Wendelin Van Draanen
Wendelin Van Draanen
Wendelin Van Draanenis an American writer of children's and young-adult fiction...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth6 January 1965
CountryUnited States of America
afraid attention ears eyes interested kinds life lots pay people styles voices ways
If you are interested in writing, get out and live your life! Do a lot. See a lot. Keep your eyes and ears open. Pay attention to the different ways people speak. Read lots of different kinds of books. And then try writing in different voices and styles - don't be afraid to experiment.
less morning people simpler though
I write early in the morning at the computer, and people think I'm crazy, but I still use my Mac-Classic even though we have a state-of-the-art PC. There are just less distractions with the simpler machine.
kids
You can't be preachy - kids are allergic to messages.
believe
I believe in the paramount importance of entertainment, but I have something to say.
arsenal believe certain hope life navigate
There are certain things I believe we need to keep in our emotional arsenal as we navigate through life. Hope is a big one. The more of that we can carry, the better.
health life mental run
I've run my whole life - for more than exercise, for mental health.
age books early editor eventually good learned rewrite rewriting stick takes
I rewrite my books many times before submitting them, and after my editor takes a look I wind up rewriting some more! It's a good thing I learned at an early age to keep on trying. Stick to it, and eventually you'll get there.
growing loved mysteries people
Part of my motivation for writing mysteries for young people is that I loved mysteries when I was growing up, and now that I'm on the creative end of things, I'm discovering that they're even more fun to write!
achieved compliment consider exactly grow happens method mine possible reader sort tells
What sort of person you grow into should not be achieved by default, and often that's exactly what happens to kids. I see literature as a method of guidance, information, and contemplation, and consider it the greatest compliment possible when a reader tells me that a book of mine really made him/her think.
carry hope minds promote readers writer
My mission as a writer is to give my readers hope to carry with them, and to promote a belief that they can do anything they set their minds to.
appears benefit external hard mystical people sit somehow takes tend work
Writing is work. It takes a lot of contemplation, concentration, and out-and-out sweat. People tend to romanticize it, that somehow your work appears by benefit of some mystical external force. In reality, to be a writer, you have to sit down and write. It's work, and often it's hard work.
talk watching
Don't even try to talk to me when I'm watching the moon. That's my moon, baby.
kids artist play
I operate under the assumption that people don't notice the good in me. That's just how things always seem to play out. I get blamed, while con-artist kids like Venus, and Camille, and Gemma get believed. But the rescue lady noticed. In the background, just observing, she noticed.
giving people advice
It's easy to look back and see it, and it's easy to give the advice. But the sad fact is, most people don't look beneath the surface until it's too late.