The Boy on the Train

Right now I'm working on a book called The Boy on the Train for Fiction Express - an innovative online book platform that connects students with authors, encouraging reading for pleasure through fun co-creation of stories. It's an interesting and sometimes challenging way to write a story as everything can change - depending on how the readers vote at the end of a chapter. 

In addition to this, I am just about to start a new writing project with a UK publisher - but unfortunately I'm not allowed to say anything about this at the moment. 

If you like graphic books, keep your eyes open for my new series - Ace Inventors. Sam, Amara and Jazz are best friends who love inventing things. Their inventions are fun and exciting - but things don't always go to plan. There are six in the series and the first two - The Wong Dimension, and A Trip in Time should be appearing in shops and libraries now...

 

Talking to Readers

It's always a real pleasure getting to meet and talk to young readers and to hear what they think of the books they have read. Yesterday I was fortunate to have the chance to speak to Fiction Express readers from around the world in Spain, Mexico, India, Uruguay, Honduras, and Great Britain. 

A huge HELLO to everyone that joined the chat - It was great to have the chance to answer all of your questions and to hear what you had to say about The Sculptor... I was delighted find that you had all enjoyed reading the book. 

It was also fantastic to be able to share the chat session with the wonderful Janelle McCurdy and hear her talk about her Fiction Express book, End Game. Janelle is an author and a gamer, and it was especially interesting to hear how being a gamer has influenced her writing.  

If you like exciting fantasy adventures then you will love her book - Mia and the Lightcasters . I highly recommend it and can guarantee that once you pick it up, you won't want to put it down.

Sharing My Thoughts - Lawley Primary School

Here's a HUGE HELLO to everyone at Lawley Primary School in Telford. I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone on Tuesday and I can't wait to spend some time working with year 4 who I know are reading The Thought Snatcher - one of the books that I have written for Fiction Express. 

I'll be very interested to hear what you think of the book and the characters in it, and what you might have done differently. It will also be interesting to find out what you think could happen next with Ellie and Tim. 

See you all soon...  

New Books

This week I've been incredibly busy. I've been working on some new young reader stories for one of my publishers, editing some that I had written earlier, and proof reading a couple that had been sent to me with finished artwork.. It's always good to see the finished artwork as it can really bring a story to life - it's also interesting, and sometimes surprising, to see the different styles that illustrators have.

During the week, I managed to coomplete the second draft of a larger, non-fiction book about dinosaurs that I have been working on for a while. It has involved a lot of reasearch but it's been fun and interesting. I've also been busy retelling some traditional Chinese stories. 

For a while, it didn't look as though I was going to get everything finished in time, but Friday afternoon is here and I'm completely up to date with everything. I've even managed to submit some ideas for more early reader books - so this weekend will be spent with fingers crossed, hoping that my editor and others like some of the ideas.

It's always exciting to see a new book when it's been published. Nothing beats the look, feel and smell of a new book. This week, the postman arrived with copies of 5 new titles that have been published (or are about to be published) by Franklin Watts. They all look great, but I'm specially proud of the two Global Heroes books - Bushfire Rescue and Waves of Waste. Click here to visit the Global Heroes page on my website to find out more about them.

The other three books, The Poor Boy and the Cat, The Glass Mountain, and The Trapped Tiger, are retellings of traditional stories from around the world - from Iceland, Poland, and Korea. There are a few more tales from around the world due out in the next month or so too.

On Tuesday evening I had the pleasure of chatting with some keen readers from around the world, thanks to Fiction Express, about a book that I wrote with them earlier this year - Camp Silverlake. A huge hello to everyone that joined the online video chat from Malaysia, Spain, Kenya, Britain, and South America... it was greeat to meet you all. 

Next week I'll be starting work on a new, bigger book which hopefully will be of interest to one of my publishers. I'm sure I'll be working on other things too... 

The Flip Side

Today sees the publication of the first chapter of my latest Fiction Express book - The Flip Side - and I'm very excited about it. The first chapter will be live on the website at 11 this morning. The story is about a world that's parallel to our own and what happens when someone crosses from one to the other. The book is being read by readers all over the world - a HUGE HELLO to you if you are one of them. I will see you in the forum soon.3e

Writing a book for Fiction Express is different to writing other books as the readers get involved as the story progresses - offering ideas and suggestions. I can't wait to hear when everyone thinks of the story and eagerly await their thoughts about what might happen. Stories can take unusual twists and turns before they reach their final conclusion.  

