Avi’s 2024 Summer Blog Series
Steve Sheinkin
From Avi: As I did in the summer of 2023 and the summer of 2022, I’ve invited 13 admired middle grade authors to write for my blog for the next three months. I hope you’ll tune in each Tuesday to see who has answered these two questions we’re frequently asked by readers. You should have a list of terrific books to read and share by the end of the summer … along with new authors to follow!
Where did you get your idea for a specific book of yours?
Secret codes — that was the spark for my upcoming collaborative novel, The Bletchley Riddle. I’ve always been drawn to the hidden world of codes and ciphers, fascinated by the ways quirky codebreakers have impacted major moments in history. For years it’s been a topic I was determined to “do something” with at some point. I figured it’d be narrative nonfiction, like most of my books.
But then, a few years ago, the great young adult novelist Ruta Sepetys and I started batting around the idea of writing a book together. The idea of setting a story at Bletchley Park — Great Britain’s top secret codebreaking center during World War II — really grabbed both of us. We’re a couple of research nerds, and proud of it! We had an amazing amount of fun learning about this Wonka-like codebreaking factory, exploring hidden history, creating teenage characters, and crafting a mystery full of puzzles and hidden history.
What’s your best writing advice for young writers?
To continue what I was saying above — let curiosity be your guide. People often say you should “write what you know.” Yeah, maybe. I think it’s more important to focus on something that fascinates you, something that really fires your curiosity. Of course you have to be willing to do a bit of research along the way.
It’s like cooking — they say you can “taste the love” a cook puts into their food. That’s definitely true of writing. You can tell if a writer was fully engaged, if they were having fun as they were writing. Sure, in school it’s not always possible to pick your own subjects for writing assignments. But if we’re talking about something you actually want to write, let it be something you’re obsessed with, something you just can’t wait to tell other people about. What if it’s something weird or obscure? Even better! If you’re genuinely interested, you can get readers into it too, and your love of the story will come across in your writing
Particulars
Available Oct 8, 2024,
co-authored with Ruta Sepetys:
The Bletchley Riddle
Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister Lizzie share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they’re living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find themselves amidst one of the greatest secrets of World War II—Britain’s eccentric codebreaking factory at Bletchley Park. As Jakob joins Bletchley’s top minds to crack the Nazi’s Enigma cipher, fourteen-year-old Lizzie embarks on a mission to solve the mysterious disappearance of their mother.
The Battle of Britain rages and Hitler’s invasion creeps closer. And at the same time, baffling messages and codes arrive on their doorstep while a menacing inspector lurks outside the gates of the Bletchley mansion. Are the messages truly for them, or are they a trap? Could the riddles of Enigma and their mother’s disappearance be somehow connected? Jakob and Lizzie must find a way to work together as they race to decipher clues which unravel a shocking puzzle that presents the ultimate challenge: How long must a secret be kept?
1 thought on “Summer Blog Series: Steve Sheinkin”
What a pleasure it is to read such a great blog from so many authors that I admire. Thank you one and all for your terrific writing advice. Edie Pagliasotti