Geraldine McCaughrean
Geraldine McCaughrean
Geraldine McCaughreanis a British children's novelist. She has written more than 160 books and her work has been translated into 45 languages worldwide...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth6 June 1951
elephants eggs world
The world is hollow. It's a lot to take in. Like cracking an egg and finding nothing inside. Or a full grown elephant.
real needed wanted
He is everything, everything, everything I ever admired and wanted and couldn't have. He is everything I needed and couldn't find in real life. Of course he is. That's why I invented him.
block excuse work
I always thought writer's block was something that prats used as an easy excuse for not doing any work.
apologise good
Never apologise for not being someone else. You're bound to find something you're good at, even if it's only writing stories.
suspect
You sort of suspect if a book's fun to write, it will be fun to read.
books gives next picture rise start variety
I like working in children's books because it gives rise to such a variety of jobs. One month it may be a picture book, the next a retelling, the next a play, a short story or the start of the next novel.
enjoying pursuing secret writer
I still keep thinking someone will penetrate my guilty secret - that I have been masquerading as a writer all these years while all I was really doing was enjoying myself, pursuing my passion.
although ambition burning carry life passion people remember time
I'm not one of those people who had a burning passion for 'Peter Pan' all my life. Although I can't remember a time when I didn't know the story, I didn't carry around with me an ambition to one day write the sequel.
central characters lack low overcome self-esteem suppose timidity work
Most of my central characters lack confidence but overcome their timidity or low self-esteem to win through in the end, so I suppose there is a kind of wish-fulfillment at work.
boil mum series similar themes
My mum used to tell me to never boil my cabbages twice, and I think it's artistically valid. While I do find myself on similar themes in my books, I try not to repeat myself, and that's something which is all too easy to do in series books.
hear narrative smell
You need to be able to climb into a narrative and zip it up under your chin. You need to be able to see through the eyes of the hero, smell what he's smelling, hear what he's hearing.