The Flip Side (for Fiction Express)

In September I will be writing my latest book for Fiction Express. Writing a book for them is always an exciting and challenging thing to do. Unlike other books that I write, Fiction Express readers from around the world get involved in the creative process as the story progresses over five chapters. 

The first chapter is written and ready to go live, but other than that, I only have the roughest of ideas as to what will happen in the rest of the book. Each chapter ends with a question for the reader - in this case, Chapter One ends by asking the reader what the main character has just seen. I have given them three options to choose from. The option that gets the most votes gives me the start of the next chapter. Each option is significantly different and will completely change what happens next. I know that it would be possible for me to give three options that effectively result in the same thing, but I prefer to make it more interesting (and slightly more difficult for myself) by keeping it more open. 

Another thing that makes writing these books different is the fact that I am able to communicate with readers on an interactive forum. I can post questions for them to answer and they can ask me questions, give me their opinion on what they have read, and also offer suggestions for things to include in the following chapters. It's great being able to include reader's ideas and suggestions in the story - and always interesting to hear what they think.

You can find out more about Fiction Express by visiting their website HERE 

There's a few weeks to go but I'm already looking forward to it.

Barcelona and Back

Hello to everyone at Bracken Leas Primary School - I'm really looking forward to meeting you all tomorrow to share stories, talk about writing and to answer all of your questions.

On Friday I will be visiting Croughton Elementary School and next week I will be a little closer to home visiting The Grange Primary School in Shrewsbury... so here's a huge HELLO to all of you. It's going to be a busy and fun few days - I can't wait.

The picture above is of The Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona... Since my last diary entry I made a short visit to Barcelona where, as well as getting to see the magnificent basilica, I had the privilege of speaking to teachers and publishers about writing for Fiction Express - which provides a really exciting platform where, not only can children can read new books as they are being written by the author, but they can also chat to the author on an online forum and choose what happens next in the story. 

So far I have written three books for Fiction Express and am looking forward to writing my next one in April...

The Curious Case of Dr Salamander and more...

First of all let me say a HUGE HELLO to everyone at Etching Hill Primary School in Rugeley... I'm really looking forward to meeting you all this week.                           At the moment I'm busy working on a few different books - not always a good thing to do but sometimes it's something that I have to do. One of the books is called The Curious Case of Dr Salamander. It's a book I'm writing for Fiction Express - if you haven't heard of them before you might like to take a look at their website. Authors write the chapter of a book and give the readers three options that they can vote on to happen next. This makes the book really interactive and lots of fun. There's much more to it than that though - click HERE to go and take a look at their website. 

I have just written two little books for Franklin Watts - one called Run Melina Run! set in ancient Greece at the time of the Olympic Games, and another story called A New Life on New Earth - a story set a long time in the future about a young boy and his family starting a new life on an enormous space station called New Earth. Just imagine how the young boy feels, having to go to a new school in a strange new place. I don't know who will be illustrating Run Melina Run! but I do know that the artwork for A New Life on New Earth is being done by a Spanish illustrator called Jose (Yayu) Rubert. So far I have only seen the rough cover but it's already looking great... I can't wait to see more.

One of my big books is on hold at the moment while I get another, not quite as big, book finished. I've been working on Mindy and Moose and the Howling Wolves for quite some time now and I'm determined to get it finished very soon. To keep me in track with this I've set myself the target of writing at least 1000 words a day to keep it moving along.

Writing that many words should mean that the book is finished quite soon, however, it's not quite as simple as that as I have to keep going back to edit and tweak things to make sure it all fits together properly. It's taken me a long time to write this book as I kept getting stuck... I think that the biggest problem has been getting the tone of the story right... I think of this as being the stories voice. Every story I think, has it's own voice and it can be tricky finding it or getting it right. Hopefully I'm on the right track now and Mindy and Moose and the Howling Wolves will soon see the light of day (or perhaps that should be the dark of night - with a full moon of course).

Galaxy Mega Spinners

I'm really excited to be working on a new book for Fiction Express called Galaxy Mega Spinners... This is something completely new for me because instead of working on the book myself I'm going to be working with lots of other people. 

As the book progresses over the next few weeks, readers will have the chance to vote on what happens next. If you're reading the book in school, I'd love to hear from you.

It's going to be a fun and exciting adventure. Who knows where it will end...

Why is everyone so obsessed with Galaxy Mega Spinners?

Are they just a fun toy or is something strange going on ? Kizzy Brown thinks there is - but what on Earth will she discover?

The first chapter goes live today...