SIX MINUTES WITH INGRID LAW:

Today, Ingrid Law, Newbery Honor Winner and New York Times BestseLling author of Savvy, Scumble, and Switch joins LitPick for Six Minutes with an Author!

How did you get started writing? 

I never wrote much as a kid--I always had tons of stories in my head, but my handwriting was slow, and I found that excruciatingly frustrating. I began writing book-length stories by the time I was nineteen, after I learned how to type really fast. However, I made few wholehearted attempts to get published before I was in my late thirties. Then, I supposed I'd practiced enough to try to take my writing more seriously, to really work hard at it.

Who influenced you?

Authors and storytellers of all kinds. And my own kiddo, of course.

Do you have a favorite book/subject/character/setting?

I've always had trouble picking "favorites" in anything, but I've always had a warm place in my heart for the Chrestomanci books by Diana Wynne Jones, which were some of my favorites as a kid, and some of the first books about magical children that I read on my own.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to be an author?

Read a lot. Learn to be okay with revising and rewriting. Be BRAVE.

Where is your favorite place to write?

I don't like writing at desks or tables as much as I do sitting cross-legged in a big, super-comfy chair with a lap desk and lots of pillows and blankets (if it's winter). I like to be really comfy.

What else would you like to tell us?

I love writing fantasy stories rooted in the real world. Sometimes the amazing powers I give my characters are simply fun and exciting, and lend to action and adventure. Other times, the powers I give my characters can be thought of as metaphors: exaggerations of real things people feel and experience every day. We authors merely start the stories; readers finish them, bringing your own imaginations, outlooks, and life experiences into play as you read.

Ingrid, thank you for joining LitPick for six minutes! Your advice to “Be BRAVE” to someone who wants to be an author is excellent!