Eric Brandenburg - Highly Commended
Eric T. Brandenburg was born in Southern Oregon. He attended college at Yale University, where he majored in English Literature and Theatre, and trained as an actor at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London before settling in New York. He has written fiction and poetry since an early age and grew up in a family with a passion for art, literature, and science. He worked for many years in the technology industry and now focuses on writing, illustrating, and podcasting.
What made you enter the Cheshire Novel Prize Kids?
A fellow member of my children’s book writing group told me about the contest. One of the things that made this competition attractive to me was that all entrants receive substantive feedback.
What did it feel like when you were LL and then SL?
I was over the moon! It made me feel that all the time I had spent working on this book and on other writing projects had been worth it.
What was the reaction from those around you/family and friends?
Very excited and supportive.
How did you come up with the idea for your book?
My grandmother had a lot of old-fashioned chairs and couches in her house with doilies and knobby wooden shapes on the arms. I remember sitting in one of them, pressing on the knobs and pretending they were buttons and that the chair could fly. I started a story based on the idea of an intelligent flying couch, and it brought up a lot of other memories of my childhood when my brothers, my sister, and I would go out exploring the countryside with our dog Joe. Our father had a passion for astronomy, and that also ended up working its way into the book as did my career, in which I spent many years trying to make machines behave.
What’s it about?
The hero is a young boy named Walter. One day, his family receives an old-fashioned couch sent by his great-uncle, Dr. Froehdrich Hoosengoosen, an eccentric scientist. When his parents are out and the babysitter is busy in the kitchen, Walter investigates the couch, reads the tags on its cushions, and learns it can fly and has a protective force field. Walter and his dog Lloyd take the couch on a test flight. The couch, which has a difficult personality, brags that it can take them anywhere in “no time at all.” Walter and the couch start to argue, and Walter dares the couch to take them to see “the Man in the Moon.” Before they know it, they find themselves in a cave deep inside the Moon. The Man in the Moon, known as the Timekeeper, needs their help and sends them across the solar system on an important mission to save the universe.
What’s your writing routine?
I am also an illustrator, and my schedule is such that I am able to set aside about four hours a day, usually in the afternoon, to write and work on illustrations.
What’s next for you?
I am working on a novel (a thriller) and am developing ideas for sequels to this book.
What are your favourite children’s books and why?
When we were kids, our parents read us Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and I loved their whimsy and the feeling that anything could happen. The Wind in the Willows has also been a favourite because of its lyrical prose and its depiction of animal friends, who were all very different, going through a series of trials and tribulations.
Any tips for writers intending on entering the competition?
When I get stuck, I take some time to remember what it felt like to be a kid, what scared, bothered, and excited me. Years spent acting has helped a good deal, since the theatre teaches you how to immerse yourself in an imaginary world.