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MEET CORNELIA FUNKE
by Bonnie O'Brian

What did you most like to do when you were a child?

Play outside with a bunch of other children, jumping ropes, building houses in wild meadows and bramble hedges.

Cornelia Funke

What books influenced you most when you were growing up?

The Narnia books and the stories of Michael Ende and Astrid Lindgren.

Did you write stories when you were growing up? at school? Or at home as a hobby? As a young child, or as a teenager, or both?

No. Not at all. I didn’t even do a diary. But I told stories to my brothers all the time (I even made up new Star Trek episodes) and in school I often wrote essays, which didn’t exactly answer my teachers’ questions and were much too long

When you were a child did you ever have moments when you decided that you were going to be a writer when you grew up?

No. Never. I wanted to be an astronaut or a pilot or live with the Native Americans and marry one of their chiefs.

What audience did you have in mind for your career as a writer - adult or children?

Always children. But I love to hear that whole families, sometimes three generations, read my books or read them aloud to each other. I always say: I do write for children, but grown ups are allowed to read my books as well.

When you went to college, were you already pursuing a writing career? (or a career in illustrating? or just art in general?)

I first studied education to become a social worker, as I thought it was most important to make the world a better place. But I soon realized that you can’t live against your talents. I studied book illustration and finally became a writer…and suddenly reached millions of children- which made me understand that fate sometimes takes crooked ways.

If you didn’t write as a child, then when did you start writing and what inspired you to start?

I was a very bored illustrator. I didn’t like the stories publishers sent me so one day I decided to write my own story so that I finally could do the illustrations I wanted to do.

What was your first job when you graduated from college?

 I was a social worker on an adventure playground for children who mostly came from very difficult social circumstances.

How soon after that was your first book published?

About six years later as far as I remember.

Was your first book accepted immediately? or did you experience a number of rejections?

I had three publishers who immediately wanted to buy it and one who didn’t but changed their mind when they heard the others were interested. So I never had a bad rejection experience.

Do you focus on fiction or nonfiction? Which do you prefer? Do you find one easier than the other?

I only do fiction.

Do you do other types of writing - for example, educational, nonfiction, magazine work?

No.

What kinds of things inspire you to write?

Everything. Everything I see, smell, hear, friends, strangers, places, travels, books…

Where do you get your ideas?

I always carry a notebook with me to make sure that I don’t have the ideas when I can’t write them down as they tend to appear at the most random places – and in my experience they vanish if you don’t write them down.

Have any of your books earned special recognition?

I am lucky that all my stories are still in print although I published more than 50 books. The most successful ones are the Inkworld-books, Thieflord and Dragonrider. INKHEART was in the 2006 High School California Collection; INKSPELL in the 2007, 2008 High School California Collections and now IGRAINE THE BRAVE is in the 2009 Elementary California Collection.

How did your life change when you got married? and had children? Did it make it easier or harder to find time to write?

As my husband decided to stay at home and do the cooking and the driving and many other time stealing things when we had children it was rather easy for me to have writing time and nevertheless be with at home with my children.

Have any of your fiction stories been about real people or events?

I am working on a ghost story where several of my ghosts are historical characters.

If some of your fiction stories are factual, do you write about people that you have been interested in for a long time, perhaps since childhood?

No.

Do you enjoy researching or do you prefer working totally from your imagination?

I love research.

Do you work on more than one book at a time?

Yes, at the moment I do, but that’s the first time it happens.

Which of your books did you most enjoy writing?

It is always the one I am working on right now (luckily)

What are you working on now? When do you expect to start submitting it to publishers?

I am working on two books, which are both almost done in the second draft. One is called RECKLESS, the other one THE KNIGHT AND THE BOY. I expect to give them to my publishers next year.

Do you write every day and do you have set hours that you work?

Yes. I write for at least four hours each day (and get very grumpy when other things steal that time) Mostly it is even more. Then of course I have to do my email and deal with all the other aspects of my work – theatre plays, audiobook-productions, movie adaptations, promotion for my international publishers, my website, signings etc. etc. etc. Those aspects take more and more time, but I always make sure that my writing is still the priority

When is your next book going to be in book stores?

INKDEATH will be out in October 2008.

Do you like to include humor in your stories? Or adventure? Or mystery?

Of course. But it depends on the story and age of my readers how much I do.

When you do school visits, what question do children ask you most?

Where do you get your ideas? Isn’t it boring to write or so many hours? Do they do a movie? Where do you write? How many hours? What inspires you? Do you have a dog?:) Do your children help you with your books? Do you use real people as models for your characters? Who is your favorite character? Who of your characters are you?... They have millions of wonderful questions.

What do you most want the students to get out of your school visits?

To realize that they don’t have to know whether they want to be a writer at the age of 10. That they should be open to go crooked ways to find out what they are best at doing and not be impatient with themselves. I am worried about the importance school (and the challenge of it) has in our children’s life. Their lives should be about family and friends and experiencing the reality of our world not just with academic means.

Has anyone ever written you a fan letter that you’d like to share?

Many. But my sister has them all on file, because she answers most of them and deals with my website. In America I have a very nice assistant called Hildegard (German father, Mexican mother) who answers all letters, but I still write the autographs and look at many of the letters.