Tara Sullivan is the author of the young adult novel The Bitter Side of Sweet. From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:Q: How did you come up with the idea for The Bitter Side of Sweet, and for your three main characters?--Marshal Zeringue
A: When I decide to write a book, it’s because I’ve found an issue that won’t let go of me: some injustice that resonates deeply.
For The Bitter Side of Sweet, it was the idea that children in one part of the world have to work in modern slavery conditions so that children in another part of the world can have inexpensive treats.
Researching the human rights issue leads me to the setting: The Bitter Side of Sweet needed to be set in the Ivory Coast because it is both the largest producer of cocoa in the world and has, at a conservative estimate, over 200,000 children working in unpaid and un-free conditions to do so.
Once I know my setting, I move on to character. Whose voice is the best one to tell the story I need to tell? Whose experience would be most representative of the conditions I want to reflect? For The Bitter Side of Sweet, my answer to those questions led to...[read on]