KAQs*
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*Kid-Asked Questions
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If you’re a kid (or a bigger person who once was a kid) and you want me to answer your question on this website, go to the Contact page and ask. While I can’t answer every question here, I plan to post at least one new question each month.(Please put KAQ in the subject line ... and if you don’t mind, include your first name, grade if you’re in school, and state or province or country.)
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Last year, I was lucky enough to correspond with a class of fifth graders. Here’s what some of them asked:
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Hannah from Missouri asks:
Why did you become a writer?
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If you read my bio, you'll know the main answer. Writing always came easily to me. I didn't necessarily like it, but I could do it well and do it fast. And while I often find it very tedious to write, the rewards are amazing. When I look back over a day's work and find I created fun dialogue, new ideas or even something as small as a great phrase, sometimes, I’ll sit there and think, "Wow! I wrote that? I'm capable of taking all these random letters and forming them into ideas?" Mostly, the reason I write is that I can't imagine going through my life without writing.
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Lily B. from Missouri asks:
What would you do if you were not a writer?
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Again, if you go back to my bio, I said I might have liked to become a treasure hunter, a codebreaker, a movie director, an artist and an inventor. Those, however, were sort of dreamer occupations. I don’t have enough talent to become an artist. I don’t live in the right place to be a commercial movie director. I doubt I’m patient enough to try a zillion variations of a new product as an inventor would have to do (though, I do rewrite everything a zillion different times, but it just feels different). Treasure hunting isn’t practical. And while I might have been able to acquire the skills to do some codebreaking, I simply didn’t.
There are occupations I know I wouldn’t want to try. I wouldn’t want to be an accountant, a horticulturalist, a nurse, a pilot or a politician. I wouldn’t want any occupation where I didn’t have to think or where I spent a lot of time waiting for things to happen (like lifeguard or sales clerk). All are noble careers, but they just don’t fit my personality.
A bunch of years ago, I briefly entertained the notion of going to law school or medical school, but I didn’t want to give up writing and the freedom it afforded. I think it would be fun to work in a lab, performing experiments or medical research, and it could be exciting and fulfilling to do Internet detective work
To be honest, though, I don’t have a firm answer to this question. The closest I can come is this: If I had to find another job right now, I’d look to work at a college, either as a professor or in the admissions department or in some position where I’d have contact with students. Which I sort of do anyway. See my College Essays page.
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Emily from Missouri asks ...
Are you going to write any adult books?
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Right now, I’d answer, “No,” but if the right idea and the right characters came along, I might.
You do bring up an interesting topic. Many people believe that authors of children’s books eventually “graduate” and go on to write books for adults. That’s like saying your pediatrician may get good enough to, one day, be a doctor for grown-ups.
Writing books for children requires a specialized understanding and skill set, and there are instances it can require more care and thought than writing books for adults. I have a favorite quote by a children’s author you might know. Her most famous book is called A Wrinkle in Time, and her name is Madeleine L’Engle. She once said, "You have to write whichever book it is that wants to be written. And then, if it's going to be too difficult for grown-ups, you write it for children."
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George from Missouri asks ...
What would you say is your style of writing?
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I like to write sort of casually, the way normal people talk and act. I like to get inside the thoughts of my characters and let my readers hear what they’re thinking. I hope my style of writing is one that’s very easy to read but has a lot to say. I want my readers to get lost in the story and in the lives of my characters and not feel like they’re trudging through page after page after page. I hope my style of writing is one that has you racing through my books, discovering you’ve come to the last page without realizing how long you’ve been reading. And that you close the book and wish there were more.