Ask the Author: Nancy Springer
Answered Questions (30)
Nancy Springer
Yes, confusingly enough, they are the same book. The title of the Case of the Gypsy Good-Bye is being changed to the Case of the Disappearing Duchess.
Nancy Springer
Dave, I'm pretty sure The Oddling Prince was my last hurrah, a throwback to my younger, questing, yearning days. I'm much older and happy to be far more contented now. And I'm retired. So, no.
Dave, I'm pretty sure The Oddling Prince was my last hurrah, a throwback to my younger, questing, yearning days. I'm much older and happy to be far more contented now. And I'm retired. So, no.
Nancy Springer
My novels are translated into different languages all over the world. Foreign publishers apply to me/my agents for the rights to do so.
Nancy Springer
It's being done! But it may take a year or two.
Nancy Springer
Enola Holmes, right? Like everything else in this Covid pandemic, she's on hold. There is to be a movie (already filmed), a new graphic novel and yes, another adventure. The Enola Holmes movie is supposed to be released in 2020, but who knows? And all else will follow. Can't wait. Gotta wait. Meanwhile, thank you for being a reader, and for enjoying Enola!
Nancy Springer
Natasha, thanks for your question! This is what I pulled up from my bibliography:
"Black Angel," ORPHANS OF THE NIGHT, Josepha Sherman, Ed., Walker and Company, 1995. Reprinted FLIGHTS OF FANTASY, Perfection Learning, 1999, incl ECCENTRIC SYMMETRIES
So it was first published in an anthology called Orphans of the Night and reprinted in an antho called Flights of Fantasy. It is also available electronically from Untreed Reads in a digital short story collection, Eccentric Symmetries, and individually as well.
Thanks for your interest in Black Angel!
"Black Angel," ORPHANS OF THE NIGHT, Josepha Sherman, Ed., Walker and Company, 1995. Reprinted FLIGHTS OF FANTASY, Perfection Learning, 1999, incl ECCENTRIC SYMMETRIES
So it was first published in an anthology called Orphans of the Night and reprinted in an antho called Flights of Fantasy. It is also available electronically from Untreed Reads in a digital short story collection, Eccentric Symmetries, and individually as well.
Thanks for your interest in Black Angel!
Nancy Springer
Thanks for enjoying Enola, Bruce! Of course I am tremendously excited about the feature films to come, but I know very little; I am not in communication with Hollywood. I know somebody said "series," and I hope there are grandiose plans, but practically speaking, what happens will depend on the success of the first movie, don't you think? Thank you for being a fan.
Nancy Springer
Thanks for being a fan! As for the cover art on the first book, you'd have to ask the artist, but I'm pretty sure the idea was simply to appear mysterious and cryptic. The "letters" in the trees have no meaning as far as I can see. But I love the 221b running backwards in the wrought-iron fence! Again, I truly thank you for being a reader.
Nancy Springer
Thanks for asking, Cassie! Yes, I do think some publishing house is likely to want to acquire some new Enola Holmes novels now. I don't expect to be active in making the film, but I do get some nice perks. Hmmm, what shall I wear to the premiere?
Nancy Springer
Kim, I'm thrilled too, as you can imagine. How it happened? How the decision came about I can only conjecture, but I think Millie Bobby Brown had a lot to do with it, kudos to her!
Nancy Springer
No, confound it, despite how well Enola continues to sell. But I haven't given up. I have a new book coming out soon -- fantasy, THE ODDLING PRINCE, in May or June of 2018 -- and after that the Enola Holmes graphic novels published in France are to be translated into English! I don't know when, but maybe that will give me an opportunity to market the new Enola books again. Cross your fingers, and thanks for asking!
Nancy Springer
No! I am so bummed; my agent can't find an interested publisher, despite how well Enola continues to sell. But I haven't given up. I have a new book coming out soon -- fantasy, THE ODDLING PRINCE -- and after that I plan to start nagging about Enola again. One fun thing is that the Enola Holmes graphic novels published in France are to be translated into English! I don't know when that happy even is to occur, but when it does, maybe it will provide the leverage I need. Thanks for asking!
