When I first started, my novels were set in the far future.
I had a publishing history of murder mysteries.
My first published novel, 'American Rust,' took three and a half years of full-time work to write. But I wrote two apprentice novels before that.
I wrote for 10 years before I even started the 'Percy Jackson' series.
I was about 28-29 when I wrote my first story, and that was called 'The Garden of Abdul Gasazi.'
I like historical fiction. I fell in love with New Orleans the first time I visited it. And I wanted to place a story in New Orleans.
I write exclusively using computers. Pens and typewriters can fsck right off - I wrote my first half million words in my teens on a manual typewriter (had to trade it for a new one due to keys snapping from metal fatigue) so I am not a pen or typewriter fetishist.
While writing my first 90 books, I was magazine editor, publisher, book publisher, executive, etc., so I was established in publishing. three of my seven or so books were biographies of sports stars and really opened doors for me in that area.
I worked in publishing before I became an author, so I knew how a book gets made.
I was born in Ann Arbor. I lived for a while in Ohio; Pennsylvania, California for 10 years, and now in Boston. And I lived in Iowa for a couple of years, where I studied at the Writers Workshop.
The first version of The Beautiful Room Is Empty was the first mss. I'd ever submitted to New York editors.
Even if Pearl S. Buck hadn't spent most of her life in China, she'd have every right to write about it.
I've been writing since I was about thirteen but didn't start a book until 2007. I spent four years writing a sci-fi novel before I wrote 'The Bone Season' at nineteen.
I really enjoy doing both, but I didn't write nonfiction until 1994.
Going back to my own past as a reader, I was a big, big reader of romances, particularly as a teenager, the age that my books are aimed at.
Generally, what adults want to know is my background, why I write what I write, and very personal insights that some say are inspiring.
I was born in Philadelphia and currently live in Minneapolis. I write for both children and adults.
I didn't start writing until late high school and then I was just diddling. Mainly I loved to read and my writing was an outgrowth of that.
The New York Times Bestseller 'The Amateur,' written by Ed Klein, former editor of the 'New York Times Magazine,' is one of the best books I've read.
Science fiction is where I started out, really. When I was a kid, I was a complete addict of science fiction. It was one of my earliest interests as a writer, and I've just taken a long time to circle back around to it.
When I first started writing, I wrote a book called 'Bruiser,' and it was pretty much set in Chicago.
I've always been drawn to writing for young readers. The books that I read growing up remain in my mind very strongly.
I started out writing much more science fictiony stuff and writing about science fiction.
My first novel, 'You Must be Sisters,' was started in Pakistan. I've wrote several novels and a TV drama set or partly-set there.
I'm a professional. So before I published any novels, I'd always been writing stories.
