What sparked your idea for your novel? 

Allie’s Adventure on the Wonder started as a final project for a college course I took at the University of Minnesota Duluth called “Childhood in Literature and Culture.” One option was to write an original story and short essay based on a studied piece. I chose Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Not only is it a childhood favorite of mine, but I realized how much Alice’s faulty logic mirrored my own symptoms of auditory processing disorder, which affects how my brain processes information. 

What made you interested in storytelling? 

Diagnosed with APD at 16 months, I later learned how my interpretation of the world often differed greatly from those around me. This had a negative impact on my social and academic life, resulting in me often retreating to stories to escape and learn without judgment. As I came to better understand people’s multiple viewpoints in general as an adult, I also came to appreciate the strengths of different storytelling media and the unique ways in which they present their narrative information: a book’s words, a video game’s interactivity, a movie’s props and effects, et cetera. 

Was your storyline something that you envisioned from the beginning, or did you build/change it as you wrote your novel? 

Because Allie began as a school assignment, I originally had to follow rules for things like page/word count. I had no such restrictions later when I decided to expand the story. I wanted not only complete chapters, additional scenes, and more fleshed-out characters, but greater freedom to develop my nonfiction elements and have fun with Carroll’s poetry and wordplay. 

How did you create/acquire the cover art? 

A friend and fellow author from a local writers’ group in St. Croix, Wisconsin, recommended Hanna Linder. Linder is an author and freelance cover designer from West Virginia who specializes in using public domain images to create original cover art according to an author’s specifications. Among other reference images, I gave her some of Sir John Tenniel’s original Alice illustrations for a more authentic connection to my novel. 

What are you working on now? 

On the side, I’m still producing and hosting my bimonthly nonprofit storytelling radio series, The Tale Collector, on KTWH 99.5 in Two Harbors, Minnesota. As far as book writing, I’m currently considering a small collection of the poetry featured in Allie as a companion piece. I’m also developing a speculative science fiction novel for adults, for which I’m conducting extensive research on older SF media, particularly 1950s and ’60s films and TV shows, such as Star Trek and The Twilight Zone, and the writings of such SF masters as Richard Matheson, Arthur C. Clarke, and Isaac Asimov. 

Portions of this Q&A were edited for clarity.