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An Interview with Tramp's Bill Kennedy

 Before we get started talking about your writing, Bill, I would like to tell our audience a little about the author. Tell us about yourself, where you’re from, what you do for a living—if you’re not a full time writer, what hobbies you have. That sort of thing.

Born: Peoria, Illinois
Lives: Jamestown, ND
Job: Development Director, James River Valley Library
Hobbies: Reading, Walking

What does a typical writing day look for you
I write in the evenings and on weekends. I write long hand using a fast pencil and pad of paper. Revisions are done on a Dell Laptop with Windows 8. 

What is the most challenging part of writing for you?
Sitting down and starting. 

In your book there are a lot of really great animal characters. Are any of them fashioned after animals you own or have owned in the past?
Tramp is inspired by a real dog. We loved him and he loved us. He controlled his own destiny and sometimes ours. Buster is inspired by a real parakeet who lived a few blocks away. Calico, Pauly and Suzette are blends of other neighborhood pets. The Angel-Mouse Chorus? no idea where they came from. 

What drove you to write this story?
I wanted to pay tribute to Tramp and our neighborhood. It was a magical place to raise a family with open doors, and backyards full of kids and animals. Close enough to downtown to take the bus to work in downtown Minneapolis and two blocks from a beautiful lake. The humans are based on our family and our neighbors who are as real as Tramp. 

You are planning on writing more books about Tramp. How do you go about planning a series? Do you have a story arc planned or is it more episodic in nature? Tramp gave us more than enough adventures to keep T.K. & Associates busy. Future books will stay in the Twin Cities and introduce new animals and humans.
Can you share a little bit about your newest project with us?
Tramp’s next caper is in the same Minneapolis setting where his skills as a detective are developed with the help of old and new characters, both animal and human. Perhaps a stranger that walks by Tramps house every day talking out loud to no one in particular as the result of, well we will see.

How can readers discover more about you and your work?

If you could be any character in fiction, who would you be?

Adult Novel
Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird , Harper Lee
Atticus cares deeply about his children, Scout and Jem, and his deceased wife. He never lets the kids lose sight of her importance to the family. As a lawyer in a small southern town, he shows courage, respect and love to all To Kill A Mockingbird’s characters.

Children’s Picture Book
Bonaparte, Bonaparte, Marsha Wilson Chall
Bonaparte, a dog, loves his boy, Jean Claude, and will not allow him to be taken away to La School d’Excellence without his company. “NO DOGS ALLOWED” does not stop him. He outwits the boarding school administrators by saving their reputation and opening the school to all dogs. 

1 comments:

Dina Laskowski said...

I read the story Tramp and enjoyed the development of the situations Tramp finds himself getting into. It is helpful to have the dog's perspective. As an educator of children's literature it offers friendly characters that a child can relate to and the chapters are very short which would be beneficial for a struggling reader to be able to complete in a successful time period.
Reading teachers can use this for a reading circle with common characters that are weaved throughout the story and yet have one chapter that can also stand alone as a short story. It has many useful teaching tools and delightful to read. Enjoyable for grade levels.