In an interview with Suite101 writer Jennifer Jensen, Sharon Siamon talked about the challenges of writing an adventure series for children, keeping characters growing, and finding new plot ideas.
About Sharon Siamon
An author of 38 children's books, including the Saddle Island, Mustang Ranch, and Wild Horse Creek series, Sharon Siamon's books have sold more than a million copies in twelve countries. Wild Horse Creek #3: Heartbreak Hills is her most recent book.
How Did You Start Writing a Book Series for Children?
My first trade novel was Fishing for Trouble (James Lorimer,1987). It was about a group of kids who lived on the wilderness island where we built our cabin, and their fishing adventures.
It was originally a stand-alone, but developed into a series of four books, all about the same children, including a horse crazy girl called Josie Moon. The series featured feral and Icelandic horses, and was the beginning of my love for writing about horses.
How Do You Know if a Story Idea Will Work as a Series?
My story ideas have so far evolved naturally into series, or in one case, a trilogy. I loved good series books as a child and I still do. I think they work if the characters are truly engaging and keep growing and changing. The reader gets to know them very well and ideally explores something new about them in every book. This is what readers seem to love about series books. The characters become friends. Readers can join in their hopes and dreams and picture themselves part of the action. I get a lot of letters begging me to write more books in Mustang Mountain or Saddle Island. They have to find out what happens to Meg and Thomas in Mustang Mountain, for instance!
How Do You Plan a Children's Book Series?
I don’t plan ahead very far, although I do make rough outlines for three books at a time. Those outlines sometimes (often) change radically. Ideas that sounded good don’t develop and others spring into action as I write. For example, the mysterious stallion in the first Wild Horse Creek book made a surprise (even to me) appearance in Coyote Canyon where he guides the lost foal to safety, and now I know he’s going to appear in every book, somehow.
A Children's Series is Largely Plot-Based. How Do You Keep Your Characters Growing?
My problem is how to keep them from growing up too fast! Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys were the prototypes of series where the characters never changed or developed, but in many series (think Narnia or Harry Potter) the characters change and grow with the books. One of the problems I had with Mustang Mountain, was that my three main characters, Becky, Meg and Alison grew up and out of the books! They were turning thirteen when I started and ten books later they were sixteen.
Your Series are Horse-Based, in Different Settings. Is It Challenging to Create New Plots?
All of the settings – mountains, oceans and desert – inspire me. Plots grow out of trips, riding adventures and longing to be in beautiful wild places. As a child we drove through the Rockies and all I wanted to do was jump out of the car and stay forever! Much later, I went on a five day riding trip through those mountains and had enough material for a bunch of Mustang Mountain books.
The Saddle Island trilogy is set in Nova Scotia where my daughter lives. The vision of that white horse galloping along the shore that’s on the cover of the first book Gallop to the Sea was my inspiration. (Click on picture below to enlarge.)
Wild Horse Creek is set in the southwest desert I visited as a teenager and fell violently in love with. I have a sister who lives in the high desert of California. Writing the books allows me to visit in my imagination, and in real life, that amazing landscape.
What Do You Love Best About the New "Wild Horse Creek" Series?
Maybe it’s the mix of the old family home—the ranch that goes back in Liv and Sophie’s family for generations—with the beautiful wild landscape surrounding it. It’s a place to grow and run free for children and horses. For me, as an author, the characters of the twins, their family and friends in that setting offer unending possibilities for adventure.
Read How to Write a Children's Book and Find an Agent to find more writing advice from Sharon Siamon.
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