Where did Susan get the idea for The Boy Who Dared? At the age of 17, Helmuth Hübener was the youngest person on death row in Nazi Germany. What did Helmuth do? | Her writing advice: Ask a lot of questions. Read more …
Where do you get your ideas? Best writing tips? This summer I have asked writer friends and colleagues to answer these same two questions that I am sure they too are constantly being asked by young people — their readers.
When you write historical fiction, such as I do, my research can take me anywhere and generally does. Such searches are helped by a wonderful truth: there seems to be a book, an article, or a memoir about anything and everything.
All of these factors are radically muting the love of free deep reading at a crucial stage in child development. The literary book is not what publishers want because, quite simply, they are not selling.
If I had to pick one book—from my early reading—the one that most influenced the way I think about books and the writing of books, it would be Treasure Island, written by Robert Louis Stevenson.
I have long believed stories — narratives — are one of the basic forms of communication. Narratives are one of the ways we make sense of the world.
I flew to Phoenix to accept an award, then flew to Denver to visit schools. I also agreed to make a bookstore appearance. It changed my life.
After a month or so of dithering — trying out this notion, that notion — I’ve committed myself to the book I intend to write next. Indeed, I’ve already rewritten it twenty times.
I’ve tried to recall if my reading was ever censored when I was a kid.
I have a fondness for old books, for the details they enable me to provide in my own books.