An Online Event with K.A Applegate
(May 1997)

part Five

Posted by: harry nuts
Subject: questions
Date: 12/2/97 9:32:00 AM

I have only read a few of your books, but I want to read more!!

How long have you been writing?

What do you get your ideas from for your books?



Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: questions
Date: 12/2/97 6:16:00 PM

I've been writing about 7 years. I used to write mostly young adult romances. You know, lots of kissing and boo-hooing.

The truth is I don't know where I get my ideas. They just sort of pop into my head. Of course in some cases they're ideas I've picked up from books or TV. I wish I knew where ideas come from, I'd go there and get more.

--KAA


Posted by: Rootbeer
Subject: idea ;-)
Date: 12/2/97 9:33:00 AM

Heeeeeeeellllllllllllllloooooooooooo! I just love to read animorphs. I collect them. I just got done ordering one from a bookorder. In one of your books could you have one person morh into a rabbit? (Rabbits are my favorite animals)


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: idea! ;-)
Date: 12/2/97 6:35:00 PM

You know what would be fun? Have Rachel or Marco morph a rabbit, have Tobias not know it was them and decide to try and make them his lunch. Funny scene, don't you think?

--KAA


Posted by: Whitney R.
Subject: More Questions
Date: 12/2/97 9:33:00 AM

How many more Animorph books are you going to make?

Where do you get all your ideas?

Who draws the pictures on the front cover, or do you?


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: More Questions
Date: 12/2/97 6:33:00 PM

I've agreed to do up through Animorphs #30. I don't know how many more I'll do beyond that. I want to quit before I get boring, before readers start saying "Oh, enough already with the morphing, Katherine."

But whether that'll be book #30 or book #48 or whatever, I don't know.

--KAA


Posted by: Stephanie L.
Subject: Questions about Animofs
Date: 12/2/97 9:33:00 AM

How did you think of medamofes?

Do you drow the pictures in the books?

Is writing books is your goal?

What gave you the courage to write books?

How do you get those Idea?


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: Questions about Animofs
Date: 12/2/97 6:30:00 PM

Nope, I don't draw the covers. I'm not very good at drawing.

What gave me the courage to write? Interesting question. It didn't take much courage, except for the fact that when you start out you don't know if anyone will publish your books. So it's easy to be a little afraid of being rejected. But you have to just accept that small risk. After all, the worst that can happen is a little criticism.

There are an awful lot of jobs that require a hundred times more courage than mine, and where people may receive less respect, less acclaim and less money than I do. A fireman is courageous. I'm just lucky.

--KAA


Posted by: Antonio J.
Subject: About Applegate
Date: 12/2/97 9:41:00 AM

I like your books so much because i like them.
Some day I will like to be like you.When did you start written this books? Sencirely
Antonio


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: About Applegate
Date: 12/2/97 6:48:00 PM

Thanks. I don't know about being like me. Be the best version of yourself that you cabn be, and someday maybe I'll be thinking "Hmmm, I should be like Antonio."

I started writing Animorphs around Thanksgiving about 3 years ago. Of course there's a delay till he books appear in bookstores.

--KAA


Posted by: Randy T.
Subject: author of Animorphs series
Date: 12/2/97 9:41:00 AM

Dear K.A. Applegate,
I really love your books ,I especially love the Adalite Chronicals 1 and 2.I don't have book 3. Are you going to write more books? I have all of your books. I am
your biggest fan. If you ever have time can you come to
Panama.The Change was a good book.What inspired you to become a writer? Where do you live? Well I will want to hear from you soon.

Your biggest fan,
RANDY


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: author of Animorphs series
Date: 12/2/97 6:44:00 PM

Glad you liked the Andalite Chronicles. Boy, are you in for some surprises when you get to book #3. Elfangor . . .Tobias . . . Shhhh. No one tell him.

I didn't become a writer right away. I was a bit of a flake, I'm afraid. I did lots of various jobs first. Then, when I was really, really old, in my 30's, I thought "Gee, maybe I should think about growing up and getting a career." So I started writing.

--KAA


Posted by: K.A Applegate
Subject: Books
Date: 12/2/97 10:11:00 AM

Why did you decide to write books?


Posted by: Abril N.
Subject: keep on writing
Date: 12/2/97 10:21:00 AM

What inspires you to write about animorphs?

I hope you keep on writing neet books.


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: keep on writing
Date: 12/2/97 6:50:00 PM

started off thinking "I'd like to write about animals." Then I thought that what would really be fun would be to let readers experience what it's like to be an animal. One thing led to another, and pretty soon there were Andalites and Yeerks involved.

--KAA


Posted by: Roxanna R.
Subject: Questions?
Date: 12/2/97 10:24:00 AM

For how long have you been writing books?

