Author Margi Preus talks about her Clue in the Trees and the Writing Life

I've enjoyed watching the evolution of Margi Preus' writing career for more than three decades. While attending a few arts events before Christmas I saw her setting up for a book signing at the Bookstore at Fitgers. An award-winning author of numerous titles in several genres, her latest is The Clue in the Trees. Recommending books seems like a good way to kick off the new year. There are always too many books, and so little time.

EN: You have always been writing. When did you first feel serious about writing as a career? How did that happen?

Margi Preus: I was interested in writing as a career ever since I read Harriet the Spy in 5th grade. I probably didn't take it seriously until graduate school, when I studied writing first at U of Iowa and then at Binghamton University with John Gardner. At that time, I intended to be a fiction writer for grown ups. Unfortunately, even I wasn’t a grown up at that time. 

EN: I remember seeing one of your short stories in an anthology of Minnesota writers around the mid-80's. How did writing short stories contribute to your development as a Young Adult fiction writer?

MP: That’s what we did in graduate writing programs—write short fiction. I think that’s what they still do, generally—because it’s short and the teacher can read them all and grade them. (I speak from experience since I have also taught in graduate writing programs). Short fiction is an excellent teacher—you learn to economize, which is good for MG or YA writing where you don’t want to digress too much or lose your reader, and you learn to find the beating heart of the story—which you still have to do even in a sprawly novel.

Any kind of writing, though, informs any other kind of writing. I'm also learned a lot from writing sketch comedy and directing theater, and also from just about everything. 

EN: Your current book is called The Clue in the Trees. What's the premise and where did you get the idea for this one? 

MP: The Clue in the Trees is the second in a mystery series for young readers. The protagonist Francie Frye is a kind of “Northwoods Nancy Drew” but with murder (the non-bloody kind). I started writing the series on the screen porch of our cabin one summer when there was a big fight going on about a road. There was so much animosity I started wondering what would happen if my neighbors started killing each other. Kind of went from there. That was book one. This is book two-- so I’ll just say someone is murdered and it looks like Francie’s brother is the prime suspect. That is, until Francie herself becomes a suspect. Looks like Francie is walking on thin ice . . . but it isn’t until she is literally walking on thin ice that the pieces start to come together, but by then it might be too late. . . (sound like jacket copy? It kind of is.)

EN: What's the key takeaway hidden in the story?

MP: Giant muskies, nuisance bears, poisoned hot dishes, exploding bulldozers, hidden trap doors, underground tunnels, old gold mines, new pipelines, bones, and, of course, murder. Kind of typical northern Minnesota lake life.

EN: For many years you wrote sketches for Colder By The Lake Theater. I'm guessing this also was part of your learning curve as a writer.

MP: Yes, as aforementioned.

Preus won a Newbery Honor Award
with this bestseller.

EN: What's the difference between writing for an audience and a reader whose expressions you can't yourself read?

MP: That’s an interesting question. As a theater director I spent a lot of time watching the audience at shows I directed to see how they reacted to things. We would change things from night to night based on audience response. Now I only know how young readers react after the book is out (sometimes I ask people to read drafts, of course.) Sometimes I am surprised by reader responses. I’m always surprised when they like it! But I’ve also been surprised by what some people have told me they thought was scary, or “dark,” or funny.

EN: What was it like writing your first Young Adult novel?

MP: I did not know that’s what I was doing while I was doing it. Also, my publisher thinks I write for Middle Grade, btw (the next level down from YA), although my books are sometimes shelved in YA (and sometimes both YA and MG—I”m all for that.) But the first novel was such a challenge it was all I could do to just get the story down without worrying about who was going to read it. I assumed no one would, actually.

EN: You've also published three picture books. What's the timeline for these various projects? 

MP: Picture books can take longer than novels or chapter books because you’ve got an illustrator in the mix (if you’re not the author/illustrator, which I’m not). So the illustrator has to have room in his/her schedule and be given a goodly amount of time—up to a year, I’d say—to create the illustrations. I think it depends on the publisher etc. how long.

These days, some publishers (like Amulet/Abrams who publishes my historical fiction) like to put out advance reader copies many months in advance. This is supposed to promote “buzz” and get the reviews out there, and get librarians fired up and so on. But what happens is that by the time your book is actually for sale in stores you’ve forgotten what it’s about. To writers out there who haven’t yet been through this, and think that once they sell a manuscript they will shortly see it in print—that is unlikely (unless you self-publish, I suppose). You write it, and if you are so fortunate to sell it quickly you are still going to have to revise it, and then revise it some more (this can go on for months or years), then the managing editor has at it, then the copy editor—you may see six or more passes of your novel for picky edits THAT CAN MAKE YOUR NOVEL SO MUCH BETTER so just be thankful for it even though it is painful at the time. What I”m saying is, if you want a good novel, be grateful for the help even though it can make you want to throw the whole thing in a snowbank. Make sure you love your subject matter so much that you won’t do this.

EN: Have you been carried through by the same publisher? Who should we give a shout out to? 

MP: Amulet Books (Abrams) has published all my historical fiction novels. UMN Press publishes my mysteries, and I have picture books out by Holt/Macmillan, Houghton-Mifflin, MNHS Press, and a new chapter book coming from Margaret Ferguson Books, an imprint of Holiday House.

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With this arctic weather hovering about the continent right now, it's a good time to curl up with a book. For a complete presentation of Margi's books in print, visit her website at www.margipreus.com/ 


Happy New Year.