Happy Monday Everyone! Today I’m excited to have J.A. Dauber here to share about his MG Press 1 for Invasion. It sounds like a funny, action-packed story. I could use humor in my stories, and I’m looking forward to reading this one.
Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:
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A
kid who just wanted a cell phone ends up being responsible for saving the world
from an alien invasion in this hilarious, action-packed new middle grade novel
that’s perfect for fans of Sal and Gabi Break the Universe and
Gordon Korman.
Ten-year-old Matt really wants a phone, but his
parents won’t let him have one. When he finds one just lying on the sidewalk,
he naturally picks it up and claims it for himself. But when Matt uses his new
phone to take pictures, they show the crossing guard in front of his school as
a monster. But that can’t be right…can it?
Matt soon learns a) his lunch lady is also a
monster (actually, an alien); b) an invasion of Earth is due to take place
within the next few days; and c) the lunch lady is having cold feet (well,
tentacles) about the whole thing and wants his help. Matt and his friend
Marcela join forces with her to save the planet.
Battles in their school cafeteria and high above
the Earth’s atmosphere place them in very close encounters with alien pets and
the business end of a gigantic oven. As the danger mounts, Matt and Marcela
must ask themselves what they’re willing to risk to save their friends, their
family, and their world.
Hi
J.A.! Thanks so much for joining us.
It’s
great to be here!
1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a writer.
Well, let’s see: I’m a dad, with three kids ranging from seven to twelve; I live in New York; and I spend most of my time reading, teaching and writing. Two of those last three things have been pretty much staples of my life ever since I was a kid - and I just feel incredibly lucky that I’ve been able to get opportunities to do them professionally in all sorts of ways!
2. It’s cool how much reading and writing have been a part of your life. You’re a professor of Jewish Literature and American Studies at Columbia University. Except for one YA novel, Mayhem and Madness: Chronicles of a Teenaged Supervillain, your other published books are scholarly. What made you decide to write a middle grade story?
It’s definitely true that most of my other books are for adults, but they tend to be on popular topics: horror, comics, comedy. Some of them - though not all - are designed primarily for scholarly audiences, but even those are about popular material (although that material might have been written in different languages and published for audiences several centuries ago….). So, I’ve always been interested in material that appeals to as wide an audience as possible.
And I always say that no one grows up saying that
they plan to write academic monographs - the stories that I tried my hand at as
a kid had robots and superheroes and monsters and all sorts of things like
that. And my family suggests that I have the maturity of a twelve-year old…so I
guess I figured it was still something I wanted to do!
Your Writing Process
3. Ha! Ha! Where did you get the idea for Press 1 for Invasion?
It really started with an image, or, more precisely, a sequence of images: a kid looking at his crossing guard through a phone camera and seeing a goggle-eyed alien monster through the camera…and then putting the phone down and seeing a normal-looking human in uniform. Then I wrote the book to figure out what was going on!
4. This sounds like an action-packed, high-stakes story. Share about how you plotted it out and how long it took to write your first draft.
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Thanks - I think people are going to like it! (My ten- and twelve-year-old really did, and suffice it to say they’re not shy about letting their father know if something, like, say, a joke, doesn’t live up to their standards.) I think it took a few months to write the first draft; I write every day, and just try to follow the movie in my head and see what happens. This then leads to different loose ends and promising ideas that need development, which is what the second draft is for!
5. In the midst of all the high-stakes drama of your story, you’ve also made the story humorous, which is a big plus for many readers, including me. But it can be hard to write humor. How did you know where to add the funny parts of your story? What are your tips for adding humor to a story for middle graders?
What a great question! Having written a history of Jewish comedy and a biography of Mel Brooks, I know how to ruin humor by trying to explain or belabor it: and I think the key is that the humor has to flow naturally from the situation and the characters, rather than saying, “Oh, there needs to be a joke here.” Kids are awesome, and hilarious, and if you put them in the right situations - and in a high-stakes narrative, those situations are going to abound - the humor can come pretty naturally, I think.
