Books-and-Authors.net: Where did you grow up and was reading and
writing a part of your life? Who were your earliest influences and
why?
Angela Clarke:
I was raised near Lake Muskoka in Gravenhurst Ontario. Often a
comedian but serious too, I was enchanted by stories at an early
age. During winter while other kids were skating or playing hockey
at our wartime houses I took special reading classes in a room the
size of a storage closet; however, it was in that closet I learned
how adventurous books were. I read every series I could find; Trixie
Belden, Hardy Boys and cowboy classics like Buffalo Bill and Annie
Oakley that was sold at the five-and-dime store. I also read
housekeeping magazines like Family Circle and Life Magazine; my most
memorable was Reader’s Digest – short stories filled with content
that matched my imagination; serious, comedy, animal stories,
quizzes and quotes; one of which I owe my writing to: God’s gift to
us is talent. Our gift to God is what we do with it.
Unable to sit still in high school my English teacher was trying to
figure me out and asked me to write a one-page essay off the cuff. I
quickly wrote a funny story about how schoolteachers communicate
with students by illicitly framing them. My teacher laughed as he
read it but handed me another sheet of paper and said, “Now write a
serious one,” then randomly added, “and use these three words – mud,
red and an X.” I had no time to prepare but twenty minutes later he
read my short story. It was about an elderly man remembering his
earlier years as a young soldier in WW2; he wore muddy army boots
stained with red blood. Standing alone by a marked grave the man
remembered himself in full uniform bravely saluting for the last
time to his comrade soldiers who had died during a battle. The man
stopped reflecting to look at a cross with the familiar rank numbers
D71611. They represented the young soldier who had marched beside
him in the battle so long ago. The teacher asked where I got the
idea from and I told him it was about my father who went back to
Holland, France and Germany in peacetime years after the war; Dad
wanted to see a particular grave of the soldier who had marched
beside him in the battle of Verrières Ridge. The teacher said that
if I was able to take facts like that and turn it into a captivating
story it meant I had the skills to be a writer. He also said I
needed to choose topics that would match my high-energy personality
and write about something I was passionate about. Years later I took
him up on it.
That same year when our English class still hadn’t written a
Christmas skit we were told we’d get a detention at the end of the
day. I quickly wrote a skit during that class. It was about Santa
meeting St. Peter at the gates of Heaven and having to prove himself
before he could get in. Now selected to be the stage director and
fashion consultant too I got my friend Egg to play the angel wearing
a bed sheet with a real pair of partridge feathers for wings as I
dressed as Santa with a red coat filled with foam chips to make me
look fat. I work diligently under pressure and the only reason I
wrote the skit was to avoid detention so I could go to the school
dance that Friday night.
The following year I went to private school and once again I wrote a
play because nobody else could think of an idea. As they were all
discussing a topic I had already written the skit during the
forty-minute class. The storyline was a comedy about our Directress
of Boarders, Sister Norah, not being able to tell the difference
between a bucket of soup of the day and a bucket of cleaning
detergent. With two students dressed in black nuns habits arguing
over what bucket was our Christmas dinner and what bucket was the
cleaning detergent I’ll never forget two rows of nuns and priests
laughing hilariously at the calamity on stage. It’s a fun memory
that instilled confidence in me to incorporate comedy into my
writing several years later. These were the defining moments in my
life that made me first think about being a writer.
Books-and-Authors.net: You have written a wonderful series of books?
How did it all start out???
Angela Clarke:
After reading a bedtime story to my two children one night I told
them I’d like to try writing one of my own. My daughter, who was
seven at the time said, “Then why don’t you Mommy?” In response to
being challenged by my little girl I began writing short stories
that would nurture her, like the tooth fairy appearing at her window
leaving
shiny coin under her pillow because her room was tidy. I captured
my son’s imagination with a story about a magic silver fishing rod found in
a riverbed as he got the dishes done.
Later on I realized writing children's' stories would not be a
lifelong genre for me but I had discovered my passion - I was a
writer. I instantly knew teenage stories were the creative challenge
I needed at that time, as my children would soon be teenagers
themselves. I began my first novel, Spring Jammin’ and that book
turned into five more becoming the first collection of the Band
Together series. There are now seven more close to publication to
complete it.
Books-and-Authors.net: The BAND TOGETHER series deals with many
teenager personalities but MUSIC is the common thread. How important
does music play in young lives and why? How much did/does music play
in your life? What did you listen to as a teenager?
