Freak the Mighty (14 page)

After years of writing mysteries and suspense thrillers for adults, Rodman Philbrick
decided to try his hand at a novel for young readers. That novel,
Freak the Mighty
, was published in 1993 to great acclaim and stellar reviews. In addition to being
named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and winning several state awards, it was also
made into the Miramax feature film
The Mighty
in 1998. Rod returns to Maxwell Kane’s story in a sequel,
Max the Mighty
, a fast-paced cross-country odyssey.

Rod takes young readers to the American West in his exhilarating tale of two brothers
on the run,
The Fire Pony
, winner of the Capital Choice Award, and on to a land where nothing is as it seems
in the science-fiction adventure
REM World
. His thought-provoking novel
The Last Book in the Universe
, also an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, takes place in a futuristic world where
no one reads anymore.
School Library Journal
named Rod’s most recent book,
The Young Man and the Sea
, a Best Book of the Year and praised its “wide-open adventure” and “heart-pounding
suspense.”

Rodman Philbrick has also written several spine-tingling series for young readers
with his wife, Lynn Harnett, including The House on Cherry Street and The Werewolf
Chronicles. Rod and Lynn divide their time between homes on the coast of Maine and
in the Florida Keys.

Q:
You started writing when you were in the sixth grade. Did you always want to be a
writer? Do you remember any of your first stories?

A:
I always wanted to be a writer, although at various times I also wanted to be an
astronaut, a doctor, a lawyer, and so on. The first short story I remember completing
was a five page, trick-ending thing called “The President’s Barber.” Each day the
White House barber gives the president a shave with a straight razor, and each day
he secretly decides whether or not he’ll let the president live, or cut his throat.

Q:
Have you always written for kids?

A:
No. For the first fifteen years of my career as a novelist, I wrote only for adult
readers — mysteries, suspense novels, thrillers, and so on. Then I stumbled on the
idea for a story that had been happening in my backyard, so to speak, and wrote
Freak the Mighty
in the summer of 1992. Since then I’ve published books for young readers as well
as novels intended for adults.

Q:
Did you have a hard time getting your first book published? What other jobs did you
have when you were first starting out as a writer?

A:
I had a lot of trouble getting published. I wrote my first novel at sixteen and then
wrote eight more before I finally found a publisher at age 28. During those years
I worked as a longshoreman, a carpenter, a roofer, and a boat-builder.

Q:
Is
Freak the Mighty
based on a true story?

A:
The idea for
Freak the Mighty
was inspired by the personality of a real boy. Like Kevin, he suffered from a disease
that made him very short. Like Kevin, he had a big friend who sometimes carried him
around. And, like Kevin, the real boy was highly intelligent and interested in both
language and science. His mother, like the Fair Gwen, was and is quite beautiful.
There the similarity ends — the plot of the story is pure fiction.

Q:
What is Kevin’s disease in
Freak the Mighty?

A:
It’s called Morquio Syndrome, and it’s a relatively rare form of dwarfism with serious
medical consequences. You can find more current information about Morquio Syndrome
on the Internet.

Q:
Max is also an unusual character. What inspired you to create him?

A:
I’d seen my little friend riding around on the shoulders of one of his big buddies.
I didn’t know the big guy, so that allowed me to invent an entirely fictional character.
I thought it would be interesting if he had some darkness in his past — a father in
jail, his mother dead.

Q:
The characters in this book have such interesting, evocative names. Gram and Grim.
Loretta Lee. Killer Kane. How did you come up with those?

A:
Names are important to me. I can never really get started on a story until the characters
have names that mean something to me. Sometimes the names come out of thin air, other
times from newspaper articles or songs.

Q:
You’re a native of New England. Does
Freak the Mighty
take place there?

A:
In my mind the setting is a version of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where I went to
high school and lived for many years.

Q:
Were you involved in the movie version of
Freak the Mighty?

A:
I wrote the first screenplay, but the producers thought it was too much like the
book, so another screenwriter was hired. That’s very typical of how movies get made
from books, and I have no complaints. The folks at Miramax decided to change the title
from
Freak the Mighty
to
The Mighty
because they thought my title might be offensive. I think they were wrong, but they
meant well and should get credit for trying to bring such an offbeat story to a larger
audience. I thought the movie was good. It’s different from the book, but almost all
movies based on books are different from the book. That’s the nature of movies.

