Newbery Honor winner Margi Preus writes books inspired by her love of the outdoors, her family, and the stories they share. Windswept, Preus’s newest middle grade fantasy novel, is a whirlwind adventure featuring trolls, magic, a child-snatching wind, and a determined group of “youngers” on a quest to save their siblings. We spoke with Preus about taking care of the planet, Norwegian fairy tale heroines, and reading like a writer.
Windswept begins with the main character, Tagalong, watching her older sisters vanish in a mysterious, wintry wind. How does nature serve as a driving force in your writing?
I was thinking about a lot of things when I started writing it, but at the top of my mind is what’s happening to the planet and what will become of future generations. Also I’m a very outdoorsy, nature-oriented person and I spend as much time outside as I can. I like to ski, hike, boat, canoe, and kayak, and I live in the north woods of Minnesota so I get a lot of nature. It’s a very important part of my life, and I feel like it needs to be important to everybody. This is our Earth. This is what we have. And we have to protect it and treat it well.
The world of Windswept is very recognizably a fantasy world, yet some elements hint at dystopian origins. How did you create this genre-bending world?
I’m glad you brought up the word dystopian because I’ve seen that in reviews and I don’t think of it as a dystopia. We’ve gone past the dystopian part, and the Earth has been able to rest because of the breakdown of all of our infrastructure. In a way it feels like the 19th century because of the lack of transportation, communication, and technology. I feel like the planet has had time to begin to heal. That was a world I needed to be in. I needed to create a world where I could imagine that, where we could get through some of the worst of what is happening and come out on the other side. I believe in the human spirit, and I believe in young people’s ability to rise to the occasion with a lot of courage, ingenuity, and resilience. It’s very interesting to hear what people take away from Windswept, but I didn’t intend for it to be a dystopia.
On your website you state that your book West of the Moon was inspired by your great-great-grandmother’s diary as she emigrated from Norway in 1851, while Windswept evokes a number of Norwegian fairy tales. Can you speak about your personal connection to Norway?
My ancestors are Norwegian and I have friends and family I’ve visited in Norway. A few of my trips were to interview the man whose story inspired Shadow of the Mountain. It’s a beautiful country with lots of nature and outdoor people so I feel at home. Also my father studied in Norway. Growing up in a family with strong storytelling traditions, he would read fairy tales in Norwegian. One thing I really love about Norwegian fairy tales is that there are a lot of girl characters who are really strong. A lot of them are the heroes of the stories.
When did your love for fairy tales begin? Do you have a favorite fairy tale?
I have many favorite fairy tales. My dad read stories to us when we were quite little so I probably listened to fairy tales from the beginning. He also told Tairy Fales which are spooneristic tales, like a tongue tie. They drove me crazy as a little kid! I would say fairy tales have always been part of me and my siblings’ experience with stories from early days. All of my siblings are older than I am, and it wasn’t until I was practically done writing Windswept that I realized Tag has three older sisters and I have three older sisters who all left home when I was quite young. They weren’t windswept, exactly, but they were swept away by college and marriage and such.
As for my favorite tale, I really like “East of the Sun, West of the Moon,” which informed my novel West of the Moon. I also have kind of a funny one in the sense that it is brutal, weird, and scary. It’s called “Smørbukk,” or “Butterball,” about an old troll who carries her head under her arm and the plump little boy she wants to eat. This troll makes an appearance in Windswept.
Tagalong and her friends meet a number of interesting characters and challenges on their quest. Do you have a favorite stop on their journey?
I love the old ladies. I have several aunts myself who are probably standing models for these ladies. The old, wise woman is an archetype in folk and fairy tales but I think it is based on the real thing. Old ladies have a lot of experience; they know a lot and maybe have a little magic. I had an especially fun time writing the final auntie.
Many of your middle grade novels deal with bravery, adventure, and self-discovery. Do you intentionally work these themes into your books?
Honestly, it feels like enough just to get a story down, to see how the pieces of the plot happen and fit together. Does it have a novelistic flow to it? I work hard at that and can’t think about anything else. So if those themes work their way in, it’s from the characters and how they engage with one another and what happens to them. I let the characters lead on, and lead to those kinds of themes.
You write for a spectrum of young readers, across age brackets and formats. What appeals to you about crossing categories?
I think it’s nice for the brain and the creative mind to mix it up a little bit. Each is a different way of thinking about story. With novels you can be more expansive while with a picture book you really have to zoom in. I mean, picture book writing is probably one of the hardest things to do. It’s a challenge, but also a way to keep the brain flexible.
On your website your advice for new writers is to “read like a writer.” What books or authors have influenced you as a writer?
When I started saying that, I thought about what books I really loved as a kid and then I realized these direct connections from those books to the books I’ve written. It happened once when I was doing a school visit and I had Island of the Blue Dolphins beside Heart of a Samurai. One of the kids noticed that the covers look similar and I thought, well, the stories cover similar ground as well. I also really liked Pippi Longstocking; she influenced Astri from West of the Moon because I think of her as having the same kind of spirit but a little bit grittier. Harriet the Spy is one of the books that really influenced me to become a writer. I still carry my little spy notebook everywhere I go. Encyclopedia Brown is another favorite, and I still read a lot of mysteries and write mysteries as well. Snow Treasure is a World War II story that inspired me to write Shadow on the Mountain because it had me thinking about that time period in Norway.
What do you hope readers will take away from Windswept?
I hope they have a lovely reading experience and enjoy reading it. That’s really the most important thing for me. Beyond that there are so many different kinds of readers that connect with different aspects, and I wouldn’t want to negate anyone’s experience with the book or what they take away from it. It’s all fine with me. If anything, I always hope there will be something in the work that encourages kids to go outside more and connect with nature, wherever they are. All of us need to realize that we’re all part of the natural world and if we don’t protect it we are going to be in dire, dire straits.
What upcoming projects are you working on?
I have a picture book with Abrams in the works. Other than that I’m in the thick of dabbling with many, many new ideas at this point.
Do you find being in the idea-generating process exciting or anxiety-producing?
That’s an interesting question because I feel like in a lot of ways that time is the best. No one is waiting for a book from you and there is no pressure from a deadline. That is the most wonderful time of writing. Anything could happen! You’re free to imagine, create, and go where your mind takes you. From the view-point of producing books, there is a little bit of anxiety just because it takes years for a book to happen. But I try not to let that anxiety take over. I try to just enjoy that feeling of possibility, and maybe something magic will happen.
Windswept by Margi Preus, illus. by Armando Veve. Amulet, $17.99 Sept. 13 ISBN 978-1-4197-5824-9
