Scooby Doo interviewed Michael Hoeye, author of Time Stops for No Mouse and The Sands of Time.

Scooby Doo:  Why did you choose to write about mice?  Why not cats or dogs?

Mr. Hoeye:  I'm not sure why.  My cat Lionel never liked the idea of a book about mice.  Never.  I kept the manuscript hidden from him for a long time.  And I was very careful when discussing the book in front of him to avoid the "M" word.  He became very suspicious after he saw the sketches for the book's cover.  But I convinced him that Time Stops for No Mouse was actually going to be book about computers.

Scooby Doo:  How did you come up with such great ideas for your books?

Mr. Hoeye:  The first book, Time Stops for No Mouse, happened accidentally.  My wife was traveling and working in Asia.  And I wanted to write something that I thought would entertain her and cheer her up at the end of a long, hard day.

For the second book, The Sands of Time, I spent almost a year thinking about before I began writing it.  I wanted to write something about history and about evidence -- how and why people argue over the interpretation of history.  I spent a lot of time skulking about in museums, old natural history museums in particular.  I photographed a lot of museum displays in New York and Prague and Budapest.  Then I just played with ideas and took notes.  Naturally I had to run all my ideas past Hermux, Tucka, Linka, Mirrin and Terfle.  They all made suggestions some of them good.  And some not.  Tucka's ideas always seemed to give her more scenes and long speeches to make and great costumes to wear.  But eventually we got everything ironed out and I got to sit down and write.

Scooby Doo:  Why/How did you invent the characters names, for example, Tucka Mertslin, Hermux Tantamoq, and Linka Perflinger?

Mr. Hoeye:  The name Hermux Tantamoq is what started this whole thing.  I was playing a particularly difficult game of Anagrams with my wife Martha.  She made up the rules and we had to come up not just a word, but the name of an imaginary character and we had to describe the character and say what they did.  I unfortunately drew the letters "X" and "Q."  However in hindsight, this was probably not unfortunate at all, but rather the luckiest thing that has ever happened to me.  Except for meeting my wife in the first place.  All I could manage to come up with was "Hermux Tantamoq."  I was so taken by the name that I just started making up little stories about him.  And eventually one of those stories just took on a life of its own and became Time Stops for No Mouse.

Scooby Doo:  Have you written any other young adult books besides Time Stops for No Mouse and The Sands of Time?

Mr. Hoeye:  No.

Scooby Doo:  Do you plan to write a third book in the Hermux series?  If so, do you how many books in this series you plan to write?

Mr. Hoeye:  I am currently working on the third book.  It is tentatively titled Once Upon a Borrowed Time.  I am not sure how many Hermux books I will write.  As many as I have good stories for, I imagine.

Scooby Doo:  How long have you been an author?

Mr. Hoeye:  I have been an "author" since 1999 when I began writing Time Stops.  However I started writing more than 30 years ago.  Along the way I have spent a lot of time writing letters to close friends and keeping journals.  For about eight years I kept a close record of my dreams, writing them down as clearly and accurately as I could.  Then I took three years out to study psychology and learn to write essays.  Then I spent seven years learning to write advertising and marketing.  I wrote everything from fortune cookies to company brochures.  Each one of these writing projects taught me very important things about writing and communicating with myself and with others.  The final result, I guess, is that now I can officially call myself an "author."

If there is a moral in this story, it is this:  Don't give up.  Writing is not a simple process.  And you may not learn how to do it overnight.  On the other hand you may, some writers just jump right to it and know from an early age what they want to say and how they want to say it.  But that is now how it worked out for me.

Scooby Doo:  How/Why did you become an author?

Mr. Hoeye:  I love to write.  I love the work of making sentences, paragraphs and chapters.  And I love to tell stories.  When I finally put the two together the result was Time Stops for No Mouse.

Scooby Doo:  My Grampsy has read your book Time Stops for No Mouse and he is 75, and I have read this book and I am 11.  Did you plan to have such a wide range of ages reading these books?

Mr. Hoeye:  No.  I didn't actually plan on any readers at all except my wife.  Maybe that is why I was able to finish it.  Having readers is a wonderful surprise and bonus.  I am happy to know that people of different ages are enjoying my work.

Scooby Doo:  Do you enjoy writing books? If so why do you enjoy writing books?

Mr. Hoeye:  There are two main things about writing that I respond to.  I am happiest when I am making something.  Learning how to make a book has been very satisfying.  Originally I published my own books so "writing" involved a lot more than just making up the story and writing the words.  It included editing, designing, typesetting, and even fabricating the books.  The first 3 editions of my book were very small and required a lot of handwork.  I had to assemble the books myself.  It was very repetitive work but required a lot of attention to detail.  I liked it a lot.

The second aspect of writing books that I really enjoy is the sheer adventure of it all.  When I start a book I do not know what is going to happen.  It is like exploring a new city or a country or a wilderness.  It is always surprising.  And it often feels a bit dangerous.  The same is true for each chapter, each paragraph, and each sentence.  I don't know in advance what surprises or problems I will encounter.  Of course the worse thing that can happen is that I will get completely lost and fail miserably.  That isn't so bad when it is just a sentence.  But when a paragraph fails it hurts a little more.  It's worse when a chapter fails.  And naturally, the entire book can fail which is not exactly a cheery thought.  But the danger of getting lost is part of what makes writing exciting.  And the possibility of seeing something entirely new unfold is a source of continuous wonder.

Scooby Doo:  How long did it take you to write Time Stops for No Mouse?  How long did it take you to write The Sands of Time?

Mr. Hoeye:  It took six months to write Time Stops.  And about six months for The Sands of Time.  However both times I spent about a year mulling over the story.

Scooby Doo:  Where did you get the ideas for the characters, Hermux Tantamoq, Linka Perflinger, Tucka Mertslin, Lanyada Prink, Elusa,Hinkum Stepfitchler, Birch, Mirrin, and, Pup aka Dr. Mennus?

Mr. Hoeye:  See below.

Scooby Doo:  Do any of your characters remind you of anyone that you know?

Mr. Hoeye:  Aspects of some of the characters do remind me of people I have known.  But most of the characters are based on people I would like to know.

Scooby Doo:  Why do you have pictures on the front of your books that have nothing to do with the book?  Do you do this to mislead your readers or just because you want to?

Mr. Hoeye:  For the covers I wanted strong graphic images that captured the mood of the books without giving away a lot of the details.

Scooby Doo:  Do you have a favorite author?

Mr. Hoeye:  I have dozens of favorite authors.  As far as literature for young readers I would include Mark Twain, Ursula LeGuin, Roald Dahl, E.B. White, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, Jane Austen, Willa Cather, and Antoine St.-Exupery.  I'm sure I'm leaving out a lot of writers I love.  But these are who come immediately to mind.

Scooby Doo:  Do you have a favorite kind of book?

Mr. Hoeye:  I like mysteries, adventure (particularly scientific adventure), and good old-fashioned character-driven novels.