The interview was for International Book Promotion and it was the January Children's Author edition, the interview was alongside 11 other authors.
Here's the full interview:
1. What is your source of ideas for a new book? Ideas can come from anywhere, whilst doing the most boring activities
in the world! It could be from a mispronounced word that sounds like a
fun character's name.
2. How do you come up with names for characters? Naming the characters is lots of fun. They can be bizarre and
wonderful names, or names that everyone knows, as long as it suits that
character.
3. How much time do you write in a day? I put at least five hours aside each day to write, but as I said,
ideas can come from anywhere, so I may be making notes in the middle of
the night when I've got a busy brain!
4. Is there a lot of material that you have written that never gets published? I do have a fair amount of material that is just scribbly notes! Too
much! Sometimes I leave notes and come back to them at a later date, and
sometimes I feel that those ideas are no longer relevant and can be
left out of publishing.
5. What age group do you target? My Charlie Cheese Books are aimed at 2 - 7 year olds, as the rhyming
story and colourful and wacky images appeal to the younger children, and
the older children are exposed to more complex vocabulary as well as a
fun story. I am releasing a book in the very near future called The
Macroodelzig, it contains an exciting rhyming story which again gives
children exposure and the opportunity to learn new words.
6. How do you promote your books? I have no pennies to make lovely big billboards, although that would
be nice! I have to promote the books by going into local schools to
talk to children, or write about the books on my social media accounts.
It would be amazing if word-of-mouth promoted the books better, as I
have had a lot of lovely verbal feedback from parents in person!
7. What do you think of video bloggers or You Tubers who promote books?
I think video bloggers and book vloggers are amazing at expressing
their passion for literature! It's lovely to see people are excited
about books and are wanting to talk about them.
8.
Children's books have improved over the years and there are books that
discusses on sexual education, cancer awareness and gender equality. Do
you think these topics are too much for children to learn? I think more mature or real-life topics should be included in
children's books - the younger they get familiar with real-life issues,
the better an understanding they will have. Some topics are normal in
some families, so if it's included in books that everyone reads, then it
just shows it as a normal family life - which is what some children
will relate to.
9. How do you think your work is different from the other children's books? I feel my books are different as they include some weird and
wonderful characters, they are unique and it's good to be different!
10. Name one children's book you would totally recommend to parents and kids, and why? It'll have to be Dr. Seuss' The Lorax - it has a wonderful meaning
behind it, and the story is fabulous. I love Dr. Seuss myself, my
favourite is Cat In The Hat!
11. What are you aspirations, as a children's book author? I very much enjoy writing and seeing little ones reading my work - I
first started making stories when working in a pre-school, so making up
wonderfully weird stories always made the children smile, which helped
spark an interest in books - win win!
12. If there is one thing children's books should focus on improving, what would that be? Children's
books definitely need to be more diverse! There's so many cultures and
backgrounds in this world that need more representation in children's
literature and picture books. The more children are exposed to
diversity, the more they can understand the world around them!I hope you enjoyed reading my first interview, I am happy to do more! Fill in the contact form at the bottom of the blog if you would like to interview me!
No comments:
Post a Comment