| 1.
Your first published books were adult crime novels. Do you still
write or want to write for adults? |
| No, I've
been invited to - but I much prefer writing for children. |
  2.
Truth Or Dare--a powerfully absorbing and disturbing novel, published
in 1973, suggests that you might easily have become the writer
of dark teenage fiction in the psychological mode of a Robert
Cormier. How did you develop the tone of voice that gives readers
of even the toughest of your books--The Illustrated Mum, say--the
sense that they have been reading something light? |
 I
don't want to terrify or depress children so I try to be a little
reassuring. |
| 3.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's children could never associate a book such
as The Scarlet Letter with the person they knew as their father.
Are you able to associate your early work with the author that
you have become in the last ten years or so, or indeed, the books
that have brought you your current notoriety, with the type of
author you were trying to be when you first started writing? |
I
think my writing style is pretty distinctive and has just gently
developed along the years. But times have changed, and maybe I
have too! |
| 4.
What lies behind your antipathy towards the tools of the electronic
age - namely washing machines and computers? |
|
Simple
incompetence. I hate computers (though I do have a girly
turquoise laptop now). There isn't room in my kitchen for a
washing machine - not that I'd know how to work one.
|
| 5.
Your profile is now such that you could easily cut down on public
appearances, and yet you seem to be regularly 'on tour' or performing
at public events. Presumably, this means that direct contact with
your audience is important to you. Why? |
 I
think it's important to go on tour with a new book as it helps
to promote it - and I love to meet special fans. I do lots of
other talks too, partly because I find it hard to say no to people
- though nowadays I turn down most things because there simply
aren't enough days in the week. |
| 6.
I know that the domain www.jacquelinewilson.co.uk
has been reserved for you. You already have a fan club base on
the Transworld website. Are there any plans for your own author
website? |
 I
wouldn't have a clue how to go about it. |
 7.
Vicky Angel and your new book The Cat Mummy are both, in different
ways, about death. Is there any reason for this theme to have
formed the basis of two consecutive books? |
 No,
it just interested me. I got the original idea for Vicky Angel
after being very moved by floral tributes in the street after
a child had died. I wrote The Cat Mummy because so many
children get very upset when their pet dies. |
 8.
There is a superficial plot parallel between The Cat Mummy and
Morris Gleitzman's Water Wings. But what really interests me is
the sense of humour that you share with Gleitzman and some other
Australian writers. An example would be the pants in the tree
episode from The Dare Game, an incident that one can quite easily
imagine finding in a Gleitzman or Paul Jennings story, but not
in the work of many other UK authors. I understand the American
market has had some difficulties with this sense of humour, but
I would imagine your books do well down under. Do they? |
| I
shall have to read Water Wings! I love Morris Gleitzman's
work. I think I do sell well in Australia. I've done three book
tours there and spoken at a big children's literature conference.
I'm about to go on my first American tour - wish me luck! |
 9.
You are currently writing a novel in diary format. Can you tell
us anything about the character writing the diary? Do you keep
a diary? |
| There
are two girls, both writing diaries. I keep a diary myself,
but I'm not very good at making entries every day. |
| 10.
You have a huge collection of books. Where do you make most
of your purchases? |
| I
go to Hatchards and Picadilly Waterstones and Silver Moon
in London regularly, to Waterstones in Kingston, to the Open
Book and The Lion and Unicron Bookshop in Richmond, to Sotheran's
Antiqurian bookshop, to Addyman Books in Hay-on-Wye, to many
bookshops twice a year in Boston... |
| 11.
Do you take your rings and bangles off at night and if so
how long does it take to put them back on again? |
| Yes.
I swim in the morning unencumbered with jewellery - and
then it takes about one minute putting on sixteeen bangles
and ten rings. |
 12.
What was the best thing about having The Lottie Project
dramatised? Are any of your other books being turned into
scripts? |
| I
love the Polka Theatre so I was thrilled when it was put
on there - and the girl playing Charlie was brilliant.
I'm turning Bad Girls into a film and someone else
is doing The Suitcase Kid - and Double Act,
Girls In Love, Tracy Beaker and Vicky Angel
and The Illustrated Mum are all lined up for TV. |
| 13.
Your books have an essentially female audience? Do you mind
this, or refute this? |
 I
find lots of boys do read my books, probably because
they're not too girly. |
 14.
For many years you had a respectable but lowkey status as
a children's author. Can you put your finger on a turning
point (was it marketing/creative/impulsive) that happened
somewhere between being the writer of titles such as Glubbslyme
and The Werepuppy (recently re-issued) and the massively
popular author of The Illustrated Mum? |
|
 It
was change of publisher / slight change of writing
style / Nick Sharratt as illustrator... The Story Of
Tracy Beaker was the 'break-through' book.
|
| 15.
This interview is taking place at a time when there is much
speculation about who will succeed Quentin Blake as Children's
Laureate. Many people think it could or should be you. I
shan't embarrass you by asking directly if you'd like to
be Laureate. But how do you think a writer of fiction would
'perform' their Laureate role differently from an illustrator? |
|
 I
think Quentin will be a hard act to follow! I'm very flattered
if some people think I should be the Children's Laureate.
I think a fiction writer might do more work with libraries
and might initiate a child-friendly fun book exhibit at
somewhere like the British Library.
|
|