Angela Clarke:
At the time of writing Spring Jammin’ my friends who were in a band
were using my home to rehearse two nights a week. One evening, while
the band was on break I casually started humming a rock tune that
was buzzing around in my head. My friend, Jimmy Jazz picked up his
guitar, started playing the tune and asked me to sing the words. A
minute later, Gary started tapping the drums and Rick started
thumbing the bass. As I held the microphone singing we started
jamming to the song and at that moment, by pure fluke, I discovered
I was a songwriter. Before long, at band practice the guys would
always play my newest song written for my books. By singing and
learning drums at the same time I’d change the lyrics to fit the
tune or change the tune to fit the lyrics until I had the right mix.
Even though I’m no singer the guys tolerated my voice along with
hit-and-miss drum pounding. We had fun and a million laughs.
Knowing music is a communicative language all on it’s own I
incorporated different styles of music in the storyline for each
character. By writing rock, rap, jazz, blues or country lyrics I
wanted to make sure that anyone reading my books had a chance to
relate to some type of music. It’s therapeutic for a reader to
connect to the character especially if a particular situation of the
character is similar to that of the reader. It can often be
accomplished through lyrics.
It has been said that music is a universal language. I believe
teenagers, and people in general, often express their feelings with
music. It allows a person to release their innermost emotions
whether its ecstatic happiness or deep sorrow. Teenagers are
extremely passionate, expressive and creative but with so much focus
on math, science and computers many kids with natural artistic
skills are being skipped over and therefore not realizing their own
talent. If music comes easily to them they often don’t realize it’s
a gift even when they’re singing amazing lyrics under a noisy
shower. They may never realize they’ve just written a possible song
that could be shared with other kids who are going through the same
thing. The importance of all types of music in young lives is to
enable them to express out-of-control emotions. Lyrics and the mood
of music puts things into perspective and can be their saving grace
in times when teenagers can’t talk about how they feel.
As a kid, I listened to all the sixties bands, Hendrix, Beach Boys,
Joplin, Beatles, Jaggar, The Animals, Stones and Zeppelin. I loved
them all but one band I still often listen to is C.C.R. The sixties
music was fun, sensitive, wild, passionate and candid and it
expressed the times when long-haired, sandaled hippies were singing
out to the universe for world peace. Living in the country my
friends and I often sang their songs to express our emotions by
sitting around crackling bonfires by the lake strumming guitars and
quietly tapping bongo drums on our laps.
Books-and-Authors.net: Who is Max Coburn? VIENNA CASTLE? NEDDIE
TUCKER? FAITH FATHINGBROOK, YORO TAPP?
Angela Clarke:
Max Coburn is an angry, emotionally scarred teenage foster boy. Up
to now he has been placed into ten different foster homes throughout
the city. Brought up on drug charges he’s not guilty of he feels
betrayed by society and has developed a serious trust issue. He’s
given one last chance; a placement at a home in the middle of
nowhere – the country. Resentful of being wrongfully accused and
branded as a ruthless street fighter Max just wants to be invisible
to play his guitar and write music. Instead, he continuously gets
into trouble trying to stay out of it and his new foster sister has
decided he’s much too talented to be anything but invisible.
Vienna Castle is a cool-headed tomboy with the same spirit as the
horse she owns. A farm girl whose parents raised foster boys over
the years she’s developed more spunk and guts than any guy around
town. With a natural talent for singing and a range that goes very
high to remarkably low Vienna hears Max in his room playing rock,
rap and blues. Unknown to him she quietly harmonizes along to the
different styles of music he plays. Always on the lookout for
different ways to help her foster brothers she realizes Max is
unique and must be dealt with differently. She takes on the complex
challenge of encouraging him to come out of his silent shell but her
first goal backfires.
Tough Neddie Tucker is the resentful son of an alcoholic father. His
mother has left them and he’s bitter about how his family life has
turned out. Neddie is now the school bully and weekly picks on
someone different to satisfy his insatiable need to make people feel
as injured as he does. When a quiet foster boy comes to town Neddie
thinks he’s got a new target ----- but he’s never come up against
Max Coburn.
Faith Fallingbrook is Vienna’s sophisticated best friend. Soft
spoken and classy in mannerism she’s always well dressed in matching
outfits and glamorous accessories. Faith, who lives with her single
mother, is a classical violinist with a fun disposition and always
the first to be involved in the making of a clandestine plan to fix
situations. Using her wild and creative imagination to come up with
ideas she becomes the mastermind of a plan that goes way off the
mark.
Affluent and annoyingly intelligent Yoro Tapp becomes the victim of
Neddie, the school bully. Having a knack for outsmarting people at
their own game Yoro uses his ability to out-weigh his fear when he’s
picked on. His arrogance has kept him a loner until he decides to
steer his attention to the new foster kid – he wants Max to protect
him from Neddie. By chance he discovers his saxophone skills may
finally connect him to the kind of friends he’s been searching for.
