I love theme parks but I'm a real chicken on rides. I'd rather invent scary rides for my books than go on them for real.

Sometimes it helps to scold yourself, to give yourself advice.

The next day, Greg is so large that he cannot even ride the car to school because he can't fit in the car. His parents believe this to have been caused by a food allergy and resolve to take him to the doctor later.

I've lived in New York for 40 years. I came right after college.

If you do enough planning before you start to write, there's no way you can have writer's block. I do a complete chapter by chapter outline.

Most fears are basic: fear of the dark, fear of going down in the basement, fear of weird sounds, fear that somebody is waiting for you in your closet. Those kinds of things stay with you no matter what age.

Normally, I spend a week on the outline and take two weeks to write the book.