Of Aliens, Mummies, and Bigfoot

In Search of Sasquatch
By Kelly Milner Halls
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Kelly Milner Halls was always the weird kid, "the kid who asked too many questions, the kid who couldn't stop talking to her neighbors, the kid who couldn't find a book she wanted to read," she confesses on her website, www.wondersofweird.com.

But when Halls discovered in high school that she could actually write, she channeled her inner weirdness to launch a children's writing career that now includes more than 1,500 articles for publications from Highlights for Children and Teen People to Writers Digest and the Washington Post, as well as a slew of award-winning children's books. Her touchstone topics? Anything weird, and the weirder, the better. Dinosaurs, cryptids, aliens, mummy children, wild dogs—they're all Halls' stock-in-trade and what make her offbeat books especially appealing to reluctant readers, her favorite audience.

Her latest volume, In Search of Sasquatch (Houghton Mifflin, 2011), introduces kids to cryptozoology's gentle giant and those folks devoted to proving the legendary creature's existence. Stunning to look at and fascinating to read, the book touches on scientific methods and encourages kids' critical thinking as they ponder the world's mysteries. As Kirkus enthused, In Search of Sasquatch "should give young cryptid hunters a good hairy leg up on investigations of their own."

“In Search of Sasquatch was an absolute joy to write and research.”
—HALLS

AUTHORLINK: Was this book as much fun to write as it is to read? You obviously have a passion for Bigfoot investigation—how did the book come about?

HALLS: In Search of Sasquatch was an absolute joy to write and research. Following Bigfoot hunters around is a real adventure. It's a quest full of thrills and chills and very hopeful expectations. Even when they didn't pan out, the attempts were worthwhile. After all, you're out there in the wilderness, breathing in the atmosphere and the promise of nature. How can that be bad? I did not find any solid evidence of Sasquatch on my very amateur investigations, but the promise of finding something is pretty darned exciting. I can see why the pros do what they do.

AUTHORLINK: I see that you conducted scads of interviews yourself. What other kinds of research did you do? How important to you was it to have the text vetted by an anthropologist in the field?

HALLS: To prepare for writing In Search of Sasquatch, I read almost a dozen adult nonfiction books—and one adult "nonfiction" book I suspect is pure fiction. I did a lot of fascinating interviews. I attended a Bigfoot conference, and I did a little very amateur fieldwork. I went out "squatching" with friends in Washington State to be sure I had an accurate sense of what the quest is all about, how it feels. I used to do a lot of backpacking in the High Sierras of California in my teens, so I had some outdoor history, but I wanted to be sure.

Even so, having [anthropologist and author] Kathy Strain standing by to vet the final manuscript was terribly important to me. I do my best as a journalist to represent things accurately—in this case the investigative work of serious people trying to find Sasquatch. But I'm not the expert. I depend on experts to double-check my work to be sure I didn't misunderstand anything important. Kathy was a huge asset, and I am beyond grateful for her time and notes. If the book is good, it's because of the generosity of experts like Kathy. My books are only as good as the people willing to help me.

AUTHORLINK: How have you managed to have the same illustrator, Rick Spears, work on at least four of your books, including Sasquatch, with four different publishers? That's quite a feat!

“Wait until you see THOSE alien and UFO illustrations. Love them.”
—HALLS

HALLS: I met Rick Spears when I was researching my first trade nonfiction book, Dino-Trekking (Wiley, 1995). He volunteered to illustrate that book for free, and free was exactly my budget. He works full-time for a natural science center and builds life-size, accurate dinosaur models in his spare time. He knows dinosaurs inside and out. When I wrote Dinosaur Mummies (Darby Creek, 2006) I asked my editor, Tanya Dean Anderson, if Rick could do the illustrations. She had already hired another illustrator, so the answer was no. Then the illustrator fell through at the last minute. Rick agreed to finish the job for half the pay in half the time, and did a fantastic job. So Tanya was sold. He did one illustration for Mysteries of the Mummy Kids (Darby Creek, 2007). Then I submitted my proposal for Tales of the Cryptids (Darby Creek, 2006) and asked Tanya if we could use Rick again. She remembered how great he was to work with on Dinosaur Mummies and almost immediately agreed. He nailed it, so when Houghton Mifflin Harcourt agreed to let me do Sasquatch, he seemed like the obvious choice. He also illustrated Alien Investigation, my next book for Millbrook. Wait until you see THOSE alien and UFO illustrations. Love them.

