Moonshower’s Heart Leads
Her Back to Children’s Books

The Legend of Zoey (Delacorte)
by Candie Moonshower
ISBN-10: 0385732805
ISBN-13: 978-0385732802
Buy this book
via Amazon.com.

It all started with Sweetmama.

It was the tales told by her great-grandmother, a Creek Indian, that inspired author Candie Moonshower to pen the award-winning The Legend Of Zoey (Delacorte), her debut novel, published last summer.

Sweetmama’s stories of Tennessee’s Reelfoot Lake and the 1811 earthquakes that created it formed the basis for Moonshower’s time-traveling adventure in which a modern schoolgirl teams with a pioneer teen and young Chickasaw chief to preserve destiny and save future generations.

Told through the alternating journal entries of Zoey, the contemporary heroine, and Prudence, the frontier girl, The Legend Of Zoey has garnered critical acclaim, including a coveted thumbs-up from School Library Journal.

AUTHORLINK: Okay, so you were intrigued by Sweetmama's cool legends of the quakes and Reelfoot Lake. How did you begin to transform that lore into an action-packed novel? Why did you choose to write a children's book vs. adult? How did you pin down your target reader age -- why not a picture book or easy reader, for instance? Was the time travel element part of the plan from the get-go? If so, why?

MOONSHOWER: The idea for The Legend Of Zoey initially came to me when I was pondering my then-teenaged son's reliance on his cell phone. I remember wondering if he would know what to do without it! I filed that little thought away, then one day I was talking to my mother, and we were discussing Sweetmama, and the quakes, and Reelfoot Lake, and a number of other subjects, and I remember thinking, "Wow, it's bad enough to have a natural disaster these days—with cell phones and ambulances and hospitals and the Red Cross! How frightening it must have been WAY back in the day without all the available help we have now!" And, simultaneously (and I'm not kidding, and I do think this is how writers' minds work), the character of Zoey Saffron Lennon Smith-Jones, a thoroughly modern girl, popped into my head. She was a sassy chick! I wrote a note on a scrap of paper I pulled out of my trash can: "12-yr-old modern girl thrown back in time to 1811, to a farm? Earthquakes?" It was something to that effect—short and sweet. I filed the scrap away. But Zoey's voice was in my head, talking to me, and then it struck me to put the two ideas together. So, yes, the time travel element was a part of the plan from the get-go. And that was strange for me (and still is) because I'm the kind of person (and writer) that is pretty firmly rooted in reality.

I knew I wanted to write for the middle grade and/or young adult market because I always have, ever since I read Eleanor Estes' The Moffats way back in the third grade. Throughout the years, I've tried every kind of writing genre known to man, I think, but my heart kept leading me back to children's writing. I have tried my hand at picture books and easy readers (so far unsuccessfully), but my first love was always the novel. I think this might be because I grew up overseas and was never really exposed to picture books and story books. I returned to the United States in time to start school and learn to read English and, pretty much, I went straight to chapter books and novels as soon as I mastered reading. I truly admire folks who can write picture books! I tell people I'd rather write 80,000 words than 800 words!

AUTHORLINK: So you had a good idea of what you wanted to write and for whom . . . what did you do next? Outline your plot? Jump into the writing? Start in on research? Where? How?

MOONSHOWER: I jumped right in. I began writing from Zoey's point-of-view, from the modern-day perspective, trying to get a feel for her and who she might be. Meanwhile, I read several books about the New Madrid Earthquakes and the formation of Reelfoot Lake, and familiarized myself with the details. I knew I wanted Zoey to meet a girl her age in the past, and I knew that I wanted the crux of the action to take place between the start of the quakes, mid-December of 1811, and the "biggie" on February 7, 1812. Initially, that was all the plotting I outlined: "Action to take place between Dec. 16 and Feb 7." I fooled around with the first 40 pages of it from January 2002 through June 2003, but that was about as far as I got because of life, work, the kids, etc., etc. Later, I went back and outlined and plotted.

AUTHORLINK: How did you come up with the tandem journal entry format? Did that make the writing easier or more challenging?

