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Week 1
What’s the most fun thing about being a writer?
Absolutely everything! I love the solitude, the concentration, the magic feeling that overtakes me when the words come tumbling out, sometimes faster than I can type them. I love watching the manuscript grow from one page to five chapters to twenty chapters to a whole book. I love watching the characters develop and become like real people to me. Then there's the delicious anticipation of waiting for the finished manuscript to become a book, and when the finished book arrives at my house I celebrate. Then, like dessert, after the book is a reality I get to talk to people about it, and sign it, and visit schools, and talk to teachers at conferences. Then I start on another one. I love it.
What’s the hardest part about being an author?
Writing is easy--editing is difficult. That's the process of changing and fixing and improving the manuscript. Sometimes the editing process can take longer than the actual writing of the book. But what makes it worthwhile is the fact that, after every single edit, the manuscript gets better. What starts out as a good book ends up being an excellent, exciting novel. The "pain" of editing is worth it because the end result is so good. Compare it to running track. You start off as a pretty good runner. Your coach makes you run around that track a dozen times—a hundred times. You sweat. You get cramps. You get mad at the coach. But slowly, you get better and faster. The more you work on your body and your speed, the better you become. When the day comes for the track meet, you are the fastest runner and you win the race easily. Without the work you did getting ready, you never would have succeeded. So the pain was worth it because the end result was so good. It's the same with writing.
What were you like when you were a kid?
I was an excellent student in school. I made good grades and I really liked going to school. I had great teachers who cared about me and helped me to learn as much as I could absorb. My favorite thing to do after school was go to the library. I'd check out five or six books at a time. During summer vacation I read about ten books a week. I read hundreds and hundreds of books between elementary school and high school. From all that reading I absorbed not just stories, but the rhythm of words on the page, the development of characters and plot and theme, the best use of language on a page. I did not know it at the time, but all that early reading made me a writer.
Are any of your books going to be made into movies? Would you want one to be a movie?
I would absolutely LOVE to have one of my books made into a movie! I think about it every single day, and I really feel that it will happen one day. But so far, I have not yet met a producer or director or anyone from Hollywood who can make it happen. If anyone knows someone like that, please let me know. I'll take you to the Academy Awards with me when the movie wins that award!
Week 2
Did any one of your students have an influence on Tears of a Tiger or Forged by Fire, and what was the influence they had on you?
No, all of the characters are my own creations. I made them up. Sometimes fictional characters can seem so real that the reader might think they are real people, because good fiction is based on reality, but the characters in my books are just that -- fictional. I start with a character who grows and develops as the book progresses, so that even to me he or she seems real by the end of the story. But they only exist in the pages of the book. I even get letters from students who think the characters are real. One girl asked for the home phone number of one of the characters -- honest.
Romiette and Julio was based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Are you going to do another book that’s based on a Shakespeare play?
Romeo and Juliet is my favorite Shakespearean play, so Romiette and Julio was fun to write and fell into place rather easily. I really enjoyed writing it. I suppose my second favorite Shakespearean play is Macbeth. I'd love to write a young adult version of it, but it's a pretty violent story, so I'm not sure if I could pull that off. Another Shakespearean play that would be fun to modernize is Much Ado about Nothing. It's all about love and romance and romantic confusion. I think that would be fun to make that one into a young adult story.
I heard your new book is controversial. Did you mean for it to be?
The Battle of Jericho is my newest book. I don't think it's controversial, but it will make you think, and maybe talk about things that kids do in school to be accepted by others. The book deals with problems of peer pressure and dangerous choices in a high school.
The main characters are eleventh graders named Jericho and Josh, who are asked to join a club at school called The Warriors of Distinction. This club is a school service organization that helps teachers and collects toys for children at Christmas, so all the parents and teachers approve of it, BUT the club has secret initiation rites that take place at night, and all kinds of terrible secrets that lead to an unbelievable conclusion. It's a powerful book, and I'm really excited about it. I think it is the best thing I've ever written. If we are supposed to learn from our experiences, then I should have learned quite a bit about the writing process, about what makes a novel work. I tried to incorporate everything I've ever learned from my editor about how to make a story have the punch and power and needs to grab the attention of my readers. I've included memorable characters, strong descriptive scenes, and a plot that deals with real issues that young people face every day.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
I love to walk on the beach by the ocean. Of course, I don't live anywhere near an ocean, so it's a little difficult, but every chance I get, I go to someplace where I can see blue water, white sand, golden sun, and the ever-changing waves. When I can't get to the ocean, I like to walk in the woods. In the spring everything is pink and full of possibilities. In the fall it's golden and full of colorful beauty. I love nature. It makes me feel peaceful and happy. I don't really get inspiration from nature, but it gives me relaxation, which helps me to write more effectively when I get back home.
