Reading is very creative - it's not just a passive thing. I write a story; it goes out into the world; somebody reads it and, by reading it, completes it. Margaret Mahy More Quotes by Margaret Mahy More Quotes From Margaret Mahy Anyone interested in the world generally can't help being interested in young adult culture - in the music, the bands, the books, the fashions, and the way in which the young adult community develops its own language. Margaret Mahy fashion community book Every writer has to find their own way into writing. Margaret Mahy writing way When you are reading, someone has done a lot of work on your behalf, someone has had ideas and has then written and corrected and improved them so that they can be shared. Margaret Mahy done reading ideas People can say what they like about the eternal verities, love and truth and so on, but nothing's as eternal as the dishes. Margaret Mahy truth-and-love dishes people By the time ordinary life asserted itself once more, I would feel I had already lived for a while in some other lifetime, that I had even taken over someone else's life. Margaret Mahy taken lifetime ordinary New Zealand is the only country I know well enough to write about. It can sometimes lead to complications. Margaret Mahy writing sometimes country In a way, the characters often do take over. Margaret Mahy character way Will you still love me when I'm a monster? Margaret Mahy stills monsters love At the same time, I think books create a sort of network in the reader's mind, with one book reinforcing another. Some books form relationships. Other books stand in opposition. No two writers or readers have the same pattern of interaction. Margaret Mahy two book thinking I don't think I prefer writing for one age group above another. I am just as pleased with a story which I feel works well for very small children as I do with a story for young adults. Margaret Mahy writing children thinking It is a good idea to know which publishers publish which stories. For example, there is no sense in sending a picture book text to a publisher who does not publish picture books. Margaret Mahy example book ideas I've never actually been a fighter myself - fighting tires me out and I'm not an efficient fighter anyway - but I have certainly seen other people have great complicated goes at one another. Margaret Mahy fighter fighting people Writing for young children I find I often use particular jokes with words and exaggerated, funny events, but some of these haunt the more complex stories for older children too. Margaret Mahy writing funny children I had to wait for a long time before I could support myself with writing. However, being a writer is what I have most wanted to be, from the time I was a child. Margaret Mahy writing long children I think I am too interested in my own ideas to copy anyone else's, but I find that other people's imagery, the flow of language in the outside world, games with words, and ideas about relationships are all most important to me. Margaret Mahy games ideas thinking There are always two people involved in cruelty, aren't there? One to be vicious and someone to suffer! And what's the use of getting rid of - of wickedness, say - in the outside world if you let it creep back into things from inside you? Margaret Mahy suffering two people Do you think that clothes have a life of their own, and maybe have unsuitable affairs with opposite styles? I mean - you look at some people - their clothes go on flirting long after the people inside them have lost interest. Margaret Mahy flirting mean thinking I am really chained to my computer these days so I work in my bedroom, which is a room I have worked in for years and years. It is just as much an office as a bedroom, and during the day, my bed is rather like an extension of my desk. Margaret Mahy bed office years At this stage I am not involved with young adults as closely as many other writers. My children are grown up and my grandchildren are still quite young. Margaret Mahy stage adults children I don't want to die, really. I'm interested in what happens next, so I've got to keep on. Margaret Mahy next want happens
