Interview with Roald Dahl
1. What is it like writing a book? When writing a book it is similar to going on a long walk, across valleys and mountains and different things similar to that, you see the view and get different ideas of what to write down and then write it down. Going day after day on different landscapes getting different views and writing all sorts of different ideas down. It is a very, very, long slow process. 2. How do you get the ideas for your stories? You can be searching around for a year or so before you get a good one, when I do get a good one I write it down immediately so that I will not forget it because it disappears quickly like a dream. When I get the idea, I do not rush and start to write it, I am very careful. I walk around it and look at it and see if it will go, because once you start you have started a year or so’s work and it is a big decision 3. What is your work routine? My work routine is very simple and has been for the past 45 years. You never want to work to long, because after 2 hours you are not at your highest peak of concentration. I usually start writing rather late; I start at 10 o’clock and stop at 12. If I am stuck I will stay there until 12 no matter what. You have to stick it out and don’t leave because you will start to get in the habit of walking away and never get it done. 4. What is the secret to keeping your readers entertained? I laugh at exactly the same jokes as children would and that’s one of the reasons I am able to do it. It has to be exciting, fast, have a good plot and of course funny. Each book I do is a different level of that. 5. How do you create interesting characters? I find that the only way to make characters really interesting to children is to exaggerate all their good or bad qualities, so if the character is nasty, bad or cruel, you make them very nasty bad or cruel, if they are ugly you make them extremely ugly. |
End Note 3:
In the interview with Roald Dahl I learned a lot about his writing and how he gets the ideas for what he writes. He connects with his readers through his stories because he relates to the childhood humor that he incorporates into his writing. The audience for this genre would be children or adults that are really interested in how he writes and how he gets the ideas for what he writes about. I thought this was a good genre to include because his answers are very insightful to his writing. I found the answer to these questions online and turned them into an interview because I thought his answers were good insight to why he writes like he does. Heidi. |