Mary E. Logsdon

Where do you get inspiration?

My inspiration comes from life experiences. My history was full of chaos, and the only escape from it was my imagination. Some of my history is added to my stories, which makes my books more personal and real to me. Being a geek about movies, stories, and especially video games, I’ve taken some of those ideas and adapt them to my stories as well. In a way, I let my imagination run wild!

How long do you spend researching?

I feel as if I spend only half the time writing as I do researching. I like to dig deep into history and science to get the idea of clothing, food, setting, and culture. I want it to be as accurate as possible and then add a little flare of creativity and fantasy.

Where do you get ideas?

Research, research, research! I want my books to be as believable as possible, so I do tons of digging around in history and science. I also get a lot of ideas from reading different stories, watching movies, and playing tons of games.

For example, I remember loving Disney’s Treasure Planet so much that I would watch it over and over again. One day while watching it, I took note of the ships sailing across the galaxy and thought to myself, “Hmmm… I bet I could get creative with that for my story.”

What is an interesting writing quirk of yours?

I find that when I write, I tend to know how it begins and how it ends, but I never have the middle figured out. It usually rises up while I write.

When did you first realize that you wanted to be a writer?

When I was in 3rd grade, Rick Sowash, author of Heroes of Ohio, came to our school. A student from each class got to be chosen to have lunch with him and write a story for him to read. I was picked to be one of those students. I decided to write a fanfiction story about the Little Mermaid’s secret sister who had a magical golden tail that Ursula was after. It was a phase, okay?!

The day arrived, and I got to show my story to the author. After seeing many kids’ stories and signing them, he set mine down and drew pictures in it and then signed it. I still have that copy to this day. That was the spark; it would be only a few years later that my interest in writing would really catch fire.