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" All of my characters tend to be montages of different people I've met: little bits and pieces of their personalities put together. "
Rick Riordan
Together
Met
People
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" No one spoke in terms of children's literature, as opposed to adult literature, until around the 1940s. It wasn't categorised much before then. Even Grimm's tales were written for adults. But it is true that ever since 'Harry Potter' there has been a renaissance in fantasy literature. J. K. Rowling opened the door again. "
Rick Riordan
Children
Door
Literature
" I loved the idea of making history interesting for kids! When Scholastic approached me about 'The 39 Clues', I immediately started going through the 'greatest hits' from my years as a social studies teacher, and picked the historical characters and eras that most appealed to my students. "
Rick Riordan
History
Loved
Interesting
" You know, how much order is good? And when does order become too restrictive? Is a little bit of chaos okay, or is chaos always an evil force? I mean, these are questions that any kid who's ever been in a school cafeteria can relate to. "
Rick Riordan
Good
Know
School
" Turkey, Australia, and Japan are three of my top destinations. "
Rick Riordan
Japan
Top
Three
" I get letters from college kids who have read Percy Jackson when they were younger who tell me, 'I just passed my Classics exam.' The books are accurate enough that they can serve as a gateway to Homer and Virgil. "
Rick Riordan
Me
Letters
Just
" I think that kids have a greater capacity for processing things than we give them credit for. "
Rick Riordan
Credit
Think
Things
" I've always liked the idea that writing is a form of travel. And I started my writing career as a mystery novelist for adults. "
Rick Riordan
Career
Always
Writing
" If the parents are too busy to read, it's a safe bet the children will feel the same way. Set aside time for family reading each night. It doesn't matter so much what the kids read, as long as you provide them space for reading and a sense that it is a valuable part of your daily routine. "
Rick Riordan
Daily
Family
Reading
" The Web or card experience is not at all going to replicate the book experience, nor is the book experience going to replicate the Web. "
Rick Riordan
Nor
Web
Book
" Writing 'Book 1: The Maze of Bones' didn't feel much different than writing one of my other novels, but I thought it was very innovative to offer the website and trading card components as well for those readers who wanted to go more in depth with the Cahill experience. "
Rick Riordan
Feel
Thought
Writing
" It's wonderful being an author and having so many kids enjoying my books. That's always been my dream job, and I feel very lucky to be able to do it. "
Rick Riordan
Feel
Lucky
Always
" When I was in college, my parents' house burned down, and took a lot of the possessions I'd grown up with. That's probably one thing that made me realize material stuff is not really that important. "
Rick Riordan
Me
College
House
" It's hard enough to be a middle-school kid, because you're dealing with so many facets of your identity - you're changing socially, you're changing physically, you're changing emotionally, everything is in flux, and to put race on top of that as well and have to figure out your racial identity is extremely hard. "
Rick Riordan
Racial
Identity
Kid
" I don't teach anymore, but I can still clearly see fifth period after lunch - that's a real tough time to teach. And I tried to imagine writing a story that would appeal to those kids - even when they're tired, even when they're bouncing off the walls. "
Rick Riordan
Writing
Tough
Tired
" For me, writing for kids is harder because they're a more discriminating audience. While adults might stay with you, if you lose your pacing or if you have pages of extraneous description, a kid's not going to do that. They will drop the book. "
Rick Riordan
Me
Lose
Book
" My problem is never ideas. I've got more than I'll ever have time to write. It's all about how many I can get to, and which ones readers want to see the most. "
Rick Riordan
Ideas
Problem
See
" The older I get, the less I obsess about material stuff. In fact, stuff has become the enemy. There always seems to be more of it than I have storage in my house! "
Rick Riordan
Always
House
More
" I saw 'The 39 Clues' as a potential vehicle for doing some education in a fun way - to take some of these amazing stories from history, dust them off and make them alive. "
Rick Riordan
Fun
Amazing
Doing
" The deeper I go into mythology, the more I find. I originally did five 'Percy Jackson' books. I thought that would cover Greek mythology and I couldn't have been more wrong. It's ever-expanding. "
Rick Riordan
More
Wrong
Books
" I don't think about being famous, really. Being an author, I don't generally get stopped as I walk down the street. It's not like being a movie star. "
Rick Riordan
Down
Star
Street
" Every child is different. I think it's important that we don't have maybe just one or two books that we're recommending to all children - but rather we cater the books to fit each individual child. "
Rick Riordan
Child
Important
Think
" My goal in the classroom was always to make sure they were having so much fun that they didn't realize they were learning. "
Rick Riordan
Realize
Learning
Classroom
" I tend to think of a myth and then explore how it would play out if it were happening in the modern-day world. I modify all the myths I use, but I stick very closely to their structure - it is the hidden teacher in me. "
Rick Riordan
Me
Hidden
World
" It is true that I once refused to eat haggis in Scotland and this did not sit well with the local population. "
Rick Riordan
Well
Sit
Scotland
" It's not easy. I got lots of rejections when I first started out. If you want to write, you have to believe in yourself and not give up. You have to do your best to practice and get better. "
Rick Riordan
Do Your Best
Believe In Yourself
Best
" Back when I taught middle school and wrote adult mysteries, my students often asked me why I wasn't writing for kids. I never had a good answer for them. It took me a long time to realize they were right. "
Rick Riordan
Writing
Time
School
" When I was young, my favorite picture book was 'Fletcher and Zenobia,' written by Edward Gorey and illustrated by Victoria Chess. It's long out of print now, but its mix of macabre humor and 1960s psychedelia made it a perfect children's book for the times. "
Rick Riordan
Humor
Picture
Long
" We tend to think of divorced or complicated families as a modern invention, and that is not at all true. You only have to read the Greek myths to see broken homes, widows, divorce, stepchildren, children trying to get along with new parents. "
Rick Riordan
Broken
Children
You
" I love Norse mythology - Thor and Odin and Loki - amazing characters. "
Rick Riordan
Characters
Amazing
Love
" I think children love reading, and they will make time for it if we put the right books into their hands. And I hope I get the chance to keep being one of the people that writes them. "
Rick Riordan
Reading
Time
Love