6. How do you squeeze in time to write fiction with your busy schedule as a university professor?
I write every day; and I think - like exercise - the key, at least for me, isn’t so much the amount of time or the word count but the constancy. If you write fiction the equivalent of the length of a long email on a daily basis, you’ll have a draft of a book a year. (That’s not really how it works, of course, but the principle matters, I think.)
Your Journey to Publication
7. Yes, writing every day does help to finish a first draft in a reasonable amount of time. Share about how you got your publishing contracts for Mayhem and Madness: Chronicles of a Teenaged Supervillain and Press 1 for Invasion.
I’ve been extremely lucky to have wonderful agents - Alec Shane for Mayhem; and now Stacey Glick for Press 1 - and they were the ones who connected me with Sally Morgridge at Holiday House and Kara Sargent at Simon & Schuster/Aladdin. They both believed in the books, and found editors who did, too!
8. How did working with your editor make Press 1 for Invasion stronger?
In so many ways. Kara is a brilliant editor, on (at least) three distinct levels: what the story needs globally, in terms of a theme developed or a scene missing or extraneous; what the sentence needs in terms of rhythm or flow, what you could call line-editing; and what the audience needs, or doesn’t, in terms of concepts or phrasing that might land in ways you don’t expect. And all that said, she - like all the best editors I’ve worked with in various media - is deferential to the author’s story, writing, and solutions. But what I’ve found is that I love to be edited by great editors. Who wouldn’t want a brilliant, thoughtful voice dedicated entirely to making your work better?
Promoting Your Book
9. It’s great that you have such a great editor. How are you planning to celebrate the release of Press 1 for Invasion and promote it?
This past weekend, I had a great launch event at An Unlikely Story (Jeff Kinney’s bookstore in Plainville, MA), where I was joined in conversation by The Sherlock Society and City Spies author James Ponti. I’ll be going to whatever bookstores and schools will have me - and very excited to do a NYC launch event at my children’s school this weekend, where I get to be a source of embarrassment for all three of them! And of course, I hope to do lots of interviews like this one, where I can encourage readers to pick up a copy for their kids, their friends, their friends’ kids, and, you know, even your enemies if that’s your thing. I don’t judge….
10. I’m a huge fan of James Ponti! What are you working on now?
I’m finishing up a time travel novel for middle graders that’s set in Ancient Greece. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun!
Thanks for sharing all your advice, J.A.! You can find J.A. at @jeremydauber.bsky.social and www.jeremydauber.com.
Giveaway Details
J.A.’s publisher is generously offering a hardback of Press 1 for Invasionfor a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower of my blog (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment by September 20th. If I do not have your email (I can no longer get it from your Google Profile), you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest. Please be sure I have your email address.
If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or
other social media sites and/or follow me on Twitter or Bluesky or follow J.A. on
his social media sites, mention this in the comments, and I'll give you an
extra entry for each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. This ARDC giveaway
is U.S.
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is hosted by Greg
Pattridge. You can find the participating blogs on his blog.
Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops
Wednesday, September 10th I have an agent spotlight interview with Ashlee MacCallum and a query critique giveaway
Monday, September 15th I have an interview with author Christine Virnig and a giveaway of her MG Phantom Academy
Tuesday, September 16th I’m participating in the Falling Into Leaves Giveaway Hop
Monday, September 22nd I have an interview with author Anita Fitch Pazner and a giveaway of her MG Words Matter: The Story of Hans and Sophie Scholl and The White Rose Resistance
Monday, September 29th I have an interview with author Tracy Badau and a giveaway of her MG Ghoul Summer
Wednesday, October 1st I’m participating in the Scaredy Cat Giveaway Hop and have an interview with author Julie Berry with a giveaway of her YA If Looks Could Kill and my IWSG post
Monday, October 6th I have an agent spotlight interview with Renee Runge and a query critique giveaway
Monday, October 13th I have an interview with author Lynne Kelly and a giveaway of her MG Three Blue Hearts
I hope to see you on Wednesday!
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