The Coville Story

Hey gang,

Had my last day of news writing today, and turned in the Bruce Coville article. Now all I have to do is finish my final graphics project in the next two days, and boot camp is over. I need to get to work on that, so can't write much now. Oh, one thing related to my last blog post-- Kevin Smith won his appeal with the MPAA, and "Zack and Miri" is officially rated R, and he didn't need to make any further cuts. Good news.

All right, here's the article, if you're interested:

All in a Day’s Plork
By Nick Roberts

Bruce Coville, the Syracuse-based children’s author, has now published over 90 books. His career began in the 1970s, when he and his wife, Katherine, started making picture books; he wrote and she illustrated. His newest novel is “Dark Whispers,” the eagerly anticipated third installment in his popular “Unicorn Chronicles” series, which was published August 1.

Coville, 58, is a man of great energy. Speaking at his Clarke Street office, he often taps the surface of the desk in front of him for emphasis, jerks his eyebrows up and down, or jumps out of his seat to grab something from the cluttered bookshelf or the adjoining room. It is the energy of a man who gets to make his living doing what he loves most.

“I always had an affinity for being with kids, for playing with kids, for hanging around with kids,” Coville says. “I also knew I wanted to write.”

One of the reasons he writes for children is because, even now, many of his favorite books are kids’ books. He and Katherine have three children of their own; Orion, 38; Cara, 33; and Adam, 27.

“What I try to do, every time I write a kid’s book, is write a book that I would have wanted to read myself when I was a kid,” he says.

Likewise, Coville specializes in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres because those were the kinds of stories he enjoyed as a child.

“I wanted to be the next Edgar Rice Burroughs,” Coville says. Fantasy also has some advantages over other genres, he points out.

“Writing fantasy lets you talk about big issues, more directly than you can in contemporary fiction, in some ways.”

As an example, he cites his most commercially successful book, 1992’s “My Teacher Flunked the Planet,” the fourth and final book in his wildly popular “My Teacher is an Alien” series, which sold over 1.5 million copies.

“It’s the most profound political and philosophical statement I’ve made, and it’s the best seller of my books, and a lot of people don’t know about it. I take a certain amount of pride in that.... That me and the kids have this thing.”

Despite its commercial success, the book failed to garner much attention among critics and reviewers because it was published as a paperback original and because it was the fourth book in a series.

Michael Stearns, 42, a New York literary agent and former editor who worked on several of Coville’s books in the 1990s, says that Coville would be an even bigger name than he already is, but the kinds of books he writes do not normally receive consideration for the Newbury and other major children’s literature awards. Even so, Stearns is a firm believer in the quality of Coville’s work.

“The ‘Unicorn Chronicles’ and the ‘Magic Shop’ books are some of the best children’s books out there,” Stearns says.

Stearns admires the passion Coville puts into his work. Some writers get into children’s fiction because they think it will be easier to publish there after failing in the adult fiction market, but that is not the case with Coville.

“Bruce writes for kids because he loves writing for kids,” Stearns says.

In addition to loving his work and having fun with it, Coville acknowledges there is a higher purpose to what he does, an educational aspect to children’s literature.

“The greatest tool... that people need for us to survive as a culture is empathy. And the only way to teach empathy is through story,” he says. “There’s no other way. Because in a story you live inside somebody else’s skin. And the more stories and the more compelling the stories, the more you help the child understand the other.”

Most of the time, Coville is happy with what he has accomplished and achieved in his career.

“If you have the blessing to make your living at meaningful work that you love, what more can you ask of success?” he says.

At other times, he lets on that he aspires to even greater things.

“What I really would love is for my work to be remembered 500 years from now,” he says.

Tamora Pierce, 53, is a fellow writer of fantasy and science fiction for young adults, and a close friend of Coville’s. She was in the audience at Boskone, a science fiction convention in Boston, when Coville participated in a discussion on how J.K. Rowling’s blockbuster “Harry Potter” series has impacted the industry. As Pierce recalls, Coville went to the microphone and articulated a thought that must have passed through the mind of every children’s writer.

