About Ron Roy
I was born in Hartford, Connecticut. My parents named me Wallace Ronald Roy, but I shortened the name to Ron Roy.
I was a shy kid, and spent much of my time studying nature and reading. I loved school and used to win all the spelling bees.
My favorite teacher was Mr. Ben Hancock. He taught me to love books and showed me how to hit a baseball and catch a fish. Because of Mr. Hancock's influence, I decided to become a teacher myself some day.
After college and graduate school, I became a fourth grade teacher. But somewhere along the way I started writing children's stories and sending them to publishing companies. No one wanted to buy my stories, but I didn't give up. Each week I would write a story and send it out. Each week the story came back with "No, thank you." written on the manuscript.
Then in 1978, I sold my first children's book. That was one of the most exciting days of my life. Soon I left teaching and became a full time writer.
In 1997 I started writing the A to Z Mysteries series. Now I am working on Capital Mysteries. Millions of children are reading these books, which makes me very happy. But I still remember the day I sold my first book.
마음씨 좋은 아저씨처럼 생기셨네요. 부끄럼 많던 소년시절 책읽기와 자연을 탐구하는데 많은 시간을 보냈고..학교에서 공부하고 Spelling Bees에서 이기곤했던 학구파였네요...책을 사랑하고 자신의 진로를 결정하는데 있어..역시..좋은 선생님의 가르침이 있었군요. 대학 졸업 후 4학년 담임선생님이었던 그는 틈틈히 아이들을 위한 글을 지어 출판사에 보내곤 했는데..주목을 받지 못했나봐요. 그치만 포기하지 않고~매주 글을 써서 보내고 거절당하고...를 반복하다..1978년 처음으로 책이 팔렸고 그 이후론 작가생활에 전념했군요...그가 포기하지 않아줘서...전세계의 독자들은 그의 재미난 책을 볼 수 있게 되었네요..역시 큰 일을 해내려면 실패에 강해져야 하나봐요.
그의 사이트에 그에 대한 궁금증을 해결할 FAQ가 있네요.
Do you have children? 아이고 결혼 안하셨네용, 아이대신 예쁜 강아지를 키우는군요.
No, I am not married and I don't have any children. But I take such good care of my best dog friend, Pal, he is my baby!
Yes, I have two great Bichon Frise dogs named Pal and Parker. They are small and white and smart and affectionate.
I love to read, hike, swim, cook for my friends, and work in my garden.
I also love to travel and have been to many foreign countries.
Good writers do research, they make outlines, they do many, many re-writes, they must consider characters, settings,
story problem, solutions, etc. But the reward for all this hard work is writing a great story that kids will enjoy reading.
I eat a lot of fish, fruits and vegetables. I love chocolate and ice cream, but I save those for special occasions.
I don't write every day unless I am on a tight deadline.
I watch very little TV. I'd rather read a good book or work on my writing.
But when I do watch television, I like shows that teach me something.
GREEN! The color of broccoli, which is my favorite vegetable.
No, my characters are made up.
But sometimes I borrow a real person's name. For example, Officer Fallon was named for my uncle Joe Fallon.
Usually it takes me three months to plan the story and understand all the scenes, clues and characters.
Then it takes another month or so to write the book.
I spend a lot of my time thinking about my writing. I also read a lot, and talk to friends. Whenever a good idea comes to me, I write it down so I don't forget it. Some of my best ideas come from kids who email me. I event get ideas when I am asleep, in my dreams!
Most bookstores carry my books.
If your favorite bookstore does not, they can usually order them for you.
Online retailers, like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and IndieBound always have a good supply.
2. Read! It's a good idea to read a lot because that's how we learn. I have found that readers make good writers.
Reading will make you smarter and give you a better vocabulary.
3. Finally, write what you love. If you like animals, write about animals. If you love sports, write about sports. That way, you'll be writing about things that you already know about. And you'll have fun at the same time.
