Today we have a special guest – Vicki Crain, author of the new children’s book The Furry Princess. This book is centered around dance, and because of her background and experience in the field, she was the perfect person to write it. Vicki was kind enough to take the time to share some thoughts about the book, the illustrations, and the process of bringing everything together with us here today.
Can you tell readers a little bit about your background in both dance and writing?
I’ve been a dancer and writer for as long as I can remember. I was a dancer and teacher for a regional ballet company in Central Illinois. I also danced with a small modern company in Chicago for a season and performed for many years with a Chicago-based production company. In 2009, I started a dance blog – Rogue Ballerina – which covered dancers and performances in Chicago. That led to freelance writing opportunities with CS Magazine, TimeOut Chicago, Front Desk Chicago, SeeChicagoDance, and Dance Magazine, among others and eventually lead to my current job as Marketing Manager at The Joffrey Ballet.
What made you want to write this book? How did the idea present itself to you?
I was talking with my friend (and boss at the time) and he asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I thought for a second and said, “Write children’s books.” I think I’ve always wanted to, but never realized it as a real possibility until that moment. He wrote “furry princess” on a post-it (that was a nickname for his dog) and said, “OK then, do it.” I went home and wrote the original manuscript that night and gave it to him the next day.
The storyline is a very inspirational one. Can you give our readers the basic idea of the plot?
Princess Sasha is a tiger about to receive her royal tiara. She’s got big feet, she’s shy and clumsy, and is nervous about being presented to the kingdom. Her best friend and her Mom convince her to take ballet classes where she finds self-confidence, becomes more graceful, and falls in love with ballet. She meets many new friends (all animals) and learns a big lesson by the end of the book.
What do you hope children will take away from this book?
The main theme is Believe in yourself. If you fall down, get up and try again. Of course, I hope they fall in love with Sasha and find inspiration in her personal journey.
You have a very talented illustrator for this book. Would you share a bit about him and how you two met?
Chris (Christopher Scott Bell Illustrations) is so talented! We met at a restaurant where he was working. I was a former employee and came in for dinner and the bartender introduced us and said he was an artist. We immediately became friends and started discussing making the book. Chris was so enthusiastic and had so many great ideas to add – it was a perfect match! He went to art school and received a degree from the American Academy of Art, fine tuning concepts and the artwork for the book along the way.
What was your process for creating the characters? Were any of them based on people you know, or how did you form their personalities?
Sasha just came out of me. Her family and some of the other characters were initially named after and had some characteristics of my friends and family, but much of the original manuscript got cut once we started the illustration process where we decided what could be shown verses what we needed to say in words. The original story would have been a huge book if we kept everything in. Chris added some new characters and really built the world Sasha lives in. The three main characters – Sasha, Cami the Crane, and Mona the Monkey – all have different little bits of my personality.
Every creative project has a few magical moments. Special things that happen along the way. Can you share one or two of these?
The biggest magical moment was when Chris finally found Sasha. He had been revising and tweaking her style for a while. I loved all of them, but one day, he said “I found her!” He was so excited, and she was perfect.
Another is the addition of Cami and Mona to the story. One of Chris’s school projects was to create a cover for a book. He added in a monkey (he just likes monkeys) and a crane as a nod to my last name. They were so cute that we had to add them to the story. Honestly, I initially wasn’t thrilled about going back and adding to the story, but we are so happy with the final product. I can’t imagine the book without them.
Of course, the most magical moment was when we opened the first box and held the finished product in our hands.
It’s often challenging to collaborate with another artist. How did you stay on the same page for this project?
Luckily, most of the time we were on the same page. There were a few instances when we had to talk through a change or addition. Chris can visualize what he wants, but I need to see it finished and then take time to think about it. For years, we met at least weekly (that’s how #tigertuesday started) and talked through every aspect of the story, the design, the text…everything! We took the book apart and put it back together to make it better many times. We really trusted each other and our talents and instincts.
What was the easiest part of this book project? What was the most difficult?
The easiest part, by far, was writing the story. The editing process was challenging mainly because it was so time consuming. Everything took much longer than we anticipated, but we wanted to take the time and make sure the final product was exactly what we wanted. That is the main perk of being self-published.
Can we expect another book from you?
Yes! We are planning to publish three books in this series. We are tossing around plot ideas and hope to begin working on the second book in 2019.
If you’d like to purchase a copy of this lovely book, please visit the website for The Furry Princess.
by Catherine L. Tully
