To answer your question about how TV and journalism have helped my books, I will say, first of all, learning how to write on deadline. You got to hit those deadlines, you know, and writing is not precious to me anymore because in journalism, the editor, the red line just cuts out. We don’t need this. You’re being too precious here. We need this information. You learn to write very efficiently on time and to always get to the heart of the matter in journalism. Journalism also taught me about research, not just looking up stuff on Google or going to the library and checking out a book or primary sources.
All of that is important, but journalism taught me about boots on the ground. You go and you cold-knock on that person’s door. You get a live interview. Even if you end up not using quotes from the live interview that you did, you still get to see the person’s mannerisms, you still get to see who they are as a person and their behaviorisms, and you get a sense of who they are at their heart, and that’s very important. So, when I started writing my nonfiction books for children, it wasn’t just primary research in terms of books and going through newspaper archives. I was actually going to meet people.
For Twenty-two Cents: Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank, I ended up interviewing Dr. Muhammad Yunus in person. You know, he’s the man who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. So, on top of interviewing people, you also have this awesome opportunity to meet. I met a man who won the Nobel Peace Prize. How cool is that? So, that’s also how my journalism training helped me with my books.
And as a TV writer and movie writer, it’s all about structure. You can’t have people turning the channel during the commercials. You have to have exciting act breaks, cliffhangers. And that also taught me how to write books. When you read my book on Vincent Chin, when you turn the pages of my Sammy Lee picture book from Lee and Low, you don’t want to put the book down and go eat dinner, just like me with Charlotte’s Web. No, I’m not hungry, Mom. I have to read one more chapter. So, I think TV and movie writing helped me learn how to write a compelling book where, you know, the story just, you know, you have to keep turning the page.
