Q&A with Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
Creators of The Spiderwick Chronicles
Q: How did you two meet?
HB: I was working on a small "role-playing game culture" magazine called d8 and went to interview Tony. We had so much fun chatting that we wound up hanging out again at the Gen Con game fair. And then hanging out some more in Tony and his wife's apartment in Brooklyn. And hanging out even more after that.
TD: Holly and I have been friends for a long time. One of our common bonds is that we are both BIG book lovers. But Holly is definitely a more voracious reader than I am.
HB: Another common bond is our interest in faeries. We can talk about faerie and folklore stuff endlessly, boring our spouses, Theo and Angela, nearly to death.
Q: Mallory, Jared, and Simon Grace told you about the odd things that were happening to them after moving into their Aunt Lucinda's home, as well as stories about their great Uncle Arthur Spiderwick and his field guide. What was it about their story that made you believe that these strange occurrences and the existence of Arthur Spiderwick were real?
HB: Well, one of the first things that made me believe the Grace kids was that Tony thought the field guide looked like an authentic antique book. Another was because so much of what they were saying conformed with known faery lore. But, finally, I think I believed them because they seemed so sincere.
TD: It's true. I collect a lot of old antique books, and this one that Arthur created was definitely done a long time ago. The paper was old, yellowed, and very fragile.
Q: So, after the Grace children made believers out of you, you decided to put their story into words and pictures. Tell us about your collaborative process.
TD: The interesting thing here is that Holly and I are both writers. Holly writes for an older audience (Tithe), and I write for a younger (Jimmy Zangwow's Out-of-This World Moon-Pie Adventure, Ted). THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES is kind of a middle ground where both of our writing skills meet. We both love story and plot and approach storytelling from different angles, so this made for an interesting hybrid that I am not sure either of us would have done separately. So bringing the Grace children's tale to life was an experiment in true collaboration. Holly and I would discuss in detail the best way to tell the story, and, at the end of the day, she would go off and actually write the story and I would draw the illustrations.
HB: The greatest challenge for me was to take what the Grace children told us and translate it into a story. Life doesn't occur the way the plot of a book does-there are a lot more boring bits and a lot more complexity and coincidence. I had to change things around and emphasize certain parts more than others to make the series work. Working with Tony was really helpful in figuring out how to do that, and looking at his art was always inspiring.
Q: When you were on the road on your book tour did you find people were skeptical about the veracity of THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES? Why do you think those skeptics didn't believe the Grace children's story? Why do you think those who do believe it, believe? How did you deal with the skepticism?
TD: I don't mind that there is skepticism surrounding this project. That makes for great conversation among the readers. You know, some people believe in UFOs and some don't--and therein lies some intriguing debates on both sides of belief.
Q: So do you believe in fairies or not? You cannot deny that there is an excessive amount of literature detailing these other life forms. I think that the myth and lore is so rich you can't help but be caught up in it. Why else would stories from the brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Anderson still hold up today?
HB: I think that, at the end of the day, the choice of whether or not to believe rests with the person looking at the evidence. We're not trying to make anyone believe, but we feel as though it is important for people to have a little more evidence before they make up their minds. I have had enough strange personal experiences as a result of this project to have an easier time believing than most, and I am taking the advice of the field guide quite seriously.
Q: THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES have been compared to Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" and to J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series. How do you feel about that?
TD: Those are some amazing books to be compared to. I know I am a big fan of those contemporary classics as well. Maybe in time, people will realize that the Grace kids' story also rings of Grimms' Fairy Tales and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as well. But I suppose only time will tell.
HB: THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES is a series, so it seems natural that it is being compared to two very popular contemporary series.
Q: Do you see similarities? How is THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES different?
TD: The biggest difference is our age audience. When I was touring for The Spider and the Fly, I was speaking to a lot of six-to-ten-year-olds. The conversation would always lead to favorite books, and inevitably a series like Harry Potter would come up. What intrigued me is how many younger readers either had trouble (or didn't bother) reading these longer, older-aimed books. I had forgotten that there is a wide range of reading ability at that age, so what one seven-year-old can read is vastly different from what another one can.
