Children's Author
Why make a video series? It’s not the most obvious thing to do when you’re someone who dislikes having their photo taken. But when Covid-19 started and the country went into lockdown, like many others, I wanted to do something to help. So I made a few writing challenge videos, primarily for my Patron of…
Stuck at home? Running out of things to do? Coming June 8th – a 5 day series of creative writing challenges, finding story ideas around the house. With thanks to Literature Wales for their support.
Want to know more about the Tir Na n-Og award? Of course you do! The award was set up by the Welsh Books Council in 1976, for an English-language book with a Welsh setting. Why is this important? Well, I read voraciously growing up, and I can’t remember reading a single book set in Wales.…
Hello all! I hope you’re keeping well. It’s been an exciting time for competitions so I thought I’d post a round-up of what’s been happening. The East Sussex Children’s Book Award has extended its voting time until 12th June and there are also writing and drawing challenges with prizes for you to win. Please pop…
In today’s story challenge, I’m talking about how to plan your story from beginning to end, thinking of the story as a series of big ‘Oh no!’ moments.
Week three of my story challenge is all about characters, and here are some of my top tips for creating your own fictional characters. Names I get names from all over the place. Real names Names of stars, planets, trees, fruit etc Street names, city names Nonsense words, words spelled backward Make a list of…
I should have been taking part in the Abergavenny Writing Festival today. Sadly, because of the coronavirus, it’s been cancelled, which is great shame. I love the area so much I decided to set Storm Hound there. Instead, here are ten things I love about Abergavenny. 1. The mountains. The town in set on a…
In today’s video I’m talking about fictional settings and how stories can start right where you are. Tips for describing settings: Use all your senses – what can you see, hear, smell, taste, touch? Imagine you’re an alien from another world and you’re seeing a human house for the first time. What would you notice?…
I should be an expert at being indoors. At least half my working hours are spent sitting by myself trying to make stuff up out of my head. This week has been weird. The coronavirus crisis means my husband is also working from home, as are various friends who’ve never done it before. As a…
