In each installment of “Three Questions With” we ask a different PJ Library author or illustrator questions about their work, their process, and their interests. This month we’re chatting with Diana Harmon Asher, author of the new novel Trouble Finds Evie Lefkowitz, published by PJ Publishing.
What is your advice for children who would like to become authors?
If you’d like to become an author, read! Read, read, read. Write as much as you can, and don’t worry if it’s not perfect — or even if it’s any good. Just write. Watch everything and everyone around you. Believe in your story because no one has a story exactly like yours.
Listen to criticism, even if it’s hard to take. Getting defensive is natural — we all defend what we’ve worked so hard to create — but let the criticism sit. Think about it. Sometimes you’ll find that what you meant to say is not what’s there on the page. If it’s not coming through to the reader, then maybe you have to try another way. Rewriting is endless, but it’s crucial and, in the end, incredibly rewarding. It’s the only way to become a better writer.
If you could go back in time and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
I think I would tell myself to be less self-conscious. I find myself dealing with this theme in my writing. In my new book, Trouble Finds Evie Lefkowitz, Evie questions her self-image as a good, well-behaved kid when she’s suddenly knee-deep in “trouble.” And in my earlier book Upstaged, Shira’s challenge is to overcome her shyness when she’s cast in a middle school production of The Music Man. I definitely share many of my characters’ traits, and it’s especially true with those two protagonists.
So, I guess I would say, don’t care so much about what other people think. Don’t worry if you look silly, dance a little.
What books, music, or art inspired you when you were young?
Both of my parents were classically trained singers, so I grew up listening to Bach, Handel, Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, but I also loved popular music by the Beatles, James Taylor, Simon and Garfunkel. I watched endless hours of TV — everything from talk shows to classic films and broadcasts of stage shows.
I was blown away when I first went to the opera, saw live theater and Broadway musicals. As a young kid, I loved Beverly Cleary’s books (e.g., Henry Huggins, Ribsy), as well as The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Borrowers by Mary Norton. As a student, I moved on to Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy and, my favorite, Charles Dickens. I guess my inspiration came from a hodgepodge of music, books, and art.
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