Dear KIds, Authors, and All Readers,
Today, I’d like to share a tidbit from my upcoming Book 4, Saffron Street: Island Danger. It releases this fall.
We authors often borrow from our own real-life experiences to bolster our storytelling. I am no exception. Here is the backstory behind the story:
First, the story: In Book 4, Botanic Hill detective Moki Kalani returns to Hawai’i for the first time in five years since his mother’s death there. After all, the squad has a mystery to solve on O’ahu. Moki’s aunt Luana literally hands him a memory in the form of a pair of hula girl salt and pepper shakers. He recounts how he and his aunt almost burned the family’s house down one day! They had accidentally left some soup cooking on the stove when they went to the store to buy the shakers for Moki’s mom’s birthday gift.
Now, the backstory: My grandmother took my twin sister and me to a local gift shop one December to buy a birthday gift for Mom. But Grandma forgot the leg of lamb she was cooking on the stove! We returned with the cute little Friar Tuck salt and pepper shakers, pictured below, to a kitchen about to go up in flames. Not my mom’s best birthday. But I inherited the shakers and the memory!
So, get a clue, all Readers. Who knew these two adorables would someday shake a mini plot point out of me? And authors of all ages, what real experiences have you sprinkled throughout your writing? (Puns intended.)
