To me, the newspaper business was a way to learn about life and how things worked in the real world and how people spoke. You learn all the skills - you learn to listen, you learn to take notes - everything you use later as a novelist was valuable training in the newspaper world. But I always wanted to write novels.

Hiaasen's young adult novels follow the theme of environmental issues. Hiaasen lives in Vero Beach Florida. He was a reporter for Cocoa Today (Cocoa Florida) for two years beginning in 1974 and then was hired by the Miami Herald in 1976 where he still works.

: /ˈhaɪ. əsɛn/; born March 12 1953) is an American journalist columnist and novelist. Carl Hiaasen (pron.