“How I Write” by Paul Jennings

I always knew deep down that what I really wanted was to be a writer - right from when I was young. When I was 16, I wrote a story and sent it to a magazine. When they rejected my story I was so upset that I didn’t write again for years. I always tell people now ‘never be hurt by being rejected. Just keep on trying and most of all don’t give up’. Many years later I decided to write again - the sort of stories which I thought would make reading fun for children. This time I decided not to give up and Penguin Books liked my stories and published Unreal! in 1985. The question that every writer is asked the most is 'where do you get your ideas from' and I think the best answer to this is 'everywhere'. Everything that happens to you and the people around you can give you an idea for a story. That's not to say it's easy. Thinking up ideas can be very hard work and for me it's the hardest part of writing a story. It takes about a year to write my collections of short stories and the part that takes the longest is actually thinking up the ideas. It's great when I eventually think of a plot that I know is good. I have to write down any new ideas straight away, because if I don't I might forget it. I keep an 'ideas book' and I always write my story plans in it. I only type it up when I know exactly how the story ends and what I want to write. Not all writers work in this way - some just start writing and see where it leads them. It's a good job that we're not all the same. That would be boring. When I finish a story I send it to my editor. I read it through several times first to make sure there are no mistakes (I don't like doing that very much). It's a nice feeling when she rings and tells me she likes the story (she mostly does). After that it has to be edited and then there may be more work for me to do - parts of the story might need changing to make it sound better, or I might change the names in the story. All those sorts of things. This part of the process is very important. It's the part I like the least of all, because once I've finished a story I hate to keep going back through it all again. I just want to move on to the next story. While all these things are going on, someone like Bob Lea, Keith McEwan, Peter Gouldthorpe or Craig Smith have been working on the illustrations. I really look forward to seeing their first sketches for the covers. Then there's the title! How did I choose my book titles? Well, unreal is a word my children often used, so that's how my first book got its name. Then I realised how many 'UN' words there are and thought it would be fun to use them for all my collections of short stories (apart from Quirky Tails and Tongue Tied). When it's all finished there is one more thing - the dedication. I usually dedicate my books to members of my family and very special friends. And then, there's the best bit of all - picking up the very first copy of the book. When I get that first copy I just can't put it down for ages. It's a very special sort of feeling.

 Fonte: http://www.pauljennings.com.au/about.asp?aid=50