• Are there any other authors that you are friends with? - Elodie 

Yes there are! When I was stuck on my writing journey, I joined a writing academy called Golden Egg and we got mentoring to get published. I became friends with Vashti Hardy, Lorraine Gregory and James Nicol among others. It was nice to have that support!

• When did you start writing for fun and when did it become your job? - Juliet  

Writing was always for fun until I had just had my son. It was my dream to get a book published and I wanted to show my son that I could do it.

• What was the most challenging part of becoming an author? - Chloe 

My biggest issue was self-confidence. When you get rejections, it can sometimes not be very kind. It is still hard hearing negative things about your work!

• What advice do you have for us if we want to follow in your footsteps? - Bronwyn 

If you want to be an author, you need to write as much as you can and you need to love being an author. You also need to write what and how you love. If you do want to go down the path of being published, you need to be resilient.

• What do you like most about being an author? - Juliet 

The hard things are worse than I thought, but the best moments are more magical than I thought. Winning awards that children have voted for has been the best! Knowing that my books are out there and being read are 

• Which of your characters would you most like to write as an adult and why? - Sam 

Gus and Naira from Dread Wood – I think they would still be part of each other’s lives. Maybe they would even be ‘together’! 

• Do you have a favourite / least favourite book that you have written? - Elliot 

Some books I found really hard but loved how they turned out. Crater Lake: Evolution was really hard to write. People saying bad things about my books is always hard, and I saw some criticism about Crater Lake when I was writing the sequel. On the other hand, I loved writing Mo, Lottie and the Junkers, but it didn’t do it as well as the others so sadly I didn’t get to do a sequel. 

My favourite is probably the first Dread Wood. I was feeling confident because I’d just been ‘stolen’ from my last publisher. 

• What’s with the spiders (Dread Wood)? - Juliet 

I am a person who is scared of everything – spiders, clowns, people on stilts(!). So when I write books that are scary, I like to write things I would be scared of to make them more authentic. Writing Dread Wood has actually made me less scared of spiders! The lovely thing about scary books is that they allow you to be scared in a safe, controlled way. 

• Do you ever start writing for one age group, but then it changes as you write? - Chloe 

Because I spend so long planning books in my head, I feel like I’m quite clear before I start writing. I’ve watched the story play out in my head. Sometimes I get carried away and my editor tells me to rein it in and keep it PG(!) 

• Specifically with Dread Wood, where was the inspiration? - Jon 

Books always come around in a convoluted way. Lots of random things connect together. The original inspiration was Breakfast Club meets Tremors (two 80s movies!). Each Dread Wood book has a creature and a nursery rhyme, so they are based on real things. I don’t want to write magic; I want to make stories that in some ways could actually happen!

• Would you rather visit Dread Wood High or Crater Lake? - Chloe 

Probably Dread Wood High. I love to sleep too much, so I’d have a better chance to survive at Dread Wood! 

• Do your family inspire your characters? - Bronwyn 

They do – most of my characters are inspired by real people. Angelo from Dread Wood was inspired by my first impressions of my husband. I later found out that he wasn’t at all the person I thought he was, and I used that as inspiration for Angelo. Some characters are based on real situations, like a character who has a certain disability or challenge to overcome. 

• Would you rather bring to life: massive trap-door spiders or parasite worms? - Elodie 

Spiders! I can’t cope with the parasites!

 

And some 'just for fun' questions to finish: 

• Which of your characters would you be best friends with? - Chloe 

All my characters bring something to the table! If I had to choose one – this is so hard! - I’d choose Kat from Crater Lake. 

• What is your favourite children’s book of all time? - Jon 

Morris’ Disappearing Bag from when I was a child. I’d say Hunger Games now if that counts. I feel like it really changed me as a person. 

• Which of your characters do you wish you could bring to life? - Elodie 

Again, they would all bring so much to the world! I’d say Angelo because he reminds me of my husband. He is grumpy and difficult but he makes the world a better place.

• What is the spookiest / funniest thing to have happened to you? - Sam 

I have so many spooky stories! A quick version: I once encountered a woman who I believed was a real witch who would come back and get me! 

• What did you want to be when you were older? - Bronwyn 

I love books and animals, so while my dream job was being an author, my new dream (second) job is something to do with a zoo or animals.