Here are ten interesting facts that you may not have known about my novel, "The Great Toy War."
1. During the planning process of the book I had considered writing the story in the first-person from the point of view of Tommy. There is even a word document on my computer with a section written in that style (though, I'm saving it because the story of it will be used in the third installment of the series.)
2. Victor, a green toy soldier in the novel, is actually based on a real-life soldier of the same name. He lived a couple doors down from my family growing up and I actually do have a toy soldier at home with the name "Victor" written on its base in sharpie.
3. The photo on the cover of the novel was actually taken in my front yard using my toy soldiers. After spending a few days searching for an adequate picture, my mom said, "Why don't you take the camera and some of your guys and take the picture yourself." And thus the cover photo was born.
4. The book took one year to write followed by numerous (I lost count after 10) edits and read-throughs before it was published.
5. Though the novel was my first published book (unless you count my eight-year-old bestseller publish-your-own picture book thing), it was not my first book idea.
6. At 25 pages, "The Bathtub Battle" is the longest chapter in the book followed closely by the chapter, "The Battle for the Ball".
7. In the first couple of read-throughs the word "Lego" was omitted to ensure that we weren't breaking any copyright rules and replaced with such phrases as "multi-colored building blocks" and "interlocking bricks". After some discussion, the word "Lego" was put back in.
8. I hadn't decided to make the series a trilogy until after the first book was written and edited a couple of times. The series is called "The Rubber Ball Trilogy" (after the magic bouncy-ball that shrinks the main characters down to the size of toys and controls the tide of the war.)
9. The entire trilogy takes place in the same year. Book one (The Great Toy War) takes place in the spring, book two (The Great Toy War: Summer Camp) takes place in the summer, and the third and final book (title TBA) will take place in the fall and winter.
10. Ashley (the brothers' little sister) was originally not going to be a major character in the story until one day I decided it would be fun to have a fun-sized villain who happens to be a cute little girl.
Well there you go! Ten facts about my book, "The Great Toy War". Haven't read it yet? Buy your copy now from Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com and find out what you're missing. Read it already? Post a review on one of those websites and let the world know what you think! If you post a review, let me know and your name will be entered in a drawing to win a copy of my sequel "The Great Toy War: Summer Camp", set to come out later this summer.
Thanks for reading!
8. I hadn't decided to make the series a trilogy until after the first book was written and edited a couple of times. The series is called "The Rubber Ball Trilogy" (after the magic bouncy-ball that shrinks the main characters down to the size of toys and controls the tide of the war.)
9. The entire trilogy takes place in the same year. Book one (The Great Toy War) takes place in the spring, book two (The Great Toy War: Summer Camp) takes place in the summer, and the third and final book (title TBA) will take place in the fall and winter.
10. Ashley (the brothers' little sister) was originally not going to be a major character in the story until one day I decided it would be fun to have a fun-sized villain who happens to be a cute little girl.
Well there you go! Ten facts about my book, "The Great Toy War". Haven't read it yet? Buy your copy now from Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com and find out what you're missing. Read it already? Post a review on one of those websites and let the world know what you think! If you post a review, let me know and your name will be entered in a drawing to win a copy of my sequel "The Great Toy War: Summer Camp", set to come out later this summer.
Thanks for reading!