MOONSHOWER: I thought it would be neat to have the reader see the same happenings through the perspectives of a girl from present day and a girl from 1811, so from the beginning, I had planned to have Pru's journal in there, too—although originally, she was only introduced after Zoey arrived in her time. Later, I changed that to introduce her from the beginning because I realized that her story needed a set-up, too. Writing in the tandem journal format was challenging, yes, because I didn't want to be repetitive, and I had to work hard to remember what I wanted each girl's perspective to impart to the reader. But it was fun. I'm actually trying the format again right now on something completely different, just to see how it works!

AUTHORLINK: How did you get the voice for each girl?

MOONSHOWER: Zoey's voice was full-blown in my head from the first word. With Prudence, I aimed for a more serious girl, though not boring or heavy. I wanted to show a girl living on the frontier and fully cognizant of the dangers around her at every turn, but also longing for the same things all girls do. Prudence is a bit more serious than Zoey because she has had to be. Life in 1811 was hard work! Zoey kind of blurts out whatever crosses her mind. Pru watches her tongue. Their ideas about manners and responsibility are different, too, and I tried to make that come through without having Zoey come off as horribly immature—and without having Pru come off as a prissy stick-in-the-mud. It was a challenge! But fun. I love both girls for a lot of different reasons. And for a lot of the same reasons, too!

AUTHORLINK: Did you base the Grandma Cope character on Sweetmama? Are Grandma Cope's prophetic words Sweetmama's?

MOONSHOWER: Grandma Cope is a lot like Sweetmama, yes. Sweetmama definitely was the heart of our family until her death. Her house was where the holidays and Sunday dinners and fish frys happened. Her house was where I spent many a summer with my aunt. Sweetmama was wise in the old ways, yes, and very in tune with the natural world around her. I don't remember any actual prophetic statements that Sweetmama ever said. Like Zoey, I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention. She was just my Sweetmama! It wasn't until long after she was dead that I really felt that sorrow that I hadn't known her better—who she really was in her younger pre-Sweetmama days.

AUTHORLINK: How did you come up with the leap-back-in-time device, the storm? Did you have other ideas about how you might land Zoey in 1811?

MOONSHOWER: The whole time travel prospect made me a nervous wreck because I don't lean that way in my thinking. The one thing I did know from the onset of the book was that I wanted to write it in a way that it did not come off as a dream. I wanted my young readers to believe (as I do) that Zoey really and truly went back in time and met Pru! I remember sitting at dinner one night with my husband, my brother and his wife, talking and talking over what I could do with the ending to make it appear true that Zoey went back in time and met an actual girl named Prudence. That was when we came up with the Beatles mirror (which I actually own). We had a whole lot of other ideas involving cameras and tape recorders and the like, but that all seemed to me like something a clever person these days could "rig." So I opted for the simplest detail I could. All along, though, I was not so sure how I was going to pitch Zoey back into the past. The storm came to me as I had the kids on the bus heading toward West Tennessee. I figured, "Hmm, take a bad storm with lots of black sky and scary lightning, throw in a flash flood to sweep her away, and voila!" I did NOT want Zoey to disappear in front of her classmates like she'd been beamed up or something. I wanted her to be swept away by the natural disaster happening around them in a way that modern folks would believe—and in a way that would make them be looking for her!

AUTHORLINK: How did you work on the book – start at the beginning and zip straight through? Write all the Zoey chapters, then all the Prus? How long did a first draft take? How many revisions did you do on your own, pre-Delacorte deal?

MOONSHOWER: As I mentioned, I started on the book in January 2002, and I wrote 15 pages, which I then submitted to our SCBWI-Midsouth annual conference in April of that year for a critique with Tim Travaglini of (at that time) Walker & Co. He was so encouraging! So I kept piddling around with it, but in the meantime, I had (and still do) a regular freelancing gig with a statewide business magazine, and I'd begun working at a Kumon Learning Center, tutoring in Reading and Math, and I had a bout of illness, too. So lots going on (not to mention that I had a teenager, a toddler and a baby still at home). But I wrote and wrote on it, both with the Zoey and Pru chapters, a little at a time.

