Dear Michael,

Hey there, fellow writer and fantasy nut! First of all, thank you for your wonderful, encouraging comments about "The Star Shard"! I'm thrilled that you like it. Coming from a reader of lots of fantasy, your reaction means a lot!

I hope you'll keep writing your stories! About keeping to a regular schedule: it can be very hard when you've got school or work. I do a lot more writing on vacation times than I do when I'm really busy with teaching. But if you're really determined, you can write even during busy times.

One thing that I've found very helpful is to pay attention to your word count. It's easy if you're using a computer! Notice how many words you can reasonably manage to write in a day or a week, and try to meet that goal whenever you write, just as if you were practicing the piano or something and keeping track of your "minutes spent practicing." (I remember filling out a little yellow card for my band teacher each week when I was first learning the trombone--I had to write down the minutes each day that I practiced over the summer.)

I have noticed that I'm able to write more now than I used to be. On a vacation, when I can do a lot of writing in a day, I used to think 1,600 words was a lot to write in one day. This past spring vacation, I was often writing 2,500 or even 3,000 words in a day. So it's like sports training, in a way: you build up your writing "muscles," and you're able to write more (and more smoothly). If those numbers seem like a lot, you can start much, much smaller, of course! Even 300 or 500 words is a good amount. If you do that on a regular schedule, those words will add up!

It sounds, though, like you don't have any trouble turning out a LOT of words! I know exactly what you mean--I have real trouble writing short fiction, too! If I were you, I wouldn't worry about the stories being too long. Maybe they're books, not short stories! If you want to tell big, long stories, then tell big, long stories!

You do have to finish them, though. They can't be published unless they have endings! Stick with it, and I know you'll be able to grab hold of your story and bring it to a good conclusion.

If you want to practice writing shorter stories, it might help to make a plan or an outline before you start. If you know exactly where you're going, maybe you can get there in fewer words. But again, don't worry too much about length. The most important thing is writing good stories, not long ones or short ones. And "good" means "the story you want to tell." If it's fun, interesting, and exciting for you, it will very likely be that way for your readers!

Thanks again for your reaction to "The Star Shard"! I'm looking forward to part 3, too, because I can't wait to see the illustrations!

Dear pip,

You must play the saxophone well if you're 1st chair! That's great! Band was one of my favorite things about school. With the sax, you have the best of two worlds, don't you? Your instrument is part woodwind, part brass!

I play the trombone. I still play it in church sometimes.

Good for you for writing a story! I love meeting fellow writers! Isn't writing great? There's nothing like the fun of making something (a story) where before there was only blank paper or a blank computer screen!

About creating characters: well, first, you're reading a lot, right? And you're paying attention to the people around you in your life? Those are two excellent sources of starter-ideas for characters. Of course you can't use a character from someone else's story, and you shouldn't use a person from real life exactly as he or she is . . . but people have a lot in common with each other. You might take one friend's bright red hair, another friend's love of pizzas with strange toppings, and some famous historical person's reputation for courage--and voila!--you're on your way to creating a character! It's a good idea not to make your characters "too perfect." It's most fun to read about people who have the same worries and weaknesses that we do.

Or how about this? Think of a time in your life when you were really looking forward to something . . . or wanted something . . . or were worried about something . . . or felt really nervous or lonely. Think through your situation then and what it felt like. Then consider how you might put your fictional character in a similar situation in that character's own world. You have lots of the details already in your own experience--just transfer your situation to your character, with special alterations for the ways that character's life is different from yours. Does that help?

I think I did that with Cymbril and Loric. They're both parts of me. I love to sing, like Cymbril. I've sung in front of audiences. And, like Cymbril, I've sometimes had to do things I didn't want to do--sometimes I've wanted to be somewhere else. At the same time, I'm a little like Loric. When I'm in a new situation, I observe more than I talk, and I try to learn the new system. That's how Loric acts aboard the Rake, right? Like Loric, I try to be patient and use my head, but it doesn't always work!

I've heard other professional writers say that every character we write is based on some part of ourselves. I think it's true!

Hi, Jayna!

Thank you! I'm really happy that you like the story so much! It's also great that you're writing a story! I hope you'll keep working on it, even if it's difficult at first. Don't give up!

Good ideas can come from almost anywhere! Reading is one of the best things you can do for good ideas, because when you read, your mind is filled with new ideas that you weren't thinking about on your own, before you opened the book or magazine. Receiving all those new scenes and characters gives your mind exercise . . . and then it's very likely to start forming new, original scenes and characters all on its own. Many times something I read will get me to thinking . . . and that idea will combine with something else I see or hear . . . maybe I'll see something when I'm taking a walk that makes me think a little more. Sometimes three or four ideas from different places will come together to make one story.

A long, long, long time ago, Cricket had a wonderful essay by the author of Mary Poppins. It was about how Mary Poppins, the character, found the author! Some ideas seem like they can't be "invented"--I think we writers just have to pay attention. If we read, interact with people, and keep our eyes and ears open, amazing ideas will sometimes walk up and tap us on the shoulder!

Come to think of it, I believe I was just walking along outdoors when I had the first idea for "The Star Shard"!

Oh--and don't worry too much about your first sentence. Go on past it, and work on discovering your story. Sometimes we don't know what the first sentence should be until we're finished with the story. (You can always go back and change earlier parts--that's one of the best things about writing!)

Guten Tag, Lena!

Thank you for your letter! I am so excited that you think "The Star Shard" is awesome! I'm also glad that you read The Hobbit, and three cheers for your teacher for assigning it as a book to report on! (Or did you choose it yourself?--in which case, three cheers for you!)

Are you asking me about my favorite part of The Hobbit? Wow! That's a tough question, because I love all of it. But if I have to pick just one part, I guess it would be the journey through Mirkwood. I simply LOVE reading about journeys through deep, dark, mysterious places. (And believe me, there's one such journey coming up in "The Star Shard"!) [If you go on and read The Lord of the Rings, which comes after The Hobbit, my favorite part in it is the journey through the mines of Moria--a huge, dark, dusty, echoing place beneath the mountains.]

As for a list of my other stories: the best way to find that is if you'll type my name into Google and visit my Web site, which is called The Threshold of Twilight. If you'll visit it and click on "Bibliography," you'll find a list of everything I've published so far.

By the way, do you have a favorite part of The Hobbit? And why do you like that part?

Auf wiedersehen! (Did I spell that right?)