Author Derek Taylor Kent writes the books for his award-winning, popular middle-grade series, Scary School, using the pen name "Derek the Ghost." This eleven-year-old character lives at the school and narrates the stories, writing about all of the crazy things that go on there. Kent created this character and pen name so that he could more easily capture the voice of his audience, allowing his readers to better relate to the stories. This approach has given him a big advantage, as publishers have told him they have a hard time finding content that is appropriate for this age group. He has expanded on this in his marketing efforts by offering a tour of the Scary School on his website along with opportunities to interact with "Derek the Ghost." He's found that authors as characters, such as the popular Lemony Snicket, keep kids engaged and interested, while opening the door for unique marketing initiatives.
Click here to play this audio clip
I had an experience when I had written an animation. The most wonderful part was imagining each child character's voice. Also, if the character wasn't human, there's a lot of fun in putting that together I noticed how he smiled while telling about his times projecting the child voices. I can definitely relate to him in that aspect.
Very useful info thank you