The Wizard Rides the Magic School Bus: Nick Ruth and the Remin Chronicles

In 2007, the Just for Mom Foundation presented a series of profiles of Mom’s Choice Awards Alumni on its website. Lucie Bouchard Antoniazzi profiled author Nick Ruth, MCA award-winner for his fantasy chapter book series. We are republishing that feature (adding links and updated information) as part of our Alumni Spotlight series.

The recipient of the Fall 2005 Mom’s Choice Award in the category of Chapter Books – Ages 8 and Up is The Dark Dreamweaver (Imaginator Press), written by Nick Ruth and illustrated by Sue Concannon. Find out more about the book by visiting www.darkdreamweaver.com/.

Just For Mom (JFM) recently had the pleasure of interviewing Nick Ruth to find out just how this award-winning book came about and what Nick has planned for the future.

JFM: What inspired you to write this book?

Nick: The German philosopher Eberhard Arnold once said, “Only those who look with the eyes of children can lose themselves in the object of their wonder.” That quote points to the origins of The Dark Dreamweaver, a fantasy novel that allowed me to wander around inside my son David’s imagination. It was hard for me, as an adult, to play at his level, but reading stories to him opened a door that brought us together. First I started to just add him into other stories, where he became the hero, helping the Magic School Bus kids or walking down the yellow brick road with Dorothy. He enjoyed those adventures so much that I decided to create a small adventure just for him. I started with the idea of a cursed wizard, and soon found that my 10 page story had taken on a life of its own and the adventure had to continue for another 190 pages. Now my son is a hero in his own book, and I am a hero in his eyes.

JFM: Briefly explain your experience with the elaboration of your book, working with your team (illustrators, designers, publishers, etc.).

Nick: Story ideas are fairly easy to come by, but once you have them down on paper the real work begins. I found that the easiest thing to do was to come up with the first draft of the story. I never believed other authors when they talked about books that wrote themselves, but my experiences with The Dark Dreamweaver opened my eyes and kept my fingers busy, as the characters came to life and went on the adventure while I tried to keep up and get the whole thing down on paper.

As this was my first novel, I thought that the hard work was done when the story was finished. Foolish author! The editing phase is where the real magic happens. Besides the obvious spelling and grammatical changes, the first draft needed many other edits to produce a finished product. Skilled editors took my story (originally written for an audience of one) and turned it into a children’s fantasy that had a much wider appeal. They took my boring introductory pages and forced me to ratchet up the excitement. At their urging, I even removed some of my favorite parts (which I have vowed to return in future stories) to make the story better. They analyzed each character and ensured that there was consistency throughout the entire adventure. During one particularly funny exchange my editors begged me to find a character’s coat that appeared and disappeared with alarming regularity. Put the editors down as hero sidekicks.

Now that the story was polished we turned to Sue Concannon, an artist friend, to add the finishing touches. She read the story and set to work to capture the world of Remin, and with each finished illustration, the adventure moved from imagination to reality. When the cover art arrived, I could only shake my head in wonder. The imaginary world of Remin had become a real place for me and for all other readers and fans.

So now what do you do with a polished, illustrated story? You give it to a designer to put all the pieces together. I never considered all the decisions that go into this phase of book publishing. What font to use, color arrangements, page size, placement of every single word on the slipcovers and the flaps, chapter titles, and more. Now the finished product is shining so brightly that it’s almost blinding compared to the ragged dingy first draft that began the project.

And finally it’s off to the printer to wrap it and tie a bow around it. Voila! One story hero, one author hero, and a multitude of sidekicks have come together to bring the world of The Dark Dreamweaver to your bookshelf.

JFM: What goal did you have in mind when developing this book? Do you feel that you have achieved that goal?

Nick: As I stated earlier, I wrote this adventure for an audience of one: my son David, so that I could play in his world and give him an adventure all his own. I think I achieved that goal and much more. My son, who always loved to read, has started to write his own short stories and has become an online book reviewer. The story appears to strike a chord with young readers who finish it and read it again and beg for new adventures. I’ve succeeded beyond anything I could have dreamed of when I first set pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard).

JFM: What is in store for the future?

Nick: Success breeds success. No sooner did I finish the first story then the clamor arose for more stories. My son begged for another story, and being weak-willed, I agreed to a second adventure. The Remin Chronicles: Book 2: The Breezes of Inspire appeared in September, 2005, and has been received enthusiastically by the eager readers of The Dark Dreamweaver. Book 3 is struggling toward daylight, and ideas for future books whirl around in my brain at all hours of the day and night. The adventure continues.

Look for Nick Ruth’s books at www.darkdreamweaver.com/.

Sheila Ruth of Imaginator Press had this to say about the Mom’s Choice Awards: “Thank you for setting up this wonderful program. We’ve won other awards, but none have been as thoughtful and helpful to the winners as yours. It’s been a great experience.”

Update 2009 – In addition to the Mom’s Choice Award, The Dark Dreamweaver and/or The Remin Chronicles Series has won the following literary awards.

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