Ask the Author: Justin Christopher
Answered Questions (2)
Justin Christopher
It might sound crazy, but the best thing in the world is creating something which didn't exist, but now does. I'll give you an example.
The idea for MY BEST WORST YEAR came while on the sideline at my daughters’ soccer match. Like many kids, sport played a major role in my childhood, as did reward for doing well. Many a parent has bribed their kids with a ‘pie for a try’ or ‘movie tickets for a wicket.’
With Toby in this book, I wanted to take this theme to a new level. Here is a boy who struggles with school, but excels at sport. When his father sets him the GameBox V3 Challenge, Toby thinks he’s hit the jackpot. Sadly, he hasn’t accounted for class bully Malcolm McGarvy – who does his best to ruin the party.
Kids can be ruthless critics. If something stinks they’ll let you know. So it was with a certain amount of relief when my then nine-year-old daughter (who was having My Best Worst Year read to her class) came home and said, ‘Dad, even the bullies love this story – and they never share their feelings!’
That's the best thing.
The idea for MY BEST WORST YEAR came while on the sideline at my daughters’ soccer match. Like many kids, sport played a major role in my childhood, as did reward for doing well. Many a parent has bribed their kids with a ‘pie for a try’ or ‘movie tickets for a wicket.’
With Toby in this book, I wanted to take this theme to a new level. Here is a boy who struggles with school, but excels at sport. When his father sets him the GameBox V3 Challenge, Toby thinks he’s hit the jackpot. Sadly, he hasn’t accounted for class bully Malcolm McGarvy – who does his best to ruin the party.
Kids can be ruthless critics. If something stinks they’ll let you know. So it was with a certain amount of relief when my then nine-year-old daughter (who was having My Best Worst Year read to her class) came home and said, ‘Dad, even the bullies love this story – and they never share their feelings!’
That's the best thing.
Justin Christopher
I run, I write, I do dishes, I play the guitar. Writer's block is little more than flat batteries. Don't worry, an idea will come to you, but once it does - GRAB IT.
I once heard a poet say his best poems fizzed past on a runaway train and if he didn’t grab them with both hands, at that very second, they would be gone forever, never to return.
I always loved the way John Cleese and Michael Palin used to write. They knew ideas don’t arrive fully formed. It takes work to find them. The stars of Monty Python would sit in a cabin in the woods, sometimes for hours, before the bare-boned idea for a sketch popped out. They’d worked out the magic ingredient. Riff and talk and riff and talk and risk.
Sometimes you’re lucky. Sometimes, for whatever reason, ideas just arrive.
Be patient, but most importantly- HAVE FUN.
I once heard a poet say his best poems fizzed past on a runaway train and if he didn’t grab them with both hands, at that very second, they would be gone forever, never to return.
I always loved the way John Cleese and Michael Palin used to write. They knew ideas don’t arrive fully formed. It takes work to find them. The stars of Monty Python would sit in a cabin in the woods, sometimes for hours, before the bare-boned idea for a sketch popped out. They’d worked out the magic ingredient. Riff and talk and riff and talk and risk.
Sometimes you’re lucky. Sometimes, for whatever reason, ideas just arrive.
Be patient, but most importantly- HAVE FUN.
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