Latest News
Updated July 18th 2008
When I wrote the message below I never expected to have to leave it here so long!
Thank goodness it is nearly the summer holidays!
Message for All Those Burdened with Essays, Book Reports, Homework, School Projects etc., etc. on the Hideous Subject of... (drumroll)
MY FAVOURITE AUTHOR!
(you know who you are!)
I am truly sorry for you. I had to do the same in my time and I did not enjoy it anymore then than you people do now. And so I completely understand when you write to me and say (with FAQ and a biography on this website alone, never mind good old Wikipedia and all the other sites a quick Google search will produce) that you cannot discover A THING and please will I ever so kindly and sweetly write the never-to-be-sufficiently-cursed piece of work for you.
No. Sorry. I won't.
Although if it helps (it might) remember that you can cut and paste from this website as much as you like. Including this message.
But in the end, you have to do it yourselves.
(Oh dear)
And I do not
(Hurray!)
Now you are probably cross.
Well.
Don't blame me.
Blame your teacher!
Replies to SOME of My Recent Messages
Amber and Bonnie
I love your names!
No, it did not take long to get my first book published. I had very good luck from the start: it fell onto the desk of a wonderful editor (Chris Kloet at Victor Gollancz). It really was good luck, I did not know anything about writing in those days, and I sent off my only copy, typed out on an old fashioned typewriter. (Full marks to Royal Mail for not losing it!) I remember I did have to do some rewriting, but it was easy. That first book won a highly thought of award (Guardian Children's Book Award) (thanks to Chris again, for having the faith in me to enter it) and winning that award got me a contract for a sequel and an American publisher. Which meant I could earn enough to leave the job I had and write full time, and that is what I have been doing ever since.
(The book was called The Exiles, and it is still in print, eighteen years later!)
Sara Rose.
Hello Sara, thank you for your very kind messages. About Tom. Yes, he was based on a real person, two real people in fact, both guitarists. But parts of him are of course, pure invention.
Lisa, I understand (only too well) your problem of not being able to finish the stories you are writing. The only solution I know is to know the end before you begin (it does not matter so much about knowing the middle). Of course, the end might change along the way, but that is a whole new problem...
Alice, about Indigo's guitar playing. I am guessing he had the idea from Tom.
Megan, certainly the information given to you by your friend is true!
Megan no. 2, Yes,Buttercup is Michael's child. No, he will not always be called Buttercup- at least I hope he will not- it is a terrible name for a boy. The answers to all these questions are in Forever Rose, by the way.
Joseff, my birthday is June 12th.
Yes, I have read the Narnia books many times. I loved them as a child, especially The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. And the one about the ship. I must admit, I really must have been a VERY dim child, because all the Christian references that aggravate so many people so much went completely over my head and I concentrated instead on turkish delight and trying to get through the backs of wardrobes.
What is the new film like? Shall I take Bella to see it?
Amanda, you are quite right. I have told her and she has done it.
