When I write a novel, every word is mine. I welcome suggestions from my editor, but in the end, I make all the final decisions.
Not counting ‘Small Steps,’ I think ‘Holes’ is my best book, in terms of plot, and setting, and the way the story revealed itself. It hasn’t changed my life, other than that I have more money than I did before I wrote it. I’m still too close to ‘Small Steps’ to compare it to ‘Holes.’
I guess what led to me writing ‘Holes’ was having moved to Texas in 1991, and it was sort of my reaction to Texas.
I write in the mornings, two or three hours every day, and then at least four times a week I play in a duplicate game at a bridge club. I try to go to tournaments three, four, or five times a year.
Part of me becomes the characters I’m writing about. I think readers feel like they are there, the way I am, as a result.
My parents played bridge, and I remember being fascinated watching them. I sometimes got a chance to sit in on a hand, which I loved. But then I didn’t actually play on my own for about 30 years.
I’m no good at describing my books. ‘Holes’ has been out now for seven years, and I still can’t come up with a good answer when asked what that book is about.
It’s – I write the books and let the market find who reads it. I guess a young adult is anywhere from ten to fifteen.
I didn’t become a good writer until I learned how to rewrite. And I don’t just mean fixing spelling and adding a comma. I rewrite each of my books five or six times, and each time I change huge portions of the story.
I want kids to think that reading can be just as much fun and more so than TV or video games or whatever else they do. I think any other kind of message or morals that I might teach is secondary to first just enjoying a book.
There is no lake at Camp Green Lake.
Warning: Do not read this story right after eating. In fact, don’t read it right before eating either. In fact, just to be safe, don’t read this story if you’re ever planning to eat again.
You make the decision: Whom did God punish?
The bark on the tree was just a little softer.
Life is like crossing a river. If you take a huge step-aim for too bigger dreams-then the current will knock you off your feet and carry you away. The way to do it is small steps, you will take hold of life. You will get there in the end.
You can’t let anybody else tell you what your choices are. Sometimes they won’t give you the right choice.
Give me a dollar or I’ll spit on you.
Doesn’t every kid want to dig a hold to China? Didn’t you? What about Chinese children?
In a way, it made him sad. He couldn’t help but think that a hundred times zero was still nothing.
The time you quit learning is the time to quit playing.