PT McHugh didn’t start out as a storyteller. He was, however, born into a family that encouraged imagination. He became a fan of history in school and then went to college to become a construction engineer, to build a world of straight lines, angles, and equations.
He was just as surprised as everyone else when he realized that he believed in magic, and might just know the secret of how to jump through time. Since then, he’s been researching the possibility and learning everything he can about history. Just in case the opportunity arises.
PT was born and raised in New Hampshire and currently lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife, two daughters, and a dog named Bob, daring to dream of alternate worlds and cheering for his beloved New England Patriots.
With a wife, two kids, two dogs, and two cats, and a full-time job, how do you find time to write?
This is a great question, and it’s a perfect of example of
turning a negative in one’s life into a positive. I’ve been a chronic insomniac ever since high
school. Instead of hitting the pillow and falling asleep, I’d go to bed and
stare at the ceiling, worrying about things that in most cases I couldn’t control.
Not a good practice, to be sure. But I’m
sure a lot of people out there can relate. Sometimes your brain gets going, and
just won’t stop. Game over – you’re up for the night, and it’s going to be
awful.
Then several years ago, a doctor and friend of mine suggested
that instead of thinking of this inability to sleep as a curse, I should treat
it as a positive. After all, Benjamin Franklin only got three to four hours of
sleep a night, and he seemed to do okay.
Maybe it didn’t have to be as bad as I was making it. With those
comforting words in mind, I set out to find a hobby. Something I could do
quietly at night in the comfort of my own home.
Something that wouldn’t keep my family up or damage them in any
way. Something that would keep my mind
busy and – maybe – be fun at the same time. I couldn’t paint worth a lick, but
I always had an over active imagination, and I wanted to do something with it.
So I started writing. A lot of it was bad, and very little
of it saw the light of day, but it kept me busy, and it was the beginning of a
sometimes beautiful and sometimes terrifying relationship with the written
word.
When it comes to Stone Ends and Keeper of the Black Stones, the idea started with the realization
that most schools weren’t teaching history anymore. At least not to any serious
degree. Reading, writing, and linear Algebra were being treated with more
importance, and it rubbed me the wrong way. Now don’t take that wrong– I can
certainly see why those things are
important, but that didn’t mean I liked it. My daughters didn’t know who
Napoleon was, let alone Richard III, and they certainly didn’t understand the
impact that our founding fathers had on today’s America. We were slowly losing
track of our past, and missing out on some really fantastic stories along the
way.
I was fortunate enough to have a father who cared deeply
about history, and who enjoyed telling me stories about what happened hundreds
of years ago. Those stories had caught
me in their spell when I was young, and I became fascinated with the idea of
the men and women who created them. What were they like? Why had they made the
decisions they made? What if I was in that situation? What would I have done? Would the world we live in today be the same?
From there, it was a quick hop, skip, and jump to forcing
Jason into those very situations, and making him – and his friends – decide how
they were going to handle it. It allowed me to put myself in those situations,
and really live them. Getting to tell kids about history is just icing on the
cake.
Why did you choose YA, and who are your inspirations?
“Dad, don’t embarrass us!” Those words are uttered quite
frequently by my two daughters, who are both my inspiration and my test subjects in regard to how
the younger generation thinks and acts.
To be honest, my girls aren’t quite teenagers. Although my
twelve year old believes she is in fact going on eighteen, and should have her
own apartment and car by now. Thanks to
her, music, movies, texting etiquette, and a refreshed vocabulary for a modern
21st-century teenager are at my fingertips 24/7, providing me with
an excellent reference. I just have to look across the table at her to see how
a young adult lives and thinks.
Even with all the differences, though – technology, the
world, the quicker aging of young people – I’ve come to realize that teenagers
now are a lot like they were twenty, thirty, and even forty years ago. They certainly have more now than I ever did
… computers, iPhones, Twitter, Facebook, instant information at your fingertips
(remember when you actually had to go to the library to do your
research?). But in the end, everybody’s
teenage years contain a lot of the same problems and challenges –
relationships, fitting in, questioning authority (parents), wondering what
they’ll be when the grow up, wondering whether they even want to grow up (I don’t believe I ever did). And many of us never
grow out of those questions. In that way, we’re all still teenagers at
heart.
That’s why I chose to YA. I can still identify with so many
of those questions, which makes it easier to write. What’s more, I know that
those years – the years when you’re so lonely and doubtful about who you are –
are also the years when you form
yourself. It’s when you have your first love, first heartbreak, dreams,
anxiety, fear, euphoria … and all those feelings are compounded by a boatload
of testosterone and estrogen. It’s a roller coaster on crack, and we’ve all
ridden it. All those ups and downs make for amazing, realistic characters and
stories, and I can’t imagine writing about anything else.
Now, I realize that I’m forty years old and a lot of people
won’t believe that I can remember
those years in my own life. But guess what, I do. In fact, some of the
characters, the town, and many of the day-to-day situations in my books come
from my own experiences. That means I
get to relive my childhood through my characters, and – even better – put them
into situations I never had to deal with.
Which is your favorite character and why?
Ironically, my favorite character in the book wasn’t even in the first version of the manuscript –
the one that was signed to Glass House.
When the publisher, editor, and I met face to face, though, I was given
a list of ‘notes.’ Top on the list: create a prominent female character to
round out the story, and give both boys and
girls someone to follow in the story.
“So you mean I have to write the entire story all over
again?” I asked.
“Yes,” was my curt response. A helpful hint to all of you
aspiring writers out there – when you feel like your story is done, you might
have to take a deep breath and realize that you might have to write it all
again.
I argued a bit, because I thought this should be a book for
boys, but eventually I realized that my editor knew what she was talking about.
And I started writing Tatiana. When I was done, I realized that she was a
combination of my wife and my two daughters – tough, sure minded, willful, and
stronger than I could hope to ever be. I
have no doubt that the boys reading the story will fall in love with her, and
the girls will cheer for her. She says
things that I could only dream of saying, and of course does things that are far beyond my reach. She was an absolute kick to write, and
quickly became one of the characters I looked forward to in every scene.
Where will she go in the future? I’m not sure even I know
the answer to that – Tatiana has a mind of her own, and a way of dictating her
scenes for herself. She doesn’t always listen to what I think, and she almost
never does what I think she will. No matter what she does, though, I’m sure
it’ll shock and delight all of us, myself and my editor included.
A Stone Ends Book
Jason Evans, a shy,
introverted high school freshman, thought that his mundane life was all there
was - girls, golf, physics, and the occasional bully. Until he found out about
the secrets his grandfather had been keeping from him ... a set of stones that
allowed him to jump through time ... a maniacal madman who used the stones to
shape history to his liking ... and Jason’s role as one of the few people in
the world who could stop that man.
Against impossible odds, a
fourteen-year-old boy must take up his legacy, learn everything he needs to
know within one short day, and travel helter skelter into the Middle Ages, to
join Henry VII’s fight against Richard III, end the Dark Ages, and stop the man
who now holds his grandfather captive. In this romp through history, Jason and
his friends must race against time to accomplish not one, but two missions.
Save his grandfather.
And save the world.
To find out more about PT McHugh, please visit http://www.glasshousepress.com
Until next time,
Ciao
JET
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