AUTHORLINK: When you sold Sasquatch to Houghton Mifflin, did you have a completed manuscript, or did you sell from proposal (one of the many fabulous things about writing nonfiction)? Did you have any idea what the finished product might look like, or was it all a glorious surprise? It's one beautiful book!

HALLS: I had a very detailed proposal ready when I approached Houghton Mifflin Harcourt with In Search of Sasquatch. I had hoped it would be a Scientist in the Field book, so I submitted to Erica Zappy, just as any other writer would submit—slush pile. Two or three months passed and I didn't hear back, so I figured the answer was no. Then I got a fantastic email from Erica Zappy asking if the book was still available, wondering how it had been overlooked for all those weeks. I said it was available, she took it to acquisitions, and they bought it. The science was not quite solid enough for it to be a Scientist in the Field book, but they thought it was a great standalone title, and I was delighted either way. Working with such a brilliant editor is a treat, however it unfolds, so I was delighted.

I did have to acquire all the photographs for the project, so on some level I could picture possible layouts. But I had no idea how utterly beautiful the finished book would be. Writers are only one element of a vibrant team of professionals who make a book possible. We give them raw materials, the illustrations we've commissioned, but editors and art directors really make the magic happen. They bring the book to life. Then the marketing and sales people step in to bring all that work to the public. Somehow, they make people care about THIS book, when there are hundreds out there competing for attention. This industry is a collaboration of hardworking pros, and I'm so lucky to be part of that team—every time I get to write a new book.

AUTHORLINK: You've written tons of award-winning nonfiction for young readers, starting with magazines early in your career. How did you make the leap from selling to magazines to selling to publishing houses? Have you found your career building momentum—does one book sale or great reviews or an award make the next pitch and sale a bit easier?

HALLS: For about ten years, I wrote magazine and newspaper nonfiction for young readers (or nonfiction about children's books and authors) almost exclusively. I was a single mom with two kids to care for, and I couldn't travel very often. Juggling twelve articles a month fed my family and kept a roof over our heads. But as my children got older, I began to yearn for something a little more lasting. I wanted to write books. I'd written a fictional picture book, two trade nonfiction books, and a couple of work-for-hire projects when Tanya Dean Anderson called me. She'd been my editor at Guideposts for Teens and was launching a brand new publishing house aimed at reaching reluctant readers, Darby Creek Publishing. She asked me if I had anything good, and I mentioned a dinosaur named Leonardo found with 70 percent of its soft tissue fossilized along with its bones. I wrote up a proposal, and Tanya bought it. For the first time, I was allowed to format my nonfiction books very much as I had my magazine articles, because we were trying to engage reluctant readers. In many ways, my nonfiction book career was born with Dinosaur Mummies. And I wrote five more books with Tanya at Darby Creek— each reflecting the writer I am, and the reluctant reader I once was. I'd found my voice and my purpose.

Success has made my reach broader—editors are more willing to look at my proposals, perhaps, because I have a track record. But the topics I pick SEEM risky. They sell really well—in part because I do fifty to seventy-five school visits a year to hand-sell them, in part because kids out there are hungry for the kinds of books I write. But I swim upstream in my approach in many ways, and that can be a tough sell at a marketing meeting. So I work hard on every proposal. I hope someday an editor will offer me a three-book deal so I'll have a little job security, but I'll do fine forging ahead one book at a time. I've done it a long time now.

AUTHORLINK: Does a nonfiction writer need an agent? Are agents even interested in children's nonfiction authors? Nonfiction hardly brings in the six figure advances. Is a nonfiction author her own best advocate?

HALLS: I only signed on with an agent a year ago—Jill Corcoran at the Herman Agency. I got agency owner Ronnie Herman in the deal, too, to my great and grateful surprise. They are both remarkable professionals who work REALLY hard for me. So, yes, having an agent is fantastic—like having a team on your advance team, the same way you have the publishing team in your court after the book is finished. But I did reasonably well on my own too. I had to. Sink or swim is a great motivator, and writing was all I knew how to do. If I didn't succeed, my kids would be homeless. But in the year I've had Jill and Ronnie, I've been enormously comforted by the fact that someone else was working to help me build editorial relationships.

