Jonathan Anthony Stroud (born 27 October 1970) is a British writer of fantasy fiction, mainly for children and young adults. Read full biography of Jonathan Stroud →
As a child I was really into fantasy books with elves and goblins and swords, and I went through a phase for a few years when I was reading endless... →
When I was young, I kept a diary for about 10 years and I had to write in it every day. Even on days when nothing seemed to happen, I made myself... →
As an author, you need to keep talking to your audience to remind yourself what they like and what they don't like. You spend most of your life... →
I read a bit of the Icelandic sagas. They're fascinating in that they are completely ordinary. The farmer will go off into the hills and fight a... →
I got fairly good grades, but I was bad at woodwork. They said I tried hard, but the result was hopeless.
The important thing about any book is that you have to have a good story and that it has to be exciting. Then it's nice to add other levels... →
When I write something that would have made me laugh as a 10-year-old, or would have scared me or would have excited me, I know I'm onto... →
We grow up being told about great figures in our society, and as you get older you have to question the stories you've been told and decide if... →
Most traditional ghost stories feature rather hapless protagonists, who have nasty things happen to them.
I had a big fight in my first week in secondary school. There was a kid in the year above who was nasty to me, and we ended up having a scrap. I can... →
I like to have my characters talking in an up-to-date way, and I like their essentially modern self-awareness, which means we can have lots of irony... →
I like using traditional beliefs in my fantasies, even though I always end up warping them to suit my purpose: it somehow makes everything feel more... →
I used to have quite long hair, and I decided that I wanted to get it cut. I'd never met the person who did it, and she cut it into some kind of... →
Jonathan Anthony Stroud (born 27 October 1970) is a British writer of fantasy fiction, mainly for children and young adults.