Q:
You wrote a sequel to this book. How did that come about?

A:
So many kids wrote to me suggesting ideas for a sequel that I decided I’d better
write one myself before someone else did.

Q:
You’ve said that
Freak the Mighty
is about a writer learning to find his voice. How did you find yours?

A:
Over many years and over many thousands of pages. Learning to write a readable, compelling
story was hard work for me.

Q:
You’ve written several books with your wife, Lynn Harnett. Is it hard to write a book
with someone else?

A:
It depends on who you’re writing with! Lynn has been my only collaborator, and she
is an experienced writer and an editor. When my publisher asked if we’d like to write
a series of scary stories for young readers, we said “yes.” Our first series was a
haunted house trilogy called The House on Cherry Street. So far we’ve written ten
books together, but we continue to write books on our own as well.

Q:
Your most recent novel,
The Young Man and the Sea,
is also a kind of quest. What can you tell us about that book?

A:
It’s the story of Skiff Beaman, a kid from the wrong side of the tracks. Actually
from the wrong side of Spinney Creek, on the coast of Maine. Skiff’s father is a good
man, but he’s given up on life since his wife died, and Skiff sets out to rescue them
both by fixing up the family lobster boat, which sinks at the dock in the first chapter.
To get the necessary money to make the repair, he sets out in a very small boat at
night, alone, and journeys thirty miles out to sea to try and harpoon a giant bluefin
tuna. The idea came to me when my younger brother Jonathan (a teenager at the time)
worked as a crewman on a tuna boat. He told me tales of the giant fish and they always
stuck in my mind.

Q:
Do you enjoy fishing?

A:
I’m an avid fisherman, and I practice the fine art of angling as frequently as possible.
When we’re in Maine I fish mostly for striped bass and bluefish. When we’re in the
Florida Keys I fish for a variety of species, including the giant tarpon. Except when
I’m going to cook fish for supper, I always practice “hook and release.”

Rodman Philbrick began writing when he was in the sixth grade. At first, he kept his
stories a secret because writing didn’t seem “cool” or “normal,” but when he turned
sixteen, he decided to send his first novel — about a boy who admires his best friend,
a genius who eventually dies tragically — to several publishers. Although the novel
was rejected, Rod didn’t give up. When he was twenty-eight, his career as a writer
took off with the publication of a suspense novel for adults. Here, Rod shares some
of his tips for writers of all ages.

Rodman Philbrick,
Age 17

1. Getting started is easier than you think. As Freak tells Max, writing is just “talking
on paper.” You can begin by telling a story to yourself — one that you don’t have
to share with anyone else — either by writing in a journal or typing at your computer.

2. Even when you’re writing fiction, you have to tell the truth. This doesn’t mean
you have to write about real people or even your own life, but you can make your readers
believe in
the characters you’re creating if their emotions are clear. Joy makes you feel capable
of flight. Anger puts murder in your heart. An insult physically hurts. These are
feelings we can all relate to.

3. A good memory helps. Again, even if you’re not writing about your own past or present
experiences, the characters and situations you’re writing about need to feel real.
Think about your bedroom. Where do you sit when you’re in there? What can you see
from the windows? What does it smell like outside? These concrete details can help
you shape a world that your readers will recognize — even if you’re writing about
life on another planet.

4. Play the “what if” game. Ask yourself a question, and find out where the answer
leads you. You could start with a question about your own life: What if you found
out you had a twin brother or sister that no one had told you about? What if you wanted
to meet your twin but your parents said it wasn’t a good idea? What would you do?
Or perhaps you could start with a question about the world in general: What if kids
never had to go to school? What if they never learned to read or write? What would
they do instead? What would their lives be like?

5. Listen to the voices in your head. Sometimes when you’re thinking about nothing
in particular, a word or phrase or even a full sentence enters your brain. One day,
I was on a long drive from New York to Maine when I heard a voice say, “I never had
a brain until Freak came along and let me borrow his for a while, and that’s the truth,
the whole truth.” Maybe you’re just daydreaming, or maybe it’s the beginning of your
next story.