As the fifth anniversary of the publication of Ebram’s Story: The Haunting approaches, I’ve taken time to reflect on my writing journey. In many ways, the book
memorializes the childhood of my four kids. Like the character, Eric, my oldest
son was fascinated with cars. Another son Chris went through a period in high
school where he dressed in black: jacket, shirt, jeans, socks, shoes, cap;
hence, the idea for the type of clothing Shroudas wore. After five years in
Nebraska, we moved to Texas; the Casas-Treski family moved from Iowa to a “haunted”
house in San Antonio. The basis for the haunted house was, indeed, one of my
brother’s experience living in one.
As a writer for Christians, my book includes a couple of
important things often left out in secular children’s books: a stable
two-parent family and characters that make good choices for the glory of God. Many
authors and publishers today will argue that children are drawn to books with
main characters without parents, dead or alive.
Examples of this type of book are numerous, including several Disney
classics. Here’s a link to an article with this viewpoint:
The author of the aforementioned article states, “Early
and medieval stories across cultures, from Cinderella (orphan) to Aladdin
(fatherless), feature characters who lack one or more parental units.” The problem is that children must be taught what a
healthy home life looks like because too many don’t have one and end up in
broken homes as adults, oftentimes like their parents.
I’m excited to be working on Book 3 of the Ebram’s Story trilogy.
After the third book is finished, I will work on Book 2. Book 3 is about Mazie’s home life, and there will be references to it in the second book. After
the third book is finished, I will have plenty of material to refer to in Book
2, and this is the rationale for the roundabout way of writing!
A final thought. Classic children’s literature with
characters whose parents are alive and well does exist. Here are some examples:
Cheaper by the Dozen (Frank
Gilbreth/Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, 1948);
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Roald Dahl, 1968); and Swiss Family Robinson (Johann Wyss, 1812).
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