Morgan, from St. Augustine FL asks, “What inspired you to become a writer?” I grew up in a house of books. My mother read to us every night. She was interested in children’s books and gave us the best picture books there were. I learned to read at an early age and never stopped reading. There was a
Let me describe where I live: It is in Colorado, in the Rocky Mountains, 9,500 feet up. We are surrounded by mountains. Looking out the front windows I can look down Elk Valley for about seventy miles. We are in the middle of a forest. It is very beautiful. We are adjacent to Routt National
I just came back from The Tucson (AZ) Book festival, a huge event with some four hundred or so writers, illustrators, and others connected with the book world. Thousands of people were in attendance. One often hears these days about the lack of interest in reading. When you go to one of these large events,
Jake from Philadelphia, PA asks: “You’ve been writing for a long time. What’s the difference between the way you used to write and the way you write now?” One might think a lot of experience, and yes, success, would make my writing come easier. Actually it’s that experience and success which makes it harder. That puzzled
The other day while writing, I took something like fifteen minutes to find the right word for a sentence. It happens fairly often, for a variety of reasons: I’m trying to convey just the right nuanced emotion for the moment and I am a strong believer that every word contains some emotion, however slight. There’s
On March 12, 2012 I posted the first of these blogs. Wordcraft is now four years old! I can only hope what I have to say about the world of writing, reading, and the teaching thereof, continues to be of interest. Nothing I say should be construed as rules, but are merely—for better and worse—just
I frequently get requests from my readers that read “Will you do a sequel to….” I take this as a positive response as it suggests that the reader has taken the characters to heart and desires more of them. So, first, thank you. Strictly speaking I have done two series; the Poppy books (six in number)
Ted from Stockton, CA, asks, “Is it important to have an agent if you want to be a writer? If so, how do you get an agent?” If you seek to make a career as a writer it would help a great deal to have an agent. As publishing works today, agents function as a filter,
Working on a book and it is not going well. I have learned, painfully, there is only one thing to do: Follow my instincts as a reader and not my intellect, and acknowledge that such and such a section just does not work, that it is holding the book hostage. If you find yourself skimming over
Laurie wrote: “… someone has to ask (and it might as well be me) … what is your favorite book, Avi? (No fair saying it’s whatever book you’re currently working on.)” Let me answer this in two parts: The reason why many writers say their current project is their favorite book seems fairly obvious: They are completely