Anyone interested in the world generally can’t help being interested in young adult culture – in the music, the bands, the books, the fashions, and the way in which the young adult community develops its own language. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
At this stage I am not involved with young adults as closely as many other writers. My children are grown up and my grandchildren are still quite young. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
At the same time, I think books create a sort of network in the reader’s mind, with one book reinforcing another. Some books form relationships. Other books stand in opposition. No two writers or readers have the same pattern of interaction. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
I was able to work out all sorts of attitudes to style and event and character, all of which affected the way I came to think about my own writing. I believe that all good writers are original. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
When you are reading, someone has done a lot of work on your behalf, someone has had ideas and has then written and corrected and improved them so that they can be shared. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
There are certainly times when my own everyday life seems to retreat so the life of the story can take me over. That is why a writer often needs space and time, so that he or she can abandon ordinary life and ‘live’ with the characters. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
When I was a child I had a best friend who lived across the road from me. When her mother died unexpectedly it was like losing a member of my own family. I think I am still affected by the memory of that loss. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
I hope I am not too repetitive. However, coming to terms with death is part of the general human situation. Margaret Mahy Read Quote
They are imaginary characters. But perhaps not solely the products of my imagination, since there are some aspects of the characters that relate to my own experience of a wide variety of people. Margaret Mahy Read Quote