Asked Quote by Candace Bushnell

I became a children's author by accident.

— Jerry Spinelli

I started writing stories as a child.

— Danielle Steel

At a certain moment, I decided to write a story. I had no more small children to tell them stories.

— Umberto Eco

I didn't intend to become a short-story writer. I became one because I finished a couple of short stories and realized that's what I…

— Grace Paley

I had novels to write, so I wrote them.

— Octavia E. Butler

I didn't write professionally at first. It took me nine years to get anything published. At the beginning I mostly wrote picture books, which…

— Gail Carson Levine

I labored for eight years thinking I was writing a book for adults that was a nostalgic look back on childhood. Then my publisher…

— Jeff Kinney

I've just always written, and always considered myself a writer. I wrote my first story when I was five. There was nothing else I…

— Jami Attenberg

I only published my first novel at the age of 40. Till then, I wrote short stories.

— A. B. Yehoshua

I started writing books for children because I could illustrate them myself and because, in my innocence, I thought they'd be easier.

— Mark Haddon

I began writing fictional stories and little screenplays when I was in fifth grade.

— Cary Fukunaga

I first told the idea to an editor I had met who, after reading one of my novels for adults that was set in…

— Daniel Handler