In July 2003, I learned I had won a grant to attend the national SCBWI conference in Los Angeles. I had about three days to send something out for a critique. I had about 60 rough pages of Zoey. They would only let me submit 40 pages, so I took a weekend and chopped it down and overnighted it out there with my check for the critique fee. When I arrived in Los Angeles, I learned that my critique was with Mary Wade of Houston, a retired librarian and children's author. I was excited to see what she had to say, because I love librarians! I wasn't at all disappointed that I hadn't been set up with an editor or agent, probably because I didn't know as much as I do now (ignorance being bliss). I was tickled to be in LA! The rest was gravy. The critique went fabulously—Mary told me she loved the 40 pages, and that she'd laughed harder than she had in a long time, and she told me she'd like to submit it for the Sue Alexander Award. I said, "Sure!" but I didn't really understand what that award meant.

I got back to Nashville, and one of my bosses at the Kumon Center had died, and I pretty much launched into running the center full time. I didn't give my fiction much thought at all. Then in October, Steve Mooser (president of SCBWI) called to tell me I'd won the Sue Alexander Most Promising New Work Award, and I was thrilled! I told my husband, "They'll probably send me a certificate!" They didn't. What they DID do was send out a press release to all the major publishing houses, on November 10, and on November 11, the phone started ringing. Much better than a certificate!

AUTHORLINK: How did you market Zoey to editors – did you find yourself an agent? Submit yourself? How did you describe the book – "historical fiction fantasy"? How many editors took a look at Zoey? Was Delacorte's the first offer?

MOONSHOWER: All in all, I'd say at least 25 editors asked to read the book. But there was no book. There was only 40 pages! So I fudged and said, "Oh yeah! It's with my critique group! I'll send something right out!" Then I panicked. And started writing another book, which made my husband want to have my head examined, but that's how I work. Finally, after Christmas, I sat down and began writing the rest of the book. I made it about 75 percent of the way through, read it and realized the plot was completely wonky. That's when I outlined and replotted the book, then rewrote it and finished it.

In the meantime, I'd sent out the first 50 pages to some of the editors, but in February, I sent out the full manuscript to a whole slew of people. Since I had won the Sue, and editors had already requested it, I didn't really have to describe it. My cover letters were easy! I simply informed them that my manuscript was enclosed, as per their requests! That was a blessing. I got several rejections on my partials, which in hindsight doesn't surprise me, and I wasn't deflated at the time, either, because several good friends had told me about the number of times their published novels had been rejected. I figured it was all par for the course. I did not really entertain any expectation that I would get an offer on it during the first go-round, but I was so happy to have the book FINISHED. That was big.

Delacorte was my first offer, yes. At that point, I told the editor, "Can I ponder all this and get back to you in a couple of days?" I then called several agents that friends had referred me to, told them I had an offer on the table, sent the book out as an attachment and in about 24 hours, hired an agent. She then took over the entire process, for which I'm eternally thankful. And the lesson here is a huge one: NEVER, never ever agree to anything over the telephone because your verbal word is your agreement to a boilerplate contract. Even if you do NOT want to be represented by an agent, and many people don't, you still want time to look over the contract and have some wriggle room to negotiate on points that are important to you.

So, yes, I did submit it myself.

AUTHORLINK: What was the deal process like? Quick and painless? Lots of negotiating? Did Delacorte require any revisions before they made their offer? How much revising after?

MOONSHOWER: The deal process was quick and painless. My agent negotiated on a few things that we thought were critical, but it was all friendly, civilized and professional. Editors do not mind dealing with agents (a misapprehension some writers have), because agents know their stuff!

Delacorte made me an offer based on the manuscript I sent them, so I did not do any revision pre-contract. I did, however, rewrite the novel twice in one year AFTER I signed the contract, based on editorial suggestions, first with my original editor, and then my second editor (my first editor moved to get married, and I was happy for her!). After that, it went to copy editing, then I got my first-pass pages, then the ARC, or advanced reading copy. At each stage, I went through it, time and again, looking for every little thing I could find. So far, having reread the book post-publication, I haven't found any errors, which is a relief. I think Zoey had a good and thorough going over! From starting the book to the contract offer took from January 2002 until March 2004. From signing the contract until my part of it was actually finished took from April 2004 until November 2005. The book hit the shelves in July 2006. This kind of long-winded process is definitely not for the faint-of-heart!

