Back to Featured Interviews >>

MEET CAROL HEYER
by Ann Stalcup

What did you most like to do when you were a child?

Carol Heyer

To draw and play outdoors!  Games like baseball and kick the can and adventures we made up as we went along.  I guess I was writing action adventures even then!

What books influenced you most when you were growing up?

ALICE IN WONDERLAND was one of my favorites when I was younger and The Hardy Boys Mysteries and Nancy Drew when I got older.  I still enjoy mysteries Agatha Christie, P.G. Wodehouse, Sherlock Holmes etc.

Did you write stories when you were growing up? at school? Or at home as a hobby? As a young child, or as a teenager, or both? 

Yes, I used to love to write poetry and short short stories.

When you were a child did you ever have a moment when you decided that you were going to be a writer when you grew up?

It was something I loved to do, but I always thought I'd be a stand up comedian!!!!!!!!!!   I actually found that entry recently in one of my old diaries.  I think I was eleven or twelve when I wrote it!  I still love to laugh and paint and write humorous subjects.

What audience did you have in mind for your career as a writer - adult or children?

When I first started out it was just young children/ picture books.  Lately I've been working on middle grade and now YA fantasy novels that I hope to sell.

When you went to college, were you already pursuing a writing career?
(or a career in illustrating? or just art in general?)

No, but  I did major in art  right away and then minor in English, so maybe the idea was just percolating and I didn't even realize it!

What was your first job when you graduated from college?

My first job after graduating was working for an independent film company.  I started out doing storyboards for the special effects department and then production paintings for various film projects.  Eventually I began writing scripts too and had a feature film I co-wrote with the producers called Thunder Run produced.  Another script I wrote was filmed and went directly to video.  I worked there about eight years before my first book was published.

When was it published?

A Star in the Pasture was published in 1989.  It was a book with cartoon characters.

http://carolheyer.com/fallenstar.htm

http://carolheyer.com/hopscotch.htm

Was your first book accepted immediately? or did you experience a number of rejections?

It was rejected a few times, but sold fairly fast.  We had three publishers interested at one time.

What are the topics are some of your books?

I've done a lot of retelling of faerie tales,  RAPUNZEL, http://carolheyer.com/rapunzel.htm 

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, http://carolheyer.com/snarlingbeast.htm etc. 

Recently I wrote my first original story titled HUMPHREY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS http://carolheyer.com/new.htm which was like having my first book all over again.

Do you focus on fiction or nonfiction?

Fiction.

Which do you prefer?

I prefer fiction/fantasy because no one can tell you your story or your dragon painting is wrong!!!

http://carolheyer.com/Pegasus.htm

Do you find one easier than the other?

I think creating fantasy worlds and fantasy characters is easiest.

http://carolheyer.com/bookworm.htm

http://carolheyer.com/herbalist.htm

Do you do other types of writing - for example, educational, nonfiction, magazine work?

I've done all of those things and more with my illustrations.  Not with my writing yet.

http://carolheyer.com/nightjourneyspying.htm

What kinds of things inspire you to write? Where do you get your ideas?

People around me, funny names, exotic words, all conjure stories and ideas.

What gave you the idea for  HUMPHREY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS?

My publisher did.  She had seen a painting I did of a camel I saw at the old Jungle Land in Thousand Oaks CA.  She loved it and asked me if I could write a story for Christmas about a grumpy camel.

http://carolheyer.com/camel.htm

What really triggers your imagination?

Almost everything.  I have notebooks crammed with ideas and snippets of stories.  I saw a scientist's name on television, Martin Wigglesworth and I loved it and wrote it down.  Then I started thinking what would Martin be like and wrote a few paragraphs.  Those paragraphs turned into a middle grade novel I hope to sell one day. 

Have any of your books earned special recognition?

Yes, ONCE UPON A COOL MOTORCYCLE DUDE has won eight state awards, many of my books have been picked up by Scholastic.  IRA/CBC awards, etc.

