Welcome to my website
Thanks for popping over. If you are new to my books or you want to know more about the trilogy, then please take a look at the section Paper Boats & Butterflies. You can read an extract or find out about the symbolism behind the butterfly and the paper boat.
If you are a teacher or a librarian, please take a look at the schools’ resources where you will also find my dystopian literature scheme of work for Key Stage 3 students and my workshop for teachers and librarians.
Please get in touch and tell me your thoughts on my stories. I am so pleased you love the characters as much as me. Who do you like? Who is not telling the truth?
Best wishes
Sue
P.S. You can see what I've been up to lately. and don’t forget to leave a review.
About my writing
I have been writing for a few years on and off – usually more off than on! It has taken me a long time to discover how to write and when to write and I am still learning about my style and preferences. Even after many years of teaching, I still needed an editor to point out improvements and corrections.
I like to write in coffee shops and at home where we have a lovely room where our students come for tutoring – it is light and airy, and I have my trusty old dictionary and thesaurus close by. They were presented to me when I was 15 at a school prize day. I never did very well at school, so I was amazed when I received a prize!
Ideas for my stories don’t arrive in my head in order and one thing I have learned is not to worry. You can write your ending before your beginning; you can write a chapter or a scene that goes in the middle. A big mind map really got me going on my novel as well as detailed character profiles for my main characters.
Notebooks are usually in my bag when I am out and about and there’s always one next to my bed. I have accumulated dozens of bits of paper over the years sometimes with just a couple of words, other times a whole short story and I keep them in a box.
I remember sitting at Comicon, having a cup of tea – tea always helps me think - and writing a scene for Paper Boats & Butterflies. I squirrelled it away and then used it when Z89 meets Esme Dorling, the school principal. (I had a hug from a Wookie while there).
