Mittens in the Boundary Waters (Mittens in the Boundary Waters, 1)
Editorial Reviews
Chuck Kuntze,owner FARIBO BOOKS
"Mittens keeps you in stitches cover to cover. Once you've read it, you have to share it with friends."
From the Publisher
EDITORIAL REVIEW Chuck Kuntze,owner FARIBO BOOKS "Mittens keeps you in stitches cover to cover. Once you've read it, you have to share it with friends."
About the Author AN INTERVIEW WITH THE WRITER Portions of April 2002 KDHL radio interview with Larry Ahlman, author of "Mittens In The Boundary Waters."
HOW DO YOUR BOOKS AND MAGAZINE ARTICLES DIFFER FROM OTHERS? I have a simple goal: never bore the reader. I go to extremes to make my articles interesting. Readers may not always share my views, but I won't bore them.
YOU'RE STARTING TO RECEIVE NATIONAL AWARDS. WHAT MAKES THOSE STORIES SPECIAL? After a year I discovered reader emotion. It's easy to make people laugh and easy to amaze, shock and startle. But it's hard to make them cry. I came close a couple times and those were my "trophy" articles.
WHY DID YOU WRITE A BOOK? I realized that capturing a reader's full range of emotion -- including tears - would require more ink than a 3 page article. Writing "Mittens" gave me the space to do it.
HOW DID YOU ARRANGE THE BOOK TO ACHIEVE THIS? I compare it to a roller coaster. It starts slow and builds up speed. Then up and down as it shifts reader emotion from fear to relief, concern to laughter and back to fear. When the coaster finally slows and his world begins to crumble, even the most hardened reader will fight back a tear.
HOW HAS READER RESPONSE BEEN? They love it. I wrote it for outdoor people but grandmothers, housewives and teens like it too. Teachers read it to classes as young as the 6th grade. Like other writers, I can make lots of claims. But I have one claim that few writers can make: People read the book twice.
YOU'RE SERIOUS? PEOPLE READ IT TWICE? That's right. Many have written me to say they had so much fun reading "Mittens" that they read it again. Some claim they've read it 3 or 4 times. I get a high when I hear that. To me, it's the best compliment.
DO YOU HAVE A SECRET FOR MAKING A BOOK FUN AND EXCITING? There is no secret. P.T. Barnum said it best. "Give the people what they want." Readers are crying out for good books, but few writers are listening.
WHAT'S THE READER'S BIGGEST COMPLAINT? One word: fluff. Fluff is when the writer uses a half page to say, "Joe went to town." Fluff is when the writer consumes 2 pages describing a room. Fluff bores the reader. Some can skip through the pages touching only the action. Others suffer through it.
IF FLUFF IS SO BAD, WHY DO WRITERS USE IT? That's an easy one: money. Most writer pay is based on word count. If a 50,000 word story can be stretched to 100,000 words, the paycheck is bigger. Readers endorse this farce by favoring thicker books. Some feel a 600 page book certainly will be 3 times better than a 200 pager.
WHAT ELSE TURNS READERS OFF? A lot of books use profanity. I won't jump on a high horse and preach that profanity is wrong. But I'll say with certainty that readers don't like it. They read books to have fun and reading profanity isn't fun.
WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PLANS? I like writing magazine articles and plan to continue. I also will continue writing the Mittens 3 book series.
Mittens in the Boundary Waters (Mittens in the Boundary Waters, 1)
Mittens in the Boundary Waters (Mittens in the Boundary Waters, 1),Larry Ahlman,Kodiak Publishing,0971290601,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction / Men's Adventure,General,Literary,Men's Adventure,Minnesota,Outdoor Skills,Survival,Wilderness areas
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