That in mind, Holly and I decided to aim the Grace kids' story at that younger audience. We figured that the entire tale would be about 500-600 pages, which directly puts us at the same length and level as "Unfortunate Events" or "Harry." We thought, what if we broke it up into less daunting, shorter books and sprinkled lots of art throughout? So the six-to-ten-year-olds feel like they are reading a more mature book, but the level remains young.
So really our primary competition wasn't "Harry" or "Unfortunate Events"; it was "The Magic Treehouse" and maybe even "The Time Warp Trio" books.
What's happened, though, is that older people are reading the SPIDERWICK books and expecting them to deliver like an older book should. Consequently, the main criticism of the series is that the books are too short. Try telling that to the six-to-seven-year-old (or reluctant reader) who they are originally aimed for.
HB: The SPIDERWICK books deal with three regular kids discovering that the "real world" contains creatures they didn't believe in and now have to beware of. So, in terms of actual story, SPIDERWICK is very different from "Harry" and "Unfortunate Events." I think there may be some superficial similarities, but that's about it.
Also, as Tony mentioned, our books are intended for a somewhat younger audience, although I have found that older kids and adults enjoy them more than I expected. But I think that the greatest difference is that in THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES the art is an integral part of the books and helps to move the story along as well as providing sideways information. In that way, I think the books are really unique.
Q: While on tour promoting the serial, you traveled with a journal the Grace children gave you. They asked that you make it available for children (and adults) to record their faerie experiences. Tell us about some of the responses.
HB: We had some great stuff. Kids wrote about little faeries that they'd seen and a few adults wrote about their experiences. One of the best that I can recall was "the tooth fairy either pinched me or bit me." Tony, do you remember any others?
TD: There was the girl who said something like "Finally, there are some adults who will listen to my story and believe me. . . ."
Q: Have you shared the journal with the Grace children? If yes, what was their reaction?
HB: They love it! Jared, especially, feels vindicated by hearing that so many other people have had experiences with faeries.
Q: Have any strange things happened to you since you began putting the Grace children's story into book form?
TD: I don't know if anything really strange has happened to me, but my eyes are a little wider to accepting things now.
My wife, Angela, and I bought an old cape house in western Massachusetts and moved from New York City last fall. One misty morning I was out walking our dog and spied a perfect faerie ring in our front yard which had popped up overnight! If you aren't sure what that is, it's when a cluster of mushrooms grows in a perfect circle. It is said that within the circle is a portal to the world of faeries. Needless to say I did NOT step in there. As an interesting side note, the ring circled an area where the previous owners once had a swing set/playground for their children. . . .
HB: I think that a lot of the evidence for the supernatural is the kind of stuff that could have another explanation. For example, a freak lightning storm struck several of my trees and destroyed my power the night before the first book was due to the publisher. Later on, several e-mails became corrupted and turned into gibberish. Images turned upside-down during the printing and things went missing. I don't know that those things were done by faeries, but they were certainly odd.
Q: Do either of you see yourselves in any of the Grace children? If so, who and in what way?
TD: Arthur Spiderwick does bear a striking resemblance to one of my heroes, British turn-of-the-century children's book illustrator Arthur Rackham. There is an image in the first book where Jared is looking at the portrait of Arthur in the study and I can't help but project myself on to Jared. That was a very emotional and symbolic image for me to do. I saw myself as this child, a fledgling illustrator, looking up at this great and grand master. Holly, do you remember when I called you about that?
HB: Yeah, I do remember that-and I think there are a lot of similarities between Arthur Spiderwick and Arthur Rackham. As for me, I think Jared and Simon both remind me of my husband, Theo, in different ways. Theo got in trouble in school much like Jared and loves (and keeps a menagerie of) animals like Simon.
