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.
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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?
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​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).
