Jonny Zucker

This is probably the question I get asked the most. And the answer is...from many different places. Newspaper and magazine articles often contain stories and pictures ignite a spark of an idea. Often these will go nowhere but it keeps the mind ticking over. Sometimes people say things to me or I overhear things that give me ideas. TV, the internet, films and other people's books also provide much brain food for thought. And sometimes one of my kids will say something funny or bizarre and I look at them and think - that gives me a really good idea!

For books I do with pictures, it is the Editor who chooses an illustrator. I might suggest people but it's always the editor who makes the final decision. I've been really lucky with the illustrators who've been brought in to do my books. Tyhe MONSTER SWAP series is illustrated by TONY ROSS. As he's one of my all-time favourute illustraors I was delighted when my editor said she knew him and she'd ask him. When she told me he'd said yes, I danced around the room!

Up to the age of fifteen all I wanted to be was a professional footballer. I dreamed both by day and by night of having a trial and making it into the First Division (now the Premier League). But I was given a guitar for my 15th birthday and suddenly I wanted to become a pop star, even though I could only play a few chords! In the background though was always writing. It was my best subject at school. While I found maths and science hard I found writing stories much easier and more fun; after all, you could use your imagination! I wrote all sorts of stories - sci-fi, action adventure, fantasy. I still kept my dreams of making it in football or music but gradually writing took over and in my late 20's and early 30's, I decided that I really wanted to be a writer, particularly of children's books.

It depends on the size and the scope of the book. For shorter books like JAMES KING OF ENGLAND, I can pretty much get it finished in 1-6 weeks. The MAX FLASH books take about 3 months. THE STRIKER BOY books take 4+ months. Often I'[m not just working on one book at a time, I'll have a couple on the go, so the writing is sometimes spread out over a longer period.

Characters are crucial but sometimes you can get so bogged down with a character that you forget about the plot. In most stories there's a lead character and a cast of supporting characters. When Roald Dahl first wrote Charlie and the Chocolate factory he had FIFTEEN children winning gold tickets, but this proved too cumbersome so he slimmed it down to fIVE and that was what he stuck with. When you create a character it's worth asking yourself all sorts of questions about the character; where do they live? What do they like eating? What do they do at weekends? What's their favourite TV programme? Not all of this information will appear in your story/book, but it enables you to get to know your character very well, so you can know what they'll do in a range of situations.

With a huge amount of effort andf perseverance! Unless your aunt is the head of a children's publishing company (sadly mine isn't) then you have to start where everyone else starts - at the beginning. Some famous writers like J K ROWLING were rejected many times before a publisher agreed to publish their book. There's a book called The Artists & Writers Year Book and this lists all of the publishers in the UK. Most libraries have a copy. Some people plough through that and send their stories/books to publishers they think might like their work. It's far easier to get to publishers if you have an agent, but it's very hard to get an agent if you haven't got a publisher - I know, it's crazy. If you really want your book to be published it might take years and even then you may not be successful. But someone's got to have their books published and it may as well be you!

I write all of my initial plans with a pen on a large piece/s of paper. When everything is planned to my satisfaction then I'll start on the computer.