ANN BROPHY

Ann, who has a college degree in Creative Writing and English Literature, taught Writing for Children at Fairfield University, as well as writing workshops. She has published books for Middle Grade and Young Adult readers, which you will find summarized in the "My Works" category of her website. She has written about historical characters and events, a memoir about growing up in Indiana with a most unusual grandmother, a mystery set on an isolated island that includes a strange old man with a secret, a lighthouse and a ghost held hostage. She has just finished a book about a young girl who bridges a connection between heaven and earth. Her books always include humor, in spite of the often heavy subject matter. You may find Ann's books on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Borders.com, or contact her directly at her website at http://www.annbrophy.com

 

 

PageOneLit.com: Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part of your life? Who were your earliest influences and why?

ANN BROPHY: I was born and grew up in Indiana. In grade school, I wrote poetry. In high school, I wrote short pieces and interviews for the local paper. Then in college, I decided to major in both Creative Writing and English Literature. I had found my milieu.

The wonderful part about being a writer is that you can lead so many different lives. If you become tired or bored with one character, don't despair. Give that character a rest and create another one. Introduce a problem, a conflict, and let your characters take over. They come to life.

My influences were my mother, who gave me faith to believe, and three teachers - one in grade school who made me laugh, one in high school who made me think and one in college who made me trust myself.

After graduating from college in Ohio, I went to New York where I fulfilled a childhood dream of working with Broadway playwrights. I learned the rudiments of conflict, scenes and dialogue and, most important, I learned to listen.

Then after marriage and three children, I took a course at a local university. At the time, the only daytime writing class that was offered was Writing for Children, so that's the one I took, and I'm still writing for middle-grade and young adults. I even returned to the same university later and taught that same course for several years.

I have met, and keep meeting, more and more people who are tirelessly interesting and interested in sharing ideas and stories.

 

PageOneLit.com: Why do you write?

ANN BROPHY: I have found that writing is great therapy.


 

PageOneLit.com: Briefly describe your new book WHEN I MOVED UPSTAIRS. This is a different kind of young adult's novel - Explain. Explain the title as it relates to the story.

ANN BROPHY: The book is a whimsical approach to the serious subject of murder by a girl who finds her murderer with the help of best friends both here (on earth) and there (in heaven.) The book is a surprisingly upbeat account of a real connection between heaven and earth and the fact that death should not be feared and an afterlife does exist. The setting moves back and forth from happenings on earth to happenings "upstairs."

 

PageOneLit.com: Your characters in WHEN I MOVED UPSTAIRS are Ajay, Mary Lou and Lily - Who are these characters and how do they move the story along?

ANN BROPHY: The book is told by Ajay, who has just died. The continuity exists for her with the best friend she left behind, Mary Lou, and a new best friend, Lily, who is in heaven. Together, they solve her murder with the help of her family, a possible boyfriend, and a hound dog named Jitters.

 

PageOneLit.com: In SUMMER STORM IN GETTYSBURG is a historical novel/story of friendship and War -- Did you research much for this era and how did you research? Who is Jenny Wade?

ANN BROPHY: I read a short piece about Jennie Wade in a brochure when we visited Gettysburg. She was the only civilian casualty in the three-day battle that left six thousand soldiers dead and twenty thousand wounded. It was a true star-crossed lover story, and I wanted to know more about Jennie, her family, friends and her Yankee-turned-Confederate lover.

At that time, there wasn't much information available, even in the Jennie Wade Museum, so I offered to write her story myself. The staff agreed and gave me leads on how to track down the facts for a nonfiction book to be sold there. The Historical Society was helpful, but an older man, a well-known elder statesman of the town, Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Melchoir Sheads, shared original clippings, pictures and lists of her friends that his grandmother had left him. That material was invaluable and wonderful to see, and I hurriedly made copies of the almost tattered pages and FedExed them back to him before they fell apart. I was so grateful for his help. The book is dedicated to him.

Then, because I had already gathered so much material and the people had become so real to me, I decided to give all of them voices, and a historical novel was written from a non-fiction base.



 

PageOneLit.com: In JOHN ERICSSON AND THE INVENTIONS OF WAR, you have written an original and important Biography of a man many don't know - Who was John Ericsson?

ANN BROPHY: Silver Burdett Press approached me about writing a biography for a middle-grade Civil War series they were publishing. I was assigned John Ericsson. I had never heard of him, so, again, a lot of research was involved. Libraries and encyclopedias were my sources since I'm not computer literate. But I ended up admiring and loving him for his brilliant achievements in science and technology. He lacked any business sense so his inventions were never patented, and therefore, he didn't get proper credit for all he accomplished.

The following is a direct quote from the book: "Was he a dreamer? Yes. He dreamed of the practical application of screw-propulsion, and the commerce of the world was revolutionized. He dreamed of making warfare more terrible, and the Monitor was built...Again he dreamed, and the Destroyer, with its submarine gun, was born. He dreamed of hot air, and 10,000 caloric engines appeared. He dreamed of the sun's rays in sandy deserts where water was hard to get, and the solar engine came..."

 

PageOneLit.com: Discuss your novel TO CATCH A GHOST.

ANN BROPHY: Wanting to write a novel from the starting point of a setting was the reason I became involved with a ghost story. The setting is Star Island off Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I never visited the actual island. I spotted it from the deck of a ferryboat as a dot in the middle of the ocean with what looked like a dilapidated edifice rising out of the mist. A perfect place for a ghost!

So, after adding characters to the setting - a family on a religious retreat, and an old, grieving caretaker whose own long-gone family had lived there years before a terrible accident divided them - I had the set-up for two families who could mirror each other in the old man's guilt-ridden mind, and a ghost appeared who had never left his sailboat and the sea.
 

 

PageOneLit.com: BEST FRIENDS ARE BETTER THAN DIAMONDS is a memoir about Agnes and her best friend Mary Lou - Explain.

ANN BROPHY: This book is a memoir of a sensitive and imaginative 12-year-old girl, her flamboyant, jet-set grandmother and her understanding and patient best friend. The problems center on the girl's inevitable struggle to understand and accept feelings, frustrations and loyalties. The conflicts intensify with the visit of her legendary grandmother in her diamond-heeled shoes.




PageOneLit.com: In FLASH AND THE SWAN, Madeline, a young sailor, comes to terms with the death of her father through her dog. Explain.

ANN BROPHY: Amid confusion and a sense of loss, a girl reluctantly returns to her family's summer home on the New England shore - the home where her father died at the end of the previous summer. Her life seems frighteningly empty now - she hardly knows her mother; she has few friends in the small village; all she can count on is a beloved but aging dog named Flash. Then, mysteriously drifting in and out of her life, comes an extraordinary swan. This is a story of the pain and joy of growing up and the acceptance of love that survives even death.

PageOneLit.com: What do you hope to achieve with novels/books?

ANN BROPHY: I want to tell good stories.

 

PageOneLit.com: What was the last book you read?

ANN BROPHY: "Dewey" is a biography of a true-to-life stray cat that was left in the return book slot at a library in Iowa. I have always loved Robert Nathan's books from years past, and I re-read them.


 

PageOneLit.com: What's next?

ANN BROPHY: I have completed six picture books (three in rhyme) and a series of short stories for young children. Also, I am rewriting a short story for adults that I completed years ago. I LOVE TO REWRITE!

 

PageOneLit.com: Do you have any hobbies? What are they? How do they enhance your writing?

ANN BROPHY: I love water fitness and Tai Chi and have just taken up watercolor painting. I have a lot of fun with what I call "dubious abstract art." But my main hobby is writing. I guess it always will be.