Behind the Scenes with John Patrick Green

What’s the first thing you do after finishing a draft? 
“Save a backup! And then save another backup!” 

Describe your writing process in one word? 
“Eccentric.” 

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever researched for a story? 
“Probably just how effective it would be for a combination of steam and scented candles to negate the smell of skunk musk that’s been absorbed by the foam material that school mascot costumes are made out of.” 

If your characters could critique you, what would they say? 
“They would probably tell me to drink more water, eat healthier, and exercise more. I mean, a great number of my side characters happen to be various types of doctors and scientists!” 

If you could swap places with another author, who would that be? 
“Are there any author-astronauts who happen to be in outer space at the moment? ’Cause I’d trade places with them, just to experience zero gravity!” 

What’s the strangest thing in your workspace? 
“Um…me? It’s gotta be me. Because from my point of view, everything else in my workspace is totally normal.” 

What was your favourite book as a child?
“This wasn’t a favourite book, per se, but a book that had a big influence on me as a child was The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord and Janet Burroway. It’s a picture book about a town that is plagued by a swarm of wasps, and the villagers come together to create (you guessed it) a giant jam sandwich, which attracts and traps all the wasps, and it gets flown out to sea, ridding them of the pests. What made an impression on me as a kid was that the people are drawn fairly cartoonishly, with exaggerated proportions and expressions. But the wasps were drawn photorealistically! For a child, this was like a horror story! I remember reading it and thinking the story would be a lot more fun to read if the wasps were drawn like cute cartoons. And that just made me realize how powerful different styles of illustration can make stories have a different effect on the reader.” 

Which character from your books would you most likely befriend? 
“Between my two alligator detectives, I, myself, am probably most like Mango, who is the silly one. So, I’d think he and I would get along pretty well. But then, Mango is a good friend to his crime-fighting partner, Brash, so maybe he and I would make even better friends. Though I’d probably most want to be friends with Dr. Jake Hardbones, since he’s a brain surgeon who can turn into the news helicopter known as Doctor Copter! That’d be like having a Transformer for a friend!”