All about the novel Mister Magic

Who is Kiersten White?

Kiersten White is the #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of many books for readers of all ages, including the And I Darken trilogy, the Camelot Rising trilogy, the Sinister Summer series, Star Wars: Padawan, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, HIDE, and Mister Magic.

What is Mister Magic about?

Thirty years after a tragic accident shut down production of the classic children’s program Mister Magic, the five surviving cast members have done their best to move on. But just as generations of cultishly devoted fans still cling to the lessons they learned from the show, the cast, known as the Circle of Friends, have spent their lives searching for the happiness they felt while they were on it. The friendship. The feeling of belonging. And the protection of Mister Magic.  

But with no surviving video of the show, no evidence of who directed or produced it, and no records of who—or what—the beloved host actually was, memories are all the former Circle of Friends has. 

Then a twist of fate brings the castmates back together at the remote desert filming compound that feels like it’s been waiting for them all this time. Even though they haven’t seen each other for years, they understand one another better than anyone has since. 

After all, they’re the only ones who hold the secret of that circle, the mystery of the magic man in his infinitely black cape, and, maybe, the answers to what really happened on that deadly last day. But as the Circle of Friends reclaim parts of their past, they begin to wonder: Are they here by choice, or have they been lured into a trap? 

Because magic never forgets the taste of your friendship. . . .

Interview

What was your inspiration for Mister Magic?

 

The moment Mister Magic began forming in my head was triggered by a conversation with my spouse. “What if,” he said from the kitchen, “the kids from Barney reunited as adults and realized everything on the show was real?”

 

My brain started whirring. “Because one of them warns the others that they’re in danger. Barney is not only real, he’s back. No one believes her, until they find her body, dead, with wounds that impossibly match up with a dinosaur bite…”

 

“Why do you always make things the creepiest?” he asked.

 

Of course, Barney the big purple plush dinosaur became Mister Magic, the unknowable figure whispering catchy rhymes and songs with a swoosh of a black cape and the tip of a hat. The playground and schoolroom became an infinite void where children could bring their dreams to life. And Barney’s friends became the Circle of Friends, thirty years later, traumatized in ways they didn’t have language for and trying to figure out what, exactly, happened on that last day of the show…

 

What drew you to writing?

 

As a kid, I was an avid reader. I never went anywhere without a book. I also learned that I could tell myself elaborate stories as a way of coping with anxiety—it gave my brain something to chew on other than itself. Writing turned that storytelling from coping (and avoidance) into something productive and nourishing. 

 

How did you choose which character to centre the story around? 

 

If you’ve read Mister Magic, you’ve already met the Circle of Friends. I wanted each of them to have been shaped by the role they were given on the show. Val, being the leader, was a natural anchor for the book. It also helped that she had no memories of the show, so she was discovering its secrets alongside the reader.

 

I will admit if I were braver, I would have made Jenny the main character. Jenny never really got away from Mister Magic. More so than any of the others, her entire life was dictated by his rules and lessons and teachings. She’s a much more difficult person to feel compassion for, though, so I kept her as a side character. But she was also the most influenced by my personal experiences growing up in a cultish, controlling religion, and I feel the closest to her. (This is where I note my own spouse is definitely not a Stuart.)

 

What was your process for writing Mister Magic?

 

Oh, it was great. First, I wrote and revised an entire novel. Hundreds of pages. Then I turned it into my editor and, thanks to her brilliant feedback, realized I needed to rewrite the entire thing. Of that first version, maybe 5% made it into the next incarnation.

 

(By “it was great,” I mean it was a nightmare.)

 

The problem with the first version was that I was trying to do too many things. I wanted the book to be about child stardom, and parenting, and podcasts, and religious trauma, and and and. I think I needed to get that unfocused, weird draft out first so I could narrow in on what I actually wanted the book to be about: childhood nostalgia and the way we let it warp the truth of our pasts into a beautiful, damaging dream. 

 

The second version was harder to write without doubting myself—I’d already bombed this book once—but it was also a better, truer version. This was the hardest book I’ve ever written, and I’m so proud of it. 

 

What is your approach to world and character building?

 

I start every book with a central question I’m exploring, and then I populate it with a world and characters that will help me move through and around that question. Sometimes the questions are simple—how can I make fairy tales funny and a little scary for children?—and sometimes the questions are complex—what happens when we realize the stories we were given to make sense of the world were manipulative lies? Once I know what I’m asking myself by writing this story, I can build on that.

 

How would you describe Mister Magic?

 

Mister Magic is the idea that there is a not only a perfect childhood, but also a perfect child, and children exist to be molded into that form—no matter what it costs them.

 

I mean, Mister Magic is a very fun, enigmatic host of a children’s program! A swoosh of a dark cape and a tip of a top hat, always there to offer life lessons and morals in the form of catchy songs!

 

Did you have a favourite moment in the book to write?

 

I’m rather notorious for my endings—the book ends where it ends!—but for once I gave readers an epilogue. The first chapter was always the first chapter, one of the few parts of the book that never changed, and the epilogue was the very last thing I wrote. The opening was all concept and promise, and the ending was resolution and catharsis. I love both of them.

 

What was your favourite book growing up?

 

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, followed closely by Redwall by Brian Jacques.

 

Do you have a favourite genre to read?

 

I’m very much a mood reader—I’ll read ten thrillers in a row and then not read a thriller for years—but overallmy favorite genre is horror. At its best, horror tells the truth, and I love that.