AUTHORLINK: How did winning the SCBWI award affect the Zoey project? How has being an SCBWI member affected your writing career?

MOONSHOWER: Winning the Sue Alexander Award afforded me that all-important "in" with editors. I wasn't subbing to the slush piles. They were expecting my manuscript because they'd asked for it. On the other hand, the award didn't sell the book. I wrote the book—the entire book—before I ever got an offer. I say that because a few people have told me they thought that Zoey was sold based on the partial having won the award! I can't reiterate enough how much winning that award means to me, though. It helped me bypass several of the long, drawn-out steps in the publishing process. But that having been said, simply becoming a member of SCBWI, which I did on New Year's Day in 2001, also helped me leap forward in my fiction writing career. Before SCBWI, I was writing in a vacuum. A lonely vacuum! Since joining SCBWI, and networking with all the other writers out there in the same boat I was in—and in the boat I'm in now (and we're all in different boats at different times)—I've learned so many invaluable things both about writing and about the business of publishing. Belonging to SCBWI won't write or sell your books. But belonging to SCBWI will help you avoid a lot of the mistakes that set editors' teeth on edge! The same is true for all of the reputable writers' groups. I'm also a member of RWA, the Romance Writers of America.

AUTHORLINK: While you were writing Zoey, did you have other works in progress, or did you focus solely on Zoey? Has landing the Zoey deal opened more doors for you, at Delacorte or elsewhere?

MOONSHOWER: I always have a dozen balls in the air. I freelance monthly, and sometimes I'm working on two to upwards of five short pieces for various publications. And I always have several novels in progress. I like to have different projects going so that if I get stuck on one, I can switch to another. At present, I'm working on four short pieces for three different magazines, I'm writing a YA romance and an adult category romance, I'm revising a middle grade novel, and I'm working on a long nonfiction project! Also, I have a couple of active critique groups, and I do some freelance reading and critiquing on the side as well. It sounds crazy, but I make a lot of "To-Do" lists to keep my deadlines straight, and I'm never bored or in that limbo land of "in-between projects." Actually, when my workload drops, that's when I begin to feel anxious and fret over what is NOT happening. The crazier my workload, the less time I have to wonder and worry over what is happening "out there."

Landing the Zoey deal has helped me in the sense that I'm now a published author, yes, as opposed to pre-published, but having a novel contract does not guarantee the second contract, as a lot of debut authors will tell you! The market is tight, and there are a lot of talented folks out there vying for the same contracts. I don't allow myself to ponder it all. I practice what I've come to call "disco zen," wherein I just keep dancing as fast as I can so that I'm not fretting over what may or may not be happening. Some of the best doors that have opened for me because of Zoey include school visits and conference workshops. I like to teach, and I enjoy speaking in front of groups, and so I've had some great opportunities to do that since the book came out—and I'm loving it!

AUTHORLINK: How involved have you been in Zoey's promotion? How does one promote a children's novel? Has Delacorte done much, or has promo/PR basically been left up to you?

MOONSHOWER: Since Zoey is, basically, what is known in the biz as a "midlist" title—meaning it was not the lead-off big title in a season's catalogue like, say, a Pants book or a Harry Potter installment—I have had to do a lot of my own promotion. Random House did assign a publicist to me, and she sent out press releases and books to tons of major media outlets and the like, and she's been available to answer my questions, which is great, but I knew going in that I would be responsible for a lot of my own marketing and promotion. And I think it is important for any new author, or any writer pursuing publication in the children's market, to remember that, because it takes up a good deal of your time! Writing the book was easy compared to the work of marketing and promotion!

I've not been able to do as much as I would've wanted, simply because I still have two of my three children at home, and they're young, both still in elementary school. I've done signings, book festivals, workshops, school visits and the like, mostly through people I've met and connected with over the years. I've been fortunate to have some really wonderful reviews of Zoey, too, including the all-important School Library Journal, which published a great review in the December 2006 issue. I'm hoping that will increase my school library sales. I'm also planning a big push to round up more school visits for next year, through sending out postcards and flyers and contacting librarians through various professional and trade associations. Belonging to SCBWI and being involved on several listservs helps with all of this—you connect with people who know people.

