Today we welcome sisters Gina and Annete Cascone, the authors of the Deadtime Stories book series, which have recently been adapted to television by Nickelodeon.
What went into choosing these six of the books to be re-released?
Were they revised in any way for new audiences?
We decided to choose some of our favorites, and in doing so, we’ve run the gamut from classic ghost story (GRAVE SECRETS) to not so classic monster movie (GRANDPA’S MONSTER MOVIES.) We also wanted to include one of the funnier stories, (LITTLE MAGIC SHOP OF HORRORS,) as well as one of the scariest, (THE WITCHING GAME.)
Because the books were originally written in the 90’s, each story needed to be revised to include the new technology.
*The other two re-released titles are INVASION OF THE APPLEHEADS and THE BEAST OF BASKERVILLE
Is there anything from your childhood that helped shape the stories you tell in your books?
All of the DEADTIME STORIES stem from our childhood experiences – real or imagined. For example, the idea for GRAVE SECRETS came about as the result of growing up next door to the scariest old lady on earth; THE WITCHING GAME was inspired by a silly game we used to play in our bathroom mirror, called “Mary Weatherworth;” THE BEAST OF BAKSERVILLE originated from our attempt to convince our neighborhood friends that the Jersey Devil lived in our sewer and unfolds over a game of “kick-the-can”– a neighborhood favorite.
Whose idea was it to begin writing, and why the choice to write together under the name A.G. Cascone at first?
It was Gina’s idea for the two of us to start writing together. We decided to use A.G. Cascone at first to mask the fact that we were women. Unfortunately, the feeling at the time was that young male readers were more hesitant to read books written by women, particularly in this genre. On the up side, it was way easier to design the covers with just one name.
You also wrote for the R.L. Stine series: The Ghosts of Fear Street (Attack of the Aqua Apes, Eye of the Fortune Teller). How did that come about? Did you do other work for Stine’s series?
Jane Stine, R.L. Stine’s wife and owner of Parachute Publishing, happened to read one of our young adult thrillers and liked it. As a result, she offered us the opportunity to write for Ghosts of Fear Street. Most of the work we did with Parachute was geared toward that series.
I know you have written a number of Young Adult novels as well, (In a Crooked Little House, If He Hollers, There’s No Place Like Home…) Do you plan any further teen novels? Do you enjoy writing in the YA format as much as scaring younger kids?
We’re always batting around ideas and are certainly hoping to do more teen novels in the future. While writing for both age groups is fun for us, there’s something to be said for sitting around thinking like an eight year old all day.
How do you write together? Does one person draft, do you just toss up ideas?
It actually depends on the format. When we’re writing YA thrillers, we tend to split up the voices of the characters. In other words, one of us will write all of the chapters driven by the hero, heroine and any other good guys while the other will write the chapters whose voice is driven by the psychos, suspects, and bad guys. When we are writing for a younger audience, we tend to just split the chapters equally. In both formats, we sit together to plot and outline.
How did you go about making your popular book series into a television show?
Accidentally. In looking for distribution for GRAVE SECRETS which was filmed as a full length feature in 2011, we came across a company whose interest was in developing the series as a whole – for television. A few months later, Nickelodean came aboard, and DEADTIME became a television show!
Who translates the novels into a script format, and are you happy so far with the treatment of your stories?
Each episode is being written by us, so we are more than happy with the treatment of our stories.
In future episodes of Deadtime Stories on TV, will we see any of the original series that were not part of the re-release? Are there any new stories in the works, or are there any other stories that you would like to tell as the series continues?
Yes. As a matter of fact, we just finished filming TERROR IN TINY TOWN which was the first book in the original series and not yet re-released. Since Nickelodean will be airing the episodes weekly as the series continues, we will be writing plenty of new stories to keep up.
When can we expect to see more episodes air on Nickelodeon?
Soon! The moment we know the exact date and time we will post it on our website — www.agcascone.com — and on the Deadtime Stories for Kids Facebook page.
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