I sent E.D. Baker some questions--through Kate Lied, the awesome editor at Bloomsbury! E.D. Baker was so generous with her time and so here is my interview. Thank you SO much E.D. Baker, this really means a lot to me and the readers of my blog!!
Mollie Kate: How do you feel about finishing the series?
E.D. Baker: I've thoroughly enjoyed writing the tales of the Frog Princess and will miss writing about many of the characters. However, I do intend to revisit a few of the characters again sometime in the future. I think Zoe and Frances need their own story and I really want to write abut Pearl.
MK: What or who inspires you to write?
EDB: A lot of the animals in my life inspire me when I'm creating characters or creatures. We breed horses, and they inspired me when I created the hipporines in Wings: A Fairy Tale. We have two Newfoundlands and a black lab. The masses of fur they shed helped me created the black fur beast in The Wide Awake Princess. I'm also inspired by things I've read, like the classic fairy tales (The Frog Princess and The Wide Awake Princess), Shakespeare (Wings: A Fairy Tale), and non-fiction books such as Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart (the stinging tree in A Prince Among Frogs).
MK: How did you feel about your book being made into a movie?
EDB: I was excited, although disappointed that it really didn't follow my story.
MK: how old were you when you started writing?
EDB: Eleven-years old. I wrote a story for an assignment in school and was hooked.
MK: Do you ever have a hard time figuring out what to write?
EDB: Not really. I have a long list of books that I intend to write someday, so I always know what my next book will be. When I'm writing a book, I do different levels of outlines--a very general outline at first, then one broken down into chapters, then more specific outlines as I'm writing each chapter. I've found that outlining like this really helps me know what to write next. I don't generally get writer's block because when I can't figure out where to go with one think, I work on something that I think will be fun--like a spell for the tales of the Forg Princess.
MK: Who is your favorite writer?
EDB: my favoirte writer has long been Hodgson Burnett, the author of The Little Princess and The Secret Garden.
MK: What was your favorite book to write?
EDB: I've enjoyed writing every book that I've written so far. If I'm not enjoying it when I write, I feel that I must not be doing something right and I rethink it. (I believe that if the author doesn't enjoy what she's writing, the readers probably won't enjoy it either.) that said, I may have have enjoyed writing The Wide Awake Princess a bit more than the others. I loved working various fairy tales into the story.
To learn more about E.D. Baker and her great books, you can go to her website at
