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I’m always eager to read your comments about my books and stories, so please feel free to pitch in. Here are a few things for you to know:
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2) No message shows up here until I actually answer it to prevent spam and other inappropriate postings. So there will sometimes be a delay before your message posts, especially if I am traveling.
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Hello Mr. Coville,
I have messaged you here once before. I have a question I need to ask you.
I am doing a research paper, and I decided to research your life, as well as the inspiration behind 3 of your most popular series. I have found articles where you mentioned the inspiration behind 2 of them, but I can't find anything about the third one. What was the inspiration behind the Unicorn Chronicles?
Thank you,
Zach Talon
I have messaged you here once before. I have a question I need to ask you.
I am doing a research paper, and I decided to research your life, as well as the inspiration behind 3 of your most popular series. I have found articles where you mentioned the inspiration behind 2 of them, but I can't find anything about the third one. What was the inspiration behind the Unicorn Chronicles?
Thank you,
Zach Talon
Reply by Bruce Coville
Hey, Zach -
Glad to hear from you. The answer to this one is a bit odd, and a bit entangled.
My second picture book, SARAH'S UNICORN, was written because my wife asked me to write after we had gotten turned down on another project. When we first submitted it (1977 or 1978), it was turned down by the editor we were working with because she thought there were too many unicorn picture books.
This was not so. There were unicorn mugs, posters, buttons, and probably toilet paper. But no unicorn picture books. I asked her to look again, and the book went forward, and became a solid success.
As a result, I became, to a degree, the unicorn guy. My next iteration in that guise was when I compiled THE UNICORN TREASURY for Doubleday.
Later, in the early 1990's, Jean Feiwel (the smartest woman in publishing) invited me in to Scholastic to discuss doing a new series. We threw some ideas back and forth, and when she said "unicorn world" I said "I'm you're guy."
It was supposed to be, by contract, a three book series, one a year, about 40,000 words each. As it turned out, it became a 4 book series, each significantly larger than the preceding volumes.
Unicorns . . . sometimes they just carry you away!
Glad to hear from you. The answer to this one is a bit odd, and a bit entangled.
My second picture book, SARAH'S UNICORN, was written because my wife asked me to write after we had gotten turned down on another project. When we first submitted it (1977 or 1978), it was turned down by the editor we were working with because she thought there were too many unicorn picture books.
This was not so. There were unicorn mugs, posters, buttons, and probably toilet paper. But no unicorn picture books. I asked her to look again, and the book went forward, and became a solid success.
As a result, I became, to a degree, the unicorn guy. My next iteration in that guise was when I compiled THE UNICORN TREASURY for Doubleday.
Later, in the early 1990's, Jean Feiwel (the smartest woman in publishing) invited me in to Scholastic to discuss doing a new series. We threw some ideas back and forth, and when she said "unicorn world" I said "I'm you're guy."
It was supposed to be, by contract, a three book series, one a year, about 40,000 words each. As it turned out, it became a 4 book series, each significantly larger than the preceding volumes.
Unicorns . . . sometimes they just carry you away!