I can understand the natural anxiety of readers when waiting for another installment of a favourite series, but I think it is much more important to get a book right than it is to have it appear on time. – Garth Nix
I loved publishing; I loved working in the book industry, but I’ve been writing pretty much nonstop since I was 19. I realized very early on that I would need a day job, and I wanted one that was in books. – Garth Nix
Authors are influenced by everything they’ve ever read. If you’ve read widely enough, it helps you create your own mix. – Garth Nix
I find the presence of the sea quite inspiring, and sometimes I do just get out and walk around and take in the sea breeze to try and clear my mind. – Garth Nix
There is a very big difference between writing for children and writing for young adults. The first thing I would say is that ‘Young Adult’ does not mean ‘Older Children’, it really does mean young but adult, and the category should be seen as a subset of adult literature, not of children’s books. – Garth Nix
Writing for children, you do bear a responsibility to not include overt or graphic adult content that they are not ready for and don’t need, or to address adult concepts or themes from an oblique angle or a child’s limited viewpoint, with appropriate context, without being graphic or distressing. – Garth Nix
I studied writing at university, and I actually majored in screenwriting. Then I went to work as a bookseller and then as a sales rep and publicist and then various editorial jobs until I ended up with HarperCollins in Australia. – Garth Nix
I tend to think of stories and books as being for everyone, just with an ‘entry reading age’ rather than an age range. – Garth Nix
I grew up in a house full of books and parents who read, which led to me to reading from a very young age. And reading seemed to naturally progress to writing. – Garth Nix
With the ‘Old Kingdom’ trilogy, at least half the readers were older adults rather than younger adults. I wrote them for myself with no particular audience in mind. – Garth Nix
I like to write books that I would have liked as a child, that would have got me thinking and imagining beyond the words on the page. In a way, my audience is always how I remember myself as a child. – Garth Nix
Interestingly, it is often the younger members of the audience who ask the most sophisticated questions. – Garth Nix
In any genre you’re working in, you can always find a way to tell a particular kind of story. I love fantasy; I love science fiction. I love all kinds of fiction, in fact. – Garth Nix
If only one in 1,000 people that I talk to goes on to write a good book, that’s one more good book that I’ve helped along… and maybe it will be a book I love myself five or 10 years down the line. – Garth Nix
Unlike the stereotypical author, I’ve never had a job as a short-order cook, but I love cooking hot breakfasts for lots of people, juggling the eggs and the bacon and the tomatoes and the fried potatoes and so on. – Garth Nix
I don’t watch a lot of T.V., and I hardly ever have time to keep up with series, though I do love reruns of old favorites from my childhood like ‘Dr. Who’, ‘The Goodies’, and ‘Get Smart.’ – Garth Nix
I like movies in particular, on video or T.V. I have lots of old favorites, like Danny Kaye in ‘The Court Jester’ or ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ or James Stewart in ‘Winchester ’73.’ But I also like a lot of modern films. – Garth Nix
