Hi, Connor Duncan,
Thanks for posting. I’m pleased to hear that RESTART went over well with your class.
Wow, what a lot of questions! I’ll do my best to get through them.
RESTART is fiction, Connor, and so is everybody in it. I made it all up, including the town, the events, and the people. Most authors don’t require what you call “inspiration,” Connor. We write because we have something to say, a story to tell. I’m a “what if?” kind of author. RESTART is based on the question “What if a rotten kid fell on his head and forgot about being a rotten kid, and wanted to change?” See how that works?
This is how publishing works: I write a story and send it to a publisher, in my case Scholastic. They liked it, and took over the editing, illustrating, etc., and that’s how books get published. The only job the author has is to write something good enough to be published.
I never knew anyone who was awarded a Medal of Honor, but I do know someone, not in my family, who was a navigator in the Canadian Air Force who saw action in the Korean War.
My favorite book is probably Douglas Adams’ THE HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY. Great stuff. As for my favorite among my own books, that’s like asking me to pick my favorite among my kids! I’m usually the most “into” the newer ones, so that makes my current “favorite” RESTART and SLACKER, which is still fairly new.
What is my dream job? I’m doing it. I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. And I became a children’s author in Grade 7, in answer to an assignment to write what the teacher called “a novelette.” I got carried away, and ended up writing 100 pages of a story I called BRUNO & BOOTS. It became my first book, THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING AT MACDONALD HALL. That was 90-something books ago, and I’m still at it!
OK? I hope that covers everything you asked about. If not, you know how to find me — right here! Thanks for your interest, Connor.
Regards,
—-Gordon Korman—-