When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.
Anything you read can influence your work, so I try to read good stuff.
I go straight from thinking about my narrator to being him.
'The Outsiders' died on the vine being sold as a drugstore paperback.
My husband and I get along great. We're both introverts, and it's hard to make new friends.
If you enjoy reading something, read it.
Any writer who gives a reader a pleasurable experience is doing every other writer a favor because it will make the reader want to read other books. I am all for it.
'The Outsiders' cast in particular was a joy to be around - sweet kids, normal goofy teenagers off camera and serious artists on. They were great. I never got them mixed up with the characters, though. Each of them had his own strong personality.
I could write and help a lot of kids, or teach and help a few and go nuts.
I do feel that the boys are getting left out. Girls will read boys' books, but boys won't read girls' books. If you're writing for a girl, you've got most of the audience on your side anyway.
More people thought I was strange because I was a teenage novelist, not because I was from Oklahoma. That's where I got the looks like I was from the zoo.
Movies can't ruin books. They can only ruin movies.
The thing is, the Tulsa experience that I wrote about in 'The Outsiders' is closer to the universal experience than it would be if I wrote it from L.A. or New York. It's an everyman story.
I was a 'young adult' when I wrote 'The Outsiders,' although it was not a genre at the time. It's an interesting time of life to write about, when your ideals get slammed up against reality, and you must compromise.
When I see a movie with someone it's kind of uncomfortable.
I grew up here and my friends are here. There's nothing wrong with here.
I was a tomboy and most of my close friends were male.
My characters are fictional. I get ideas from real people, sometimes, but my characters always exist only in my head.
Sometimes, I feel like I spent the first part of my life wishing to be a teen-age boy, and the second part condemned to being one.
I like having a private name and a public name. It helps keep things straight.
