戴维: 是什么激励你成为一名作家的?
吉姆: I think it’s because when I was a kid, I really 就像d to read, and I read all kinds of stuff. 我读好书，我读垃圾书，我读漫画., I read equal quantities of stuff that was good for me, and I read garbage. I think that one might think, if you 就像 it a lot, you’d 就像 to write someday. 你喜欢读书吗?
井斜:我做!
吉姆看，那就是作家的来源. 他们年轻的时候就开始了. They really 就像 to read, and the next thing you know, 他们 writing. 你可能也写作，对吧?
井斜:是啊.
吉姆:是啊, ok, so one day, before you know it, someone will make something you wrote into a book.
戴维: 你的第一个故事是关于什么的?
吉姆这是我写的第一件事? Well, I did a book a long time ago, a book of cartoons, that was called 与生活中的白痴打交道. 但那大多只是卡通片, that wasn’t really a story; so, 我想我做的第一个是弗兰妮·K. 斯坦的故事.
戴维: What are three things you found funny as a kid, that you still find funny today?
吉姆:嗯. 嗯,放屁. Those were funny then, and 他们 funny now; I’m pretty sure those stay funny forever. 也许宝宝让我笑得很开心. 当他们试图吃东西或走路之类的时候. 让我想想……放屁……宝宝……哦! 当婴儿放屁时.
戴维: 你曾经害怕过黑暗吗?
吉姆: I had a weird thing that when I was afraid of the dark, I would sort of rush into it. So, 如果我觉得地下室里有怪物, 我会有这种奇怪的倾向，追着它跑. 我一直以为我可以更吓人. 我是说，那是我的地下室! I knew where everything was; I guess I always thought that I was the scariest thing in the dark.
戴维: 你小时候害怕什么? 你现在写的故事里也会用到它吗?
吉姆你看，还有一件事就是我是在万圣节出生的. So, 从我对生日的最初记忆中, 你最快乐的回忆是什么, 到处都是怪物，僵尸之类的东西. 所以，我从来没有觉得那东西真的很可怕. I think I’m actually more scared of crazy, real people than monsters or ghosts or anything 就像 that.
戴维: 你在写故事之前画过画吗?
吉姆: Yes, sometimes I’ll draw something and the drawing will make me think of a story. Or, sometimes when I can’t think of what I want to do, I might draw it first. 和, 下一个弗兰妮的故事, 我刚开始的想法只是一幅小画, 是的, 有时候是图画开始的, 有时是写作开始的.
戴维: 画画和写作，你更喜欢哪个?
吉姆: If I had to pick, I would probably pick drawing; I’ve been drawing longer than I’ve been writing. 在很多方面，画画比写作容易得多.
戴维: 你是怎么学会写故事和画故事的? 你在某个特别的地方学习过吗?
吉姆我想我只是跳进去开始了. 这是一种你不会做错的事情，真的. 你只要跳进去，然后开始做, 如果你的编辑想让你做些改变, 他们会告诉你. 终有一天, 你可能想把一篇文章卖给hg888皇冠商, and what you shouldn’t get too hung up on are things 就像 “how many pages should it be” and stuff 就像 that, 因为编辑们能看穿这一切, 他们能看穿所有的困难. They can see what’s brilliant in the story, what’s great about it. 他们会帮你把它带过来. They don’t necessarily expect you to walk in the door with something that’s done. 所以，我跳进来就学会了.
戴维: 谁是一路鼓励你的人?
吉姆: My parents encouraged me, and I had a lot of teachers that encouraged me. In 7th grade I had a really, really good English teacher, and we sort of became friends. We would talk about things that didn’t have anything to do with school. We would talk about books we 就像d and different kinds of writing. It’s important for kids to know adults that talk to them 就像 他们 smart. 和 that could be your parents, that could be your teachers, or, that could be your friends. 但是孩子需要被尊重，你知道的?
戴维: 我真的很喜欢你的书，你喜欢谁的书?