“Why not me, God? Why not me?” he shouted, prompting laughter and applause.

The two sides of Coville’s personality, the exuberant side that does everything just for the fun of it, and the relentlessly hardworking side that always wants to achieve more, are both evident in his other business venture, Full Cast Audio.

Coville started the company in 2001 with friend and business partner Dan Bostick, 46. Their idea was to produce audio books with a full cast, so that each character would have a different voice. Unlike radio drama, which uses mostly dialogue and sound effects while eliminating narration, the Full Cast Audio recordings are unabridged, often using the book’s real author as the narrator.

“Full Cast Audio is a fusion of literature and theater,” says Bostick, who met Coville in 1989 when they were both acting in a local community theater festival.

The company records about 14 books per year, and will complete its 80th recording in 2009, Bostick says. Despite being so productive, the company has struggled to make money in its first seven years.

“We have hopes of making it a financially successful company,” Coville says.

That was never the main objective, however. Bostick recalls being taken aback when Coville told him, at the start of their partnership, that the primary goal was not profitability. He asked what the purpose was, if not to make money.

“It’s to have fun,” Coville said.

The partners hope that their fun-loving spirit will lead to profits.

“When you’re in the business of having fun, everybody wants to work with you,” Bostick says.

In this case, fun does not mean relaxed. The company strives to produce recordings of the highest quality, that perfectly realize the author’s vision.

“We’re very focused on the details. We’re both very exacting. We both have high standards,” Bostick says.

Others within the company share Coville and Bostick’s vision. Brett Hobin, 30, is the owner of Hobin Studios in Baldwinsville and the sound engineer/editor for Full Cast Audio.

“We all are (perfectionists). There’s no weak link. We’re all pretty good at what we do,” Hobin says. “We’re a bunch of workaholics.”

That might sound like a stressful situation, but Hobin says Coville makes it enjoyable.

“He’s pretty much a master of making comfortable and productive surroundings. We’re just a couple of pals doing work,” Hobin says.

Brett Hobin’s father, Todd, also works with the company. A 59-year-old musician, he records an original musical score for each Full Cast Audio production. Todd says the Full Cast team can work as hard as they do and still have a good time because they are so dedicated to their work.

“Virtually anybody that works with us is passionate about what we do. You don’t have to drive anybody. We’re already driven,” he says, adding that, “Every day is a blast with Bruce.”

Pierce, Coville’s friend and fellow author, is one of the writers who has been most involved with Full Cast Audio. 10 of her books have been recorded by the company, with Pierce serving as the narrator. She even wrote one novel, “Melting Stones,” as an audio book exclusive for Full Cast Audio (the print version will be released later this year). When Pierce approached Coville with the idea of doing a Full Cast exclusive, he was excited.

“First I had to convince him I wasn’t pulling his lariat,” Pierce says.

In addition to working on new books and directing productions for Full Cast Audio, Coville maintains a busy travel schedule. He gives many speeches at schools and appears at conferences and conventions, such as the summer conference for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. This year’s conference took place from August 1-4 in Los Angeles, with Coville giving the keynote speech.

Bostick says Coville makes so many appearances because he knows he owes his success to all the fans, young and old, who love his work.

“He operates constantly within a state of gratitude,” Bostick says. “He truly is grateful to every single person who likes his work.”

Considering his travel schedule, his writing, and his audio book productions, not much time is left over for leisure activities.

“It’s not too much of an issue because I plork,” Coville says. “‘Plork’ is a word I made up for myself. Play and work. Plork. It sounds vaguely dirty, but it’s not.”

He considers most of his activities plorking because, “If I wasn’t doing Full Cast Audio as a business, I’d still love to do that. If I was working full time at some other job, I’d write because I wanted to.”

Next up on the plork schedule is the fourth book in the “Unicorn Chronicles” series. “Dark Whispers” ends in a cliffhanger, and Coville says some fans are already clamoring for the next installment.

“It’s the only thing I dare work on.”