The stuff that children and schools want to know.
With thanks to Toby O'Gorman.
| How do you come up with the great ideas? | Thanks for thinking that they ARE great! Ideas are everywhere and nowhere. The trick is recognising when someone has said something, or something has happened, that would make a great story. Then you have to work on it at once before that hot idea cools down. | |
| Do you work in a special place? On holiday? | The Peak District where I live IS a special place, and my house is old and interesting. But I do write by hand on paper and also on my laptop from almost anywhere - on holiday beaches, in trains - always trying to get that idea out of my head and into words before I forget. | |
| What is your favourite book? | Of my own, King of the Dark Tower was the first published, and gave me that unforgetable first time that I saw my name on a book in a bookshop. From other writers, I loved Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll when I was a child, and I still do. Also, anything by that genius Roald Dahl. | |
| Do you have a day off every week? | I have a lot more off than that! Making up stories is hard work, and I usually write only in the morning and not at all on the weekend. But there are lots of other jobs to do - answering these questions, for example! Writers are what is called self-employed and have lots of boring stuff to do. More interesting is the research that we often do to make our stories seem real. | |
| How do you publish your own book? | The way to get a professional looking book is to use an online publishing site such as Lulu.com. You can see some more or less random notes about this by clicking on the sub-menu DIY Publishing. |