Interview

A Recent Interview

Excerpts from an interview for an article in California Kids magazine by Patti Newman.

When did you realize you wanted to be a children's writer? After years in the professions of commercial illustration, advertising and graphic design, I took an interest in the children's books my wife, Carol, was collecting for her Kindergarten classes. Being primarily an artist, and not knowing any authors to offer my services to, I decided the most direct approach to children's books would be to write my own stories. It took six years of trying before I signed my first contract.

Describe your first big break. Actually it was when I was introduced to a gentleman who became my agent (and still is.) After six years without success on my own, I placed several of my ideas in his hands and in three months he had a contract for me to sign.

How do you come up with the titles for your books? Do your editors ever reject your titles? The titles are simple and dictated by the story. I usually have the title in mind before I write the text. With No Jumping on the Bed, my publisher asked me to re-title it so as to not begin with a negative "NO." I considered it but realized it HAD to be said exactly the way I heard it as a child and exactly the way nearly every child in the world hears it. So I refused to change it. My book, Parts, has been re-titled "Bits" in England and "Help! I'm Falling Apart" in Australia. I don't worry too much about foreign revisions. Often they have cultural reasons for suggesting alterations, and I trust that they don't do it willy-nilly.

Are your characters "real" to you? When a book first comes out, the characters feel real but in a dim and distant way. As I subsequently visit schools and do readings, the characters become more and more--not just real, but ALIVE, because I see them living in the minds of the children.

Do your editors revise your books in any way before they are published? Did this practice change as you became more well-known? I keep thinking I'm getting better at this writing "thing." But my manuscripts still need many revisions. Not of the sort that requires changes in plots or endings. Usually the revisions are in the mechanical things like sentence structure and punctuation, overall length, pacing--things like that. The worst editing I can think of was on a couple of pictures in Green Wilma. (Yes they edit the pictures too.) There are two scenes in the school cafeteria, each with a boy spilling his lunch tray. When I first turned in the art for those two pages it was sent back to me because in one illustration I drew more peas spilling off the boy's tray than in the other. They asked me to add peas to one of the drawings, so I did. But I couldn't believe there was actually someone sitting in a high-rise office building in New York City being paid really good money to count peas in my artwork!!!

How many hours a day do you write? I write in bursts, not every day. Actually I write only a few times a year! Because I also illustrate my books, most of my time is spent at the drawing table. I spend six to eight hours a day illustrating. (I also illustrate for other authors.) With all the books I already have written and waiting in line to be illustrated and published, I wouldn't HAVE to write another word for about three years. But still, when an idea strikes me out of the blue, I go to my journal or computer and hammer out at least a paragraph to capture the thought before I forget it. Sometimes I get gripped by the idea. Then I go ahead and write it all the way out immediately, regardless of my schedule.

When people seek your advice about a career in writing for children, how do you encourage them? My loudest advice is to go ahead and do it! Send it out there. Don't withold it because you're afraid of being rejected. If you do that then you're only rejecting yourself. Of course I have been shown work that I thought ought to be shredded, but if the dream that is driving the work is real I keep my comments positive and encouraging. Click here for a few tips on How To Get Published.

Explain one thing you'd like your readers to know about you. I love to read. I just wish I could read faster. There isn't enough time in the day to read as much as I would like. We have so many books in the house, I fear that our floors are sagging. I love the library but I love to own the books even more.

Pick one children's book you wish you had written. There's no doubt in my mind. Mother Goose!!!!! Mother Goose is the queen mother, the creator of children's literature. I love Mother Goose!

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