Megan McDonald
The Scoop
1. How did you begin to write the Judy Moody series? What sparked your imagination for Judy Moody and your other characters?
I grew up with four older sisters and countless stories to go with it! These real-life anecdotes formed the original idea for stories told from the perspective of a "big sister." But I needed somebody for Judy, the older sister, to play jokes on and boss around. So I invented a pesty, annoying younger brother for her (to make it different from my own life) and named him Stink.
Moods were also a big part of inventing the character of Judy Moody. To begin with, that's how I came up with her name. I thought it might be more interesting to write about a girl in all her moods – bad, mad, sad, etc. This made Judy Moody real for me.
2. What challenges do you face in your writing process? How do you overcome them?
The first challenge was to find an individual voice for the Judy Moody books. Now the challenge is, when I'm writing other books, to find a way to tell a story that doesn't sound like Judy Moody in voice and style.
In writing a series, it's always a challenge to make each book as good as or better than the next for my readers. I try to do this by attempting something different with each book, and by choosing ideas to write about that inspire me with lots of potential for humor and exaggeration. As long as I'm having fun, my hope is that it comes through in the writing.
My editor told me recently that Judy Moody #8 (not yet published) is the funniest book yet in the series. Music to my ears!
3. What tips or advice can you share with young students who hope to start writing?
Do you know a fun writing topic to get them started?
My best advice is simple – read, read, READ! A love of reading can turn anyone into a writer. Some of my favorite topics to write about are:
Bad moods
Bugs
Mysteries
Sisters
Secrets
Sock monkeys
Penguins
People with wacky names
Getting in trouble
Famous girls in history
Banana slugs (kidding!)
4. What is your list of favorite children or teen books?
The Higher Power of Lucky
The Higher Power of Lucky
The Higher Power of Lucky
The Higher Power of Lucky
The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
Okay, seriously. Only five, huh? Well, then:
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
One-Eyed Fox by Paula Fox
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel
5. You've mentioned that pretending to be a pencil sharpener was your first writing task. Can you explain how you made that topic into an inspiring story?
The wonderful thing about being a writer is that I can pretend to be anything. I've been a hermit crab, a library puppet, an indentured servant, even a girl who eats bugs. Anything can be an idea for a story, even a pencil sharpener. It's a little more challenging since it's inanimate. But it's fun to try to personify something like a pencil sharpener. Ask yourself questions: What's it like to eat pencil shavings all day? What happens when somebody who's in a bad mood comes to sharpen their pencil?
It helps to use imagination. Try to really get inside the person (or thing!) you're writing about. Think like them. Imagine it. Feel it. Be it.
Last Updated: 11/16/2007