You've seen the Peculiar video...
You've read the Peculiar beginnings...
Now get a taste of the Peculiar sequel...
You've read the Peculiar beginnings...
Now get a taste of the Peculiar sequel...
Can you tell us how you came to write this book?
Which came first: the story or the photographs?
I have no idea where most of my ideas come from, but Miss Peregrine has a very specific origin story. A few years ago, I started collecting vintage snapshots—the kind you can find in loose piles at most flea markets for fifty cents or a buck apiece. It was just a casual hobby, nothing serious, but I noticed that among the photos I found, the strangest and most intriguing ones were alwasy of children. I began to wonder who some of these strange-looking children had been—what their stories were—but the photos were old and anonymous and there was no way to know. So I thought: If I can't know their real stories, I'll make them up.
The photographs came first, but I never stopped collecting. Even as I was writing the story I was finding more photographs to work in. Ultimately, the photos and the story influenced each other. Sometimes I'd find a new photo that just demanded to be included in the story, and I'd find a way to work it in; other times I'd look for a certain type of photo to fit a story idea I had. It was a fun, strange, organic writing process, unlike anything I'd attempted before.
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| Borrowed from The Soul Sisters Also, technically not from their Powell's stop, but my camera refused to offer an in-focus picture. |