Benny Patterson, the coolest guy in town is a carefree farm boy.
Rugged and brawny he often goes to a wrecking yard with his brother
to search for car parts. Benny finds a broken aerial antennae and
forms the habit of tapping on everything he sees, including denting
his mothers pots and pans, so his friends decide he should be the
drummer.
Books-and-Authors.net: The BAND TOGETHER series would make a great
series for Television - If a casting manager called and asked you to
cast your characters who would you select and why?
Angela Clarke:
I would choose unknown actors not recognized by the media. Band
Together was written for teenagers to learn to express their
feelings through steadfast friendships, being honest about bad
situations and facing the truth about disappointing family life. By
using their own ability to write music and use other innovative
talents the friends become creative about their life situations
during the challenging years. As the topics in my stories are based
on realism unknown actors and actresses could take on the
personalities of each character to develop them as true to life as
what they were intended to be; natural, realistic, fun and daring; challenged
by bullying, drugs, gossip, and now curious about relationships,
the teenagers are determined to be heard and get defiant about right-versus-wrong
but
willing to change their attitudes when faced with a serious crisis.
In book one Spring Jammin’’ I developed foster boy Max Coburn’s
disposition through the help of the Children’s Aid Society. In book
two, Summer Fireworks, the characters solve an environmental issue
with the guidance of Ducks Unlimited. In book three, Fall Apart some of
the kids at school are challenged by lies repeated about them, trust
issues, gossip and drugs. I worked with a local detox centre to gain
information so teenagers would know about withdrawal and rehab.
While at a caucus for the U.N. in New York I learned about landmine
removal. In book five, Season of Challenge, the group of kids from
Beedy Village rally together by Internet and bring awareness to
other teenagers around the world about the vital destruction of
landmines. With appreciated assistance from Adopt-A-Minefield
Campaign the president edited this novel so all information would be
correct and updated. These vital topics used are among many in the
Band Together series where the students become involved in a
real-life crisis and use their own skills to help make a difference
in the world.
These stories would require unknown personalities with no former
media traits to make comparisons in order to clearly define each
critical situation in the stories. By the time the next series is
released people following the storyline can keep pace with the
characters as they all grow up together into adulthood.
Books-and-Authors.net: What do you hope to achieve with The BAND
TOGETHER series?
Angela Clarke:
When I read the true story about Ryan’s Wells, a little boy who
heard about one billion people in the world not having clean water,
his instinctive-survival approach for others reminded me of my Band
Together characters. Ryan made a difference when he acted on his
feelings and started a clean water campaign at age seven. I hope
when teenagers read my books they’ll be as brave as Ryan Hreljac and
someday lead their own campaign to help out in one of our world
problems.
Another achievement I’d like to attain with Band Together is to
encourage young people to look deeper into themselves as valuable
individuals now and not wait until they’re adults to realize it.
With life so different from when I was a kid with the freedom of
going out at night until the streetlights went on, until now, with
daily school lockdowns and kids packing guns, young adults have to
be on constant alert. I’ve written this series to give teenagers a
view of a gentler way of communicating to avoid unnecessary chaos in
their lives. Today the news is focused on extremely violent
behavior in families and uncertainty in many cultures and my
stories articulate that with genuine effort, family life can be fun
and positive if we band together and help each other rather than
continue the fights that past generations have created; to learn to
appreciate the gift of life.
Books-and-Authors.net: What was the last book you read?
Angela
Clarke:
For the second time, I just finished reading Still Me by Christopher
Reeve. I loved the way he told his life story with ease and charm. I
felt as though I was in a living room listening to him as I read his
book. With his unique way of putting his thoughts in order he made
me feel as if I was going right along with him through his life
journey. When he described himself learning different things from
famous actors he was obviously a humble man, intrigued by the
talented people he met on stages around the world and amused by the
idol actors he worked with. By a comment about Kate Hepburn it made
me see her strong personality as amusing and intelligent rather than
hard-headed like she was in the movies and when Christopher Reeve
described Robin Williams as a human dynamo turning into three
different lobsters in a seafood restaurant, I have to admit, I’d
love to see what that zany William’s guy turns into when he walks
into a red-neck country bar.
Books-and-Authors.net: What's next for Band Together?
