Writer for Animation, Film, Television, Books, Comics and Audio
I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve been chosen as the first Writer in Residence at The Word, the National Centre for the Written Word. I’m spending seven days at The Word and I’ll be creating a new short story while I’m there. The dates of my residency are: Day 1 – Tuesday 21/3 Day 2 …
A new term means new school visits. Here’s some pictures from two recent events at King James Academy and Pentland Primary School. Both were great fun, and a chance to meet new readers. Thanks to both schools for arranging a visit. If you’d like me to visit your school, library, bookshop or literary festival, or for …
Are you in Newcastle? Can you get to Newcastle? Maybe you own a helicopter or know how to drive a submarine. Perhaps you know of the secret Tunnel that Goes Wherever You Like (I find this one particularly handy.) If you enjoy books and aren’t put off by meeting actual authors then you should come …
Do you live near Middlesbrough in the UK? I’m doing a free event in Waterstones Middlesbrough later this month with fellow author Stephen Aryan. Stephen is the author of the Age of Darkness trilogy. Battlemage, the first book in the series was published in September 2015 by Orbit books in the USA and UK. Book 2, …
The second edition of Writing & Stuff is now live on YouTube for your pleasure, affection and scorn. This time I talk about character and how sometimes you need to take a step back from your work and figure out what purpose that character serves within your story. Also I visit the Game On exibition …
As the year draws to a close I’m about to complete my last school event of 2014. I’ve done lots of talks, workshops and signings this year so I thought I’d share some highlights with you. MacMillan Academy, Middlesbrough. I spent a week at the MacMillan Academy helping the pupils develop and write a script for …
Had a great week working with the pupils from Macmillan Academy in Middlesbrough with Mark Jobe from Quay Animation. Together we helped the pupils write, design and animate a short film about climate change and the effects of flooding. Former Macmillan pupil and BBC Breakfast business reporter Steph McGovern dropped in to see what we …
Last year I was lucky enough to be asked by New Writing North to go to the Gothenburg Book Fair in Sweden. I had a great time and made some new friends, including Jan Smedh from The English Bookshop in Uppsala, Sweden. Since then Jan and I have stayed in touch and he was kind enough …
To celebrate the publication of Timesmith last week the nice people at Waterstones Middlesbrough arranged for me to do a signing event in their store. Apart from the launch event for Sorrowline, which was a different sort of event, it’s the first time I’ve done a book shop appearance. When I do school events the …