As a teacher, I’ve never seen anything like ‘Harry Potter.’ That’s why I smart when people talk about the ‘next’ ‘Harry Potter.’ There is no ‘next’ ‘Harry Potter.’ – Rick Riordan
Because I am kind of distracted, I don’t tend to sit at my desk 9 to 5. It can be two hours a day, or, when I’m in the final editing stages, it can be 14 hours a day. – Rick Riordan
Writing ‘Book 1: The Maze of Bones’ didn’t feel much different than writing one of my other novels, but I thought it was very innovative to offer the website and trading card components as well for those readers who wanted to go more in depth with the Cahill experience. – Rick Riordan
It’s always hard to wrap up a series. The longer I spend with the characters, the more they become like friends. – Rick Riordan
I’ve been reading Greek mythology since I was a kid. I also taught it when I was a sixth grade teacher, so I knew a lot of mythological monsters already. Sometimes I still use books and Web sites to research, though. Every time I research Greek mythology, I learn something new! – Rick Riordan
There are days when I’ll write for 15 minutes and have to give up and move around, and I’ll write another paragraph and give up again. On other days I get intensely – focused on the process, sit down at 8 A.M. and won’t get up until 8 P.M. – Rick Riordan
You know, how much order is good? And when does order become too restrictive? Is a little bit of chaos okay, or is chaos always an evil force? I mean, these are questions that any kid who’s ever been in a school cafeteria can relate to. – Rick Riordan
It’s not easy. I got lots of rejections when I first started out. If you want to write, you have to believe in yourself and not give up. You have to do your best to practice and get better. – Rick Riordan
I can’t promise that every child with learning differences will become a novelist, but I do think all children can become lifelong readers. – Rick Riordan
I loved the idea of making history interesting for kids! When Scholastic approached me about ‘The 39 Clues’, I immediately started going through the ‘greatest hits’ from my years as a social studies teacher, and picked the historical characters and eras that most appealed to my students. – Rick Riordan
No one spoke in terms of children’s literature, as opposed to adult literature, until around the 1940s. It wasn’t categorised much before then. Even Grimm’s tales were written for adults. But it is true that ever since ‘Harry Potter’ there has been a renaissance in fantasy literature. J. K. Rowling opened the door again. – Rick Riordan
I sometimes look at my bookshelves today and wonder which volumes my sons will treasure in twenty or thirty years. Which should I be saving for them? Which will fade with time? – Rick Riordan
I like both Greek and Egyptian. More Greek stories have survived, so we know more about them. They’ve always been my favorite. On the other hand, I like the Egyptian stories because they’re not as commonly known and they have an exotic flavour. – Rick Riordan
I think children love reading, and they will make time for it if we put the right books into their hands. And I hope I get the chance to keep being one of the people that writes them. – Rick Riordan
Even if these stories are 3,000 years old, there’s still so much about the characters, about the dilemmas, about their understanding of the universe that still resonates. The whole idea of order and chaos, which is really central to the ancient Egyptian understanding of the world, is still very much with us. – Rick Riordan
I have to be careful. My readers are very detail-oriented, and if I make a mistake they’ll call me on it. – Rick Riordan
When I write, I’m still imagining a kid reading it on paper. I read e-books when I travel, but in general I still prefer holding an old-fashioned book in my hands. There’s a special, tactile experience. – Rick Riordan
There are so many fantastic stories and I want to bring Thor and Odin and the other gods into the modern world, just like I did with the Greeks and ‘Percy Jackson.’ I’ll give the books an urban setting and have young people interacting with the Norse gods. – Rick Riordan
It is true that I once refused to eat haggis in Scotland and this did not sit well with the local population. – Rick Riordan
I don’t think about being famous, really. Being an author, I don’t generally get stopped as I walk down the street. It’s not like being a movie star. – Rick Riordan
