Terri DeMitchell won Mayhaven's Award for Children's Fiction with her mystery, You Will Come Back. She lives with her husband in New Hampshire. She is both a teacher and an attorney.

What caused you to submit your manuscript to Mayhaven's Awards for Children's Fiction?

I read an article that suggested entering contests as a way for new authors to get published. Even if you don't win first place, mentioning that your book received a second or third place finish in a contest helps when submitting the book to other publishers.

Had you sent other entries to Mayhaven's Awards?

Previously, I submitted a manuscript to Mayhaven's Awards called On Ocean Road. The story is based on the same characters as You Will Come Back. It won second place.

Is this your first published work?

You Will Come Back is my first children's fiction work to be published. I have published in academic journals. And, I have published in a history magazine for children. All previous works, however, were non-fiction.

The Isles of Shoals are real, but you created a fictitious town. Why?

Since writing On Ocean Road and You Will Come Back were my first attempts at fiction, I was more comfortable making up the place. I didn't want to have to worry about accuracy while describing the area and I wanted to use aspects from several towns. Therefore, the fictitious town of Olde Locke Beach is a combination of a few seacoast communities. Locals will likely be able to identify parts of their own town.

You teach. Did you draw from your students in creating your little cast of characters?

I did draw from some of my students, but the characters, like the town, are composites of different students. While teaching for ten years, I was fortunate to meet many wonderful children who exhibited the positive characteristics that became part of Rachel and Will.

Did you draw from your own childhood?

Not really, except for Rachel's experience with the physician. That did not happen to me, but to a family member who told me about it when I was a child.

The peripheral characters in your story add much to the atmosphere. Can you tell me a bit about creating those characters?

That is a very difficult question for me to answer. I knew from the beginning that Will and Rachel would be very good friends. After that, the other characters seemed to develop on their own, reacting to circumstances as the story evolved.

Tell me a bit about your childhood.

I think it was pretty average. During my childhood, I lived in one house in a suburban Southern California neighborhood with two supportive parents and a nice older brother. I was also fortunate to have extended family nearby.

Did you have favorite books as a child?

Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books were my favorites early on. A friend and I started reading Nancy Drew books when we were in the third grade. We read them together because they were a bit too hard to read on our own. I can still remember lying on the floor, each reading one page aloud, and talking about the story.

When did you first begin writing?

I first started writing fiction a few years ago after taking some graduate courses in reading comprehension and children's literature. I always enjoyed and valued children's literature, but probably viewed it more as a teaching tool. These courses allowed me to see the importance of literature for independent leisure reading. And, for some reason made me want to try to write fiction. This was a big step for me. I have never thought of myself as being the least bit creative.

Oh, but you are. When did you begin planning to write a book?

I never really planned to write a book. Once I decided to try fiction, I thought of short stories for magazines. However, once I got started, the stories became too long.

Who first suggested you might want to publish?

My husband, but he has always believed I can do all kinds of things.

You teach and you have a law degree. I can understand how teaching would inspire you. Did your experience in law inspire you? After all, this is a mystery.

I hadn't thought of that—perhaps, but maybe my interest in mysteries is what drove me to seek a law degree. Regardless, I am planning to write at least one mystery that has a legal aspect to it.

This is a mystery, but other elements come into play. Separation is one. Why did you choose that device to move this story along?

As a teacher, I had a lot of experience with children whose parents were separating. While it obviously has the most impact on the child directly involved, it does affect others. As a classroom and a community, we were all concerned about whether the child would leave.

Have you written other kinds of stories?

At this point, I've only written about Olde Locke Beach. However, as I mentioned earlier, I plan on writing a mystery with a legal twist to it. And, I have an idea for historical fiction that I plan to pursue.

Are they for older children?

The legal mystery and the historical fiction will be for older children.

Are they mysteries?

The historical fiction will likely not be a mystery.

There are many ways to organize writing, and I don't want to close without asking how you did it.

I started with an outline of events and then didn't follow it. I found that the characters drove the story.

Was there a particular object, event, or person who captured your imagination?

I think moving to New England after living most of my life in California had a real impact. It is so different from what I had experienced that I often found myself walking along the Atlantic Ocean wondering what it would have been like growing up here. I believe that is how Olde Locke Beach came about.

How long was it, from the time you had the idea until you put words to paper?

I started writing shortly after the idea, but I got bogged down early on. I have never taken a creative writing class and have no idea how to develop plot, characters or anything. However, I just kept going because I liked the characters and I liked the story idea.

Have you learned anything about writing that you would pass along to unpublished authors?

For me, writing is not a linear process. Going from A to B to C didn't happen. Most of the time I would go from B to D and work my way back to A and C. I don't know if that helps or whether that happens to anyone but me.

I can tell you, from experience and from listening to other writers, that it does help and it does happen.