Behind the Book: Crispin at the Edge of the World

Avi writes:

Sequels are hard to write. Sometimes your reader comes to it knowing a great deal about your characters. Sometimes they know nothing. The writer has to please both—at the same time. And when the book has been widely praised and has been successful (such as the Newbery award winner, Crispin: the Cross of Lead) it seems almost foolish to go on.

But in this case, when I first thought of the Crispin story I thought of it as a multi-volume saga. Thus it was when I put my fingers to the keys, I had a sense of what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go.

And yet, and yet, as always, writing a book is like setting out on a journey without knowing exactly where you are going. You will get somewhere, but just where is an adventure, even for the writer.

So it was for this Crispin. I liked where he went, but no one was more surprised at the ending than me. And now I’m writing the next installment: the third Crispin.