How did you become an author?I've make up stories all my life. I've written them as long as I've been able to write. My first published novel got the attention of my editor, Stephanie Lane Elliott, at Random House, after I submitted it to the Delacorte Press Young Adult Novel Competition. I've been working with her ever since.
What three books or authors most influenced your style and why?
Jeez, this is a tough one because there are so many that I've loved. Some of my favorites as a child that I still love now are The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Great Brain series by John D. Fitzgerald. As a teenager I loved The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, The World According to Garp by John Irving and The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Leguin. I also love Paul Micou, Barbara O'Connor, Phillip K. Dick, Lewis Carroll and Kurt Vonnegut. There are so many more, but that's more than three, so I'll stop there.
Jeez, this is a tough one because there are so many that I've loved. Some of my favorites as a child that I still love now are The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Great Brain series by John D. Fitzgerald. As a teenager I loved The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, The World According to Garp by John Irving and The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Leguin. I also love Paul Micou, Barbara O'Connor, Phillip K. Dick, Lewis Carroll and Kurt Vonnegut. There are so many more, but that's more than three, so I'll stop there.
What projects are you working on now? What is your favorite book you have written and why?
I always like the one I'm writing. My first book, I Am the Wallpaper, was special because it was the first one and there never any quarantee it would ever get published. It was just fun to write a story. I wasn't even aware that I was writing a young adult novel until it was mostly finished. I was just writing about a teenager.
I always like the one I'm writing. My first book, I Am the Wallpaper, was special because it was the first one and there never any quarantee it would ever get published. It was just fun to write a story. I wasn't even aware that I was writing a young adult novel until it was mostly finished. I was just writing about a teenager.
My second book, Lemonade Mouth, was a challenge because it's the story of a high school band told from the five different perspectives of the band members. I like to write funny, so that 
was a fun one to write.
I just finished my third book, A Crack in the Sky, which is the first in a science-fiction series about a future America where global warming has gone to an extreme and everything is so hot and stormy that they've had to put protective domes over all of the cities. Man, that was a tough book to write because it was so different from anything else I've done before, but I'm very happy with it and can't wait until it comes out in the fall. Now I'm writing the second book in the series - which is called The Greenhouse Chronicles. Like I say, whatever I'm writing now is always my favorite.
People are always curious about an author's writing process. How do you approach your work?
was a fun one to write.I just finished my third book, A Crack in the Sky, which is the first in a science-fiction series about a future America where global warming has gone to an extreme and everything is so hot and stormy that they've had to put protective domes over all of the cities. Man, that was a tough book to write because it was so different from anything else I've done before, but I'm very happy with it and can't wait until it comes out in the fall. Now I'm writing the second book in the series - which is called The Greenhouse Chronicles. Like I say, whatever I'm writing now is always my favorite.
People are always curious about an author's writing process. How do you approach your work?
I'm a write-at-home dad with three kids so I fit writing in whenever I can. After I get them on the bus I usually get a tall cup of coffee and start typing. I think if you really want to write, then you have to sit down and write. You can't be one of those who say they're going to write someday. Today is that day. If I write today then I'm a writer today. So that's what I do.
[For more information and updates about what Mark is doing now, visit the Mark Peter Hughes website.]
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