'Stories evolve, so just write'

 

“Ilove to write. I used to be a math teacher. And I like the idea that otherpeople could write about the same subjects, but no one would write it just theway I do. It's very individual.” – David A. Adler
Born on this date in 1947, Adler is an American writer of more than 250 books forchildren and young adults, most notably the Cam Jansen mystery series, and the"Picture Book of . . ." series. 

Adler came up with aterrific kids’ protagonist in the form of fifth-grader Jennifer "Cam"Jansen, nicknamed Cam for her photographic memory.    At various points in a “Cam” story, shecloses her eyes and says "click,” mimicking the noise of a camera whilememorizing a scene in front of her.  Shelater recalls these scenes to aid in solving a mystery.    Cam is based on an elementary schoolclassmate of Adler's.   
A native New Yorker, Adler wasteaching math there when his writing career evolved aftera nephew had a question about a topic and couldn't find anything that had been published.  Adler decided towrite something himself, and the rest, as the saying goes . . .
“In my office I have a sign that says, 'Don't think. Just write!' and that'show I work,” Adler says in offering writing advice.   “I trynot to worry about each word, or even each sentence or paragraph. For me,stories evolve. Writing is a process. I rewrite each sentence, each manuscript,many times.”