What made you write books?

At what year did you start writing books?




Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: Questions?
Date: 12/2/97 7:50:00 PM

I believe I wrote my first book in 1989, if I recall correctly. It was a Harlequin romance. (Sorry, everyone has some skeletons in their closet) As it happens, it involved a humpback whale, along with the usual manly man and womanly woman.

--KAA


Posted by: Bobby O.
Subject: K.A. Applegate
Date: 12/2/97 10:28:00 AM

K.A. you draw so good and the picture you have is nice to. Why can't you make animorphs of dinasours . You write very exciting books. I love your books I am one of your best admiers bye bye.



Sincerly your freind, Bobby Ostrander


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: K.A. Applegate
Date: 12/2/97 7:51:00 PM

Sorry, but I don't draw the covers. Thanks for liking the books, though. And guess what? The Animorphs will be morphing dinosaurs in MEGAMORPHS #2.

--KAA


Posted by: Marcos S.
Subject: Good Mornin Partna!!!!!
Date: 12/2/97 10:33:00 AM

Do you know R.L Stine? How many books do you plan to write? Are your books scary, or just adventure? I hope your books come out successfully. Will you come out with a new series? Your books are cool.


Friend,
Marcos


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: Good Mornin Partna!!!!!
Date: 12/2/97 7:56:00 PM

I don't know R.L. Stine, although we work for the same publisher, along with Ann Martin and many other writers.

I kind of tend to keep to myself. I don't attend conferences or events where I might happen to meet other authors. I'd enjoy meeting Mr. Stine, no doubt, but he's in New York and I'm in Minnesota.

--KAA


Posted by: Betty C.
Subject: Animorphs
Date: 12/2/97 11:03:00 AM

Where do you get your crazy ideas from?

From Phillip.W & Joe R.


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: Animorphs
Date: 12/2/97 8:04:00 PM

Most of my good ideas I get from other people. My CRAZY ideas I get all on my own.

--KAA


Posted by: K.A. Applegate
Subject: Howdy 2
Date: 12/2/97 11:22:00 AM

How did you think of such good books?? What is your favorite book you wrote? I love reading and writing. Do like reading or writing better??

Sincerely,
Torie


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: Howdy 2
Date: 12/2/97 8:09:00 PM

Hmmm, do I prefer reading or writing? Hmmmm.

I guess it depends. Sometimes I find reading boring, other times it really excites me. The same with writing. There are times when I'm writing and I think "Oh, man, I cannot write that scene."

But other times I get so into it that my fingers can't type fast enough, and I sit here in front of my computer and just laugh out loud and pound away on the keyboard. And I think about some reader out there, someone like you, coming along and reading the scene I'm writing, and I imagine the reader saying "Whoa! That is so cool!"

When I have that feeling, at that moment when I think "This is so going to rock that reader," then at times like that writing is the best thing in the world.

--KAA


Posted by: Tara A.
Subject: hi k.a. applegate
Date: 12/2/97 11:55:00 AM

are you to make a movie out of animorps?


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: hi k.a. applegate
Date: 12/2/97 8:16:00 PM

So, had a few questions to ask, did you? Let me try and get most of them:

No movies, but yes to a TV show.

How do I make up names of aliens and so on? Sometimes just by playing with letters and sounds till I get something I like. Sometimes I'll take a word I see around me and alter it or reverse it. For example the Andalite word "Nothlit" came about because I happened to see the word "Hilton" through my window. I just kept re-arranging letters till I got "Nothlit."

Sometimes a word is deliberately evocative, meaning that it is supposed to make you think o other words. "Visser" is like that. It sounds a little like "vicious" and a little like "viceroy" and even a little like "viscous."

The word "Yeerk" is kind of a homage to J.R.R. Tolkien. In Lord of the Rings, "Yrch" is the elf word for "Orc", or goblin.

--KAA

=


Posted by: Black Hawk
Subject: Hilton?!
Date: 12/2/97 10:34:00 PM

Hilton?!!?! That's great3DD
What a riot...
You like Tolkien? Spiffy...

-Jessica


Posted by: Jessica F.
Subject: Questions and Comments
Date: 12/2/97 12:04:00 PM

Dear K.A. Applegate,

I really enjoy Animorphs. I would like to be an author when I am older.My teachers tell me my peoms and short stories are relly intresting.How did you come up with Animorphs? I have allways enjoyed reading books. In grammer school my teachers had to pry books from my despratly wondering eyes. When I found out I had the talent of writing I was fasinated. I hope my books and poems will be as creative as yours.
sincerely,
Jessica


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: Questions and Comments
Date: 12/2/97 8:28:00 PM

I was like you as a kid: nose always in a book. But, unlike you, I had no talent for poetry.