Week 3
What are your earliest memories of words and books? What early influences made you become a writer?
My mother read to me even before I could walk or talk. One of my earliest memories is the sound of my mother’s voice, reading to me. Her voice, melodic and beautiful, drew images for me in my mind as she read of cats and queens and pretty maids all in a row. My mother would hold me tight and tell me stories. She’d read bright, colorful picture books to me, and even though I didn’t know what those squiggles on the page were, I knew the pictures were glorious, and the sound of my mother’s voice made the stories magic. She read tall tales and fables and wonderful stories. She read nursery rhymes and poetry. The early rhythms of those rhymes became the background for words I wouldn’t write for many years to come. The itsy, bitsy spider climbed into my mind and memory. The power of “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum” thrummed in my head, even though I was unaware that I loved the power and repetition in those words. It was the cadence of my mother’s voice and the rhythm of the repetitions that first fostered my love of books and the magic of words.
Are you friends with other authors?
I have met many several young adult authors: Gary Paulsen, Chris Crutcher, Sharon Flake, Angela Johnson, Walter Dean Myers, Jacqueline Woodson, Laurie Halse Anderson, and many others. We are not close friends, but we know and understand each other's work, and we try to be supportive of each other. We usually catch up with one another at conferences where lots of writers are featured. I have met very few adult authors. They show up at different functions than the ones where YA writers are asked to appear. I feel very lucky that I get to be included in the group of "established" writers. And just in case you're curious: No, I have never met JK Rowling. I think she stays in England writing more Harry Potter books and counting her money!
Do you ever get stuck when you’re writing? How do you get unstuck? That happens to me a lot.
Occasionally I get stuck, but not often. When I sit down to write, and I have no interruptions, and I reach total concentration, the ideas come quicker than I can write them. I think it's a matter of concentration on the task. I have to get into what I call my "zone." When I'm there, nothing can stop me! When I do get stuck, it's usually because my mind is on other things. I stop writing then, go do something else, then wait until I get the chance for full attention to the task at hand. Try focusing on what you want to write, and let your whole being concentrate on what you want to write. It will happen.
What were your favorite books when you were growing up?
Every summer our library sponsored a summer reading book club. The names of children who read books each week of summer vacation were put on a chart, and a small sticker was placed next to each name as a book was read. Most children read one book a week, some read two. I, however, considered this a challenge and read as many books as I could. Ten books was a slow week for me. They ran out of room for stickers next to my name and had to put stickers all on the margin and the edges of the poster board the librarians used to make the summer display. I think the highest number of books I read in a summer was 175. The next year they left extra space next to my name. I filled it up. So I can't tell you my favorites. I read them all.
I read all of the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and then all of the books by Louisa May Alcott. Spiced up with fanciful tales of Danny Dunn and his homework machine, a brilliant invention as far as I was concerned, I proceeded to steal from the rich and feed the poor with Robin Hood, run away from home and get lost with Pinocchio and Tom Sawyer, and long for home with Heidi. I read all of Kipling, all the Baum stories about the Wizard of Oz, and delighted in Peter Pan's Neverland, where children were rulers and could fly!
How many books do you work on at a time? Do you have any that you’ve been writing for a long time and you’re still not done yet?
I usually only work on one book at a time, but this year I'm doing more than that. I'm working on my first biography, the first book I've done about someone who is real and not a fictional character. And I'm working on a historical fiction book. It will be the first one that does not take place in a modern city in today's world. But I think you'll really like it because I focused on the people in it rather than the time it occurs. Good characterization is what makes a good story. And yes, I have a few unfinished pieces floating around in various stages of development. One day I'll get to them.
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