“I started reading Dickens when I was about 12, and I particularly liked all of the orphan books. I always liked books about young people who are left on their own with the world, and the four children's books I've written feature that very thing: children that are abandoned by their families or running away from their families or ignored by their families and having to grow up quicker than they should, like David Copperfield - having to be the hero of their own story.” PeopleWorldShouldChildrenBookStoriesRunningYoungReadingLeftGrowsGrowing UpFourWrittenHeroOur ChildrenFeaturesAbandonedRunning AwayIgnoredOrphanChildren's BooksDickens Author:John Boyne
“With the adult ones, I feel I need to get as deep inside the psychology of a character as I can, and that needs to be first-person. In the children's books, I feel I need some distance. I don't want to be the nine-year-old at the center of the story. I need to have some type of narrative voice.” WantNeedsFeelsYearsFirstsChildrenPersonsI CanBookCharacterStoriesVoicePsychologyTypeAdultsDistanceNineNarrativeFirst PersonDeep InsideNine YearsChildren's BooksNarrative Voice Author:John Boyne
“I don't change the language for children books. I don't make the language simpler. I use words that they might have to look up in the dictionary. The books are shorter, but there's just not that much difference other than that to be honest. And the funny thing is, I have adult writer friends [to whom I would say], "Would you think of writing a children's book?" and they go, "No, God, I wouldn't know how." They're quite intimidated by the concept of it. And when I say to children's books writers, would they write an adult book, they say no because they think they're too good for it.” ThinkingKnowsWritingLooksChildrenBookUseMightLanguageDifferencesKnow HowHonestConceptsAdultsBeing HonestLook UpDictionaryFunny ThingsIntimidatedDon't ChangeChildren's BooksChildren BookChildrens Book Author:John Boyne
“Children's book writers tend to feel quite superior, and adult writers tend to feel they wouldn't know how to write a children's book - which might surprise you because I think a lot of people think it's the other way around.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWayFeelsWritingChildrenBookMightKnow HowAdultsSurpriseSuperiorsChildren's Books Author:John Boyne
“I am frustrated by celebrities who decide to write children's books because they think it's easy. That drives me crazy. It's frustrating because it's unfair to children. Because they'll get a lot of attention, they'll get a lot of marketing budget and so on just because they're a celebrity - the Madonnas, the Ricky Gervaises, the Russell Brands.” ThinkingWritingChildrenBookEasyAttentionCrazyMarketingBrandsBudgetsFrustratedUnfairFrustratingChildren's BooksDrive Me Crazy Author:John Boyne
