An Interview With Author Gitty Daneshvari

Author Reveals Inspirations Behind School of Fear

Sep 18, 2009

Author Gitty Daneshvari talks about the influences behind her children's book School of Fear - and what readers can expect from future books in the series.

Gitty Daneshvari broke into book publishing with The Makedown, a dark romantic comedy for adults. But it was her second book, School of Fear, a children’s book about four kids trying to overcome their phobias of spiders, water, death, and closed spaces by attending a secret school run by a crazy headmistress, that got her noticed – particularly by Warner Brothers, which optioned the film rights before she was even done writing it.

Daneshvari discussed her inspirations for School of Fear with Suite 101 via a September 15, 2009 phone interview. The following is an edited version of the interview.

GD: Well I had always been a very neurotic child and I had tons of phobias. So I had this idea of School of Fear for ages but I hadn’t really seriously thought about writing for middle grade or young adults before. But as I was writing The Makedown, I started thinking more about how a lot of the phobias I had as a kid are still with me. They’re much more manageable but they are still with me. And then I sort of got into it.

GD: They’re all sort of a little bit of me. Except maybe Garrison. They’re also exaggerated and sillier. But I can relate to all of their fears.

S101: Mrs. Wellington, the headmistress of the School of Fear, is crazier than any of the kids. Did anyone from your life inspire this character?

GD: Mrs. Wellington is inspired a little bit by the two Edith Beales from Grey Gardens, it’s this documentary of Jackie Onassis’ aunt and first cousin, and they’re these crazy, past-their-prime socialites who live in the Hamptons in this house that’s utter filth. It’s totally insane. And she’s also inspired by my own ideas of eccentric older women and my own zaniness – but I’m certainly not as zany as she is!

S101: School of Fear is the first in a four book series. What can we expect in future books?

GD: In Book Two, which I’m working on right now, you’ll see the same cast of characters plus a new one. We’re bringing in a new fear. So I’m very excited about that.

GD: I have an idea of how I want it all to play out. But the nice thing about School of Fear is I also want each book to be able to stand alone. It’s not like Harry Potter where it’s one huge story about Harry taking down Voldemort. These are much more stand-alone.

S101: Each chapter of School of Fear is preceded by a definition of a phobia, from Didaskaleinophobia (fear of going to school)to Ablutophobia (fear of washing or bathing) to my personal favorite – Hippopotomonstrosequippedaliophobia (fear of long words). Where did you find these lists of strange phobias and their definitions?

GD: It’s so amazing, isn’t it? There are all these strange phobia definitions on the Internet. I just became totally obsessed with looking for them.

People have all these specific idiosyncrasies and strange fears. I knew a girl who was afraid of orchids because a boyfriend gave her an orchid right before they broke up. A family friend was petrified of cats because she had a weird experience with a cat the summer her mother died. And I like that because then you realize whether your phobia is, “I’m afraid of the dark” or “I’m afraid of purple,” everyone is afraid of something.

GD: Little, Brown found her. They sent me a drawing she had done of Madeline and I absolutely loved it. It was a little Edward Gorey-esque and I felt, “Oh, this woman’s going to do an amazing job.”

Little, Brown would send me the [art for the] chapter headings and I would say, “Well what about this or that” and make comments here and there. At one point I thought all the men had mustaches, so I had to say, “Yeah, take the mustache off Schmidty.” But some of the illustrations were spot-on perfect and I thought she did a great job.

S101: Will you write more children’s books or adult fiction after School of Fear?

GD: I’ve started working on another children’s series – it’s still in very early stages. Another adult piece, I think, will probably wait. I see School of Fear and then maybe this other series in the near future and then I’ll probably come back to adult.

But you never know. Maybe something will happen and I’ll get really inspired and get taken down a different path. But for now I’d say children’s, middle grade to YA, in the immediate future.

Daneshvari, Gitty. School of FearNew York: Little, Brown and Company. 2009. ISBN: 978-0-316-03326-8

The copyright of the article An Interview With Author Gitty Daneshvari in Children’s Books is owned by Michael Jung. Permission to republish An Interview With Author Gitty Daneshvari in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.