Frama-12 Goes to School

When I’m not writing or reading, I work at a technical school that also houses Gateway, a school with typical high school classes, including English. It also happens that Ms. Condello, the English teacher, owns a copy of Frama-12.

During one of our conversations, I said, “Wouldn’t it be cool if your class could read Frama-12?” Her eyes lit up over the possibility. We both gasped with glee. But … she only had one book. Okay then. What if we found a grant somewhere to help buy copies for her students? Since we both worked for the Intermediate Unit, I volunteered to schedule a meeting with the executive director. If he didn’t know of a specific grant, he’d be sure to know the name of someone who did. I arrived at that meeting with a prepared mini-presentation, listing the positives that might come from having an English class read my book. When I got to the part about requesting a grant for Gateway, he said, “They don’t need a grant. They can just order the books.”

So, they did.

The English classes had reached the fourth or fifth chapter when Ms. Condello invited me to visit to talk a little about the writing process and to answer questions. I had a blast. I hope the students did too.

I loved seeing the whiteboard filled with observations and references to Frama-12.

The students jotted down questions on 3×5 cards as an assignment before I visited the classes. That way, they didn’t have to think up a question on the spot or end up just sitting there in silence.

The two classes had so many great questions that I wish I could answer all of them here. Fortunately for them, I answered them in person. For this post, I took a picture of the randomly selected cards above. Since they’re up there, I’ll answer them:

How do you remember what you want to write? I agree that can become a challenge. If the story has a lot going on, it’s possible to forget a piece of information that you mentioned early on. Notes with reminders make it easier to keep track of all those “moving parts” in a story. Sharing early versions of the story with a reader you trust also helps. They can let you know if you forgot to follow up on a detail.

What was the inspiration for the world of Frama-12? This might sound weird, but part of the inspiration came from a desire to write a fantasy. Also, an evolution-themed board game gave me the idea for the flying snakes. That started me down the path of creating other unusual creatures, like the man-horse hybrids called palum. I’m one of those “seat-of-the-pants” writers who charge into a story without an outline. Often, one idea builds on another, and before you know it, you have an alien world. 😊

What made you wanna start reading/writing? I began school as a reluctant reader. I didn’t believe anybody wrote anything I wanted to read. And if nobody else was going to do it, I’d have to write my own stories. It wasn’t until a juvenile literature class in college (where we had to read 25 kid books and summarize them), that I discovered there are books worth reading out there. I hope my books will inspire other reluctant readers to grow to love books.

Who’s your favorite character? That would have to be Mikey. I know he isn’t featured that much in Frama-12, but as the series progresses, readers get to see more and more of him.

Another question I liked was: How do you make time to write when you have a full-time job? There are times when I come home from work and just want to relax with a good book. Other times I don’t want to do anything. Fortunately, there are weekends, holidays, and summer breaks. Passion for the story also enters into it. Sometimes just getting excited about a new story will give you the energy to work on it.

Someone asked how I came up with the name, Frama-12. An excellent question. If only I had an excellent answer, but it was something that just kind of popped into my head. “Frama” rhymes with drama and I thought the number twelve had a nice ring to it. I also didn’t realize when I wrote this book that it would lead to a series. Putting a 12 in the title of the first book is kind of confusing. Like, where is Frama 1 through 11? So the titles for the other books have names without numbers. Of course, with that said, all of the books in the series are stand-alone. You don’t have to read them in order.

Finally: Is the Steve in your dedication page, Steve Dintino? [For those not familiar with our tech school, Mr. Dintino is one of the criminal justice teachers.] No, it’s a different Steve. I dedicated Frama-12 to my critiquing group, and he’s in that group.

Thanks for having me!