Q: How does your creative process in recording the Grace children's story compare with your writing and/or illustration of previous books you've created?
TD: It's completely different from anything else I have done. As I mentioned before, I have written my own stories, but I have also illustrated other writers' stories as well. The problem I've experienced with the traditional author-illustrator relationship is that there is an inevitable power struggle or a disagreement on how certain aspects of the story are imagined. Consequently the book suffers.
In the case of SPIDERWICK, Holly and I just wanted to bring the Grace kids' story to life using ALL of our abilities. So I helped with structuring the plot, and she offered lots of feedback on the visuals. In the end, we created a more unified, solid book. Sure, there were creative differences from time to time, but for the most part we respected what the other had to say, and knew that we were offering input for the sake of creating the best story possible. I am sure it helped immensely that Holly and I are both close friends, so there was an open line of communication back and forth.
HB: This was a really different process for me, too. Working with Tony allowed me to see aspects of the book I normally don't get involved in-the art, the cover, the fonts, and the whole of the packaging. It really let me see bookmaking with new eyes.
I also feel that I have learned a lot about my own process by sharing it with another person. For one thing, the nature of what we were doing made it necessary to let Tony and Kevin Lewis (our editor) see my work much earlier than anyone would have normally. That made me more aware of the number of drafts that it takes for me to get to a final book. It also highlighted the areas I needed to improve on, so I really feel like I grew a lot as an author. While it was sometimes frustrating, I feel that Tony and I helped push each other into making every part of the book better.
Q: Do you think that your collaborative process in creating THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES will change the way you approach future book projects?
TD: Absolutely. In fact I don't know if I can go back to the traditional process if I was to do a book with a contemporary author. Like I said before, I think in the end the book suffers if the two parties don't see eye-to-eye on the general approach of the book.
I think a good illustrator offers a lot by ways of storytelling. And many children's book illustrators are also writers as well. So why not blur the lines and the roles of the story process?
Kevin Lewis, the editor I work with a lot at S&S, and I have a saying that we use when working on a book: "Check your ego at the door. The only one who can have an ego here is the book. We are all working for the almighty book." That attitude has helped make some great books so far. Everyone involved has a common goal, and that's what it should be about ESPECIALLY with regard to the quality of books for younger minds.
HB: I definitely think that working with Tony on SPIDERWICK has made me more aware of aspects of the book that I didn't really consider before. In the future, I am going to continue to be aware of those and continue to have an opinion on them.
But most of all, I think what I am going to take away from this process are the things I learned about myself as an author.
Q: Are you surprised by the success of the serial? (Are the Grace children?)
HB: I was really surprised. When we got the phone call from everyone at S&S to tell us that we were on the New York Times Best-seller list, I was so shocked that I dropped my phone.
TD: The response was so quick! I thought over time they would do well, but not so immediately after their release. Then again, Simon & Schuster has put forth a tremendous effort in promoting and supporting these books. The team of people there that have worked tirelessly on this are really to be commended.
Q: What's next?
TD: I am completing the restoration of the Arthur Spiderwick's actual field guide and that should be done sometime next year. The Grace kids, Holly, and I are VERY excited about getting the field guide out there for people to see. It will be a big book with a lot of Arthur's sketches and his finished plates, which are done in the tradition of the naturalist painter John James Audubon. It's a very cool book; you'll never look at the faerie folk the same way again.
HB: It is a beautiful book--I can't wait to see the restored version myself. And, of course, at the time of writing this, the third, fourth, and fifth book of the series are not yet out, so there are a lot of things still in production.
This interview is provided by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing and can be reprinted for publication either in full or excerpted as individual questions and answers, as long as they are reprinted in their entirety.
To return to the main feature with these authors, please click here.
Updated 10/12/03
To stay up to date on new books by this author, consider subscribing to The Children's Literature Comprehensive Database. For your free trial, click here.
If you’re interested in reviewing children's and young adult books, then send a resume and writing sample to marilyn@childrenslit.com.