This week I’m answering questions from Ian Collings, a writer based in Shropshire who blogs at Take One Step Back and tweets as @ibc4
Of the twelve books you’re writing which falls into your natural writing style the most? Which do you find the easiest to pick up?
My natural style tends towards the silly, often by accident, and even though I haven’t written a kids’ book yet, I’ve harboured ambitions to be a children’s author for about ten years… Essentially I forsee July’s book as being the best – or at least the most enjoyable to do! That or fantasy, actually. I’ve written a bunch of short stories that fall across both of those fields and have probably read a lot more of those than any other type of book.
I would love to strike a balance between well written, engrossing but often humorous fantasy written by Neil Gaiman / China Mieville and the silliness of Spike Milligan (whose picture book for little kids, Sir Nobonk, is one of my favourite books ever), with an element of the dark or unexpected twists that you get in Roald Dahl. And I think May and July’s fantasy and kids’ books are the ones where I’ll be able to give that a proper try.
12 Books in 12 Months 