Quotes from Tony DiTerlizzi

Now, as Global Ambassador for Starlight Children's Foundation, which brightens the lives of poorly children, I visit hospitals and tell stories to the young patients. Sometimes I read. Sometimes I draw.

If you like my renditions of faerie-folk, then you will most certainly like Brian Froud's work.

In 2008, my one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Sophia, suffered a grand mal seizure. It came from nowhere, for no apparent reason, and took hold of my little fairy-girl.

In some ways, you kind of take a personality and drop it on the ground, and it breaks into a bunch of little pieces, and you kind of water those pieces, and it grows into characters. So they're all me in a way.

I read a lot of fantasy and grew up on 'Star Wars' and 'Star Trek.' I loved going to Middle Earth. 'Dungeons & Dragons' was a huge influence.

If I rewind back to that period, I was 8 in 1977 when 'Star Wars' was in theaters. I saved up money, or my parents got me the 'Art of Star Wars' book.

I've always been a chameleon from book to book, like a director who does different films in the best possible way.

I get ideas from everywhere: movies, books, movies, nature - it comes into my brain, it sits there for a while, and it starts coming back out.

The most challenging and exciting aspect is the outline and formation of the plot points. This is the stage where the notion of the story begins to take shape, and I can see glimpses of what is to come.

When I see how fast technology is advancing, my mind thinks of evolution and how organisms also have to evolve or adapt in order to, in their case, survive.

I would love having Winnie-the-Pooh stay here at the house. We could talk of food and what we were eating next. Maybe ponder that over a little morsel... and then take a little nap and dream of desserts.

If you want the beautiful moments to shine, you have to contrast that with dark and gruesome moments. That's the way life is.

When I was a kid, I loved to draw, and I was lucky because I had parents and teachers and grown-ups around who recognised and encouraged that.

My outlines can be 10-20 pages in length and focus primarily on the physical active plot over the emotional plot.

I obsess over things... especially my book projects. It can be very time consuming.

Illustrations can be a big window: a looking glass into the author's imagination.

I feel very proud in what we've created in the 'Spiderwick' stories. And, frankly, I am glad we are ending the series on a high-note.

When you hear the words 'magic' and 'story', they will probably evoke thoughts of your favourite fairy tales from childhood. Storybook pages abound with all manner of magic: fantastical fairies, wish-granting genies, or even a certain boy wizard.

Sure, I eat because I have to. But I also eat because I want to. It is one of life's few pleasures.

I loved stories as a kid, both being read to me and enjoying on my own. All these stories inspired my imagination, and that's what I have always aimed at doing for my readers: ignite their imaginations.

There are many challenges I face while working on a book. Working within deadlines and schedules is certainly one of the bigger ones for me. I want to create the best possible book I can for my readers with words and pictures - and that takes time to get it just right.

I think, in real life, when we're facing death - that is, when we come out on the other side of it, whether it's death of a friend or a family member - you come out on the other side of the mourning cherishing your life that much more.

'The Wizard of Oz' and 'Alice in Wonderland' inspired me. I wanted to take those themes and try to bring it into a more 21st story with aliens.

I think about what 10-year-old Tony would want that 40-year-old Tony can make.