Why is rick riordan inspired to write
JL: Tell us a bit about your background. What were you like growing up? I sent in my first story at age It was promptly rejected, but I kept trying.
JL: You started out writing mysteries for adults. How did you end up switching to writing for children? Did the experience of writing mysteries help you with plotting and writing the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and the 39 Clues books? He asked me to make up a new story for him. The Lightning Thief began as a bedtime story, and my son urged me to write it down. My early mysteries were definitely great practice for writing my young-adult books, especially The Maze of Bones , which is a YA thriller.
JL: How did your experience as a middle-school teacher help with your writing? What did your students teach you about writing for young people? I always imagine myself reading my own book aloud in fifth period, right after lunch.
What do you think attracts readers to those stories? How do they connect with the characters? His Gods of Asgard books feature the character Alex Fierro, the gender-fluid child of the Norse god Loki, who shifts gender frequently in myths. Riordan created Alex after remembering children he had taught who were not comfortable with their assigned gender, for whom he wished he had done more at the time. But I did the best job I could. I feel very protective of them. Since The Lightning Thief in , Riordan has published around two books a year.
He currently has nothing under contract at all, and feels somewhat relieved. But for all his successes, he still misses teaching. I just have millions of kids in the classroom now. To order a copy, go to guardianbookshop.
The idea of a pen that changes into a sword intrigues me. Where did the idea of Riptide come from? When I was a student, I used to daydream in class that I could uncap my pen and it would turn into a sword. Fortunately, it never happened. That was what really got me excited about books. Of course I admire J. Finally if you were a cartoon character which would you be and why? Bugs Bunny. No contest. I wish I could handle life with as much panache and confidence as that wascally wabbit.
Rick Riordan: I grew up on Thor comics and I like the Marvel movies, but they play fast and loose with the Norse myths.
Free read! Read more. Rick Riordan answers your questions. Correspond with authors. You will find that a polite email will often get a response. Secondly, read a lot!
Read everything you can get your hands on. You will learn the craft of writing by immersing yourself in the voices, styles, and structures of writers who have gone before you. Thirdly, write every day! Keep a journal. Jot down interesting stories you heard. Write descriptions of people you see. Writing is like a sport — you only get better if you practice. Rejection is a part of writing, and it hurts. The trick is to keep at it.
Are your adult mysteries appropriate for young readers? They have adult situations, language, etc. They are very different from Percy Jackson. The Lightning Thief deals with magic and the Greek gods. Are you worried about censorship?
As a culture, we may tend toward monotheism, but we also grow up steeped in these wonderful old stories about the Olympians. These stories are part of our collective heritage.
In fact, I think you have to know Greek myths to understand where our modern "Western" culture came from. The Lightning Thief explores Greek mythology in a modern setting, but it does so as a humorous work of fantasy.
Early in the book, the character Chiron makes a distinction between God, capital-G, the creator of the universe, and the Greek gods lower-case g. They are deeply embedded in and inseparable from Western thought.
The book pays tribute to the legacy of Olympus as one of the roots of our culture. The magic and fantasy in the novel are also drawn directly from Greek mythology. My goal for the novel is to get kids interested in learning more about Greek mythology. Greek mythology is studied extensively from grades , not to mention the Iliad and the Odyssey in the upper grades. English literature draws heavily on Greek mythology. It always has — from Chaucer all the way to modern novels.
Percy Jackson is part of that tradition. How is writing a children's book different than writing and adult book? I think kids want the same thing from a book that adults want — a fast-paced story, characters worth caring about, humor, surprises and mystery. A good book always keeps you asking questions, and makes you keep turning pages so you can find out the answers.
Of course, I tend to write in short, snappy sentences anyway, but I think it would be a mistake to "write down" to kids. They hate that. They want to be treated like intelligent and sophisticated readers, and who can blame them?
I made sure the content was appropriate for young readers — after all, my own son was the first reader — but as far as the writing style, I hope Percy Jackson will be just as enjoyable for adults as it is for kids. I did my best to keep the book interesting. I taught reading for many years, and I know that kids get bored with long descriptions that go on for pages and pages. When I was writing Percy Jackson, my own son was in the process of being tested for learning differences.
He was having trouble reading, and some trouble focusing in the classroom. The teachers were wondering about ADHD and dyslexia. He was frustrated about learning to read, and we had to explain to him that the testing was designed to help the teachers help him, not to make him feel bad.