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FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
If you are thinking about writing me a letter or an e-mail, read
this first and maybe you will find that your questions are already
answered
How do
you get your ideas?
It makes me sigh in exhaustion when I am asked that question because
it is simply one for which there isn’t any answer. And yet everyone
asks it! Ideas come from your imagination. What triggers your imagination?
Things that you read, see, overhear, dream, or wonder about. Anything
that makes you think: "What if…? " is the start of a story.
Yes, but how did you get the idea for THE GIVER?
If you read the acceptance speech for the Newbery Medal (available
on my website under "Speeches"), it tries to answer that question.
Will you come visit my school?
I’m sorry. Sometimes I wish I could clone myself. But I simply don’t
have time to visit schools any more.
Will you autograph my book if I send it to you?
Yes, if you send it with return postage. E-mail me if you have a
book to send and I will tell you how to go about it.
My school is having a fund-raising auction. Will you send
a donation for it?
I used to do that. But I have run out of stuff to send. (Do you
know that authors have to buy their own books? We don’t have stacks
of them sitting around). So I am not able to send donations; I get
too many requests…maybe ten a week. Just can’t do it!
What advice do you have for people who want to be writers?
Reading is the best way to learn to write well. Read as much as
you can. Think about what you read: how the author made it interesting,
or funny, or suspenseful. And write as much as you can, too. Keep
a journal. Get together with friends who enjoy writing, and read
things aloud to each other and talk about them.
I’ve written a story. Will you read it and give your opinion?
No, sorry. I can’t do that. I’m not a teacher and I don’t teach
writing. And I have very little time. I get a zillion emails every
day, and answering them briefly is all I can manage.
I’ve written lots of stories. How can I get them published?
There are a few magazines that publish things by kids (look in a
book called "Writer’s Markets" to find them, and also for instructions
on how to submit things). But my personal opinion is that you should
not worry about "being published." You should enjoy writing, and
writing more and more, so that you become better at it. I always
sort of cringe when I hear, "I want to be a published writer" from
a kid. I’d rather hear, "I love to write."
But I want to be rich and famous.
Very, very few writers become rich and famous. Stephen King and
J.K. Rowling. They are very unusual. Most writers don’t even make
a living by writing. If you want to become rich, then you should
invent something like EBay; or maybe be an orthodontist. But writing
won’t do it.
Do you have a pet?
I have a Tibetan terrier named Alfie. He is a puppy, and at this
very moment I discovered him chewing a button off a coat I had left
over the back of a chair! On my website there is a picture of another
dog, another Tibetan terrier, whose name was Bandit. He died in
May 2006, at the age of thirteen and a half.
Are any of your children writers?
They all write very well. But each of them chose another profession.
Maybe they saw, from watching me, how hard it is to make a living
as a writer!
Do you know other writers?
Yes, I have a lot of friends who are writers both for kids and adults.
We all choose our friends because we have interests in common, so
it is not surprising that many of my friends are also writers. I
suppose professional basketball players hang out with other professional
basketball players. And doctors probably sit and schmooze with other
doctors.
What did you read when you were a kid?
I read everything. I was lucky that I grew up in a family that valued
books. I went to the library all the time starting at about age
5 or 6. My mom read to me. I read to myself. I loved an author named
Lois Lenski, and now I laugh because sometimes kids write to me
and say, "I loved your book STRAWBERRY GIRL" and I have to tell
them it was by Lois Lenski.
I am writing a paper about (The Giver) or (Number the Stars)
or…..whatever. Please tell me….
I can't do school assignments for kids. The reason a teacher gives
an assignment…sometimes a HARD one…is to make you think, because
by thinking you learn. If I do your thinking for you, you won't
learn anything.
A parent from my school wants to ban THE GIVER. What do you
think about that?
I think banning books is a very, very dangerous thing. It takes
away an important freedom. Any time there is an attempt to ban a
book, you should fight it as hard as you can. It's okay for a parent
to say, "I don't want my child to read this book." But it is not
okay for anyone to try to make that decision for other people. The
world portrayed in THE GIVER is a world where choice has been taken
away. It is a frightening world. Let's work hard to keep it from
truly happening.
Do kids ever send you rude emails?
Oh, yes. I think when people can be anonymous, by not signing their
name, they like to use it as a way of being hateful. I just delete
those emails. But I feel kind of sorry for those kids, because they
missed out on an opportunity to have a conversation with an author.
If a kid writes me and says simply, "Your book sucks" I delete the
email and don't reply and I never think about it again. But if they
say, "I didn't much like your book for the following reasons…" then
I read it with interest; maybe I learn from it; and I will answer
it.
You know the emails I most hate, though? Even if a kid loves a book?
Ones this look like this:
dear lois I had to read yr book the giver in school and I tht I
wld hate it but it turned out to be okay cuz I liked that guy jonas
he was like cool why don't you wrote more about him I would prolly
read those boks if u wrot them okay?
Are you writing a new book?
Yes. And I'm going back to it right now.
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