ALAN Online

This edition of New Voices features Alan Gratz, author of Samurai Shortstop from Dial. About Alan (from his website): "Alan Gratz was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, home of the 1982 World's Fair. After enjoying a carefree but humid childhood, Alan attended the University of Tennessee, where he earned a College Scholars degree with a specialization in creative writing, and, later, a Master's degree in English education. {mosimage}In addition to writing plays, magazine articles, and a few episodes of A&E's City Confidential, Alan has taught catapult-building to middle-schoolers, written more than 6,000 radio commercials, sold other people's books, lectured at a Czech university, and traveled the galaxy as a space ranger. (One of those is not true.) Samurai Shortstop (Dial 2006) is his first book. He is also the author of the forthcoming Something Rotten, a contemporary young adult murder mystery based on "Hamlet" (Dial, 2007) as well as an untitled generational baseball novel for middle grade readers (Dial 2009). Alan now lives with his wife Wendi and his daughter Jo just outside Atlanta, Georgia, where he enjoys reading, eating pizza, and, perhaps not too surprisingly, watching baseball.

Can you describe Samurai Shortstop for our readers?
Samurai Shortstop is a historical young adult novel about a sixteen-year-old boy in 1890s Tokyo who learns to blend bushido–the way of the warrior–with his baseball practices in an effort to prove to his father that their family's samurai traditions still have a place in a new and changing Japan.

Who were your favorite authors growing up? Who are your favorite authors today?My favorite childhood book had to be Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth. I loved the wordplay and the puns. I was also fascinated by adventures like Robinson Crusoe and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I still have a mind to tackle a remake of 20,000 Leagues with a true YA angle

My favorite authors today have to be Michael Chabon, Raymond Chandler, and Rex Stout. Among YA authors I love the works of Garth Nix and Philip Reeve.

How do you approach a new story?
I used to start with a general idea of a beginning, middle, and end, then stare at my blank computer screen until pearls fell from my fingertips to the keyboard. That rarely happened. Then, when I got the idea to write a historical novel (Samurai Shortstop) and was suddenly juggling hundreds of pages of notes, I realized I needed to give proper outlining a try. What I discovered, to my delight, was that hashing out a detailed chapter outline in advance effectively killed my writer's block. I understand now that, at least for me, story development and sentence and paragraph construction are two separate processes. Creating a super-detailed outline before I ever typed the first word of the first sentence meant that when I finally was ready to write, I was able to focus on how I was writing, not what I was writing. It was a breakthrough that led to my first novel sale, and now I'm an outlining zealot!

Is there anything special you like to wear or do while you write? Where is your favorite place to write?
It only matters that I dress comfortably when I write. I don't often listen to music when I write, and especially not music that has intelligible words that I can sing along to. I prefer to write in total isolation, but the practicality of working in a small, open-floor plan loft with a wife who also works from home and a four-year-old daughter who attends half-day Montessori makes that a near impossibility. I got the need for total silence out of my system when I worked as the in-house commercial writer for a group of six radio stations though; sometimes the clients would even be standing over my shoulder, waiting for me to "be creative." That experience taught me to tune out distractions, but also to appreciate all the more those times when there are none.

What are your plans for your next novel? Can you give us a peek?
The next thing I'll have published is already finished. It's called Something Rotten. It's a retelling of Hamlet set at a paper plant in fictional Denmark, Tennessee, with the minor character of Horatio recast as a wry, sarcastic, seventeen-year-old detective who tries to help his friend Hamilton Prince figure out who murdered his dad. In Hollywood parlance, it's Raymond Chandler meets William Shakespeare. I'm very excited about the book. I was laughing out loud as I reread it to edit it, which I hope is a good sign. Something Rotten comes out in hardback from Penguin in October of 2007, and there's talk of making it into a series, with Something Wicked–based of course on Macbeth–as the next installment.

I'm also under contract for a book that isn't even finished yet. The working title is The Brooklyn Nine, and it's a middle grade novel that follows nine generations–or innings–of an immigrant family through their constant connections to baseball. I'm enjoying the writing of this book, but I wonder what exactly I was smoking when I pitched an idea that would require me to do nine different rounds of historical research. I just got back from a day at the Emory library researching the Dead Ball Era of the early 1900s. Again, fun, but slow-going!

Are you interested in visiting libraries or schools? If so, how can interested teachers and librarians contact you?Absolutely! In 2006 I visited fifteen schools and libraries, talking to students grades 6-12. I used to teach eighth grade English, and I love being up in front of a class. Anyone who's interested in having me to their school can check out my offerings by going to my web site, www.alangratz.com, and clicking on "For Educators."

Is there a question you wish interviewers would ask but they never do?
No one ever asks if I played baseball, which I always find surprising. Maybe after my middle grade baseball book comes out and people begin to see a pattern I'll get asked the question more. The reason I wish people would ask me about my baseball history is not because I was a great baseball player; I was the opposite. I was terrible. When no one asks, I never get to tell my favorite story about playing baseball:

My greatest Little League moment: I misplayed a long drive to left field, then absolutely launched the ball, trying to throw a runner out at the plate. The ball sailed up the first base line, over the fence, and into the bleachers, where it hit my little brother in the arm. All the runners scored. After the inning was over, the coach told me I had a good arm. He also told me not to come back.