Hi, Eric,
Thanks for your loyal support! I’ll do my best.
1. A successful story is one that you wrote and you like. It would help if other people like it too, especially with sales. But the person you most have to satisfy is yourself.
2. Training? I have a Fine Arts degree from NYU, with some courses in visual writing, mostly for film, which I’ve never written for. I wrote my first book when I was 12. I’m now 40 years older than that, and those 40 years of writing 88+ books are what I consider my training.
3. Well, I’m not 12 any longer, for one thing. My subject matter has varied from the days of Bruno & Boots. I like to think I’m more of a craftsman that I could possibly have been at 12.
4. I liked my older stuff, because it was more spontaneous. But I’m happier now that I have much more life experience to draw on.
5. My career path was influenced by all the things that influence everyone else. (Writers are human, you know.) Growing up, marriage, the birth of my children, watching my parents age, world events. And of course my style must have been influenced by the amazing editors I’ve worked with over the years.
6. I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else, although Gentleman of Leisure does come to mind.
7. Besides punctuation? A lot! Also what other people learn — writers are human, you know. We learn, and grow, and develop just like everyone else.
8. Read a lot, and write a lot. And NEVER put down a single word unless your story is well-planned first. You can’t say anything well unless you know exactly what you’re trying to say. And you can’t know that unless you plan. PLUS — anyone intelligent can write intelligently. The trick is to write something that another person will want to read. I think the ability to do that is what most people call “talent.”
9. In between writing, I travel, promoting my material, and visiting schools and libraries. Keeping in touch with my readers is very important to me. I’ve been across the world and back again!
10. My Mom helped me start. I was discouraged with my 7th grade assignment to write a “novelette,” and she convinced me I could do it. I could, too! The result was THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING AT MACDONALD HALL. I’ve been at it ever since.
11. I was past the problem of getting someone to read my stuff. I was a curiosity with a track record, and the rest was easy.
12. My ideas come from plain old hard work, and a lot of thinking and plotting. No big mystery. It’s just work. I don’t think about it too much because I don’t want the ideas to stop coming. So far so good.
And that’s it? I scrambled through this, so please forgive any typos. Let me know how you do with this project. And thanks for letting me take part. I hope this is helpful.
Best wishes,
—-Gordon Korman—-