I think I am too interested in my own ideas to copy anyone else’s, but I find that other people’s imagery, the flow of language in the outside world, games with words, and ideas about relationships are all most important to me. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
It is a good idea to know which publishers publish which stories. For example, there is no sense in sending a picture book text to a publisher who does not publish picture books. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
I am really chained to my computer these days so I work in my bedroom, which is a room I have worked in for years and years. It is just as much an office as a bedroom, and during the day, my bed is rather like an extension of my desk. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
The novels take longer to write than the picture book texts, and they do take a different sort of concentration. However, a very short, simple story that works well is just as exciting to me as any longer and more complex book. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
Writing for young children I find I often use particular jokes with words and exaggerated, funny events, but some of these haunt the more complex stories for older children too. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
Of course there are big differences in length and character and vocabulary, but each level has its particular pleasures when it comes to the words one can use and the way one uses them. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
My theory is that I decided to be a writer when I was about seven, but of course it is not as simple as that. Like most writers, I had to work at other things to earn a living and wrote mainly in the evenings, often very late at night, for many years. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
I don’t think I prefer writing for one age group above another. I am just as pleased with a story which I feel works well for very small children as I do with a story for young adults. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
