Who: Cornelia Funke

Claim To Fame: Cornelia Funke is a multiple award-winning German illustrator and storyteller, best known for writing the Inkheart trilogy, Dragon Rider, and The Thief Lord. Funke’s children’s books and Young Adult fantasy novels,  have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been translated into more than 30 languages.

Where To Find Cornelia: Her Website, Amazon, Twitter

Praise For Cornelia: “She is often called the German J.K. Rowling, but Cornelia Funke is a unique talent. In a short period, she has written her way into the hearts and imaginations of audiences worldwide.” ― Time magazine

When and where do you like to write? Are you the same-thing-every-day kind of writer or can you write anytime, anywhere?

I can write everywhere and at any time. I write my first drafts by hand into big notebooks and I always have one with me, and a pen and a few colored pencils as I often sketch characters or places. I have an old tractor barn on my farm that is my writing house, but I mostly use it for organizing all my projects — and as a guest house for my artists in residence program (whose first guest Adolfo Cordova came from Mexico). I actually love changing locations when I write—though my favorite place is a big table under an avocado tree on my farm in Malibu.

Do you have any pre-writing rituals or habits before you sit down to write?

I used to…a certain tea, some chocolate, a candle, and music that fits with the time the story is set in. I still often listen to music while writing but otherwise my notebooks, pens, and pencils are my only ritual.

Do you struggle at all with that dreaded enemy of writing: writer’s block? Do you think such a thing exists?

No, that’s nonsense! There is no such thing! I came to believe that every story is a labyrinth (the better we get, the more elaborate it is) and the story will hide its heart in it as she likes to send us on a journey to find it. She teases us with wrong paths and wrong characters, she doesn’t reveal her secrets easily! So when writers meet the so-called writer’s block—that means, in my opinion only, that the story tricked them and that they have to go back and find out where. Or cut a path through the hedge. Whatever they do — those days are often the most insightful ones, as we do in the end understand the story better.

When you’re writing, are you consciously thinking about or imagining the audience for your stories?

Not really. Though, for example, for my Reckless and Inkworld books, it is sometimes very intriguing to see what the readers discuss on Twitter, to see their passion for a character or a story element and to smile at the prospect of what they’ll learn about them in the next book. I especially think of the audience when I write a picture book, as I want both a 3-year-old and his parents to enjoy what I write.

Deciding on an idea to pursue writing about can be the most challenging aspect for a writer. How do you come to find the stories and lives that become the subjects of your books? Are there habits or daily tricks you use to think about book ideas?

That definitely is the hardest part, as I usually come across a thousand story ideas in just a month. I usually decide by following my passion for a story. Will it intrigue me for one or even two years — for that’s the time I usually need for a book? Will it give me the chance to explore aspects of the human experience that matter to me? Does the story have many layers to explore? Will it take me to places I want to travel to in my mind? I then start a notebook. I make the cover so beautiful that I won’t be able to resist opening it. I write a few first thoughts into it, maybe add a sketch and a photo. And then…sometimes the book fills quickly, sometimes it remains empty…I never know.

What is the hardest part or biggest problem to solve when you’re world-building beyond a single book in a series? Does it get easier or harder?

It gets harder to make sure one really continues to care, for both the story and the characters. What if one comes across a topic or story idea one really would like to explore, but a series doesn’t allow it? Because of that, I am glad I am currently writing 3 very different series: Dragon Rider, which is younger and more playful and explores the miracles and mysteries of the natural world and its protection, Inkworld, which is set in a medieval world around 1360, far older than ours and focuses on the power of the word, in the sequel to come, against the power of the image, and the question whether someone writes our life story and how much we can write it ourselves, and, my favorite, as it is so close to our world and reality: Reckless, with its motives of identity, love and the things we decide to fight for.

What does a successful writing day mean for you? And how do you finish out a day of writing? Do you have a process, or is it just that you know you’ve hit a natural stopping point?

I usually try to write one chapter, even if it is very roughly done. I believe in rewrites. I do 6-15 drafts of a story, each one bringing big changes. But there are of course also many days where I just prepare a chapter, play with ideas, sketch a character, write down questions I have to answer to find my path through the labyrinth. I love both those days. At the moment, I am editing the 3rd draft of Kitsune, Reckless 4, which means polishing 10 pages every day.

What books or writers have most influenced the way you think and the way you write?

A British journalist once laughed at me when I said Dickens and Kipling, as he believed I am far more German than I know. He saw my influences in the Brothers Grimm, E.T.A. Hoffmann, etc. I admit I see that by now as well, but I would say every book I ever read has had an influence, both the bad and the good ones. Some of my favorite books are The Once And Future King by T.H.White with its wild mix of comedy and tragedy, or The Princess Bride, but then there are Marques, Morrison, Steinbeck, Maupassant…..I could go on forever. It’s a choir that influenced me—of hundreds of printed voices.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Always carry a notebook with you and a pen that writes on skin, in case you run out of paper. Never trust a computer for a first draft. The screen will fool you and make you believe what you wrote is ready for print. First, there has to be the playing pen and the dancing hand and the hungry paper!

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