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The Tale of Despereaux came at the request of Luke, my friend's then-eight-year-old son, who asked, Write for me the story of an unlikely hero with exceptionally large ears.
Kate DiCamillo
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Kate DiCamillo
Age: 60
Born: 1964
Born: March 25
Novelist
Writer
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
Katrina Elizabeth DiCamillo
Friend
Tale
Came
Tales
Year
Eight
Story
Son
Write
Ears
Exceptionally
Stories
Large
Luke
Writing
Hero
Request
Years
Asked
Unlikely
More quotes by Kate DiCamillo
I always wanted to be a character, when I worked at Disney, but I wasn't short enough for certain characters and I wasn't tall enough for others. I wanted to be a chipmunk I think 4'10 was the cutoff.
Kate DiCamillo
When it is my editor telling me how to rewrite a story, I listen and do what she asks because I have learned that I get a better book in the end. I can't say I'm happy when I read that editorial letter. It is always a little painful and scary. But I have learned that - bit by bit - I can make the changes and do the work.
Kate DiCamillo
I didn't start working on children's books until I got a job at a book warehouse on the children's floor. When I started reading some of the books, I was so impressed.
Kate DiCamillo
While we were working, we were writing about a tall girl and a short girl, which we thought was funny, because Alison's [McGhee] tall and I'm short.
Kate DiCamillo
Despereaux marveled at his own bravery. He admired his own defiance. And then, reader, he fainted.
Kate DiCamillo
I always write with music. It takes me a while to figure out the right piece of music for what I'm working on. Once I figure it out, that's the only thing I'll play.
Kate DiCamillo
Farewell” is not the word that you would like to hear from your mother as you are being led to the dungeon by 2 oversize mice in black hoods. Words that you would like to hear are “Take me instead, I will go to the dungeon in my sons place.” There is a great deal of comfort in those words.
Kate DiCamillo
The way we started was, Alison [McGhee] said, 'Tall girl, short girl.' We had no plans beyond that.
Kate DiCamillo
It is our duty and our joy to communicate our hearts to each other. Words assist us in this task.
Kate DiCamillo
Sometimes strange and wonderful things will pop into my head. And sometimes I will see something in the world that is the beginning of a story. I always have a notebook with me so that I can write down what I see and hear.
Kate DiCamillo
A typical day for me is I get up at 6:00, the coffeemaker goes on automatically and the computer gets turned on. I pour a cup of coffee, listen to Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac, and then I write.
Kate DiCamillo
Nobody ever learns anything.
Kate DiCamillo
Reader, you must know that an interesting fate (sometimes involving rats, sometimes not) awaits almost everyone, mouse or man, who does not conform.
Kate DiCamillo
I've never worked with a co-author before [Alison McGhee]. Writing for me is a pretty scary thing, so it was a huge comfort to have someone in the room working with me. It became less like work and more like play.
Kate DiCamillo
We appreciate the complicated and wonderful gifts you give us in each other. And we appreciate the task you put down before us, of loving each other the best we can, even as you love us.
Kate DiCamillo
I think of myself as an enormously lucky person.
Kate DiCamillo
Most of my books begin with an image or a voice - one small thing - and I don't know what it is going to become.
Kate DiCamillo
Things are not at all what they seem to be: oh no, not at all.
Kate DiCamillo
I always go to the Agriculture Building, where they make apple cider popsicles for a dollar.
Kate DiCamillo
We [me and Alison McGhee] probably wouldn't have said that when we were writing the stories, but it is so apparent to me in the finished product. For me, looking at Bink, it's like looking at myself on the page in a way that I've never experienced with any other book that I've written.
Kate DiCamillo