Transcript for January 28, 2005

On January 27 and January 28, 2005, Newbery-winning author Kate DiCamillo was interviewed by Scholastic students and teachers. DiCamillo is the author of Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tiger Rising, and The Tale of Despereaux.

Below is the transcript for January 28’s interview. Read the transcript for the companion interview on January 27.

You can also read the transcript for an earlier conversation with Kate Camillo in 2003.

How do you come up with book topics?
I never know what the next book is going to be about. I always just keep my eyes and ears and heart open, and an idea will come.

What are you working on now?
I am working on another easy reader, but I get superstitious about talking in any kind of detail on what I'm working on.

Where did you get all the interesting names for your characters in Because of Winn-Dixie?
I get asked that question a lot because there are a lot of strange names in all of my books. I don't know, but coming up with the names is the easiest part of writing for me. They just pop in my head.

Is Naomi, Florida a real place?
No. I made it up.

Are you going to write a sequel to Because of Winn-Dixie? Will Opal's mom ever come back?
No. I doubt very seriously that Opal's mother will come back but I don't know. I have no plans to write a sequel to Winn-Dixie.

Why did Opal's mom run away?
That would take a book in itself, and the only way I would be able to figure out why she left is if I wrote a book about Opal's mom. Sometimes terrible things happen and there is no good reason at all.

How did you come up with the powerful comparisons of the preacher and his turtle shell and the empty space Opal felt when she talked about losing a tooth and how she missed her mom?
The tooth metaphor just popped into my head — one of the gifts that just comes when you write. The turtle metaphor I had to work harder on. I had to keep on imagining what the preacher looked like to Opal.

Why did you come up with the idea of a girl with no mother?
I started Winn-Dixie with one sentence, which was "I have a dog named Winn-Dixie," which is a sentence that didn't make it into the book. It's not like I set out to write a book about a girl who loses her mother. I set out to write a book about that one sentence and I didn't know what would happen.

How did you get the idea of the bottles on the trees??????
Bottles on trees in the rural south is a very common thing, so I didn't make it up. I saw it and remembered it, and it popped into the book.

How did you come up with the ten things about Opal's mother?
I don't know. They just seemed right and true about her, and I didn't work hard to get them, they just popped into my head.

When we write in our fourth grade class, we often have to revise our writing. We also conference with each other and our teacher. Is your writing process like this? Do your have people that you conference with?
I usually rewrite something that I'm working on four or five times before I start reaching out for feedback from my friends. So, yes, my process is similar to your process.

Do you enjoy writing every time you do it, or do you sometimes have to force yourself to finish a certain story?
I never enjoy writing and I have to force myself every morning to do it, and I'm always glad when I've done it.

Do you like writing?
No, I don't, but I love the end result. It's kind of like exercising; you never want to do it but you feel so much better when you do.

How long does it take you to write a first draft?
I only work on two pages a day, so depending on the length of the book it will take me about a month and a half to get the first draft and then many, many rewrites. When I rewrite, I also work on two pages a day, but my first drafts are always single-spaced and the second drafts are double-spaced.

Why don't you like to write?
Because it is so hard for me, and because the beautiful story that is in my head I can never get on paper.

Is it hard writing a chapter book because it is so long?
It is no harder than any other writing.

Do you love to read?
I absolutely adore reading. It is one of the great pleasures of my existence.

What's your favorite book?
Jerry Spinelli's Wringer, Freddy the Pig books, Secret of Platform 13, Letters from Rifka, Olive's Ocean, Snap, so I can't pick just one.

Did reading books influence you to be an author?
Absolutely. Every good book makes me want to try and write. But it was Anne Tyler's Accidental Tourist, which has a fabulous passage that made me think, "I want to try and do that."

Are you proud of your books?
I'm proud that I've done the work. I know how imperfect the books are, but I am proud that I took the chance, and I'm proud that I tried.

Do you like reading your own books?
I have yet to read any of the books in their entirety from cover to cover once they have been published.

