With "Margaret," I remember clearly it was, you know because I did remember it clearly. I was young. I was young in terms of experience and what did I know about and I had an incredible memory from my own childhood. And so it never occurred to me to write for any other age group. And I thought I'm going to write a book and I'm going to tell the truth.
I use a computer, but before I begin each new book I keep a notebook. I write down everything that comes to mind during that period before I actually begin. It might take months or weeks. That notebook is my security blanket so that I never have to face a blank screen (or blank page). But I print out often and my best ideas usually come with a pencil in my hand.
The best books come from someplace inside. You don't write because you want to, but because you have to.
I stop and think before I start a new book and ask myself do I really want to spend the next year or two or three with these characters because if I don't, then I shouldn't be writing about them.
What I remember when I started to write was how I couldn't wait to get up in the morning to get to my characters.
I wanted to write honest books for kids because I didn't have those when I was a kid.
The best books come from someplace deep inside.... Become emotionally involved. If you don't care about your characters, your readers won't either.
I'm a rewriter. That's the part I like best . . . once I have a pile of paper to work with, it's like having the pieces of a puzzle. I just have to put the pieces together to make a picture.
I was sick all the time, one exotic illness after another, which lasted throughout my twenties. My worst decade. But from the day the first book was accepted, I never got sick again. Writing changed my life.
I do believe that people who write for children are deeply connected to their own childhood.
[Writing] totally changed my life. It gave me my life. Everything opened up.
I try to create new characters in each book I write. That's what makes writing fun and interesting for me.
I think people who write for kids, we have that ability to go back into our own lives.
When I started to write, it was the '70s, and throughout that decade, we didn't have any problems with book challenges or censorship.
I am certainly a fearful person, but fearless in my writing. So there's that other person inside.
I thought [books ban] was crazy. Really my thoughts were "This is America, we don't do this here" but of course I know a lot better now. And I wasn't the only one. Norma Klein was writing at the same time. Her books were going. So many of us. When you say to me, no you can't do this I say, oh yes I can.
The child from 9 to 12 interests me very much. And so, those were the years that I like to write about, when I'm writing.
Nothing teaches you as much about writing dialogue as listening to it.
I never thought about writing. I was married young, I was still in college, as we did then, and I had two babies before I was 25, and I loved them, and I loved taking care of them, but I was a little bit cuckoo, staying at home and not having a creative outlet.
When I'm writing a book, you can't think about your audience. You're going to be in big trouble if you think about it. You're got to write from deep inside.
When you ask, did writing change my life? It totally changed my life. It gave me my life.
It didn't happen in the 70s. So I had a whole decade when I was writing these books and maybe there was a little bit here or there but there was no big effort to ban books.
I don't really know exactly how it happened but I don't like the idea that I would ever have said I'm going to write about racism or puberty or bullying.
I love to talk with children. I try to visit schools but it's hard for me to travel when I'm trying to write. Some authors are able to do both.
I have to go with what comes naturally to me. Fantasy isn't my thing. I did enjoy the Oz books when I was growing up and certainly my grandson and I read Harry Potter together. You write what you can as well as you can.
