How Do You Get Your Ideas?

Ideas for writing come from life - that's it! The more you look at the world around you and the more you listen to what's going on in it, the more ideas you will get. And then it's up to you to write them down in your own words. That's all writing is, in the end.

The ideas for my first book came from a visit to Tanzania in Africa, fifteen years ago. The book was a counting rhyme set in the grasslands where lions and hippos and rhino and many more wonderful animals live.

My second book, It's A Bear's Life, was inspired by reading some newspaper articles about a real teddy bear hotel! People sent their teddies away to be looked after while they went on holiday themselves. It was such a funny thing to read about, I thought it would make a good bedtime story for young children.

My Nina Fairy Ballerina books have lots of characters in them who are inspired by me and my friends when I was little. Their names are taken from the countryside around me - from the flowers, trees and grasses where I live.