Angela Clarke:
As the first of my series is about a group of multicultural teenagers who rally
together with their personal childhood problems the next seven books
continue when the characters become adults with issues concerning
world affairs. Each musician in the band has a different kind of
revelation journey when they face the challenges of their world
tour. Between concerts and during each visit from country to country
they experience a variety of unexpected events; some filled with
glamour and hilarity while other situations are realistically
horrific. As a result it makes the characters appreciate certain
lessons they learned about loyalty from their childhood. During the
world tour, the story keeps pace with what is happening in today’s
world; paparazzi problems, fashion that takes on a life of it’s own
defining a human-beings worth merely by their looks or wars breaking
out where no one has the skills to deal with the results of the
outcome. It’s an eye-opening series for those who turn a blind eye
to environmental issues, global catastrophes and much needed change
in global infrastructure. But there’s also outlandish humor among
the friends when the story unfolds with each character searching for
the right life partner. With music expressing their feelings
throughout their travels it makes a memorable life story of each
individual character.
Books-and-Authors.net: What's next for your future?
Angela Clarke:
I’ve been drafting an outline for a comedy over the course of two
recessions now, and someday, when the 12th Band Together novel is
finished and the music is recorded, I’ll hide in a secluded cabin in
the woods way up north with only coyotes and bears for company so I
can finish it.
My personal goal is to work on landmine removal until every single
one of them is destroyed off the face of this beautiful planet.
Books-and-Authors.net: Do you have any hobbies? What are they? How
do they enhance your writing?
Angela Clarke:
I will always enjoy hiking, skiing, horseback riding, bonfires with
friends and my little herb garden but once I start developing
characters for a story, I also develop new hobbies to become a more
accurate writer. I take on everything my characters do to learn
about how they react in various situations. I learned to play an
acoustic guitar just enough so I would understand how character Max Coburn felt
when he was writing a song.
When Benny Patterson began learning drums I started playing drums
too. When I became challenged by the obstacle of keeping time with
the kick pedal I had such a hard time hitting four snares and a
pedal at the same time I wrote into the story how Benny couldn’t get
the kick pedal in sequence either.
In portraying Faith Fallingbrook’s musical talent, I played my
Grandfather’s violin with its frayed tattered strings. It hadn’t
been out of the case since 1947 and the unique scent of the violin
case was that of a lively smoky-filled bar where he used to play in
a band in Utterson. I diligently played three chords for two weeks
and when I couldn’t stand the sound of myself drawing on the ancient
horsehair strings I spent the thousand bucks and had the violin
restored. After taking a few lessons I learned how to hold it
properly and place the bow in my hand so I felt a connection with
the sounds a violin makes. After I come out of the woods up north
I'll take lessons, but for now I still enjoy playing a squeaky You
Are My Sunshine when nobody’s around to stop me from taking it out
of the case.
After interviewing several young people who were on life support in
a hospital I learned that the character Jack, in Summer Fireworks,
needed to experience fresh humour and have a serious conversation
with a real street fighter. To develop a meaningful dialogue between
unruly Neddie Tucker and intellectual Jack Lloyd I went skydiving in
order to write one sentence. After the experience of describing how
it feels to freely fly through the air I was instantly hooked on
diving.
In book three, Fall Apart when Neddie’s alcoholic father, Thaddeus
Tucker, was trying to rebuild his life he learned how to build a
stone walkway. I filled up my Jeep and also my friend Fran’s van
with two huge loads of flat rocks, then built a hearth around my
fireplace and learned how to be a stonemason.
Off-roading has always been a love of mine so I used a particular
experience in the story when I blew up a Jeep.
In order to develop the skills I need for correct vocabulary or
learn the names of tools required for a project in the story or
develop honest feelings about what’s going on in the characters life
I research and learn everything I can for the mood of each moment.
If it’s pain or laughter I need to express I go the distance to cry
or laugh so I can describe it. For this it takes raw commitment to
experience new things while writing a book but by the end of each
chapter, after doing the work project, I know both my male and
female characters well. As for hobbies they continue to be added to
my list as long as I’m developing a new character.
After reading a bedtime story to
my two children one night I told them I’d like to try writing one of
my own. My daughter, who was seven at the time said, “Then why don’t
you Mommy?” In response to being challenged by my little girl I
began writing short stories that would nurture her, like the tooth
fairy appearing at her window leaving a shiny coin under her pillow because
her room was tidy. I captured my son’s imagination with a story
about a magic silver fishing rod found in a riverbed as he got the dishes
done.
resides in her country home in
Ontario. Her novels to date feature the concerns to teenagers
including social issues such as bullying, drugs, music, the decaying
environment and solving conflicts with family and friends. She
highlights one character Max Coburn who lives in foster care.