Do you ever feel unoriginal, as if you're repeating an idea?
I think that every writer has one or two themes that they work with their whole life. So you keep on coming back to the same themes over and over. For me that's coming to terms with loss and also the flat out joy of existence. Yes, I'm repeating myself, but I think we're all repeating ourselves.

How did you get the idea of The Tale of Despereaux?
My best friend's son asked for the story of an unlikely hero with exceptionally large ears. So people ask me how I picked him out, and I think it's not such a big jump from large-eared, unlikely hero to a mouse.

Why do you talk to the reader in Tale of Despereaux?
There are two reasons for that: 1) Because Luke had asked for this story, as I was writing, I imagined telling it to him. So that narrator's voice sounds a lot like me. 2) The voice of the narrator popped up and it sounded like it knew what would happen in the story, and I didn't know, so I just followed that voice.

Why did you use soup for the death of princess pea's mother instead of vegetables or something else?
I don't have an answer. Soup just seemed right, though I can see death by vegetables also has a certain resonance.

Were you happy with the way the characters were depicted in the illustrations in Tale of Despereaux?
Thrilled. I think Tim Ering made the book better than it is with his illustrations.

Is Despereaux someone you could look up to?
Absolutely. He's a role model to me on what it means to be brave.

Can you relate Winn-Dixie to Tale of Despereaux in anyway?
Yes, I can. The same themes are there — loss, forgiveness, friendship, and hope.

Despereaux had dreams, do you have dreams?
Yes, I dreamed that I would write another book.

How does the book make you feel?
It makes me laugh, and it also moves me.

Did you ever think so many people would ask you this many questions about your books?
(laughter) No. One, I never thought I would get published. Two, I never thought anyone would read the books. So I'm amazed that people have read the books and have questions. I'm also grateful.

When you were a little girl did you ever dream of becoming an author?
When I was a little girl I dreamed of being a veterinarian.

Why are your books a little sad?
Because life is a little sad and also a little happy and a little funny.

Where are you from?
I was born in Philadelphia, raised in Florida, and I live in Minneapolis now.

How old were you when you started writing?
I was 29.

Do you have a second job?
No, this is it. I am one of those fortunate writers that gets to make their living with their writing.

Do you have children?
Nope.

What other job would you have gotten instead of being an author?
I don't think there is anything else I could do. Maybe I could have been a teacher.

Were you surprised when you and your book were chosen for a movie?????
Surprised is too small a word. Stunned, overjoyed, disbelieving. Do you know about the Web site for the movie? It is www.becauseofwinndixiemovie.com.

Will you be in the movie?
No. It was a dream of mine to play a cashier at Winn-Dixie in the movie, but I was touring for Despereaux when they were filming, so it didn't work out timing wise.

Do you prefer reading the book first or seeing the movie first?
I tend to be a book person, but I also love movies. So I generally read the book first, but sometimes the movie, if it's good, will send me back to the book.

Any plans to make Tale of Despereaux into a movie?
It is at Universal Studios with Gary Ross as a producer. He's the one who did Seabiscuit. And the director is Sylvan Chomet, who did Triplets of Belleville. I don't think they have a date for release, but it will be animated.

While you were writing your books, did they ever remind you about a childhood memory?
Well, Winn-Dixie in particular made me remember what it was like to be a kid in a small town in the South.

What was your life like as a child?
I had a pretty fabulous childhood. I loved to read, and I loved school. I was lucky enough to have a lot of friends and a mother who read to me. It was good.

Have you ever met an author in real life when you were a kid?
No. This whole concept of authors visiting schools is new. I would have just died if I had met somebody who had written a book.

Do you make certain events in your stories based on certain events in your life?
No. It's all kind of made up. There are parts of me that are in the story, but I am not really aware of it until I'm done.

Do you ever wish you could illustrate your own books?
Yeah. I wish that I could draw, but I can't, so I'm fortunate to have fabulous people illustrate my books.

Where are you answering these questions?
I'm sitting on the futon in my living room in my little house in Minneapolis.

