More answers to your questions! (January 2010)

Kaity Calmes Do you an on writing more books? Or any books for young adults???

 

Hi Kaity, I plan on writing as many books as I can!  Yes, I do.  As for writing a young adult book . . . it's surely possible.  But not on the horizon right now.  

 

Denise Janssen How do you handle writer's block? When you have an idea in your head for a story but the pieces aren't ready to come together, what do you do?

 

Denise!  My official position on writer's block is that it doesn't exist.  There are just "bad writing days."  Sometimes, there can be weeks and months of bad writing days.  But I just keep showing up, waiting and hoping for a good writing day.  And about having the pieces of a story and knowing that they aren't ready to come together . . . I just keep notes in a notebook.  And wait until the voice for the story shows up.  For me, everything depends on the voice, then the elements will start to cohere.

 

Sheila Grossman How much did you read as a child, and who were your favorite authors? Which authors in general do you think have had the most influence on your work?

 

Hi Sheila!  I was a huge reader as a child.  I kind of read without discretion.  If it was a book, I loved it.  Here are a few that I loved: A Cricket in Times Square, Ribsy, all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, The Borrowers.  Every book that I read (and read now) influences me.  Perhaps the most profound influence has been E.B. White.  

 

Dawn Murray Rankin Have you considered writing a series? (I am reading The Tale of Despereaux aloud to my 5th grade classes and they are LOVING it, as I knew they would! They beg for more, more, more Kate DiCamillo each day. Thank you for inspiring young readers and writers!

 

Hi Dawn, Thank you for reading to your 5th graders.  As for a series . . . maybe.  I think it would be a lot of fun to try.

 

Danny Ray Pilkington Hi Kate, How would you feel if all future books were only published in digital format? I hope that's not until the end of the world, if even then. There's just something about a real book.

 

Danny Ray!  There is something about a real book.  I can still *smell* some of the books that I read when I was a kid.  I think stories will show up in lots of different format.  But I think that there were always be "real books."  I can't imagine the world without them.

 

Marcia Dressel And a follow-up to Danny R.P. -- do you own an e-reader?

Marcia, hi . . .I have an iphone.  And I can download books onto that.  I haven't done it yet.  But it's comforting to know that I can access a story when I need one.

 

Elisabeth Brown Hendricks What are your favorite recent children's books? (besides your own) :)

 

I loved Pam Munoz Ryan's *The Dreamer.*  Run out and get a copy today! 

 

Shea Eckert Dear Kate, What advice do you have for a young writer who wants to write and has written some children stories and hopes have them published?

 

Hi Shea, here's my advice: rewrite and then rewrite and then rewrite and then go to the library and find *The Writer's Market* and see what publishers are looking for the kind of story that you are writing (and rewriting and rewriting).  Rewrite the story again.  And then start sending the story out into the world.

 

Alexa Kaufhold How long does it take your characters to "gestate?" In other words, how long before you are really ready to write about a person who's purely built in your head? Do you have any tricks for helping them (their character) along? Do their names come first or their personalities?

 

Hi, Alexa, 

The name comes first, always. (Names just pop into my head.  It's the only part of writing that's easy for me).  And then I learn about the character as I write.  They don't appear fully formed in my head; but I never feel like I'm making them up either.  It's more like they exist already and I get to discover them.