Witch & Wizard: The Gift Interview HD

James talks about the writing process behind Witch & Wizard: The Gift, and shares how he envisions the world of Whit and Wisty. Did you know how you wanted Whit and Wisty’s story to progress before you began writing the second book, or did you discover it as you went along? I’m a huge fan of outlines. The first three books were actually pretty well outlined. More or less I’ve known where Whit and Wisty are gonna go. As I’ve said many many times, anybody who does not outline stories is asking for a lot of trouble and wind up taking decades instead of may be years to write a book. I knew pretty much where this story was going. Have Whit and Wisty grown or changed since the first book? I dont know so much whether Whit and Wisty have changed but they are certainly learning a lot more about their magic. They’re being able to control it better. It’s really much out of control in a lot of places in book one and you know they’re being hunted, they’re outlaws. They’re rebels with a cause and I think that’s a lot of the fun in book 2. Most people who read book 2 thinks its better than book 1 which is always a good thing. Is there a certain city or known area you envision the Witch and Wizard stories taking place? No this is an alternative universe not United States it’s not Europe. It’s not our world. It’s another world. But it’s a world we can relate to and what happens in this world is people really are paying much attention. A new government comes in and they take away all the freedoms that these people take for granted. Freedom of speech. Books are banned. Movies are banned and music is banned. You know it’s a little like a fascious state or a lot like a fascious state actually. And I think that’s an interesting thing for readers to deal with. What would happen if all of the freedoms that you that you take for granted were taken away. What would that be like. And I think it helps us to appreciate what we have sometimes if we think about what it would be like if we didn’t have those things. What conversations do you hope the book will spark among teens? I think that one of the conversations is about realizing how previous our freedoms are thinking about what it’s like in Nazi Germany. What was it like in fascious Italy. What is it like in certain places around the world now that have dictators. What’s it like for those people. How horrible is it. I’m always big on kids beginning to take responsibility for their own actions and this book Wit Wisty, they’re on their own now. I mean they have these magical powers which is developing, but they’re out there. This is brave new world for them. They gotta make it happen where they’re in big trouble. Was it difficult switching narrative perspective between two siblings and how did you develop unique voices for each? I didnt find it difficult to go back and forth I never do. I’m very used to writing in the first person and I’ve written both as male and female narrator’s.