Animals were never far away during my childhood.
This is my pony, Jessica. I spent hours riding her around, exploring, often joined by curious giraffe or zebra.
My home was once part of Karen Blixen’s farm: she wrote a book about her life in Kenya, called OUT OF AFRICA. It was made into a film starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. the film
Her book begins, ‘I had a farm at the foot of the Ngong Hills’ – and that’s where our house was. You could see the knuckle shapes of the hills through acacia trees at the bottom of our garden. It was near vast tracts of open land and forest with only a few scattered villages, and it stretched to the edge of the great Rift Valley.
My parents got hold of two ponies from a wild herd, and somehow my sister and I persuaded them to let us get on their backs. After falling off a lot, we learned to ride.
We spent all our time outside – making dens, climbing trees and wandering about on those ponies. And I daydreamed a lot, making up stories in my head.
Nowadays I still spend a lot of time outside, walking, exploring, reading, and learning to sail. I also like films and theatre. And I’m still daydreaming, making up stories in my head, but also writing them down in my books.
Scroll through the slideshow to find different tips …
How I write ...
I see the story as I’m writing, like watching a film. I play around with who's telling it, what they see, getting inside the heads of my characters.
I scribble notes, ideas, connections, odd sentences that frame an idea for a scene or conversation. I make sketches and maps, collect pictures to pin up near my desk.
When the story starts to take shape ...
... and ideas pile up, I start writing on to my laptop. Great splurges of it come out very fast. Then I work over it, shaping, developing or cutting back until it feels right, before I move on.
When I get stuck ...
I do something else that's got nothing to do with the story. Then a clue on how to move on will jump into my head when I'm on a bus, a walk, in a shop, or just doing the washing up. Really, I'm trusting my subconscious to fix it for me ...
Where I write ...
Anywhere - buses, trains, in the bath, on a park bench, café, the library, even waiting in a queue. Whenever an idea grabs me.
I get my ideas from ...
... everything and anything. Might be something that’s happened to me, or someone's told me, or I’ve read, or a place I've seen. Or a memory, or a dream. Quite a few scenes in my books come from a half-remembered dream …
Writing tip #1 How to start …
Just have a go. Don’t worry about where to start or what’s going to happen. Let the writing be part of disovering what you want to happen. Just imagine yourself in the place you want to write about, or the situation you want to write about, and think about what you see, hear, feel, think … the story will start to form …
Writing tip #2 Writing is playing …
Ignore the rules. Just scribble and try things out and experiment. One of my books started with a scene that happens right at the end of the story (The Night of the Fire Lilies). Once your story has started to take shape, you can go back and think about the grammar and punctuation and all the other things that help to make your story clear for a reader.
Writing tip #3 When you get stuck …
Try closing your eyes. Let what’s happening in your story when you got stuck fill your head. Think 'what can I see, hear, smell, touch …?' often you will find that the story starts to move again … and even if you never include that little bit of writing in your story, it gives you a kind of bridge to cross to what happens next.
Writing tip #4 When you feel rubbish and think what you’re doing is awful
Trust yourself. Don’t let anyone put you off. If you want to write – or write and draw – or just draw, just do it. The more you do it, the better you’ll become, and you can always look back at something and think about how to make it better. Or think ‘that was a really good idea, but maybe if I write it like this …’ and you’re off on another piece of writing inspired by the one that disappointed you.
But get something on paper!
Writing tip #5 Some ideas to help you find a new story …
Here are some things to explore. Try writing a pretend diary, imagining yourself as an explorer or traveller or scientist or whatever you want to pretend to be. It can help you find a new story.
Writing tip #6 Making a picture book
If you have younger brothers or sisters (or cousins) try writing and drawing a picture book for them. Or if you have a friend who likes to draw and you don’t, team up with them to make a picture book together. One of my picture books (Suzi, Sam, George and Alice) began because my children started writing stories about our cats – and it got me thinking about one too!
