Other Writing |
 |
Most of my writing has been for magazines and 80% of my magazine-writing has been for Comet, Explore and Challenge, which are published by Pearson Education Australia. I invented Astra the Time-Travelling Reporter for my first article on Keeping Clean in the Middle Ages. With long bushy hair, glasses and a hat like Indiana Jones, she's a character with a great sense of humour. A decade on, she's reported on all sorts of topics, including Tutankhamun's tomb, the history of underwear and the worst jobs throughout history.
 |
 |
 |
These magazines have also given me the chance to cook, invent, design, and create. Children have helped me with 'Make and Do' projects on a regular basis. A girl called Fortune made fortune cookies (it's true!). I taught some Cockney rhyming slang while kids baked London meat pies. I hope they didn't call their sisters 'skin and blisters' after I left. We've cooked Indian and Greek feasts, and children have made everything from marbled paper, to mosaic pots, electronic board games, and burglar alarms.
I have also written plays, stories and non-fiction for The School Magazine (NSW, Australia), the School Journal and Connected Journal. My favourite plays are The Perfect Package (Connected) and Crime Solver (The School Magazine). If anyone ever performs these plays at school, please contact me. If I'm within driving range, I will come to watch.
 |
| 
Fraser Williamson illustrated this picture for 'A Hairy Tale' |
A lot of people begin by writing short pieces for magazines. It was good training for me, because I wrote for all age groups and in all sorts of genres. I wrote short stories and plays, persuasive and educational articles, reports and diaries, from many points of view. The challenge was to come up with wild and wonderful ideas for articles on things that sounded dull. For the topic Feed the Planet, I decided it didn't have to be planet Earth. It could be Mars, and I could pretend it was the future, with a bunch of eco-teens setting up a special dome to grow food in innovative ways. It took a lot of research but it was fun. I wrote it from the perspective of each teenager who had a different job in the dome, and it was done as a video broadcast from Mars. Writing for magazines has taught me to brainstorm and think about what kids want to read and know.
| • | Read lots of different magazines and comics. What is it you like about each one? What type of stories do you like best? Funny ones? Scary ones? Do you prefer non-fiction or do you like plays? Take notes about the way it is written, as well as the length and style. Maybe you'd like to do the illustrations too. |
| • | Write the sort of story that you like to read. Copy the format and organisation from magazines you have read. You can even do comic strips. |
| • | Produce your own magazines or comics and sell them to your friends. R.L. Stine, the author of the Goosebumps series did this for many years when he was at school and university. |
| • | Find out about magazines where you can send your writing, or about writing competitions. Some magazines advertise competitions. You can also find out about writing competitions on kids' websites or on websites like The NZ Book Council. |
 |
 |
 |
| Click on these images to buy these books by other authors at Fishpond | ||
I wrote a blog about my time with 35 other writers on the International Writing Program in Iowa City, USA. A blog is short for a web-log, which is like a diary online. People write blogs on their favourite hobby or on a subject they know a lot about. They also write travel blogs while they're away on holiday. I named my blog after one of my favourite book characters – Ramona Punzel from A Hairy Tale.
I write regularly on a Facebook site called Stop-1080. It's a group of people who fight against the aerial spreading of 1080 poison across bush and pasture to control pests like possums in New Zealand. It kills birds, deer, dogs, insects and many other animals, as well as the possums, stoats and rats that are being targeted. It's a slow and painful death, so I write articles, letters, and posts that argue against its use, and push for targeted methods of pest control such as bait stations and traps.
The slideshow below came from The Graf Boys' Blog. I helped to create this blog but it's now run by the Graf Boys. It shows animals that have been killed by 1080, so you might find it upsetting. Clyde Graf is the photographer who provided some of the beautiful photos that we've used on this website.
Contact me to tell me what you think about 1080 poison being used to kill pests or to send me photos of animals that have been killed by 1080. I'll add them to the slideshow!
A Tribute to Victims of 1080 Poison