Let's put it this way. In my youth, I was a pretty good shortstop because I loved the idea of covering two bases at once. I loved the challenge of doing what seemed impossible. I think I thrived without an agent for the same reason. But I also felt pretty isolated—alone. No one cared if I got a contract. No one cared if I won an award. No one sang my praises unless it was me...and I felt pretty weird blowing my own horn. The minute I signed with Jill and the Herman Agency (September 11, 2010), I had people looking out for me—people who cared about what I was trying to do as a writer. They believed in me, and it made it easier to believe in myself.

So, no, it's not mandatory to have an agent if you write nonfiction. It can be done, and I did it a lot of years on my own to some measure of success. But having Jill and Ronnie out there fighting for me is such a huge blessing. That said, not many agents WANT to represent nonfiction, so it's a good thing it's not essential, because I would have starved to death waiting.

AUTHORLINK: It's a challenging time for nonfiction authors, what with the instant information available on the Internet and all the new digitally-enhanced, multimedia apps and ebooks. Have you dipped your writerly toes into the digital seas yet? Do you see children's publishers embracing the new technologies or waiting to see how things shake out before moving forward?

HALLS: It is a challenging time for all writers, for all publishers, for all industries, truth be told. Everyone is cutting back. But I don't see the digital future as a bad thing, especially not for nonfiction. Nonfiction is especially well suited for digital applications because what we write about is real. I haven't seen my books adapted yet, but I'm excited at the notion. Imagine talking, for example, about the Patterson-Gimlin film, the famed 1967 footage that made Bigfoot famous. Now imagine reading Tales of the Cryptids or In Search of Sasquatch in a digital application, then clicking on that still frame from the film to reveal the full 1:06-minute experience right there on your iPad. I think that's a remarkable concept sure to draw my reluctant readers further into their nonfiction explorations. So I'm excited by the possibilities. I do think the royalties may need a little closer examination to be fair to the writers and the publishers gambling on the success of the books. But I have faith that'll all be decided fairly once the technologies are readily available. I can't wait for the day when my books are in traditional print AND in digital formats. I think both will survive, when the dust has cleared.

AUTHORLINK: You have a few other titles out now or soon forthcoming. Can you talk a bit about Alien Investigation, Hatchlings, and the anthology Girl Meets Boy and how they came about?

HALLS: Alien Investigation is the official follow-up to Tales of the Cryptids. It begins with fictional "What if..." moments, as Cryptids does, followed by chapters of carefully researched nonfiction evidence for and against UFOs and alien encounters. I LOVE this book. I'm so excited about it, I can't wait for it to be released. Kids have been asking me to write this book for years, and I'm excited to deliver it. Kids have been asking for a book about ghosts, too, so that won't be too far behind Aliens, which will be for sale as of January 15, 2012. I get my author copies next month.

Hatchlings: Life-Size Baby Dinosaurs is exactly what it seems to be. It's one of only three books I've ever written for very young readers, ages four to seven. Researching another dinosaur project, I discovered that baby dinosaurs were almost always relatively small when they first hatched from their eggs—small enough to fit on the page of a slightly oversized picture book. I thought, "Man, my smaller readers would love to see how little those giants once were." Editor Lisa Cheng at Running Press (Perseus Books) agreed, and it'll be out in April of 2012. I love the illustrations Adam Relf came up with—very compelling, realistic two-page spreads, even though the book is for very young readers. I love the respect that conveys. Those little readers are small, but important. Hatchlings is just for them.

Girl Meets Boy (Chronicle, 2011) is a young adult anthology for mature teen readers—and quite a departure for me. I've been good friends with a group of talented YA authors for many years now, and a HUGE fan of YA literature as a reader myself. I came up with the idea of an anthology that would explore how two people can see the same event very differently. So I gathered pairs of prominent YA authors willing to explore those differences. One writer wrote a story about an event from a male or female point of view. His or her partner told the same story from the opposite gender's point of view. The result turned out to be something really special, thanks in large part to the stellar talent of the writers who agreed to participate—James Howe and Ellen Wittlinger, Sara Ryan and Randy Powell, Terry Trueman and Rita Williams-Garcia, Cynthia Leitich-Smith and Joseph Bruchac, Terry Davis and Rebecca Davis, Chris Crutcher and me. I am, by far, the weakest link in the chain, in that this is my first attempt at YA fiction. But with a mentor like Chris Crutcher, how could I lose? It's a daring collection of stories, sure to be challenged—not for my traditional readers ages nine to twelve. But I hope it touches YA readers looking for stories they can sink their teeth in. Nothing would please me more.

