So this book, The View from the Wonderland Asylum, is scary. I don’t mean cutesy, awww-look-at-the-children’s-author-writing-about-ghosts scary. I mean…holy crap, can-this-be-this-scary-and-still-remain-a-YA-book? scary. The answer is yes. I fully intend to scare the crap out of kids. And I’m doing it by using that old adage, write what you know.

I know what scares me. The unseen. Abandoned crazy houses. The creepy giggle of a little girl. Old wheelchairs. As I once told my mother (I believe I was seven), “I’m not afraid of the dark…it’s what’s in the dark that scares me.” So with this book, I’m putting a lot of things in the dark. It’s scary. But it’s good.

Even as a child, I was equally freaked out by/drawn to the story of Alice. So it was only a matter of time before I became engulfed in the idea that I’m currently working on. The book is about a boy named Dillon who stumbles into Wonderland via an ages-old mirror. But Wonderland isn’t exactly the Disney-inspired version anymore. It’s dark. It’s burnt. It’s gruesome. Some of the book is a reinvention of what Lewis Carroll had created. But most of it is all Heather. His tale will fit so well with mine–and mine just puts a different take on his.

I really don’t want to go into much detail until I finish it…but I’m thoroughly enjoying writing Dillon’s tale. And I’m driven on by the notion that through developing a book of my own fears (well, I left out the clowns), I may create a book that will truly terrify kids. And that’s a good thing–I loved being scared by books as a child. Because in the end, you can close the book and go back to your safe, cozy life.

One without the Jabberwocky.

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