The first two books that I did by myself were long stories in verse. I knew I could do that because I'd written a lot in verse. But, verse stories are hard to sell, so my editor encouraged me to try writing in prose.

My husband wrote the story for my first book, but then he didn't want to do that anymore. So if I was going to go on being an illustrator, I had to start writing the stories, too.

My first book was poetry, but I didn't write it first. I wrote it third. So my first two books were prose.

I mean, I wasn't stupid. I knew we'd make money and sell a lot of Dune books.

We human beings do a lot of dumb things, and war is certainly the dumbest.

I write for children because I am interested in fantasy and the possibilities for experience of all kinds before the time of compromise. I believe that children are far more perceptive and wise than American books give them credit for being.