Phoebe

Phoebe asked Isabel Allende:

Is writing for children different from writing for adults?

Isabel Allende Writing for children can be very difficult. I prefer to write for adults because I have more freedom. When I wrote a trilogy for young adults (The Eagle and the Jaguar) and my novel Zorro, I had to keep in mind that they had to be page turners, with lots of action, adventure, fantasy and suspense, clear cut heroes and villains, a positive tone and a good ending. Kids don’t like to spend days reading a story and at the end have a dead hero and a happy villain, do they? 

More Answered Questions

Samantha

Samantha asked Isabel Allende:

Acabo de terminar de leer La Casa de los Espíritus y me encantó. Mi personaje favorito es Clara, me recuerda mucho a mi abuela. ¿Quién o qué inspiró su personaje?

Marilee

Marilee asked Isabel Allende:

When writing historical fiction, how do you know how much history and how much fiction to put into your book? Or at what point does it stop being a historical fiction?

J.P. Cunningham

J.P. Cunningham asked Isabel Allende:

Doña Isabel, w. a novel complete at about 90K words, possibly with most engaging text within the second half (from perspective of an agent), how could it get anywhere w. only the first fifty pages submitted? David Cornwell ( LeCarré) wrote "The Honorable Schoolboy", but with the most captivating part(s) within the second half. Some of the finest authors are not necessarily "contemporary." J.P. Cunningham

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