AUTHORLINK: Talk about your website, www.candiemoonshower.com. How important is it that a children's author have a website? What about a fledgling author, with no published work yet – would a website behoove? I see that you showcase another of your projects, the yet-to-be-published Vietnam book, on your website – it's like an illustrated mini-proposal on the Internet. Great idea – what kind of response has it generated?

MOONSHOWER: I think a Web site is critical for a published author, since kids today are so Internet-savvy. That's the first place they go for information. I was once that fledgling author, too, that decided to go ahead and establish a site, and I used it to get my feet wet and announce various freelancing coups, ha! So, yes, I think setting up a site is a good idea in that it helps you adopt the mindset of "published author." If I have a Web site out there, I'm more likely to be seriously pursuing my craft. That was my thinking, anyway.

AUTHORLINK: What advice would you give to aspiring children's authors?

MOONSHOWER: It sounds awful to say, but don't give up your day job—that would be my first advice. The only reason I'm home writing daily is because I spend a good part of each month earning money with my freelancing, but if I weren't freelancing, I'd be working somewhere else. Writing for children, for 99.99 percent of us, is NOT a "get rich quick" plan. Now, that having been said (and I felt I MUST say it!), my next advice would be to read, read, read. And then write, write, write.

Even though I began writing in 1968, and began publishing in the nonfiction world in 1989, I never submitted one piece of fiction until late 2002, and even then, that was short stuff. I KNEW I wasn't ready. Actually, when I first decided that I was going to concentrate on writing for children, I stopped everything and read for about a year. It had been a LONG time since I'd read any novels for teens because I'd started reading novels written for adults when I was about twelve (way WAY back in the day). I read the current stuff, the award winners, picture books, middle graders, YAs—I read it all. And it was a wonderful time for me! I have some talented colleagues and peers out there!

Then I began to write again. And I write a lot. I'm not one of those people that says you HAVE to sit down every day for X hours, blah blah, but I am a big proponent of regular and habitual writing. For me, writing IS a habit, a mental discipline, and when I let myself get away from it, it's hard to get motivated again. For at least ten years, I've belonged to a longstanding book-in-a-week challenge group (http://www.book-in-a-week.com), and I've participated in National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org) for several years. Both are groups that expound on quantity over quality, ha, but doing these challenges has forced me to get over the old "hoping my muse will visit today" syndrome. I've said before that I don't wait for my muse; I sit on my muse (the old butt-in-chair trick). Also, I do not fear writing crap in a first draft because I can't revise until I have the first draft down.

Out in LA this past August at the SCBWI national conference, Jane Yolen, in her keynote speech, said, over and over again: "Write the damn book." And that's good advice. For me, I sit down in my chair each and every day (every day for me, because of my other freelancing deadlines). I sit down, and I open a document (or five, ha!), and I begin to read, tweak, write, rewrite, whatever. And before too long, the pages are stacking up.

I don't know what my future holds, but I'm reaching a good place, now that all my kids are either grown and gone or firmly ensconced in school. I'm writing all the time, I've got several manuscripts finished, I have an agent who believes in me and supports me, and I have a wealth of good writer pals. No matter what happens next, I feel so fortunate to be living the creative life that I am! I had a dream of one day seeing kids reading my book the way I read Eleanor Estes' The Moffats, and that day has happened for me! All the rest is icing. Darned tasty, sweet icing!

AUTHORLINK: Last question, and I’ve gotta ask it: Is Candie Moonshower your real name? It’s too perfect!

MOONSHOWER: Candie is a nickname for Candace, after Candace in the Bible, who was Queen of the Ethiopians! Moonshower is, actually, my first married name, and my oldest son's surname, and I began publishing under Candace or Candie Moonshower back in 1989. When the whole children's literature opportunity happened, my ever-supportive husband, Carl Johnson, totally GOT that Candie Moonshower is a super name for a children's writer! So, yes, it IS my real, true legal name! I actually show kids at school visits my driver's license!