Frances Temple, author of award-winning books of contemporary and medieval history, began fiction writing on a dare. A primary school teacher and education writer, Temple was challenged by one of her students. "I always did a lot of writing," Temple told Something about the Author (SATA) in an interview. "And when teaching I would also write in class during free- writing periods, and then the kids and I would share what we wrote. But one of my students complained that I never finished anything I started. I was always telling my students that they had to finish theirs, but I wasn't practicing what I preached. So one summer I sat down and wrote a book. It was an exercise in self-discipline. I never really expected to publish it."

That first book, finished in 1987, was The Ramsay Scallop, ultimately published in 1994 and an ALA Best Books for Young Adults...