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Q.
When
did you start
writing?
A.
I
started in the
fifth grade. My
first books were
comics. I
invented two
superheroes, for
whom I wrote and
drew one issue
per month. After
a while, I
stopped drawing
anything but a
small head in
the bottom
corner of each
frame speaking
long sentences
in the balloon
above him. That’s
when I decided
perhaps my
skills lay more
in writing than
in drawing.
Q.
When/how
did you decide
to be a children’s
book author?
A.
I’ve
never decided to
be a children’s
book author. I
write books
about families,
often featuring
young
protagonists,
sometimes even
using their
first-person
point-of-view. I
believe, from my
own experience
as a kid and
from my
experience
raising two
sons, that
teenage people
usually know and
understand a
great deal more
of the truth in
any situation
than the adults
around them can
assess. These
adults often
include adult
readers. Thus I
am delighted to
be read by the
same interesting
people I write
about.
Q.
Throwing
Smoke includes
unique character
names-- like
"Whiz."
Where do you
come up with the
names for your
characters?
A.
Getting
the correct name
for a character
is a matter of
intuition and
response to that
character,
rather than a
decision made in
advance. I have
given characters
names before I
began their
narratives, only
to find that the
names simply did
not fit the
identities. In
such cases, one
listens to the
people around
the character
and senses the
name that fits.
Q.
In your
Newbery-Honor
winning book, What
Hearts, and
your latest book
Throwing
Smoke,
your main
characters love
to play
baseball. Were
you a baseball
player growing
up? Are you
still a baseball
fan?
A.
I
played Little League baseball for
parts of seasons in three different
towns between the ages of eight and
twelve. I moved around too much to
stick with one team for very long. I’ve
always loved baseball, though ice
hockey is my favorite sport now, and
I continue to be a baseball fan.
Q.
In Throwing
Smoke, the main character plays
on a losing team that miraculously
transforms into a winning team. What
do you think playing on teams
teaches people?
A. Playing
on teams teaches you to trust other
people and to depend on them the way
they depend on you.
Q.
Are there any
of your own books that you have more
personal attachment to than others?
A.
I
like them all. None of them is
perfect, but each has certain
features of which I’m very proud.
Q.
How do you
prepare yourself for writing? What
is your favorite place and time to
write?
A. Preparation,
for me, consists of thinking. I plan
my plots and the interactions of my
characters well in advance of
sitting down to begin writing a
first draft. The book is about
half-finished in my head, and will
be about half-improvised in the
movement of the moment. I write
every day, about eight hours, just
like anyone else’s working day.
Q.
What is on
your nightstand? What are you
reading now?
A. On
my nightstand are three or four CDs
and a Discman, action figures of
Spiderman and Green Lantern,
photographs of my two sons, my
sweetheart, and my dog, and a lot of
paper. As for reading, I tend to
have several books going at once-for
example, a trashy thriller, a
nonfiction book about science or
politics, an artsy piece of adult
fiction, and a graphic novel.
Q.
When you
visit schools, what kinds of
questions do you like to ask the
kids? Have any of their questions to
you surprised you?
A. I
ask the kids what they are writing
and what they are reading. The most
surprising question I have been
asked is: "Why do you
look like a mad scientist?"
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