What is a futon?
A futon is a couch like piece of furniture. Also, if you pull on the bottom, you can make it into a bed. It is a very handy piece of furniture.

Do your emotions influence the mood of the book?
Sure. Whatever I'm feeling certainly finds its way somehow into the book.

Were you surprised when you found out that your book was going to be published?
Yes. Trying to get a book published is like beating your head against a brick wall, so you're always surprised when the bricks give way.

Which one of your books do you think relates more to your life?
They all do. They all relate to my emotional life, so it's impossible to say which one is more true to me because they are all true to me.

Do you ever wish you could bring your books to life?
Well, that is what a book does; it brings a story to life.

Animals are a lot more loyal than people, is that why you use them in your books?
Animals keep on popping up because I love animals so much. I don't think I am going to put an animal in, they just show up. But yes, they do tend to be more loyal than your average person.

Do you imagine a "soundtrack" to your book as you write?
I don't, but for every book there is one CD that I'll play as I'm writing it. For Winn-Dixie it was Van Morrison's Enlightenment.

What was your favorite book when you were little?
Too many to list, but a few up there would be The Secret Garden, Little Princess, The Twenty-One Balloons, Ribsy, and Stuart Little.

Do you like kids? Why?
I love kids because they are more inclined to tell the truth. Also, they make me laugh.

Have you ever regretted being an author?
No. Not once. It's been a dream come true. The loss of privacy has been a little frightening, but I've been able to keep it in perspective. There are so few authors who are able to make their living writing, so losing some privacy is a small price to pay.

Why did the tiger die in The Tiger Rising?
I spent a good two weeks trying to make that not happen because I hated when the animal dies in a book, but there was no other way for the story to end. It had to happen.

How did you feel when you won the Newbery Award?
I cried. I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it.

When you write, do you use a pen, pencil, or a computer?
Computer all the way.

Which one of your books took the longest to write?
Tale of Despereaux did. It took a year.

Did you expect your book to win the Newbery award?
No way. The thing that makes the Newbery so interesting is that there is no short list. They read every children's book that was published that year in the United States, and the result is a complete surprise.

What was your favorite subject in school?
English.

What book gave you the most stress?
Despereaux. No doubt about it. I was afraid the whole time because it was a totally different kind of book for me and I thought that the critics would hate it.

Do you need complete isolation when writing?
Yes. I can't do it in a busy place, it has to be quiet. And there can't be any chaos. I have got a pile of papers next to my computer that are rough drafts that I might go back to and some geegools — little objects that give me comfort.

Do you ever wish that a book would finish itself?
Yeah, I wish that for every book, but it doesn't seem to happen.

Before you write, is there a particular thing you need to do before getting started?
Coffee has to be made, but that's set on a timer. So I get out of bed, pour a cup of coffee, and get on the computer. It's the very first thing I do in the day.

How do you plan out a book's plot?
I don't. I write not knowing what's going to happen. So I don't have an outline or a plot, I just write by the seat of my pants.

Do you write pieces of things and then put them together or do you write chronologically?
I tend to write chronologically.

Did you choose your endings beforehand, or did it come to you?
Nope, they just come to me.

What book is your favorite?
Can't pick a favorite. They are my kids. I love them and am dismayed by them.

Would you like to have a dog like Winn-Dixie?
Absolutely. Who wouldn't?

Do any of the characters in your book remind you of yourself?
Sistine in Tiger Rising reminds me quite a bit of me.

Do you plan on doing any sequels?
No, I don't.

Do you keep a writer’s notebook with ideas and thoughts and observations?
You bet. I write every morning in a journal after I am done with my two pages, so a lot of my ideas end up in that journal. I get to write whatever I want. I get to complain or obsess, and I write it out long hand.

Do you love every single one of your characters, even the evil ones?
Yes. They all break my heart.

Do you have advice for young writers?
I do. If you want to write, you should read a lot and write a little bit every day. Listen when people talk and look carefully at the world around you. And believe in yourself.