It’s October, which means (a) I need to think of a Hallowe’en costume idea soon, and (b) it’s the one-year anniversary of the publication of The Dead Kid Detective Agency. (Hurrah!) Given the obvious Hallowe’en connections to the book, it’s natural that people will ask a few seasonal questions. On October 11, book blogger Danielle Webster posted a short interview we did about spooky books, dead kids and Hallowe’en on her site, Bookish Notions. An excerpt follows, but check out her blog for the full conversation (and other interviews and reviews):
Danielle: Welcome Evan! Let’s dive right in, shall we? What influenced you to write a book about teenage ghosts?
Evan: Hmm. I can’t remember how it started. Most of my ideas begin almost as dares to myself. Often, they’re ideas that sound great, conceptually, but might be terrible in practice. So it was with The Dead Kid Detective Agency. The title came first, then I tried to think of the best possible realization of that title.
I wish I could say the books were inspired by great literature, but I had two television shows in mind when I started writing: Veronica Mars and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. The book was a fusion of the two, and that fusion naturally involves high school students and the supernatural teaming up to solve mysteries. With ghosts, I felt I could also include some Canadian history edutainment, which was the other thing I had in mind when first writing the book.
And for more Hallowe’en book happenings, be sure to visit the Guelph Chapters for a Pre-Hallowe’en Bash on Saturday, October 13.
