Patricia MacLachlan
Patricia MacLachlan
Patricia "Patty" MacLachlanis an American children's writer, who is best known for the 1986 Newbery Medal-winning novel Sarah, Plain and Tall which was later adapted as a TV movie starring Glenn Close and Christopher Walken...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionChildren's Author
Date of Birth3 March 1938
CityCheyenne, WY
CountryUnited States of America
begin children south writers
I think it's important to remember where I began. I know that when I talk to other writers, say, writers from the South or writers from abroad, it's where they begin as children that is important to them.
children gone novel personally picture problem speech three time trying whether work wrote
Each time I write a new piece, whether a novel, a picture book, a speech or anything, really, it has so much to do with what I'm going through personally or a problem I'm trying to work out. When I wrote my novel 'Baby,' my three children had all just gone out the door.
books child good mark wonderful writer written
My inspiration for writing is all the wonderful books that I read as a child and that I still read. I think that for those of us who write, when we find a wonderful book written by someone else, we don't really get jealous, we get inspired, and that's kind of the mark of what a good writer is.
long childhood pages
In a way, my childhood was one long bunch of pages... I read and read and read.
children mistake important
I love to talk to children about making mistakes. Its important that I tell them about how I dont get it right the first time. We live in such a perfectionist society, and they see so many finished products and polished performances.
children ability great-respect
I have great respect for children. And I have great respect for their ability as writers.
children thinking important
I think its important to remember where I began. I know that when I talk to other writers, say, writers from the South or writers from abroad, its where they begin as children that is important to them.
amazing extended family great heroic recall remembered stories talking woman
My mother, as a girl, had remembered this woman from Maine, someone who was part of the extended family somehow, and I recall her talking about this great, risk-taking woman. There are the most amazing, heroic stories in everybody's lives.
ask editors great pose
I have great editors, and I always have. Somehow, great editors ask the right questions or pose things to you that get you to write better. It's a dance between you, your characters, and your editor.
editor
I'm working on a bunch of things with my daughter Emily. In some ways, she's a smarter and better editor than I am.
grew happens plain somehow spare suits
I think what happens is you write how you grew up. And I was born on the prairie, and so everything is kind of spare on the prairie. And so I'm just used to writing in that way. 'Sarah, Plain and Tall' was that way. And most of my fiction is. I like writing small pieces. Somehow it just suits me.
cycles good start wonderful
I can always tell when I'm about to start writing. I go through cycles in reading. When I'm beginning to start to write something, I start reading what I think of as good literature. I read things with wonderful language.
brothers family works
Looking back, I see that I write books about brothers and sisters, about what makes up a family, what works and what is nurturing.
writing thinking people
I, myself, write to change my life, to make it come out the way I want it to. But other people write for other reasons: to see more closely what it is they are thinking about, what they may be afraid of. Sometimes writers write to solve a problem, to answer their own question. All these reasons are good reasons. And that is the most important thing I'll ever tell you. Maybe it is the most important thing you'll ever hear. Ever.