Welcome to Canadian children's author, Patricia Miller-Schroeder!
Pat Miller-Schroeder is an active member of the Saskatchewan writing community and has written 17 children’s non-fiction books about nature, science, and the environment. Two of her books, Bottlenose Dolphins and Japanese Macaques were nominated in the Children's Literature category of the Saskatchewan Book Awards and another called Blue Whales was nominated for the Hackmatack Children's Choice Award in the Maritimes. Her book Gorillas received the Canadian Children's Book Centre Choice Award.
Pat has also written several children’s educational
film and television scripts. She was the main researcher and co-writer on ten
episodes of a wildlife biography series called Wild Lives broadcast on
both SCN and the Discovery Network. She also developed the characters and wrote
the animated educational film script, Hot Stuff the Fire Cat, for the
Saskatchewan Professional Fire Fighters Association Burn Fund which has been
produced and placed in elementary schools throughout Saskatchewan.
** As I was setting up this blog, I learned Sisters of the Wolf was nominated for a Red Maple Award in The Forest of Reading which is Canada's largest recreational reading event. The Red Maple Award is for the age group 12 to 14 and the winner will be decided by readers in that age group in early May.
Website and other Links to your social media pages:
Website: Patricia Miller-Schroeder
PatriciaMiller-Schroeder | Facebook
Patricia Miller-Schroeder(@pmillerschroed1) / Twitter
PatriciaMiller-Schroeder (@patriciamillerschroeder) • Instagram photos and videos
Do your characters come before or after your plot?
Sisters of the Wolf is my first fiction book although when I was
younger, I did write some dramatic film scripts. In all cases it was the
characters that presented themselves and their world to me. They share their
back stories with me and we work out where they’re going together.
Shinoni and Keena from Sisters of the Wolf came
to me with the beginnings of their story. They would often perch on my
shoulders, one on each side sharing their story and their world. When I’m stuck
for where the plot should go at some point in my story, I turn to my characters
for advice and how to proceed usually occurs to me before long. It is their
story after all.
How do you choose a villain and how do you make them human?
This is my first fiction so I’ve really only had
one villain, but he’s definitely a “bad” guy. I was warned about him by the
girls and he came pretty much fully formed and nasty. I show him doing and
plotting some pretty terrible things. I show him experiencing frustration,
anger, jealousy, which are all human emotions. However, he doesn’t display any
redeeming qualities.
Do your reading choices reflect your writing choices?
Yes, in many ways. I like the prehistoric
fiction of Jean Auel (Clan of the Cave Bear), Michelle Paver (Wolf Brother), Michael
Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear (People of the Fire series), Dorothy Hearst
(Secrets of the Wolves). I also really enjoy the prehistoric nonfiction of
Rebecca Wragg Sykes (Kindred), Genevieve von Petzinger (The First Signs:
Unlocking the Mysteries of the World’s Oldest Symbols). I also read many
articles on prehistoric people, animals, environments in popular and academic
science journals.
Which type of characters are your favorite to write?
Characters who are smart, brave, and humorous.
Girls who stretch boundaries and follow their own paths. Characters who live in
prehistoric times and places.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on a sequel to Sisters of the
Wolf which carries on the new adventures and misadventures of Shinoni,
Keena and Tewa after the next big snow melt. I’m also working on a nonfiction
book about the people, wildlife, environment, and culture of ice-age Eurasia in
the time period Sheena and Keena lived.
What sort of research do you do for your work?
I check weekly for relevant articles and
research dealing with neanderthals. early modern humans, and related topics in
both popular and scientific journals, books, conferences, films, blogs etc.
I’ve also made two trips to Europe to visit caves and museums and some of my
ancestral areas. These trips were to France and the Ukraine and helped give a
real feel for the landscape and the caves and were important to me on an
intellectual and spiritual basis.
SISTERS OF THE WOLF
40,000 years ago the Neanderthals (Krag) and
early modern humans (Kula) of Ice Age Europe compete for survival in a world
where the climate is changing and prey is disappearing. The dark-skinned Kulas,
nomadic hunters with advanced tools move ever deeper into the territory of the
pale, heavy-browed Krags. Haken, a powerful Krag leader destroys a Kula
camp in an effort to learn their hunting magic. Shinoni, daughter of the Kula
Shaman flees into the forest, sent by her grandmother to protect their people’s
knowledge. There she is treed by wolves and discovered by Haken's hunters who
take her to the Krag camp. At the camp she meets another captive, Keena,
a Krag girl torn from her band by Haken as payment for killing a marauding cave
lion. When Shinoni tricks Haken into leaving the camp to look for a magic rock,
Keena helps her escape. There is one condition, Shinoni must take Keena with
her...and so begins the epic journey that changes their lives forever. They are
joined on their quest to find their families by Tewa, a powerful silver wolf
who becomes their guardian and spirit guide.
No comments:
Post a Comment