

Ah, the magical green balls. This is something I never explained, but plan to in Lake of Spirits when the children visit Miss Simone's laboratory in her world.

"Why did the virus only affect the parents and not the kids?"

It's not a big spoiler to say that the kids are immune because of their ability to shapeshift; the cells in their bodies are always working hard to regenerate, and it enables them to fight off diseases and illnesses. As they get older, their bodies will grow tired and won't work so hard to fight illnesses, and that's why Miss Simone was affected by the virus even though she's a shapeshifter. Did you notice how she got a little better when she shifted form? You'll learn more about this abilty to fight illnesses and heal injuries in book two, Labyrinth of Fire. Don't forget that the parents are NOT shapeshifters, though; they're ordinary people.

"Are there more kids in Miss Simone's world?"

If you mean shapeshifting kids, then no. But Miss Simone is a shapeshifter herself, and one of a group just as Hal and his friends are.

"Why don't you switch to other characters instead of staying in Hal's head?"

Sometimes I would really like to do that, but I think Island of Fog works better being entirely from Hal's point of view. It's a bit of a mystery, you see, and mysteries work better when the reader only sees what's happening from the main character's point of view. In later books there are times when I would like to hop into someone else's head, but that would break the format and get confusing. When writing, it's best to choose whether you're going to stick with one character, or switch between lots of characters – and if the latter, then make sure the point of view shifts are clear, ideally signified by chapter or scene breaks.

"Is it fun being an author? How hard is it to write a book?"

It's both fun and very, very hard. I like thinking up the story, and love writing most of the book. However, there are parts of the book that are necessary but not so fun to write, and often I have to do some research before I get things just right. Researching can be fun and interesting, but sometimes it's boring. For instance, I loved learning about lava tubes and geothermal energy for Labyrinth of Fire, but was bored silly learning about ranks and weaponry for platoons of soldiers in Mountain of Whispers. And editing the book after its written is not a whole lot of fun; by the time I've read the book through three or four or five times, I'm fed up with it!

"How did you choose the monsters that the kids would turn into? Did you have to look up some of the monsters? Did you get the ogre idea from Shrek?"

Some of the monsters were chosen way back in 2002 when I first started writing Island of Fog. The dragon, ogre, faerie, centaur, mermaid and manticore were always part of the story. Others weren't fully decided until much later, mainly because I didn't write the second half of the book until years later. I did look up some of the monsters as part of the reseach process, but only for extra tidbits of information; I was already familiar with them all. And no, my ogre didn't come from Shrek! As it happens, Shrek first came along in 2001 and I started Island of Fog in 2002, but that has nothing to do with anything; I first read about ogres in Piers Anthony's Xanth books way back in the late 1980s, and knew of them even before then.

"Who can hold their breath that long?"

You're referring to the scene when Hal was trying to find the underwater hole, but maybe you're forgetting that Hal was in dragon form at the time! Reptiles can hold their breath much longer than humans, and in fact crocodiles typically hold their breath for 15 minutes and have been known to stay underwater for up to two hours if not unduly stressed – so Hal, in his dragon form, inherits that ability.

"Why did the virus cause the parents' faces to swell up?"

It was a massive allergic reaction. Usually, something like a bee sting can cause a slight swelling in most people, while others puff up like soccer balls if they're allergic to that kind of venom. The virus in the story basically caused a gigantic allergic reaction. Yikes!

"What is the creature that Fenton turns into?"

At first everyone assumed he was a gargoyle because he stuck fast to walls and spouted streams of water. But gargoyles don't really exist (even in Miss Simone's fantasy world) – they're just ugly statues that sit on top of old buildings. That said, it's possible that gargoyles were based on real creatures that used to roam our worlds long ago, but this particular lizard creature, which has glowing red eyes and spits sticky water, is so rare that it has no name.

"What is your favorite character's personality?"

Like almost everyone else, I'm fond of Abigail; she's smart and cheeky. I like all the characters, though. They've grown in my head over time, and I feel like I know them as real people now, and I know exactly how each character would act in a certain situation. It's not something I have to think about anymore; the characters seem to have a life of their own. My job is to convey those characters in the books so the reader understand them as well as I do, and that's a tough job. I don't think they all came across fully in the first book, but hopefully as the series continues the readers will get to know them as well as I do.

"What is your favorite creature in Miss Simone's world?"

The manticore. I don't know why. Maybe because it's so sinister and dangerous, and yet so rarely seen in movies? Another personal favorite in Greek mythology is Medusa, the immortal gorgon creature with snakes for hair and the power to turn people to stone just by looking at them. One of Miss Simone's friends from school is a gorgon, and she has a big role in Lake of Spirits.

I want to say a big THANK YOU to Mr. Clopper's class for taking the time to write to me. Most of you seem to be enjoying the books, and you asked good questions and made excellent suggestions about ways I could improve things. I always benefit from feedback like this; after all, it's YOU and others your age that these books were written for, so it's great to hear what you think. Please keep reading the series, and watch out for the fourth book coming this summer. And keep doing well in class for Mr. Clopper – he's a good friend of mine. :-)

Okay, now onto the art gallery. Good work, all of you!