My first YA novel, Thirteen Days to Midnight, releases in one week! Check out the beginning stages of the ARG at www.13dtm.com, join the Facebook fan site and spread the word if you can. I really appreciate it! You can also see my touring calendar here – I hope to see you on the long April road.

Below are my answers to thirteen questions about the story – please feel free to repost!

I’ll be Tweeting from the road as usual – Patrick

1. What made you decide to write a YA novel after all your success as a writer for younger readers?
I have two teenage girls, so there are a lot of high-schoolers hanging around the house and I’m spending more time at high-school sporting events. Great place to people watch – the adults are the only ones watching the game. It got me thinking about my own experience in high-school. Those two worlds started to collide and before I knew it I was writing a superhero novel set in my old high-school.

2. How much of your experiences as a teen influenced the story?
I’ve written fifteen books, but Thirteen Days to Midnight was the first time I ever drew on my own experience. So the high school, the key characters, the town, the sort of dreary rain that sets the mood – all that stuff is from my own memory of high-school. And the biggest thing is the narrator, Jacob Fielding – he’s based on how I remember myself, which is a little scary to write. We want to remember ourselves as super nice, super popular, and amazingly handsome. Well, I was none of those things, so it was some work being honest about the guy I was back then.

3. What is your writing process like? Do you listen to music?
I write most mornings for about three hours, and I either listen to movie soundtracks or super loud modern rock – the modern rock, if it’s loud enough, turns into a feeling, not a sound – I don’t even hear the words, I just feel the energy. That kind of thing is great for action scenes, things like Green Day, Linkin Park – but it’s really just for writing and snowboarding, not for kicking around the house.
4. What’s the plot, the basics?
TDTM is about Jacob Fielding, a 15 year old who wakes up one day and finds that he’s indestructible. Nothing can harm him. The mystery behind how he acquired the power is part of the story, but Jacob quickly learns he can also pass the power to others and protect whoever he wants to – but only one person at a time. Who he chooses to protect, and more importantly, not protect, becomes a pivotal theme in the story. And all that death is piling up somewhere, it’s not just disappearing. That becomes a real problem.
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NEW PORT RICHEY – Imagine meeting a successful author and touring his home office – without even leaving school.

That’s what Gulf Middle School students did Tuesday, when three reading classes held a lively question-and-answer session with children’s writer Patrick Carman, using Skype – a Web-based technology that enables people to make free voice and video calls.

Carman writes kid-oriented mystery books, such as “Skeleton Creek” and “Ghost in the Machine.” His books, featured works in Gulf Middle reading classes, are exercises in technology themselves. Part of each story is told through a first-person journal, written from the point of view of junior detective Ryan, while the other half is told through online adventure videos, directed from the viewpoint of junior detective Sarah.

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I recently traveled to Florida and talked with thousands of students about books, technology, reading, and writing. The video attached to this entry was recorded during the trip by Sean Capelle at Evans Elementary. They do a very nice job of integrating tech and books! Pretty short interview, but well done.

In other news, check the touring calendar during the next couple of weeks for Thirteen Days to Midnight tour dates. I’ll be out in April and May visiting schools and bookstores in about ten cities. Hope to see you on the road!

Early teen readers have piped in on Thirteen Days to Midnight, but first a word from Kirkus, one of the toughest book reviewing organizations around.

A ward of the state for most of his life, Jacob has bounced from home to home until landing with the eccentric and mildly iconoclastic Mr. Fielding—who, when the car they’re in hits a tree at 60 miles an hour, dies, but not before passing on an unusual attribute. And with the same three simple words, the 15-year-old forever alters his life and the lives of his two friends, Milo and Ophelia, as he passes along his power of invulnerability. Using the power for altruistic purposes after a period of extreme experimentation, Jacob learns that protection from death comes with a steep price. Instead of offering a horror movie rip-off, Carman explores survivor’s guilt and raises theological issues, all within an action-packed and twisted tale. Ophelia’s haunting breakdown adds a second layer of complexity to the narrative, though Milo seems to avoid any sort of development. Mr. Fielding’s journals offer slightly more exposition than is necessary, but the author pulls the story together without too heavy a hand. Page-turning suspense through the end.

And these from teen readers – thank you for taking the time participate!

Hip Scout Reviews 2/10
Thirteen Days to Midnight

Patrick Carman fans will be in awe when they finish Thirteen Days to Midnight.  Being a huge fan myself, I can easily say this is quite simply his greatest work yet.  The reader is immediately caught from the beginning and thrust into the mysterious life of Jacob Fielding.  Thirteen Days to Midnight is simply excellent and shows the dark side of having a super power.

-Jeff, 17
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When I wrote the book and the screenplay for Skeleton Creek and Ghost in the Machine I was completely unsure about whether or not the format would work. The idea of a book and a movie at the same time made a lot of sense to me as an alternative reading experience for a wired generation, but I had no idea if anyone would agree with me. I hoped the idea would find support and a new way of telling stories could be not only born, but grown into an exciting new genre. Well, young readers have spoken, and they’ve spoken loudly. Skeleton Creek and Ghost in the Machine certainly don’t replace traditional books – not by a long shot – but they do have a place in the hearts and minds of a technologically driven culture.

I’ve been saying from the very start that the book is always the destination with these kinds of stories. Everything else about multimedia books is designed to get young readers turning more pages, and that is certainly the case with my new project, which Scholastic is announcing today.

Here’s the first round of information about TRACKERS, the follow up to Skeleton Creek and Ghost in the Machine. Think of TRACKERS as Skeleton Creek 2.0, a super-spy novel with more characters, more gadgets, and more cameras.

Today we’re releasing 3 items:

Thank you for following along!
Patrick