I never saw fairy tales as an escape or a cop-out... On the contrary, speaking for myself, it is the way to understand reality.

I used the imaginary kingdom not as a sentimentalized fairyland but as an opening wedge to express what I hoped would be some very hard truths.

I never have found out all I want to know about writing and realize I never will.

I first wrote for adults, but when I started writing for young people, it was the most creative and liberating experience of my life. I was able to express my own deepest feelings far more than I ever could when writing for adults.

I was afraid that not even Merlin the Enchanter could transform me into a writer.

My imagination can do whatever it wants to do. This gives me a great sense of freedom.

King Arthur was one of my heroes because he was such a marvelous, heroic, courageous, and magnificent person that I had to admire him even though I knew perfectly well that I could never be in any way like that.

Classical heroes are usually much larger than life. They're not quite human beings. They're somehow larger than human scale.

From as far back as I can remember, I always loved the King Arthur stories, fairy tales, mythology - things like that. So it was very natural for me when I came to write the 'Prydain' books to sort of follow that direction.

Talented people are finding that writing for young people is as demanding of high quality as writing for adults.