吉姆我喜欢PG沃德豪斯. He writes books about Edwardian England, and 他们 really kind of stuffy but really funny. I read scary books, too, 就像 ones by Stephen King and Dean Koontz. 我读过关于真实事物的书, 就像, 盐的历史, 这听起来很好笑, but you read about it from someone who knows what 他们 talking about and its really fascinating. 我跟你提过的那个七年级的老师, she gave me one of the best pieces of advice that I ever had. 她说:“读你感兴趣以外的书。. Find books that look 就像 you’ll hate them and read them anyways, 因为这是你发现事物的方式. You might get 10 pages in and discover that you were right, 你讨厌它, but sometimes you discover a writer or a topic that you didn’t even know you 就像d.
戴维: Franny knows a lot about what she 就像s but is awkward around other kids. 你有过像她一样的感觉吗?
吉姆啊，不，我没有. I actually feel quite comfortable anyplace I am, which is also bad. 所以，感觉害羞或尴尬的反义词就是我. So, if I walk into a room and I think I don’t belong with these people, I assume that 他们 走错房间了. 和 it’s just as weird and just as bad, but that’s what I have.
戴维: 为什么弗兰妮K. 斯坦 seem not as happy around other people as she is around her dog?
吉姆: It’s because Franny is really intensely focused on her science and her projects. 所以她的狗伊戈尔帮了她. 他并不是真正的阻碍. 他会犯错，但他在努力. He’s just not as brilliant as Franny; his heart’s in the right place but his brain isn’t.
戴维: 你为什么选择弗兰妮·K. 斯坦想成为一个疯狂的科学家?
吉姆: When my daughter was little, she only 就像d princesses and pretty ponies. What she really 就像d more were scary things and kooky, weird stuff. 所以，我为她写了弗兰妮. 正如我所说的, 在万圣节出生, all of these monsters were really friendly and familiar to me.
戴维: 你想成为一个疯狂的科学家吗?
吉姆: You know, I’m fascinated by science, and I think that all kids are sort of born scientists. 你生来什么都不知道. 和 you spend most of your childhood running experiments, in order to learn things. 即使是婴儿也一直在做实验. 我认为人类是天生的科学家，包括我自己.
戴维: 弗兰妮或维克多背后有灵感吗?
吉姆嗯，正如我提到的，弗兰妮是给我女儿的. 维克多, I wrote because there are so many characters out there of kids who are awkward and feel embarrassed all the time, 或者没有任何信心. So, I wanted to write a character that sees a lot different than that. 和 you can tell from reading 维克多 that he believes he can do anything.
戴维: If Franny and 维克多 ever met, how do you think that would go?
吉姆: (笑)嗯，让我想想. I think that they’d both think they were smarter than each other, and one of them would be right
戴维: In 亲爱的傻日记为什么杰米·凯利讨厌科学课? 她和弗兰妮·K正好相反. 斯坦!
吉姆杰米有很深的感情, but she kind of just blurts out anything she’s thinking because she’s writing in a diary. One day she might hate science and the next day she might love it. 她想写什么就写什么.
戴维: 你在学校最喜欢和最不喜欢的科目是什么?
吉姆我最不喜欢的是数学，这对我来说很容易. 我真的很不擅长. You’re going to get to a point where you’ll do something called proofs. 你必须写出这些方程, and then you have to go down the list and you have to prove why what you wrote is correct. 我上高中的时候，有一次惹上了麻烦. 我的老师是. 凡·拉夫特，他知道我讨厌数学. 他说:“先生. Benton, would you please come up to the board and do the proof on this equation?我说:“先生。. 范·线图，去年没人证明给你看吗? How many times do we have to prove this to you before you just accept it?“嗯，我被送到了校长办公室.
My favorite classes were English and Art, which you could kind of guess.
井斜: If you could pick one character from your books, whom do you think is the most 就像 you?
吉姆呃，实际上所有的照片里都有我的一小部分. Even characters 就像 Isabella, who can be really mean sometimes; I have a really mean side. 和 Angeline, who’s really nice, I have a really nice side. 但我和他们中的任何一个都不一样.