Authors Electric

Recently, a headline in The Times caught my eye:  Make boys read books with girls in says Chocolat author Joanne Harris .  At the Hay Festival , Harris announced: ‘We’ve got to stop giving them the message that it’s wrong for a boy to read books about girls, because even schools are giving them this message.’ The Tragickall History of Henry Fowst by Griselda Heppel Ante's Inferno by Griselda Heppel As a children’s author, this is an attitude I wrestle with. I don’t consciously create characters to suit a supposed readership; they spring to life according to the needs of the story.  My first book, Ante’s Inferno , had a 12 year-old heroine, Ante, while in The Tragickall History of Henry Fowst , the main character is a boy. The Fall of a Sparrow by Griselda Heppel With The Fall of a Sparrow , I was back to a female protagonist, Eleanor, and arguably taking an even greater risk of limiting my readership by setting the story in a girls’ boarding school, as this meant the ...

Setting up for the Creative Writing group, Headington School. One of the best things I get to do as a children’s writer is visit schools.  I love these visits. There’s nothing like getting together with a group of 9 – 13 year-olds and their teachers and introducing them to the ideas behind a particular book, drawing them into the excitement of story creation and giving tips on how to make strong, believable characters and a gripping plot. Ante's Inferno by Griselda Heppel Because my books tend to be inspired by other, much greater works, there’s plenty of background information young people find fascinating. Ante’s Inferno , for instance, in which 12 year-old Antonia finds herself on a dark journey to the heart of Hell, is based on (can you guess?) Dante’s Inferno. Dante, in turn, drew  deeply from Greek and Roman legend of the afterlife, rendering my school talk full of references to monsters like the Minotaur and Harpies, and giving my audience the chance to tell me what the...

At the Ludlow Fine Press Book Fair, 6 - 7 November 2021 A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I did something we haven’t been able to do for nearly 4 years.  No, not paragliding. Or kitesurfing (as if). Or ringing doorbells and running away (run, at our age?) Something far more exciting.  We went to a Fine Press Book Fair.  There, I knew you’d be jealous.  Book lovers, letterpress printers, wood engravers, paper specialists, traditional binders and other craftsmen – all have been suffering withdrawal symptoms as a result of the sad but necessary cancellation of the biennial Oxford Fine Press Book Fair in March 2020. It will now be held on the weekend of 5 and 6 March 2022 – fingers crossed – but meanwhile lots of exhibitors were missing the chance to get together, and the clever people at Ludlow Book Binders came up with the idea of holding the first ever book fair at the Clive Pavilion, Ludlow Race Course, on 6 and 7 November 2021 . (Not a place you’d normally ex...

  Eden’s recent discussion of all the different Points Of View a writer can choose when telling a story came at just the right moment for me, having just finished reading a book which pushes this rule to the utmost. And got away with it. Brilliantly, as it happens. When I started writing children’s books, I saw no reason not to change points of view between characters. How else to follow their different paths if they get split up on their journey, as happens in Ante’s Inferno ? I needed an editor to point out that this was Ante’s story from the start, and that abandoning her half way through to get into the heads of the other characters wrecked all narrative tension. Restructuring the story was difficult but of course the editor was right. I learnt my lesson. One day I may be ready to bring off what many writers – Tolkien and C S Lewis among others – do, but not yet. And obviously, changing points of view between characters can only work if you’re writing in the third person; ...

Not having had a book published recently, I didn’t expect any bookings for World Book Week this year, in fact I hadn’t even clocked exactly when it was. So two requests for author visits landing in my inbox came as a lovely surprise. Clifton Lodge School, West London The first was from a charming, small prep school in Ealing where 61 children from 8 - 13 years old squeezed into a front room to hear my talk on Dante, Hell, Greek mythology, and World War 1, and what all these elements have to do with my fantasy adventure story, Ante’s Inferno .  It can be tricky to cater for such a big age range, with fidgeting indicating that I’m either floating somewhere above their heads or aiming annoyingly low, but there was no sign of this here. Perhaps being such a small school gives the pupils a feeling that they’re all in this together, resulting in less need than usual to assert their age differences. Whatever the reason, they made a wonderful, alert group who as...