You never feel lonely if you're writing, because you're living with all these characters in your head.
I'm not singing anymore; that is why I am so pleased to be writing. My daughter said, "You just found a different way of using your voice."
Because I come from the theater, I use the images of the theater and of movies a great deal when I write. I see the story in my head. I have to break down the outline of a story first. I have to know where I'm going. Usually I have a good beginning and a good ending, and then I think, "Now I have to find my way through it."
All I care about really is writing something worthwhile for children, something that will engage them in some way and stimulates in them a sense of wonder.
These days, people like me who are in the arts are perceived as celebrity writers. That really makes me angry because I expend a great deal of effort and spend an enormous amount of time on my books. And I've been writing now for 35 years.
When I start to write, I see my stories as a kind of movie. For instance, I ask myself, "What kind of opening do I want for this book?"
I'm never lonely when I'm writing, because you live with the characters that are so alive in your mind. And you really see them and know them and get to be friends with them.
I do ask myself sometimes, what am I doing writing about animals that talk like we do? But I guess it's okay if it brings across a point.
In a way I do hate the process of writing. It's like learning a role where you never think you're going to be able to conquer it when you start and it just takes enough focus and narrowing and getting enthusiastic and not losing it and so on. It's never good enough, but you aim for something and you hope it comes somewhat close. But it is a pleasure once you have written it.
