Vivian French
About Author
Vivian French has worked in the theatre, in counselling and in storytelling. Her first book was first published in 1990 and since then has had more than 270 books published.
Away from the keyboard, she also conducts writing workshops for children and adults, and teaches at Edinburgh College of Art. In 2012 she and Lucy Juckes (jennybrownassociates.com) set up PictureHooks, a mentoring scheme for new illustrators that resulted in a hugely successful exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland. (see www.picturehooks.org.uk)
In 2016 she was awarded an MBE in the 2016 honours list for services to literature, literacy, illustration and the arts.
Vivian has lived mainly in London, Bristol and now Edinburgh. She is married with four daughters, and has several grandchildren.
Interview
KNIGHT IN TRAINING: SPOTS, STRIPES AND ZIGZAGS
HODDER CHILDREN'S BOOKS
SEPTEMBER 2016
Spots, Stripes and Zigzags is the fourth book in the fabulous Knight in Training series by Vivian French. The series is brilliantly illustrated by David Melling.
For Sam J. Butterbiggins, the young knight in question, there are true companions to find, swords to acquire and steeds to win in his bid to become a true knight. In this latest book, Sam has to earn his very own knightly shield. Prune, his companion, knows just where to go for armour - Puddlewink Castle. But before they can cross the drawbridge they're stopped by a terrifying creature....
We spoke to Vivian French and asked her to tell us more about her writing and her latest books:
Q: You've been writing children's books for nearly 30 years; did you always plan to be an author?
A: Actually it took me a long time to pick up a pen after I left school because my teachers said I was untidy and hopeless and spent too much time staring into space (I was actually very short sighted) - so I never thought I'd be able to write books. I did go on to do English at university but I did a lot of drama when I was meant to be studying so I didn't do very well in my exams.
These days when I visit schools, the first thing I ask children is, 'How many authors are there in the room today?' and they invariably answer 'One' and I remind them that they are all writers. And that's because I was told for so long that I wasn't one and never could be.
Q: What encouraged you to start writing your own material?
A: I ran a small touring theatre company which I really enjoyed because I love stories and acting is a really good way to tell stories. But I found the scripts we worked with weren't very good so I started writing them myself. I discovered that I love to tell a story and eventually that led on to my own children's books. My first book, Tottie Pig's Special Birthday, was published 27 years ago.
Writing the dialogue for theatre has also really helped me develop as an author and my characters always have to have someone to talk to because dialogue is such a strong part of my writing.
Q: You've written for a variety of ages, from picture books through to older readers with your series Tales from the Five Kingdoms. The Knight in Training series, following Sam J. Butterbiggins' quest to be a Very Noble Knight, is for young readers but what was the starting point for this?
A: It was actually an idea that came from the publisher Hodder Children's Books and the illustrator, David Melling, who created the picture book The Kiss that Missed. They wanted to follow it up with a story about a knight so we had a lot of fun discussing it and the idea for Knight in Training emerged. I write the books and David illustrates them but we work collaboratively on the ideas.
David and I get together every so often and chat about it and come up with wilder and wilder ideas; we're both happy to consider talking trees mad uncles and bounce ideas off each other. Sometimes I'll write a section where the action all happens in pitch darkness, which David might question, but then he'll get his revenge by suggesting I write the next book in rhyming text!
Q: Each book starts as a kind of diary entry but why don't you continue that in the text?
A: I love David's Doodle Bird character and I wanted to get that into the story, so I thought about writing it as a diary so we could include the Doodle Bird - but eventually we decided to keep the diary part to the beginning and ending. So the Doodle Bird still makes an appearance!
Q: Why does Sam - along with his trusty companion Prue - have to be so secretive about becoming a knight?
A: Sam is sent to stay with his uncle and aunt where he discovers a magical scroll that tells him the six steps to becoming a knight. Sam's Uncle Archibold does have an interest in the knightly past and could probably help Sam, but his aunt thinks that everyone should look to the future so she doesn't want to hear a word said about knights.
Uncle Archibold was actually based on a real person I knew as a child, Brigadier Percival, who was such a lovely man. You find having lived a long life that there are lots of real people you can draw on for your characters!
Q: Why do you think knights have such special appeal to children?
A: I remember as a child I spent a lot of time imagining I was different characters and spent an enormous amount of time reading and fancying myself as a knight or as Robin Hood. There is still something very appealing about the time of knights and tales of the Knights of the Round Table and King Arthur.
Q: Do you enjoy most writing stories that have a fairy tale element?
A: When I was a child my dad read to us every night and I loved fairy tales and folk tales and loved the world of the imagination and magic where everything is possible.
As a writer for children, one of the great things is that you can have any kind of character you want - if you need a dragon to come and heat something up, then you can bring one in to do so, as long as you have set up the story for it.
I am also writing a series of stand-along books for publisher Walker Books, beginning with The Adventures of Alfie Onion, which are all going to be adventure stories in fairytale settings. In the first book, Alfie is the eighth son of a seventh son, and it is assumed by his mother that the seventh son will be the hero of the family but it turns out that Alfie is the real hero. The next book will be called Cherry Pie Princess.
Q: Illustration is an important part of all your published books. Is that why you set up Picture Hooks to help new illustrators?
A: I have never written anything that hasn't been illustrated when it's published and I love working with illustrators. Sometimes I even write stories that I think will work for a particular illustrator.
I also teach at the Illustration Department one morning a week at the Edinburgh College of Art, supporting students who are working on any kind of illustrated narrative. We look at how the illustrations are working, how the text is part of the design and how the story is laid to page.
So, I started the Picture Hooks project with agent Lucy Jukes to support new illustrators. Picture Hooks is a mentoring scheme and those who take part have their work exhibited for three months. Illustrators we've worked with have included Catherine Rayner and Lesley Barnes.
I do a lot of work to try to get children excited about reading and the more work I do here, the more I am convinced that this should be approached through illustration. I help children to storyboard their work visually and it really helps them, especially children who struggle with writing. It is a wonderful way to approach children's reading and writing.
Knight in Training: Spots, Stripes and Zigzags: Book 4
Knight in Training: A Very Bothersome Bear: Book 3
A Horse Called Dora: Book 2
Knight in Training: Dragons Can't Swim: Book 1
The Robe of Skulls: The First Tale from the Five Kingdoms
