How did you come up with the idea of a superhero dog and an evil genius guinea pig?
This book came about in a different way than any of my other books. I’d been working with an editor at Harper Collins named Melissa Miller on an IP project and she shared an idea with me. She’d come up with these two nutty characters named Wedgie and Gizmo and was hoping to find a writer who would could bring them to life. And that’s what I did.
We thought this was so funny! Was writing humor easier or more difficult for you?
All of my books are humorous. Except for the first novel I wrote, for adults, which is very serious and dark, and maybe that’s why it didn’t get published. Humor is my natural inclination. While Wedgie & Gizmo is funny, there is a deeper storyline going on with the human characters in the book – a story about blending families after divorce. By putting my characters into funny situations, it’s laughter and the absurd that eventually brings them together.
Did you have Barbara Fisinger in mind when you started the book, or was she added later? Did her illustrations change anything you wrote?
I was asked to help choose the illustrator, which doesn’t often happen. We had three finalists to choose from and I loved Barbara’s work. She is really great at showing emotion, especially between the humans and the animal characters. I wanted her from the start!
This is the start of a series, yes? What can we look forward to next from Wedgie and Gizmo?
I’ve written three books in the series thus far. You’ll meet a little pig in book #2 who becomes Wedgie’s sidekick. And in book #3 the family goes on a camping trip. Gizmo might get lost in the woods but I don’t want to give away too much. All of these books were a blast to write.
If you don’t mind telling us, what’s next for you?
I have a new stand alone title from Imprint/Macmillan coming out in August and I’m incredibly proud of this book. It’s called Wish Upon a Sleepover and it takes place in Seattle. The premise is, what if your sleepover invitations got sent to your “do not” invite list instead of to you “invite” list? When this happens to Leilani, she gets stuck hosting a group of misfits and they make some amazing discoveries about each other. If any of your librarian/teacher or blogger readers would like a review copy, please let me know. They can contact me at mail@suzanneselfors.com.
Thank you so much for your time!