Savvy

About Ingrid Law

Ingrid Law is a writer and an artist. She is the author and illustrator of two books for children, and her artwork has appeared in local and national art shows in the US. She lives in Colorado with her twelve-year-old daughter.

Q and A with Ingrid Law


What sort of books did you enjoy growing up?

I’ve always enjoyed fantasy, adventure, and stories with memorable characters. The first book that got me really hooked on reading was Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. After that, I discovered Diana Wynne Jones and she quickly became one of my favourite authors. I also enjoyed the books of Dorothy Gilman, Ursula K. Le Guin, Anne McCaffrey, L.M. Montgomery, and even some comic books and graphic novels.

Have you always wanted to be a writer?

In the last year of junior high school, I took one of those personality tests that attempt to tell you what your best career choice might be when you grow up. My test indicated that I would be either a good fashion designer or a fire fighter (the second one still makes me laugh).

I prefer to interpret the results of that test differently: I love beauty and creating things, and I’ve always wished to be a strong person who can conquer her fears and contribute something that benefits others.

I’ve tried a lot of different things, but there have always been stories in my head, and once I found that I could get those stories onto paper, and that words could be beautiful and fiery and help other people, I knew that I was on the right track and doing something that I love.


Was there a particular moment when you were struck with the central idea for Savvy?

It was on a day in the beginning of 2007. It was snowing. The radio was still reporting about hurricane recovery efforts in Louisiana and Mississippi, and I think that must have gotten into my head. I wanted to start a new project, having been encouraged to submit future projects by several of the forty-five agents who had rejected my previous work. I decided that on that particular day, I would subdue my inner editor and write whatever came to mind—no matter how off-the-wall or crazy it might be—and it wasn’t long before the very first sentence of Savvy appeared on my monitor.

“When my brother Fish turned thirteen, we moved to the deepest part of inland because of the hurricane and, of course, the fact that he’d caused it.”

After that, the book took on its own life as I decided to write a story about kids with enormous and extraordinary abilities, a story with an optimistic, accessible, tall-tale feel, a story about magic that never actually uses the word “magic.” Because in the end, it is my hope that readers discover that they each have their own savvy—their very own kind of magic.


Has being a mother influenced the way you write? Has your daughter inspired any of your characters?

Raising my daughter inspires me every day, and not just in my writing. But while some of the characters in Savvy may have occasional traits of both my daughter and myself, my daughter has a personality all her own and it belongs to her.

It’s my job as a writer to create great characters, and it’s my job as a mom to respect and protect my child. While being the mother of a thirteen-year-old obviously has some influence over my writing, I wouldn’t want to pour all of her characteristics or personality into a specific character in a book. To me, that would feel like a breach of trust. I like to say that my daughter holds the copyright on herself.


What inspired the individual savvies of the Beaumont family?

Every challenge we face in life offers us the chance to learn something about ourselves if we pay attention. In Savvy, the conflicts, the larger-than-life abilities, and the adventure are all just ways of exploring what it feels like to grow up. As children grow into teens, they are faced with all kinds of changes, many of which can feel as big or scary or unexpected as a new savvy. Some changes are physical, some emotional, others social. Every savvy is individual, just like every young person.

Mibs’s particular savvy begins as a challenge—an unwanted talent that she must come to terms with when she’s really hoping for something very different. But her particular ability allows her to access the hearts and minds of the other characters in the book. The savvies of her brothers, Fish and Rocket, are much more physical and stormy. Grandpa’s talent for making new places out of land has a real tall-tale flavour to it, and while most people’s grandma’s can fruit or tomatoes, the Beaumont’s grandma’s ability to can radio waves seemed just right.