Featured Author: Alex Van Tol

Bibliography at Orca

[New!] Knifepoint: Jill took a job which sounded perfect for the summer, guiding tourists on trail rides in the beautiful mountains. She didn't realize that the money was terrible, the hours long and the coworkers insufferable. After a blow-up with her boss, she takes a single man into the mountains for a ride, only to finds that he is a dangerous killer. When Jill fights back and manages to escape, she is in a desperate race to survive and make it to safety.

Interview

Why do you write, and why children's books? I write a lot because I think a lot. I never stop thinking. And if I'm not careful, I never stop talking, either! When I was twelve, I decided that I'd put most of my thoughts down on paper instead of filling other people's heads with them.

It's a privilege to write for young people, because they're so very new to reading and there are so many stories they have yet to discover. When I was a teacher my absolute favorite thing to do was to read to my kids. I loved how they scrambled over desks and knocked down chairs as they raced each other to the reading corner at the end of class. And I loved how they would just get lost in the stories I read to them. We'd laugh and cry and talk endlessly about the lives between the covers of the books we shared.

What kind of research do you do before writing a book? It kind of depends on what I'm writing. Sometimes I just get an idea and go, go, go, without looking anything up until I'm all finished. It's a trick I learned from Stephen King, who's known for being a good storyteller. He just grabs hold of an idea and writes and writes until he's got it all down—mistakes, inaccuracies, lies and all. He only goes back to do his research when he's got a first draft. He says it helps him get the story down while the fire is still burning bright. It's easy to get lost in the research and not ever really get the story going.

Other times, I'll research ideas as I go along. Like when I was writing a story about mountain biking, I watched endless clips of people riding (and crashing) their bikes on YouTube. It was fun. But it was also work: I had to make sure I got the language right and that I could write an accurate scene with realistic dialogue about a sick, gnarly descent. Dude.

What is your favorite children's book? The Giver by Lois Lowry. It's a brilliant story. There's just so much to think about. A close second is Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. (Keep a box of Kleenex close by for that one.)

What is your favorite childhood memory? I have great memories from our family holidays. But my most special memories are from when I was a kid at Camp Chief Hector. Sitting on top of a high pass after a grueling hike up, stuffing my face with trail mix and staring around at the surrounding peaks was a total high. There's nothing like the mountains to help you put your life in perspective.

Biography

Alex Van Tol is a freelance writer in Victoria, British Columbia. Knifepoint is her first novel. Visit her in the electronic ether at alexvantol.com.