WDW Radio Kids & Teens Day: Ridley Pearson Answers My ...

By: Admin on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

by Makena W.

Have you ever thought about what questions you would ask your favorite author if you had the opportunity?? With a little help from Jenn, an amazing assistant whom I?ve never met, I was able to do just that.? The author I admire most is Ridley Pearson. He has written my two favorite book series: Peter and the Starcatchers and Kingdom Keepers. These series are filled with action, suspense, and Disney!???? ?I sent a cluster of questions to Ridley Pearson earlier this year in hopes that he would respond.? ?Jenn, Ridley?s incredible assistant, was kind enough to reply and offered to have Ridley answer any 5 questions I wanted to ask if I could narrow my list down. ?I tried to ask very unique questions that weren?t answered on his website (basically avoiding questions like ?Why did you write The Kingdom Keepers series?? and ?What inspired you to write this book??) to make it an interesting interview for Ridley and all of you readers out there. ?Jenn passed on my revised list to Ridley (who is a VERY busy man-he was writing Kingdom Keepers 6 and another adult book at the time) and I waited and hoped to hear back. These are my 5 questions and Ridley Pearson?s responses.

1. Are the 5 Kingdom Keepers based on people you know in real life?
Partially.? Finn/Philby have a lot of me in them. Charlene has a lot of my daughter, Paige. And Storey Ming is a new character that IS my daughter, Storey.

2. Which KK characters are you most like?
Finn and Philby

3. ?Why did you decide to incorporate Virtual Magic Kingdom into Kingdom Keepers?
When VMK was up, I was a big fan.? It visually had a lot to do with what I was doing with my ideas in the books.? It was sad to see it go. Rumors of its return are untrue.

4. Which question are you most sick of hearing in interviews?
Where do you get your ideas?? My joke answer is Walmart.

5. Where do you get your characters? names for the books? Are they anagrams?
Philby came from a spy during the Cold War. Maybeck is an architect who created many buildings/houses at a college my wife attended. Finn was originally spelled Fynn but my publishers would not allow it spelled that way, so it was changed

I hope you guys enjoyed this brief e-mail interview with Ridley Pearson. I certainly enjoyed getting a response from him. Kingdom Keepers 5 ? Shell Game officially comes out today, April 3rd, and I will have the privilege of meeting Ridley Pearson and getting my copy of KK5 signed tonight.? Make sure you get your copy and start reading then join Lou Mongello on April 23 at 7:30pm when Ridley will be available to answer your questions, as well (see either the www.wdwradio.com? or www.ridleypearson.com? websites for details). I?ll definitely be there.

If you have any questions for Ridley, please consider checking out the FAQ section of his website before contacting him. Imagine getting hundreds of emails asking the same exact question. I think I would throw my computer out the window!

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Where in the World was this picture taken? (Note: there are many of these around this building.)

2 BONUS Quotes of the Week:

?Well, if we don?t believe in ourselves, who will?? ~Maybeck, Kingdom Keepers 4
?Starfish wise, starfish cries,? ~Finn, Kingdom Keepers 5

See ya REAL soon!
~Makena

Makena is a 13 year old middle school student who spends much of her free time researching Disney. She enjoys sharing Disney facts and even plans Walt Disney World vacations (including searches for secrets and Hidden Mickeys) for friends and family.

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