How did your life change when you got married? and had children? Did it make it easier or harder to find time to write?
Never did.

Have any of your fiction stories been about real people or events?

I think many of the characters I create are based on people I know, but no story yet.

Do you enjoy researching or do you prefer working totally from your imagination?

I LOVE to research.  Info for my art to make sure it's accurate, especially for period pieces or educational books.  For writing a lot of my stories are based on the Faerie world and I like to make sure that their basis is in documented folklore.

Do you work on more than one book at a time?

Yes, more than one book, more than one assignment.

Which of your books did you most enjoy writing?

HUMPHREY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS.  It took me awhile to put the bits and pieces together to come up with the story I love.

What are you working on now?

I'm working on my second original story which I recently sold. A SHEPHERD'S CHRISTMAS.  I'm beginning the art now.  I just wrote a sequel for Humphrey and submitted it this morning.  My fingers are crossed.

Do you write every day and do you have set hours that you work?

I try to write everyday.  Painting everyday or sketching.  I have no set hours.  I can work from nine to five or eight to midnight and beyond.  It just depends on deadlines.

When is your next book going to be in book stores?

ONCE UPON A ROYAL SUPERBABY, the sequel to MOTORCYCLE DUDE is due out this Fall 2010 from Walker & Company/Bloomsbury.

Do you like to include humor in your stories? Or adventure? Or mystery?

I love humor in my art, action and adventures in everything.  I've got the beginnings of a middle grade mystery novel percolating and I hope to write one day soon.

http://carolheyer.com/dinosaurday.htm

http://carolheyer.com/HappilyEverAfter.htm  My goddaughter posed for this one.  Her name is Skylar.

When you do school visits, what question do children ask you most?

How long did it take me to paint that?

What do you most want the students to get out of your school visits?

That they can do anything they want if they persist. And.... no one can tell them their dragon is wrong!

Has anyone ever written you a fan letter that you’d like to share?

"Thank you so much for coming to our school and talking to us.  It really opened my eyes and made me realize that I can do anything!  Thanks again!"  Erin

Is there anything about yourself that you’d like to share - hobbies, where you were born, special talents other than writing/illustrating, what other jobs you had before you became a writer/illustrator?

My hobby is interior decorating!  I was born in Cuero Texas, turkey trot capitol of the world.  

I taught art privately for many years.  Loved it, but didn't have the time to continue when my books took off.  I've designed t-shirts, demonstarted computer art and just about everything you can do with art, I've done. 

And Robin Hood is my pizza delivery guy!   I love to use friends and friends of friends in my projects.  "Robin" delivered pizza to my house and I knew he would be the perfect model.  http://carolheyer.com/models-robinhood.htm
I've used my sister, godchildren, vet assistants, box boys et. al.

When you first started creating books for children, did you always intend to illustrate (and/or wrtie) - and were you successful in getting to do both on your first book? (so often writers or illustrators begin by doing one or the other.

I illustrated my first two books.  My third book, Beauty and the Beast   http://carolheyer.com/beautybeastquery.htm  I re-told and illustrated and the series of faerie tales I did, I mostly wrote and illustrated.  http://carolheyer.com/sleepingbeautycover.htm  

As an illustrator, how much freedom do you have in the way you do your illustrations?

It depends on the publisher and the art director.  Sometimes everything is laid out even pre-sketched for me to follow.  Sometimes I'm just given the book to read and told to go for it.  The same thing goes for any art assignment.

Have you illustrated any books for other writers?

Yes, quite a few.  Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude, Dinosaurs Strange and Wonderful,  http://carolheyer.com/dinosaursbrachiosaurus.htm   Prancer etc.

Does writing or illustration give you the most pleasure?

Oh, that's a hard one.  I love to paint, I don't think I could ever pick one or the other!  I love them both too much!

Do you sometimes come up with a sketch of a character and then write a story to fit the character you drew?

Yes, I've done that several times.  I find I visualize a scene in my head and then write it out.