Sharing in an author's rollercoaster ride

Sarah Oliver, author of Rollercoaster Girl, out now and published by Tiny Tree Books (thanks to Ant Barlow at Tiny Tree for suggesting this Blog feature) shares some of her insights into the challenges facing an author who decides to write a story for younger readers!

How long does it take to write a book?

Isn’t that a million dollar question. I’ve written over 30 books over the last 17 years and had one Sunday Times best seller. Some books have taken close to a year, others have taken two weeks to write & one week to edit (pre-kids I might add.) It really does depend on a lot of things.

Rollercoaster Girl is my first chapter book and I am so proud of it. I have tried to write a chapter book for many years but never got beyond the first couple of chapters. Finding the time to write in recent years has been a struggle, we became a foster family last year and I now have five children aged from 2 – 12 years old and I work full time.

As authors (and budding authors) “we NEED to find the time, as life will always busy.” This is something Joanne Harris (author of Chocolat) spoke about at an author keynote speech I went to. She wrote Chocolat while working full time as a language teacher with a young daughter, and managed to finish a first draft in just four months, writing 20 to 30 pages at a time on Sundays. This really inspired me and I decided to book some time off work and headed to Widnes library with my laptop. I had no wi-fi and told myself, I was going to stay there all week until I’d finished a first draft.

I still can’t believe everything I achieved that week. Rollercoaster Girl has been edited and rewritten lots since then but I’m so glad I took that time to write and develop my idea about a shy, quiet girl who uses her imagination to make something amazing (and stand up to a bully.)

A very, very long time ago, back when I was at Manchester Met studying English, the playwright Paul Abbott came in to give a lecture. Paul is best known for his Shameless series, which is part-based/inspired by his own upbringing on a housing estate in Burnley. Parts of what he spoke about has always stuck with me, you can use experiences from your own life in your writing so my fiction chapter book has quite a few real elements!

Here are just some of them ~

Whoosher World is the name of the theme park in the book. It is transformed by Lily when she designs some amazing new rollercoasters. This was inspired by Warrington’s Gullivers World, which is where I had my first job. I was a very bad face painter there when I was 18, alongside my younger, very talented sister Liz!

The Grandma in the book has lots of Chinese crested dogs (who look very funny as they only have hair on their heads and their feet). My mum has Chinese crested dogs and one of her dogs has been in a movie with Ewan McGregor, so he was the inspiration for Alan the dog in the book!

Lily is the main character and her best friend is Georgia, her biggest cheerleader. They are based on my daughter and her best friend. Lily is also based on what I was like as a child, I was very shy and loved reading and writing.

In Rollercoaster Girl, I wanted to have a hero who isn’t the loudest and most confident person in the class. In the story, Lily grows in confidence and stands up to the bully Will. She has a beautiful relationship with her Grandad and they have some really funny moments. I really hope it encourages readers who might be shy to believe in themselves. If I could have told 10-year-old me that I was going to become an author one day, I never would have believed it.

Read Louise's (Armadillo Editor) review over on the Home Page and discover more about Rollercoaster Girl, a wonderful read for newly independent readers growing in confidence who will also enjoy the black and white illustrations throughout, the work of Lily Evans. Then why not find yourself a copy of the book which is on sale in all your favourite book shopping locations!