I hope you do become a writer, the world can always use new writers. You'll find it's a pretty good job if you stick with it.

The best way to become a writer later in life is to be a reader now. I'll tell you a kind of tedious but useful trick to help you understand how people write: try copying some passages out of a book. When you write them down yourself, you begin to think about how the original writer wrote them, and why the writer did certain things.

Another, maybe more fun exercise, is to try writing the same scene three different ways. Tell a story about a girl walking into class from her point of view. Then tell the same event from another student's point of view. Then again, from the teacher's point of view. Each time get into the head of the person, imagine what they are feeling, seeing, thinking.

Boring advice, huh? But sometimes you have to live through the boredom to discover the real fun.

--KAA


Posted by: Tiffany B.
Subject: Questions and Comments
Date: 12/2/97 12:10:00 PM

Hi!How are you doing? Where did you ever get such an amagination?Anyways,the main point is to tell you how much I love your spazzic and very interesting books.I wish I could meet you in person.Are you married?And do you have any children?I also wish I could talk or should I say chat longer.See-ya!

Your chattin'buddy,
Tiffany


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: Questions and Comments
Date: 12/2/97 8:41:00 PM

I don't know where I got this imagination. Maybe my mom dropped me on my head when I was a baby.

--KAA


Posted by: Sarah P.
Subject: Questions
Date: 12/2/97 12:10:00 PM

Hi!

My name is Sarah Parrish and I really enjoy your books.
Did this job you took of writing books take a lot of studying time? Do you enjoy your job? Which other books have you written? Woud you like to have another job? Do you like animals? Well, bye I have to go please answer my questions.


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: Questions
Date: 12/2/97 8:39:00 PM

I don't do a great deal of studying, but I do some. Often I'm sitting at my computer, surrounded by books abouta particular animal. I like having large pictures of the animals I'm having the kids morph. I'll have two giant blow up pictures of flies, for example, so I can remember all the details.

--KAA


Posted by: conor
Subject: animorphs
Date: 12/2/97 12:13:00 PM

Dear K.A. Applegate,

I can't beleve I'm talking to you. Last night I saw a page in Nick Magazine and hung it on my wall. You have been my favorite author since last year and stared the Animorphs craze in my class (just like you did with gerbils as a kid). Now I have a few questions for you: who is your favorite character? Do your friends and family help you think of your charictors? What is you favorite animal?


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: animorphs
Date: 12/2/97 8:48:00 PM

My favorite character? It depends. I try and give each character something particular that I can enjoy writing. For example, Marco provides a lot of the humor, and I love writing for him.

But each of the characters gives me a way to look at certain issues. For example, Cassie is often the character I use to look at moral questions. Jake is the character I use to think about responsibility and leadership. Tobias is my way to write about loneliness and isolation. Rachel is about courage, but also about the dangers of recklessness.

Sorry to get all pompous on you. In any case, I guess at different times different characters are my favorites.

--KAA


Posted by: Black Hawk
Subject: Sleigh bells ring...are you listenin'..
Date: 12/2/97 12:15:00 PM

Dear K.A.,
I was wondering if you were ever planning on changing the season in your books. Are the Animorphs ever going to have summer vacation, or Christmas, or winter? They've been at it months at months it seems, and still have the same summer/spring weather thing going on.
I also wanted to say that your books are just awesome, I love the way you describe the animals, especially bird morphs...and I think that you're a great author.

Rock on K.A.!

-Jessica Owen

P.S. You know how Ax is always wondering how humans walk straight without falling...what do you suppose he would think if he saw a figure skater? ;) Even I'm amazed at what they do. Anyhoo, I'm gone..


</= FONT>


Posted by: K. A. Applegate
Subject: Re: Sleigh bells ring...are you listenin'..
Date: 12/3/97 12:17:00 PM

Change the weather, huh? Are you trying to
trick me into revealing the Animorph's secret
location? What if they're in California? They
wouldn't have much in the way of seasons. Or
maybe they're in Maine and I'm just deliberately
leaving out weather details to misleed everyone.

I'll never tell.

Cool idea for a scene having Ax see figure
skating.

--KAA

Parts [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ]

<< Database < Articles & Interviews

 

Disclaimer: Animorphs is the owned property of Scholastic and Katherine Applegate. This is a non-profit fan web project, and Hirac Delest is in no way claiming this franchise or its characters as its own. All product image and video content belongs to their respective owners and properties, unless or otherwise stated. If you use any of the original text or exclusive/archived content from this site, then please ask our permission first, and give this site full credit and a link back. If the info was received or provided from another site, then please be kind and give a link and credit back to them as well.

Site Map | Contact