Student interview with Kate Messner

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2. heading downstairs to my writing room to work on MANHUNT, the
third mystery in my Silver Jaguar Society series!

3. Q: Did anyone inspire you to be an author? If so, who?
A: My parents always encouraged me to write, so they were
one inspiration. My other big influences were the authors whose
books I read when I was a kid. I thought Beverly Cleary and
Judy Blume were amazing — the way they could invent
characters who felt as real to me as my flesh-and-blood
classmates. They made me want to write stories, too.

4. Q: What is the most challenging thing about being an author?
A: For me, the most challenging thing is drafting a new
project. When I’m researching and brainstorming, I’m all
kinds of excited about the new idea. And by the time I’m
revising, it’s in good shape and I feel like a really good writer
because I’m making the manuscript stronger and better. But
drafting? My first drafts are often messy, with lots of
scattered ideas, and when I’m in the process of writing that
first draft, I hate to even read what I’ve written sometimes.
And of course, the other hard thing is letting go of a project.
When I’m working on a book, it only belongs to me, and
there’s a certain joy in that — writing just for yourself. But
when the book comes out and shows up in bookstores and
libraries, it’s not just “my book” any more; it’s everybody’s
book, and that means different people will react to it in
different ways. Not everyone will like it, and that’s okay, but
it’s one of the tough parts of being an author.

5. Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be an author?
A: Well, I always loved writing stories, but when I was a kid,
I didn’t really understand that being an author was a job that
you could have — like being a teacher or doctor or something.
So when I was little, I wanted to be a marine biologist. It was
after I started teaching (and sharing lots and lots of books with
my students) that I remembered how much I loved telling my
own stories and started writing seriously for publication.

6. Q. How did you get the idea of writing Capture The Flag?
A. The reason I wrote this book might surprise you. It’s because I really love
airports. I love how busy and bustling they are…and how everyone at an airport
is going somewhere, and everyone has a story. Some people are having the best
days of their lives and some may be having the worst. Airports are just super-
charged with stories – and I couldn’t imagine a better place to set a mystery.

7. Q: What was the most challenging part of writing Capture The Flag?
A: Figuring out exactly HOW the bad guys could steal the Star
Spangled Banner! Happily, I don’t have much personal experience with
committing huge crimes like this, so that required some real work. As an
author who travels to visit schools and libraries, I’ve spent a lot of time in
airports, but the other setting for this book – the Smithsonian Museum of
American History – required a special research trip. I spent a morning at
the museum before it opened – I toured the flag exhibit with its curator,
prowled the back hallways, and even rode one of the freight elevators
until I figured out just how my make-believe bad guys might pull off their
Star Spangled heist.

8. Q: Why did you decide to make the Star Spangled Banner stolen?
A: When I knew I wanted to write a heist story set in an
airport, I sort of went “shopping” online at museum websites to
find the perfect thing to steal. I considered Lincoln’s top hat and
Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, but ultimately,
the flag seemed like a more super-charged symbol. Not only is it
truly valuable in terms of monetary value; it’s priceless as a
symbol of America, and that means the stakes for the mystery
would be extra high.

9. Q: Where did you go to college and what did you major in?
A: I went to Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of
Public Communication and majored in broadcast journalism. I
was a TV news producer and report for seven years before I
went back to school to get my teaching degree later on.

10. s
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.