The author of the Alicia Connected Series shares his inspiration and goals for this contemporary chapter book series

Inspiration for the book

For writing this book [ALICIA CONNECTED: The Big Gift], I tried to use as much real life experience as possible. Whether it was derived from my own family or friends of ours that are raising children in this digital world. Writing is a bit easier when you can draw on experiences that you or others have gone through.

Many of the characters, especially Alicia and her parents, are modeled very closely to my daughter, wife, and I. Although, not everything that happens in the book are situations that we’ve had. This added a bit of pressure when writing since I know that my daughter and wife would be reading this book. I wanted to make sure that they were portrayed in a way that they would be proud.

In many ways, the topics that are in the book and the security situations that come up, are based on common concerns that parents regularly face when raising children in a digital world. 

Some of the other characters were more difficult to write about. Especially Megan who is one of Alicia’s friends. However, Megan has complicated character traits that are not necessarily modeled on anyone that I know. She tends to misuse technology, but I didn’t want to have her be portrayed as a villain.

In many ways, the topics that are in the book and the security situations that come up, are based on common concerns that parents regularly face when raising children in a digital world. There are a lot of temptations and ways to misuse technology and I wanted to share that in the book without being overt. So, some of the common topics are shown in a way that would be presented as good habits as opposed to focusing on the negative side of security. My entire goal with this book was to ensure that it was still approachable while being able to help parents and children understand the complex topics around cyber security.

For more information about Derek Fisher and his latest book, visit my earlier post Book Review + Giveaway: Alicia Connected: The Big Gift, and enter for a chance to win a copy of the book.