Kropp uses reality all the time, drawing most of his characters and situations from real life. I ve used many of my students, most of my family and sometime kids I ve gone out to find in order to write my books.
Reality is always the base.
His Scholastic novels, for instance, use two of his own sons in hi-jinks at imagined cottages and chalets. Kropp s novel Moonkid and Liberty was inspired by the real Ian McNaughton, a gifted student at a high school in Hamilton, Ontario where Kropp was teaching in 1986. For that, you need imagination. Kropp uses his imagination to fill the gaps where reality and research can t provide what s needed and to make sure the story keeps churning along. In Dirt Bike, for instance, Kropp interviewed dirt bikers and flat-track racers, but never actually got on a motorcycle himself.