Amanda M. Thrasher
Amanda M. Thrasher, born in England, resides in Fort Worth, Texas. After leaving the corporate world to spend time with her family, Amanda started writing full time. She is the author of the Mischief Patch series, ‘Mischief in the Mushroom Patch’ and ‘A Fairy Match in the Mushroom Patch’ and also the intermediate novel ‘The Ghost of Whispering Willow.’ She spends many hours visiting local schools, educating children about her writing and creative process, and helps raise funds through book fairs with local Barnes & Noble’s. Amanda has just completed a graphic novel, for the‘Texas Municipal Court Education Center’ (Driving on the Right Side of the Road) project, about teen driving safety. She contributes weekly to a blog, and continues to write. The third installment of the Mischief series is under way as is a novel geared toward teens.
Southern Gurl's
What compelled you to write your first book?
Like all writers I love to write, but for me it’s actually creating the story and bringing it to life that I enjoy most. Making it all work. I have written poems and short stories for as long as I can remember, but the first real manuscript that I wrote was in my early twenties. I still have it. My mom simply said, “Why don’t you write a book?” and I did. It was awful, but needed to be written. I believe everyone writes at least a couple of really bad books. Every book I write is better than the last, the writing and story-telling, I mean.
Southern Gurl's
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
I have always wanted to write, but didn’t have any desire to be an author. I simply love creating a story, bringing characters to life, and making it all work. My mind races all of the time, but when I’m writing it’s engaged in a story line, plots, characters, scenes, etc., which is very relaxing for me. Writing, for me, is fun and something I will always do.
Southern Gurl's
How did you come up with your title?
I came up with the Mischief title simply because Jack (one of my characters), is mischievous but in a great way. The fairies in the series live in a mushroom patch, put them together and it had a nice ring to it. I accidently started the ‘rhyming thing’ with ‘A Fairy Match in the Mushroom Patch.’ ‘The Ghost of Whispering Willow’ title is just perfect. There’s actually more than one ghost, yet the title doesn’t indicate that. A nice surprise as the story builds. The ghost children love to play in the Whispering Willow Wood, so the title seemed to me ‘made’ for my story, which is how it should be.
Southern Gurl's
Tell us briefly about your latest book.
Stewart has seen a ghostly figure out of the corner of his eye. This leads him, and his friend, Andy, on an investigation. The boys experience a physical encounter with a ghost! They are forced to join forces with Krista, Ally, Kendall and Maggie, who have also encountered a ghost sighting. The kids soon find that the ghost they encountered isn’t alone, and is in imminent danger. He desperately needs the children’s help. Complete with a kidnapping, ghost village and feud, the kids try to devise a plan in order to help the ghost children reunite with their lost family? But can they do it? ... Um, as they say, “You’ll have to read the book.”
Southern Gurl's
What are you working on at the moment?
I have just written a graphic novel for ‘The Texas Municipal Court Education Center,’ (on behalf of ‘Driving on the Right Side of the Road’ program), about teen driving safety. I am very excited about this project. Illustrators are sending samples of their work to the department in order to bring the story I have written to life. It’s a ghost story, perfect fit for the schools that I will speak to anyway, but also delivers a very important message, driving safely, and the consequences if you don’t. It’s not another ‘do not’ book. It’s a graphic novel that’s a little scary, edgy, and yet one that we believe the kids will actually read. This was the point of delivering the message in this particular way. We shall give this book away across the State of Texas for free, and it will be translated into Spanish as well. I can’t wait to share this book with the schools that I visit, since the message is an important one.
Southern Gurl's
Do you have a favorite character? Why is s/he your favorite?
My favorite character (at this time), without a doubt is Margaret-Rose. She is out of the book ‘The Ghost of Whispering Willow.’ She is beautiful, child-like, but dead. She’s not even a main character, but to me, makes an impression on the reader that is lasting. She understands that she’s gone, but because she truly is ‘child-like’ she never thinks about it. She does the most normal child-like things such as, playing with her doll, wrestling with her brother, skimming pebbles across the water, chasing fire-flies, and even crying when she’s sad. I can picture her so clearly in my minds eye; she is just the neatest little ‘dead girl,’ even though she’s a character.
Southern Gurl's
Do you have a favorite character? Why is s/he your favorite?
