That’s an interesting question. I think that voice comes easily to me, and concepts, ideas. I can write great beginnings. What’s difficult is not getting lost on the way through the book.
Do you have a website or blog where readers may learn more about you
and your work?
www.leilarasheed.com is my website
www.usborne.co.uk/bathsheba is all about the books
www.bookchildworld.wordpress.com is my writing blog for adults
What advice would you give to aspiring middle grade authors?
I have two good pieces of advice from famous authors. Ray Bradbury, the sci-fi author, said ‘Find out what your hero wants and then follow him’. In other words, know what the story’s about and keep that at the front of your mind. And I’m developing a new rule of thumb for writing called ‘What would Oswald do?’ which is based on the advice that the narrator of Edith Nesbit’s classic children’s book, The Story of the Treasure Seekers, gives at the start of Chapter Two.
The whole text is available free online: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/770
Is there anything else you'd like to tell our readers?
Remember there are many different ways of reading fiction. Most readers read for sheer pleasure – they’re interested in whether they love a book or not. Literary critics read with theory in mind – they want to fit books into categories. But if you want to be a writer you have to read differently again. You have to read analytically, looking at how stories are put together, what makes them work, and asking yourself how you can use those techniques in your own writing.
You can compare it to different ways of looking at a chair. Most people are interested just in whether they like the chair, whether it’s comfortable and whether it fits in with their living room colour scheme. If you plan to write a book about chairs, though, you’d want to know what period the chair belongs to, whether it’s IKEA or Arts and Crafts, you’d want to know whether it was designed with a particular philosophy in mind. But if you want to make a chair, the best thing to do is take one to bits and have a good look at it from the inside out. Chips, Beans and LimousinesChips, Beans and Limousines
Article comments
1 - Jodie Knight
I thought these books were the best books I have read and I only started reading them one month ago, if I had to rate these books I would give them a 5 star rating!