Nancy Springer
Danielle, you're not going to believe this answer. My editor was responsible, in an indirect way. I had been working with this editor for years, doing the Camelot books and the Rowan Hood series with him, and I knew he had an uncanny sense for marketing. So I paid attention when he phoned me and told me he wanted something set in deepest, darkest London at the time of Jack the Ripper. I wanted to say, Whaaaat? Jack the Ripper? and I'd never written historical, but I kept my mouth closed and gave the matter some thought. My childhood love of King Arthur had led me to write I AM MORDRED and I AM MORGAN LE FAY. My childhood love of Robin Hood had led me to create Rowan Hood, Robin Hood's daughter. By any chance had there been something set in the late nineteenth century.... Elementary, my dear Watson. Sherlock Holmes. I couldn't give him a daughter; that would have been scandalous, but I created a younger sister for him, named her Enola (a name that had fascinated me for years) and all else followed. Thank you for liking Enola. I'm happy to say my editor liked her too.
Nancy Springer
Abby, music I like completely seduces me and puts me into a motionless, staring trance. So I cannot have any turned on while I am writing. Sorry I can't say "Mozart" with any truthfulness.
Have you seen the Enola Holmes graphic novel -- in French?
Have you seen the Enola Holmes graphic novel -- in French?
Nancy Springer
Thanks for your interest, Bethany! I certainly want to involve Lady Cecily; I want her to be Enola's BFF, and to seek treatment for her personality problems from an alienist (pioneer psychiatrist) in Germany. However, I'm told the novel I wrote (Enola and Lady Cecily) requires too much backstory and that I should start afresh and simply with Enola helping/competing with Sherlock. I have done so, but that novel is still seeking a publisher. As for Enola's growth, there's a problem: the year is 1889, and quite specifically in 1891 Sherlock Holmes "dies" at the evil hands of his arch-enemy Moriarty. I do not want Sherlock to die for Enola. Stay tuned.
Nancy Springer
Tracey, thanks for your enthusiasm! I wish I could give you a timeline, but so far the project is still on first base. Keep cheering!
Nancy Springer
Thank you for being a fan! Yes, there really was a "language of flowers," although it varied slightly from place to place, and several reference volumes existed on the subject. I made up the title of the one Enola had, but it was representative of what did exist. My personal favorite is "Language of Flowers" by Kate Greenaway.
Nancy Springer
You know, when I wrote the first Enola Holmes book I intended to keep going ad infinitum, but Enola insisted on progressing as a person with each book, thus ending the series at six. The character arc was her idea.
Put another way: I write in very much the same manner that Enola ran away from Ferndell, prepared for most contingencies but planning not to plan, thereby hoping to outsmart myself. There may be some sort of plot or theme in the forthcoming books that I haven't heard about yet. We can hope.
Put another way: I write in very much the same manner that Enola ran away from Ferndell, prepared for most contingencies but planning not to plan, thereby hoping to outsmart myself. There may be some sort of plot or theme in the forthcoming books that I haven't heard about yet. We can hope.
Nancy Springer
Kristine, after writing fifty books, I don't take more than a few months to do a first draft, and I take pains to nail it as close to a final draft as I can; the less rewriting the better.
As for specifics about the Enola Holmes series, I don't remember exactly how long it took to write any of them, and I guess I'd rather not know. They were challenging and sometimes enormously painful, rather like childbirth, and my recollection is quite blurry. None of them "wrote themselves" yet they all wrote themselves because that's the way I write. What made them difficult was parameters: 1888 London, dark, three plots (finding missing person, seeking Mom, evading Sherlock), feminist, show Sherlock how it's done, and a new code or cipher in each one. !!! Plus all that research. Insane!!
But now I'm ready to try again....
As for specifics about the Enola Holmes series, I don't remember exactly how long it took to write any of them, and I guess I'd rather not know. They were challenging and sometimes enormously painful, rather like childbirth, and my recollection is quite blurry. None of them "wrote themselves" yet they all wrote themselves because that's the way I write. What made them difficult was parameters: 1888 London, dark, three plots (finding missing person, seeking Mom, evading Sherlock), feminist, show Sherlock how it's done, and a new code or cipher in each one. !!! Plus all that research. Insane!!
But now I'm ready to try again....
Nancy Springer
Zoe, kudos for asking exactly the right question! My agent and I were discussing how to get Enola Holmes out of the kidlit ghetto. In Victorian times, teens functioned as adults, so it's not hard for me to write the next batch of books a little bit "older," hoping they will find a wider audience.
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