Ask the Author: Victoria Williamson
Answered Questions (4)
Victoria Williamson
Write what excites you! A story takes a lot of time and work to get right, and if you’re not fully invested in the world you’ve created and the characters who live there then it’s much harder to resist the temptation to give up when the going gets tough. The first stories I wrote when I was five or six were (badly spelled!) retellings of films I’d seen, books my mother had read to me or cartoons I’d watched, and writing alternative plots to other people’s stories can be a great way to get started, especially if it’s a world you can really lose yourself in.
All writers begin as readers though, so read as many stories as you can and pay attention to the types of characters you identify with and the stories that move you or capture your imagination. If you can work out what makes you enjoy a story, then you’ll find it much easier to write an adventure that your readers won’t be able to put down.
All writers begin as readers though, so read as many stories as you can and pay attention to the types of characters you identify with and the stories that move you or capture your imagination. If you can work out what makes you enjoy a story, then you’ll find it much easier to write an adventure that your readers won’t be able to put down.
Victoria Williamson
I write fantasy, adventure, science fiction and contemporary issue novels for Middle Grade (9-12), Teen, and Young Adult readers. Many of my books have been inspired by children I have met on my travels, both abroad and here in the UK. I'm currently working on a Middle Grade novel exploring the issues faced by a boy with ADHD who is struggling to fit in with his new step-family, and a spooky adventure novel for Teens, centred around a cast of characters with additional support needs including deafness, Down Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy.
Victoria Williamson
Just about every writer starts out as an enthusiastic reader, and I was no different. My love of reading was kindled early on by my parents who took me and my brothers to the library nearly every weekend. My mother read to us every night, and put on all the different voices for the characters in The Chronicles of Narnia and The Hobbit, so it was just like going to the theatre!
Although my father was quite shy when it came to reading aloud, he did something equally important: he read books himself every day, and talked to us about books at every opportunity. We learned from him that stories weren’t just for children, they were for adults too, and books were subjects that were worthy of serious discussion.
Without my parents’ encouragement, I would never have become a writer, so The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle owes as much to them as it does to children I’ve taught over the years whose voices are reflected in the story.
Although my father was quite shy when it came to reading aloud, he did something equally important: he read books himself every day, and talked to us about books at every opportunity. We learned from him that stories weren’t just for children, they were for adults too, and books were subjects that were worthy of serious discussion.
Without my parents’ encouragement, I would never have become a writer, so The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle owes as much to them as it does to children I’ve taught over the years whose voices are reflected in the story.
Victoria Williamson
A book is an adventure, and my first real-life adventures began when I became a teacher. I taught for a number of years in Cameroon, Malawi and China as well as the UK, and during that time I met many children whose unique stories inspired my writing.
The characters in The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle are composed of many voices. Caylin, a troubled twelve-year-old struggling with her mother’s alcohol addiction in a Glasgow council estate, and Reema, a Syrian Muslim refugee whose world has been turned upside down by war, were inspired by some of the children I have taught.
My experiences of working with children from many different backgrounds, particularly those whose families were seeking asylum, made me realize how important it was for me to write inclusive stories where all children can see a reflection of themselves in heroic roles. When the Syrian war began, the sheer scale of the humanitarian crisis that followed was overwhelming, and like many other people I felt powerless to do anything about it. It was then that I decided to write a story about a girl whose family have fled the fighting and are trying to build a new life, and little by little Reema’s character began to take shape.
The characters in The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle are composed of many voices. Caylin, a troubled twelve-year-old struggling with her mother’s alcohol addiction in a Glasgow council estate, and Reema, a Syrian Muslim refugee whose world has been turned upside down by war, were inspired by some of the children I have taught.
My experiences of working with children from many different backgrounds, particularly those whose families were seeking asylum, made me realize how important it was for me to write inclusive stories where all children can see a reflection of themselves in heroic roles. When the Syrian war began, the sheer scale of the humanitarian crisis that followed was overwhelming, and like many other people I felt powerless to do anything about it. It was then that I decided to write a story about a girl whose family have fled the fighting and are trying to build a new life, and little by little Reema’s character began to take shape.
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