Hi, Katie, it was great to meet you! Honestly, I feel like I’m STILL learning how to write a book! You start with a good idea, you try to invent characters that feel like real people you would want to know, you put them in a place that seems alive to you, then you try to plan how the story will begin and end.  From there on, it’s up to your imagination. If you get stuck, get a teacher or parent to help you. It’s important to have fun with it.  It’s even more important to keep trying.  At first you won’t be so good at it, but you will get better and better!

Hi, Selena!  You’re right, nothing much has been happening, but it’s funny how distant the worlds of publishing and movie-making are.  I don’t know much more than you do.  A Google search tells me that Universal may be picking up the rights from DreamWorks now.  Which would pretty much mean back to square one.  So who knows?  If a new movie company picks it up, they may have fresher eye and a more eager attitude!

No, none of them  You are awesome, thanks!

Hi, Dakota!  Normally it takes nine months to a year to write a book, from the original idea to the research to the outline to the first draft, all the way to the final draft.  If there’s not as much research involved, it can go faster.  I was always inspired to be a writer.  As the oldest kid in my family, I liked to entertain my younger siblings and cousins with stories, imitations, etc., so I was always a storyteller.  One day I read a story called “To Build a Fire,” by Jack London, a survival tale set in the Arctic, and it was so vivid that I started shivering with cold on a hot summer night.  I found that experience so powerful.  I began thinking I wanted to do THAT someday.  I come up with ideas by paying lots of attention to everything around me.  My mind collects conversations, interesting stories, news events, odd things I see on the street, books I read, and just plain old daydreaming.  Sometimes I write these things down, sometimes I don’t.  Usually a combination of these things will mash up together and surprise me as a good idea for a story.  For example, I was always interested in the Seven Wonders and in Atlantis, and I’m a big fan of stories set in mysterious, isolated locations that seem to have personalities of their own.  Alone, all three of those things had been done before so many times — but no one had ever combined them.  That seemed like a fun idea to me!  As a child, my favorites were the Freddy the Pig series, the Tom Swift series, anything by Dr. Seuss, the stories of Edgar Allen Poe and Ray Bradbury, and any sci-fi books.  I loved sci-fi.  There were two things I wanted to do when I grew up: perform on stage and be a writer.  I ended up doing both things for my career, so I feel very lucky.  When I was a kid I definitely did NOT feel I would be a famous author, but some of my teachers did, especially my sixth-grade reading teacher who told me she would always keep my school work because she knew I’d be a published writer someday.  I liked her a lot and respected her opinion.  It’s awesome to have someone like that in your life.
Thanks for your kind words, Dakota.  I’m glad you enjoy my books and I hope this response isn’t too late for your report.  I’ve been unbelievably busy writing Book 3 of the SEVEN WONDERS series ...

Hi, Jackson!  Sure, but we have to interest a movie company first, and we’re working on it!

Hello, Ariel!  Sure you can.  Send me a personal email to peter@peterlerangis.com reminding me about this request, and I will give you an address to which you can send the book.  If you send it with a self-addressed, stamped envelope inside with the correct postage, I can quickly pop the book back into the mail the same day.

Hi, McKayla!  Your message brought a smile to my face, but the truth is, I really do want all future developments to be surprises.  Part of it is just that if I open up one thing, then people will want more.  But part of it is that I don’t truly know how the relationships will play out.  When I write, things tend to evolve, change, and even contradict my own outline!  But I can say you were exactly right in picking up those hints, so obviously you are a savvy reader!

Hi, Brock. Thanks for the kind words, and btw I don’t think there’s such a thing as too many fandoms! The more the merrier. Well, as to your first question, the idea came from three places. I became obsessed with the Seven Wonders years ago during a trip to Greece. I looked across the harbor in Rhodes, imagined the massive Colossus, and I was hooked. But I couldn’t really think of a story that could span all those Wonders and all the different locations and times in which they were built.. Also during that trip, I visited Crete and learned more about Atlantis. I always wanted to write about Atlantis, but that’s been done by so many people. Third, I’ve been wanting to write a series of desert island books, where kids are trapped by mysterious forces, but that sort of book has also been done to death. So I parked all three ideas in the back of my mind, along with many others. While trying to figure out something new and fresh to write about, those three came out of hiding in my brain.  Alone, I couldn’t make each come to life, but TOGETHER they ignited each other into an idea I loved!
No plans for Central IN on the docket, but I do a lot of school visits all over the country, so feel free to give your teacher or librarian a link to my Author Visits page (above). And I’m thrilled to report that book 2 is coming out October 29!

Hi, Monica!  Great questions.  You’re a careful reader.  Ch. 3: It is something to knock him out.  Ch. 30: You are very perceptive.  Stay tuned.  (And no apology necessary!)  Yeah, I’ve always wanted to write about a kid who can speak backward.  My older son had a friend who could recite entire sentences backward to you immediately after you said them.  It’s a pretty amazing talent, indicative of a certain kind of brain!  I’ll take the Fifth on the answer to that last question, sorry!

Hi, Kaylee!  Without reading the book, I can only give you some general, honest words of advice, so here goes:
First of all, don’t worry about getting an agent now.  Keep in mind, an agent’s job is to make money, and they are looking for professional manuscripts that they will be able to sell to a publisher right now.  Even if your manuscript is a work of utter genius, they will be more likely to want to represent someone older and more seasoned.  Better to spend your time writing,  improving your skills, and living an interesting life.  All of these are crucial to being a great writer.  Most published writers were excellent at age thirteen, but they were WAY better at seventeen, twenty-three, thirty.  Everyone’s different, but it really does take time and practice.  Writing is a craft, like sports or music.  An excellent 13-year-old cellist is not necessarily going to find a job with the New York Philharmonic; 13-year-old Michael Jordan would not have made an NBA basketball team.
So the best idea may be to set the groundwork for your future career.  Have you thought of entering a contest?  That was how Gordon Korman was published as a teen.  Look into entering the [pl-popup content="http://www.artandwriting.org/" title="Scholastic Art & Writing Awards" width="1000" height="640"]Scholastic Art & Writing Awards[/pl-popup] Contest, for example.  
Keep at it.  Write great stories, and when you’re done, write better ones.  The best people always rise to the top.  I hope I see your name in print someday.