The Author

Note from David 2005

Clay & Kate the Cat and the Moon

I'm writing this at the end of August here in lovely Northumberland. It's been a busy summer. We had a wet camping trip to Dorset at the start of the school holidays: building sand castles in cagoules; eating fish and chips while the rain lashed down outside; squelching through the Great Dorset Maize Maze. The sun did peep out occasionally, though, and it was great to be at the seaside - and we did get to find out that our new tent is (thank goodness) very waterproof. Then to Edinburgh.

The Edinburgh Book Festival is one of the best. In my session, in a marquee crowded with people of all ages from six to eighty-six, I read sections from The Fire-Eaters and Clay. I talked about why I want to write and how I go about it. Then there were lots of wide-ranging questions from the audience: about me, my books, my background, about technique and style, about other books and writers, about advice for young writers etc etc. Most of the questions came from the young people in the audience, and they showed how intelligent, perceptive and widely read many kids are today. There are lots of people around who say that children and young people aren't interested in language and books these days. These people should be dragged into children's events like this and to see how wrong they are.

My stage version of Heaven Eyes was premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by Pop-Up Theatre. It's a strange mixture of excitement and terror to see a play put on for the first time. By the time I'd seen the show three times, though, I began to feel happy. It's a good production, with fine acting and brilliant music, and with some truly moving and scary moments. Another play, In Limbo (based on my story, The Baby) was also on at the Fringe. Classworks Theatre toured the production earlier this year, improving and refining the play as they went, and it's now a very tight and effective piece of theatre. Alongside Heaven Eyes and In Limbo, Skellig was on for a short run in Edinburgh - a lovely performance by Newbury Youth Theatre. There are plans for all of these plays to reappear in bigger venues, so look out for them.

I love the way my work has crossed over into the theatre. So exciting to work with directors, actors, musicians, designers. I love the private process of writing novels - sitting alone day after day, week after week, getting word to work on the page. The stage/theatre work provides a lovely contrast, offers new challenges, demands different ways of writing. Stories truly are vivid, living things. They exist on the page, in our imaginations, they can be read, they can be spoken, they can be sung, and they can be acted out before our eyes.

Now autumn's approaching and I'm looking forward to publication of CLAY in November. It's about some very ordinary kids getting caught up in some very strange and scary events. A new boy - Stephen Rose - appears in town. He lives with his aunt, Crazy Mary. He seems to have no parents and no friends. There are lots of strange rumours about him. The narrator of the story (Davie) is suspicious and wary of Stephen Rose, but he's also fascinated by him and drawn to him. One day Stephen shows Davie the evidence of his magical powers and Davie cannot help himself from being drawn into Stephen's weird world. CLAY was a difficult - and sometimes scary - book to write, but it's worked out pretty well. It's already had some great early responses from reviewers and readers. I'll be touring around the country in October and November to promote the book, giving talks and doing signing sessions.

The paperback of my first picture book, KATE, THE CAT AND THE MOON, is also published this autumn. If I ever feel a bit glum, I pick this book up and feel happy straight away, thanks to Stephen Lambert's gorgeous illustrations.

There are a few new projects on the boil. Pretty soon, I'll be starting on a stage version of The Fire-Eaters (we'll need to find a fireproof theatre or have stage hands standing in the wings with buckets of water). There are plans for an opera of Skellig (how do you think Skellig's voice should sound?). Both Skellig and The Fire-Eaters have been optioned for film. And I'm scribbling notes for the next novel. What will the novel be? Who knows? Not me. I have a few glimmerings, though. I'm scribbling bits and pieces about a rocky mountaintop, a boy and his sister, a goat, some eagles, a dusty road between two towns. No story yet. When the story does finally appear, it might have nothing at all to do with the rocky mountaintop etc etc, but I know that in some way these glimmerings are the start of it. The imagination works in mysterious ways. When a book is published, it looks neat and organised, almost perfect, but that's just the end result a playful, messy and far-from-perfect process.