My next novel, The Brothers Finn, is about two brothers trying to solve the mystery of who framed them for the murder of their parents. For my debut novel, Stratagem, the main character is a girl name Meda who is trying to figure out who she is. I create pretty detailed character spreadsheets, including a Google image of someone who I think represents the character, so that when I’m describing them, I stay consistent. My characters test my creative abilities to represent many different types of people. In what ways do your characters test your abilities? Some days I’m extremely productive and some days I spend planning and plotting or developing characters.

I try to keep the same routine during the school year, but sometimes grading essays or coaching sports gets in the way of my writing routine. I wake up, write for a few hours, go for a walk, hang out with my family, do whatever needs to be done, and then at night I settle in and write again. How does a typical day look?īecause I’m a teacher, the bulk of my writing is done in the summer. I’m stubborn, so that just made me want to write all the more. The librarian read it and told me no one would want to read it because it was too scary. It was the first major piece of writing I’d done and I was so proud of it. So, when I was in elementary school, there was a book publishing competition. I read my first Stephen King book in 5th grade. Most of my family is into horror movies and I loved reading books that scared me. I also began reading at a young age and just loved the idea of making up the stories that I wanted to read, the ones that weren’t out in the world yet.

We made up stories, made scary movies, and were constantly using our imaginations. There wasn’t much to do but run around, climb trees, and make up stories. My sisters and I grew up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

Stratagem by Christina Hagmann