Enslow: Has anything in your
upbringing influenced your interest in writing nonfiction?
Sara: I'm
a science writer, so my interest in nonfiction grows out of my love of science.
I was raised on a farm, and I was captivated by the world around me. I studied
the behavior of red ants and discovered that they will bite when provoked. That
was a painful lesson! My mother was understanding of dead birds in the freezer
and the experiments with baby teeth and sugar. I thought I'd be a scientist
when I was in college; I had a double major in Microbiology and English. It was
only when I was in grad school that I realized that I'd rather write about
science than DO science.
 |
| Sara Latta at a school visit. |
Enslow: If you could give a
beginning writer advice, what would it be?
Sara: Read,
read, read, especially in the genre that interests you. And I mean read with a
really critical eye. How does the author use everyday language to express
complex issues? What is the role of narrative--everyone likes a good story!
Familiarize yourself with your subject. Since I am a science writer, this often
requires reading a lot of technical articles, but when you interview a
scientist about his or her work, you want to show that you've done your
homework in advance.
Enslow: Can you recall a
specific challenge you had writing any of these books?
Sara: You
know, the three forensic science books (Bones: Dead People DO Tell Tales; Cybercrime:
Data Trails DO Tell Tales; and DNA & Blood: Dead People DO Tell Tales)
posed a real psychological challenge to me. I spent a good amount of time
immersed in and writing about really horrible people and their horrific deeds.
I wanted to tell the stories of how investigators used forensic science to
solve real crimes, but I had to make sure the stories were appropriate for
middle grade readers. It wasn't always easy.
Enslow: How did you overcome it?
Sara: I
finished the books.
Enslow: What is your main
concern when writing nonfiction for children or young adults?
Sara: Well,
good writing is good writing, so that's the main thing. But writing for
children and young adults also requires putting yourself into the mind of the
reader. I try to think about the metaphors that they would understand, and
which concepts can they handle, especially those that might be disturbing or
too abstract. But I think the key is to not underestimate the intelligence and
curiosity of kids, and I don't talk down to them. I assume that they haven't
bought into the idea that physics or chemistry or biology is hard. I'm hoping
that my readers are the kind of kids who found out the hard way that red ants
bite when provoked.
Enslow: Do you write only
nonfiction?
Sara: I
wrote a picture book about dark matter (Stella Brite and the Dark Matter
Mystery, Charlesbridge, 2006), which is fiction but about science--something my
friend Jacqueline Houtman calls sciencey fiction. And I have a couple of
unfinished young adult fiction manuscripts that I hope will someday appear on
bookshelves.
Enslow: Where is your favorite
writing space?
Sara: My
office. I'm fortunate that I have a room of my own, as Virginia Woolf put it.
My husband bought me a comfortable writing chair, and I also have a sofa for
reading and/or napping as the need arises.
 |
| Sara's writing space. |
Enslow: What types of books do
you enjoy reading?
Sara: I
classify my books into two categories. I am a huge fan of audio books; I listen
to them while walking, exercising, driving, doing dishes and laundry, etc. I
tend to listen to mysteries, thrillers, and science fiction. I listened to all
of the books in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. The
books I sit down and actually read are all over the map--fiction and
nonfiction. I write a YA book review column for our local newspaper, so I read
a lot of books for young adults. One of my favorites this year was Elizabeth
Wein's Code Name Verity.
Enslow: Who would you trade
places with for a day?
Sara: I'd
love to be an explorer, to go where no one has gone before. The last great
unexplored frontier today is the deep ocean, so I guess I'd like to trade
places with an oceanographer and explorer like Sylvia Earle. I'm afraid she
would find my life a bit dull, however.
