Illustrate your ideas , even if you’re not a talented artist. Dahl always imagined Charlie illustrated, even if he wasn’t necessarily the man for the job. He didn’t let his lack of skill stop him. As Dahl plans out the characters in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , he draws little stick figures to stand in for Quentin Blake’s remarkable... See more

Like many of Dahl’s great works, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory began as a line in one of his “Idea Books”:

a chocolate factory that makes fantastic and marvelous things—and a crazy man running it... 7

An interviewer once asked Dahl where his “extraordinary ideas” came from. Dahl’s answer:

They always, of course, start with some tiny germ. Somewhere. And you rattle it around and hope for the best and build up the story... 4

Beginning in 1945, Dahl would write out “germs” for future stories in his “Idea books.”

One of Dahl’s “Idea Books”

What did... See more

Ultimately, he became one of the most beloved children’s authors.

Like many of Dahl’s great works, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory began as a line in one of his “Idea Books”:

a chocolate factory that makes fantastic and marvelous things—and a crazy man running it... 7

On his 8th birthday, Dahl received a Lett’s Pocket Diary. From then on, he “became a mad diary enthusiast." Dahl describes this first diary, which had

a nice green leather cover, and although it was quite small, there was enough room under each day for me to write my secret thoughts and hopes and also anything important that had happened to me in

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