My favorite character (at this time), without a doubt is Margaret-Rose. She is out of the book ‘The Ghost of Whispering Willow.’ She is beautiful, child-like, but dead. She’s not even a main character, but to me, makes an impression on the reader that is lasting. She understands that she’s gone, but because she truly is ‘child-like’ she never thinks about it. She does the most normal child-like things such as, playing with her doll, wrestling with her brother, skimming pebbles across the water, chasing fire-flies, and even crying when she’s sad. I can picture her so clearly in my minds eye; she is just the neatest little ‘dead girl,’ even though she’s a character.
Southern Gurl's
How did you feel the day you held the copy of your first book in your hands?
I felt that I had accomplished what my mother had requested of me; it was a task that was done, but once that had sank in, it was the realization that I had written a book. “I wrote a book, this book.” Very scary moment when you share ‘your’ story with the world, and it’s for this reason that I tell all of the kids that I visit, “If you share your work, love your story. You can’t possibly please everyone, but if you love your story, someone else will like it.”
Side Note: I don’t like all of my stories, but a couple of them I do love. Not that the story is amazing to anyone else but me, but it’s usually the characters that leave an impression, I like that the plot works and the story builds as I narrate. (This is a constant learning process, for me). Typically once a piece of work is completed, I am writing at least two more. I move on and I’m done with the one I’ve just finished. I usually don’t fret over the story, it’s done, it’s out there, and I hope my readers enjoy it. If not, maybe they’ll like the next piece that I write.
Southern Gurl's
The main characters of your stories – do you find that you put a little of yourself into each of them or do you create them to be completely different from you?
Once I wrote a story where a character was based on me, but I didn’t even realize it. It was that first manuscript, Miranda, (now I can see it), was the characters name. My dad read the story and said, “This is you. I recognize everything that you did.” I thought I was building a story based on a fictional character that incorporated childhood memories that I’d had. The other characters that I have created, no, they are all not like me at all (that I know of).
Southern Gurl's
When growing up, did you have a favorite author, book series, or book?
As a child my favorite book was‘The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe’ by C.S. Lewis. It actually still sits on my desk today, the one my mom bought me as a kid. It’s taped now, and the pages are yellow, but I still have it. I read this book so many times. I eventually read the entire series, but always went back to ‘The Lion, the Witch& the Wardrobe.”
Amanda Thrasher has a beautiful sweet spirit and loves children, it shows in her writing. Here are some of her works.
Mischief in the Mushroom Patch
Have you ever wondered where fairies get their fairy dust? Lilly and Boris are two mischievous young fairies who leave their home in the mushroom patch without permission.
Boris has flown too fast and tumbles to the forest floor, where he injures his ankle and bends his wing. Meanwhile, the fairy dorm monitor realizes the naughty little fairies are missing and organizes a search party. Once the two are escorted safely back home, Boris is admitted into the infirmary and Lilly is put to bed.
To punish them, Lilly and Boris are put to work for a few days in the fairy dust factory. The factory is an incredible place, producing more fairy dust than any other. Lilly and Boris witness the magic of fairy dust coming to life as they watch it dance and sparkle in the large storage barrels.
The two learn a valuable lesson about this wonderful dust that they have always taken for granted and vow to never be so careless with it again.
A Fairy Match in the Mushroom Patch
The Ghost of Whispering Willow
Ghost alert! In The Ghost of Whispering Willow, Stewart sees a ghostly figure out of the corner of his eye. This leads him and his friend, Andy, on an investigation. The boys experience a physical encounter with a ghost!
They are forced to join forces with Krista, Ally, Kendall and Maggie, who have also encountered a ghost sighting. The kids soon find that the ghost they encountered isn't alone, and is in imminent danger. He desperately needs the children's help.
Can the kids devise a plan to help the ghost in time? Will they be able to reunite a ghost with his lost family? Complete with a ghost village and a feud, this story takes on a life of its own.
Amanda M. Thrasher lives in the Fort Worth, Texas area, and is the author of the Mischief series: Mischief in the Mushroom Patch, A Fairy Match in the Mushroom Patch, and is currently writing the third installment, A Spider Web Scramble in the Mushroom Patch.
She speaks to thousands of kids about children's literature, helps raise money for schools at book fairs and is writing a graphic ghost story for the Texas Municipal Court Education Center, about teen driving safety
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