I recently reviewed “The Jimmy Fincher Series” by James Dashner, and am delighted to say that I was able to contact the author for an interview exclusively for Families.com.
James, thank you for joining us today. We’re all very curious – how did you get the idea for “The Jimmy Fincher Series?”
The first idea, for “A Door in the Woods,” came from a childhood memory. I actually saw a door that some goofball had dumped in the woods, and imagined that it had something cool underneath. From there, it can all be attributed to my psychotic brain. I get a lot of ideas while driving in the car and when I go to bed at night.
I know that you hate having your books compared to Harry Potter. Can you tell us why?
I don’t necessarily hate being compared to it. What I do hate is when people say I’m the non-witchcraft version of Harry Potter. That makes me sound like I hate HP, which I don’t. I love it. They’re very different, but it has nothing to do with how I feel about Harry Potter. People who think those books are evil need to have their heads checked out.
Where does your unique narrative voice come from?
I think it’s a mixture of my southern heritage and my odd imagination and sense of humor. I’m just being me, which is a little scary, maybe.
I’ve heard you say that you intend to give each of your characters a supportive, functional family. Would you tell our readers more about that?
Oh, I just hate the cliches in young reader literature. Seems like they’re always an orphan, and they always have horrible caretakers. Or, if they’re not an orphan, they hate their parents for some reason. I thought I’d shock the world and have a character who actually has a mom and a dad and they all love each other. I’m not sure if I’ll always have a perfect, functional family in my books, but I know I’ll always try to avoid cliches.
“The Jimmy Fincher Series” ending comes as a complete surprise to the reader. When you first started the series, did you know how it was going to end? How many of the twists and turns were plotted, and how many came about as you wrote?
I knew the ultimate ending, and the big surprise. Everything else was loosely plotted, and I made many changes along the way. I like to have a general outline, but then let my inspiration carry me other directions if it needs to. My one regret is not planting more clues along the way—there are some in each book, but not enough. It’s something I’ve really tried to improve on in my newest books.
The series was recently re-released with all new covers and illustrations. What brought that about, and who does the illustrating?
The original covers just weren’t that great, and the series sold well enough that my publisher thought a re-release with new, awesome covers would really make it take off. The artist is Michael Phipps, and he’s incredible. I absolutely love each cover, and all of the inside illustrations. Each book has sold more with the new cover than the originals, in less time. So I owe a lot to Michael. He’s awesome! Check out his website.
How do you balance a full-time job, an active family, and a successful writing career?
Good question. I write in spurts, so it never seems to really take too much away from family time on a consistent basis. Just an evening here or there, maybe a Saturday every once in a while. I do a lot after the kids go to bed and at lunchtime, etc. The events are the hard part. It’s just a balancing act. Whenever I have a heavy month with a lot of engagements, I’ll try hard to take a month or two off.
Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, James.
Be sure to visit James Dashner’s website and look for his books wherever young adult fiction is sold.
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