|
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there going to be any more Stravaganza books?
Yes! I have finished writing City of Secrets! It is the fourth book in the Stravaganza series and the beginning of a new trilogy. It is due to be published in the UK next April and in the US in July.
When did you start writing books?
In 1970.
How old were you when you started?
I was born in 1945, so you can work it out.
How many books for children have you written?
Eighty and rising.
How long does it take to write a book?
That's an unanswerable question. It depends how long the book
is. White Magic took a year and a half, but the first
drafts of Nancy No-Size and Amazing Grace were
written in a day.
Where do you get your ideas from?
| Answer 1 |
I don't know. |
| Answer 2 |
It's a kind of magic. |
| Answer 3 |
They come in three ways
.i) As a title (Dracula's Daughter, The Second-Hand
Ghost)
ii) As a character (Grace, Cyril, Nancy)
iii) From an incident (Beware, Princess, Henry's
Baby, Dog Powder)
|
All these answers are equally true. Do
you like writing books?
Yes. It's the best job in the world, being paid for making things
up.
Do you do the pictures yourself?
No. Although I can draw (I took A level Art), I haven't had any
art school training. I've worked with some wonderful illustrators,
including Chris Riddell, Caroline Binch, Jane Ray and Christina
Balit.
How do you make the books?
I don't. Anything of which you need thousands of copies has to
be made in a factory. Books are made in a special sort of factory,
called a printers. The pictures and words are printed on to one
large piece of paper by big machines doing one colour at a time.
That paper is then folded and cut to make the pages and put inside
the cover.
What made you decide to write for children?
I think I thought it would be easier. If so, I was wrong.
Where do you write your books?
| Answer 1 |
Three-quarters of each story gets written in
my head, so I could be at the bus stop or in the swimming
pool or doing the washing up and still be writing a book. |
| Answer 2 |
When I get round to putting them on to the computer, I do
this on my lovely laptop in my new green and white study whose
french windows open on to the garden. |
Do you get a lot of money for writing
books?
Not a lot. A writer gets a percentage of the money it costs to
buy the book (ten per cent is one tenth of the money so you would
get 30p on a book costing £3). This percentage is called
a royalty. If it's a picture book or one with a lot of
pictures, like Banana Books, you have to share your royalty with
the artist, so you would get half that. In order to make a decent
living, unless you have a big hit with a bestseller, you need
to write a lot of books to make the pennies add up.
Will there be any more books about Grace?
There are storybooks called Starring Grace (2000), Encore, Grace!
(2003) and Bravo, Grace (2004/5) which are all published by Frances
Lincoln.
What is your favourite book (of yours)?
This is a bit like asking "Which is your favourite child?"!
I don't really have one. But I'm especially fond of Dog Powder
(Heinemann), Bump in the Night (Collins) and Catwalk (Methuen)
which are not so well known as some of my books. And of course
I love the Stravaganza novels which, fortunately, are pretty well
known.
Who is your favourite writer for children?
My all time favourite is Terry Pratchett, not just his books for
children, but I also like Margaret Mahy, Diana Wynne Jones, Jan
Mark and Allan Ahlberg. I don't like Roald Dahl at all.
Who is your favourite writer for grown-ups?
Charles Dickens (some people just say that but I've read all his
books more than once). I also love James Joyce, Marcel Proust,
and, of living writers, Margaret Attwood, Anne Tyler and Ruth
Rendell, especially when she writes as Barbara Vine.
What are your favourite fantasy books?
I have so many favourite books that
the list is too long to fit here. That's why I've put it on a
separate page.
Is it true you're in the SAS?
I'm a member of “the other SAS”. This stands for “Scattered
Authors Society” and is a loose grouping of children’s
writers and illustrators who live all over the UK. We get together
as a group once or twice a year (not always the same people) and
have some local meetings too. It’s a really nice bunch of
people and if you want to know who is in the group you can click
on this
link .
Is there going
to be a film of the Stravaganza books?
There are no film deals in the offing at present.
- My agent has (March 2005) got the film rights back from Bloomsbury
and has placed them with an agency dealing solely in film, TV
and other dramatic rights. They have sent the first book off
to about six companies.
- It can take years before a film is optioned, yet alone made,
so you must be patient.
- There is nothing I can do to make a film happen! It all depends
on a film company agreeing to finance such a project.
- There is a lot of discussion on the fan
forum about a possible future film or film - who would be
in it etc – which you might like to join in on.
I would like to be a
writer. What should I do?
A good starting place is to read my tips for
writers.
|