AUTHORLINK: For many years you've worked as Chris Crutcher's assistant. How did you get that cool gig? And what, exactly, do you do for him? How has your work with him affected your own writing?

HALLS: Fifteen years ago, I "met" Chris via a telephone interview. I was the executive editor at KidsReads.com, part of the Book Reporter Network. At the time, KidsReads included YA literature, though it later broke off as TeenReads.com. It was my job to write ten book reviews a week AND four special features—two themed book round-ups and two author interviews. My daughter was fourteen and hated to read because her life had been tougher than most teens. The books she was asked to read didn't move her. I was on the lookout for powerful YA writers when I stumbled upon Chris Crutcher's Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes (Greenwillow, 2003). I knew this was what Kerry had been looking for, and I knew I had to write about the guy who understood kids like mine.

We talked for two hours that day, and a professional friendship was born. Several years later, I wrote another piece about him for the Denver Post, then another for our local newspaper, the Spokesman Review. He could never find a current author photo for the editors, and I kept teasing him, telling him he should hire an assistant to keep track of things like that for him. A year or so later, he was going out of town and asked me to organize his files while he was gone. I found an invitation to China in the stacks, a trip just two months away, so I asked him if I could follow up on the trip. He said he was sure everything was set, but sure, I could check it out.

I wrote to the contact and asked if they needed anything to prepare for Chris Crutcher's visit; they said they had never heard back from Chris and so had invited another author visitor. When he got back into town, I told him what I'd discovered, and said, "Chris, you REALLY need an assistant to keep track of this stuff."

"Okay," he said, "but only if you'll do it." I never meant ME when I made the suggestion, but how could I refuse? That was ten years ago, and I've been his assistant ever since.

I keep his professional calendar and coordinate all of his author visits and conference appearances. He gets a request, the request goes to me, and my work begins. Once his hosts and I get all the groundwork completed, he flies out and does the hard part. But I get to help some amazing people bring a talented author to their schools or events with confidence. I make sure they have all the support materials they need, I prepare travel briefings for Chris for each trip, I coordinate press coverage, I handle his website, and, when his girlfriend is busy, I sometimes feed his cats. I also get to help with all the book challenges that are filed against his books—free speech—one of my favorite parts of working for Chris, as a journalist. It's a wonderful job, and I love it—almost as much as I love writing my own books.

Working for Chris has taught me so much. For example, my presentations for schools and conferences are really strong in part because I learned how to do them watching Chris. We write very different things, but the connection to our readers is identical. He told me once, "The people who come to hear you speak don't just want to hear about the books. They want to hear about who you are and why you write them. They want to see where the books come from; they want a glimpse of who you are. That connection is what really matters."

That advice transformed my whole approach to sharing the work I do. And I'm so grateful for it.

He's also mentored me as a fiction writer for several years. My story—a response to his story in Girl Meets Boy—is my first published YA effort, but I am working on my first YA novel, and he's agreed to work with me to make it the best it can be. Believe me, I know how fortunate I am. I won't squander that opportunity.

AUTHORLINK: What are you working on now?

HALLS: Other than the YA novel, I'm working on a new YA anthology for Chronicle Books, an animal rescue book for kids ages seven to nine for National Geographic, plus a nonfiction history of video games called Game On, a nonfiction book about a baby elephant impacted by war, and a young reader history of tattoos—all for kids nine and up. There are other projects in the works, but I've got to save something for the next interview. One thing is certain, I'll do my best to keep writing books kids can't wait to dig into. Those topics are the topics that most appeal to me, too. I can't ever see that changing.

About Susan VanHecke

Susan VanHecke is an author and editor of books for adults and children. Her titles for young people include Raggin' Jazzin' Rockin': A History of American Musical Instrument Makers (Boyds Mills, 2011), Rock 'N' Roll Soldier (HarperCollins, 2009), and An Apple Pie For Dinner (Cavendish, 2009). To find out more about Susan and her books, visit www.susanvanhecke.com and www.susanvanheckeeditorial.com.