With the release of Missing on Mystery Mountain in early November, 2021, we caught up with author A. J. Chapman to find out why he wrote the book and what was the inspiration behind this fabulous teen/young adult adventure story.

Why did you write Missing on Mystery Mountain?

I volunteer every year with a large scout camp on Vancouver Island. During 202 we were unable to hold the camp as the pandemic lockdown had restricted in-person gathering. For 2021, we weren't sure we could hold the camp until late in our planning. It was late June before we had the green light from the local health authority and Scouts Canada and out planning window was only one tenth of the time it would normally take us. We had to rewrite our adventure program to enable socially distant activities with a smaller cohort of youth campers. On one evening we had a gap in the schedule and needed something to fill for an hour. I offered to write a short story to fill the gap, and that was the first draft of Missing on Mystery Mountain.

Where did your inspiration come from?

That's easy! Inspiration for the story comes from seeing the teens and young adults that I work with through the Scouts Canada program. Seeing individuals achieve and grow, with new outdoor experiences and challenges was the inspiration for the story. The characters in the story are based on individuals I have met and worked with over the years. Of course, I had to change the names, but they know who they are!

Where is the book set?

We are lucky to hold the Vancouver Island Scout Camp on the shores of Lake Cowichan in British Columbia, Canada. It's a beautiful lake, deep blue and surrounded with mountains that have lush green forests covering them. It made the ideal backdrop to the story.

How close to real events is the story?

I would love to say it's all true but it's not. There are a lot of crashed aircraft on Vancouver Island, and we have hiked with the scouts to see some of the more accessible ones. Having a group of scouts hiking in the forest is nothing new to what we do with the scouts, but in real-life we would never let the scouts go off on their own overnight like I do in the story. The story is almost believable as each element could and does happen in real life. My job as the author is to keep the reader engaged and on the verge of this might have happened.

Did you do the cover art yourself?

No, I'm not that good an artist! I had the talents of Daniela Basista (@danim8tor on Instagram), a graphic arts student from the University of New Mexico. She and I worked on the outline for the characters and she provided sample sketches and compositions for each of the characters and the book based on the descriptions I gave her. I can't recommend her enough - she captured the essence of the characters perfectly!

How did you decide what each character looked like?

In my head I could visualize the characters based on the real-life personalities that I based the story on. We changed some of the characteristics slightly, but the illustrations really do reflect the characters they are based on. Daniela worked from a description of each character. I sent her an outline of what I thought the character looked like, a bit about their personalities, their role in the story and their physical features. She did her magic and it worked wonderfully.

It says Woodwinders Series Book One on the cover, are there more?

That was my editor and partners idea. I already had started a follow-up story and it made sense to follow the same characters in their next adventure. The name Woodwinders came from the fact that the name of the scout camp they met at and started their adventure from in the first book is called Camp Woodwind.

Do you think you are the next J. K. Rowling?

Urm, no. I would love to be the next J. K. Rowling, but I don't think I have the following! If my adventure stories reach a few hundred people and bring a bit of escapism and happiness while they are reading then I'm more than happy with that. I don't see myself as being a world-class author! It would be nice though wouldn't it!

How can I buy a copy?

Oh, that's an easy one. Visit the home page of the website and follow the links or click on Books for other titles in the series as they become available.