How I ended up writing stories

I don’t remember learning to read.

There’s a photograph of me as a small child in Amsterdam, examining a picture book of Peter Pan. The words were in Dutch, which wouldn’t have troubled me because I couldn’t read any language at that point. But the cover showed Captain Hook’s pirate ship, and that was enough to hold my attention.

Stories were part of my life long before I could read them for myself. My mother read to me, and she made up stories while she did the ironing. I would pull up my little stool and ask for another adventure about Hansje and the dwarves.

I remembered every detail. Mum didn’t, which must have made producing the next instalment rather challenging.

By the time I reached primary school, I could already read a little. Unfortunately, the school introduced me to Dick and Dora, their dog Nip, and their cat Fluff.

See Dick run.

I did. Then I probably wished he would keep running until he disappeared into another book.

In third grade we moved on to the Wide Range Readers. I finished the books intended to last the whole year within the first few weeks. Fortunately, libraries offered more promising territory.

The little library near the railway station in Shenton Park was a wonderland. It was filled with books about the Gumnut Babies, the Faraway Tree, Blinky Bill and many other characters waiting to be discovered.

Mum encouraged my reading. Every birthday and Christmas brought at least one book. I received the magazine School Friend each week, and later there were copies of Classics Illustrated. Treasure Island, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days came with pictures, adventure and just enough danger to keep things interesting.

Enid Blyton was another favourite. I preferred the Famous Five to the Secret Seven, although both were a considerable improvement on Dick, Dora, Nip and Fluff.

I also loved illustrated encyclopedias. Dinosaurs, animals, plants, geography, history, the kings and queens of England, I absorbed the lot.

Then there were the horse books. Like many little girls, I was horse-mad. I read Black Beauty, My Friend Flicka, The Silver Brumby and the Jill books by Ruby Ferguson. I loved non-fiction books about horses and riding, and I adored Thelwell’s A Leg at Each Corner.

The fact that I later developed a serious allergy to horses seems a little unfair.

When we moved house, a new library opened a couple of blocks away. I joined on its first day. At first I was confined to the children’s section, but the librarians soon recognised a dedicated bookworm and allowed me to borrow from the adult shelves.

That opened another door.

I discovered Greek and Roman myths, Ancient Egypt and the great stories of the past. At high school I read H. Rider Haggard, H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. There was horror from H.P. Lovecraft and Dennis Wheatley, mysteries from Agatha Christie, and all the Sherlock Holmes stories.

I’d already begun the journey to science fiction with Verne and Wells. With that came an abiding interest in astronomy. I wasn’t interested in Dickens, but I was interested in stellar evolution. Then I came across Asimov’s Foundation series and became a fan. Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Philip K. Dick, Douglas Adams, Jack McDevitt, Anne McCaffrey, Elizabeth Moon all contributed to my reading pile.

Most of all, I loved space opera. So it’s hardly surprising I became a Star Wars fan. But that was later.

Real life intervened for a while. At university I studied history, which meant reading about Nazism and the world wars, medieval Europe, the Renaissance and Reformation, Napoleon, the French, American, and Russian Revolutions, and the immense, complicated history of India.

None of that reading went to waste.

Neither did The Lord of the Rings (I reread several paper back editions to death and ended up buying a very expensive rice paper copy which I still have. Its cover is decidely ragged.)

And then I met the Discworld.

Sir Terry became my all-time favourite author. I first met him in the eighties at a bookshop in an airport before the days of ereaders. I bought “The Colour of Magic” and I’ve been a super fan ever since. The depth of his knowledge about science, myths, history, and politics is astounding and he turned all of that into intelligent, fascinating fantasy that mirrored our own world. I still re-read them now.

Looking back, I suppose writing stories was the natural result of all that reading.

Every book added something to the compost heap in my head. History, astronomy, myths, mysteries, animals, politics and adventure all went into the mix. Eventually, things began growing from it.

That’s where my planets come from, along with my alien cultures, spaceships, mysteries and characters. They’re not borrowed whole from anything I’ve read. They grow from connections between scraps of knowledge gathered over a lifetime.

A childhood interest in astronomy can become the setting for a space opera. A piece of history can suggest a conflict. A myth can influence an alien culture. A mystery novel can help shape a plot.

Even those illustrated encyclopedias have probably contributed something.

Perhaps that’s how most writers begin. We read. We wonder. We collect facts, places, people and possibilities. Then one day, we start asking what might happen if we put some of them together.

We ask ‘What if?’ And before we know it, we’re writing stories of our own.

I’m sure, having read all that, you won’t be surprised to learn that when I write a book, I know far more about its world and characters than ever reaches the page.

That made creating my rewards for the Books in Your Pocket Kickstarter great fun. I’ve put together character portraits and profiles, along with images of some of the locations where my stories take place.

For me, it’s been rather like meeting old friends and revisiting places I remember, even if those friends and places never existed outside my imagination.

I’m not showing you the rewards yet, but I will admit that seeing some of my characters looking back at me has been quite an experience. A few were exactly as I imagined them. Others apparently had opinions of their own. 😄

I’m delighted to be a Books in Your Pocket author, and I can’t wait for the Kickstarter campaign to launch on 6 October. Come and join us.