'Unfolding a gripping plot'

 

“Once the world has been created,the fantasy author still has to bring the story's characters to life and unfolda gripping plot. That's why good fantasy is such a hard act to bringoff.” – TonyBradman

 

Born in a suburb of London on thisdate in 1954, Bradman gravitated to reading fantasies while still in primaryschool; started writing while still a student at Queens’ College, Cambridge (wherehe earned his Master of Arts degree); and became a full-time writer ofchildren’s lit. and fantasy books in the 1980s.

 

He started his professional writingcareer as a music writer and children’s book reviewer before writing The BadBabies’ Counting Book in 1984.  Hehas now written over 50 books for young people, most wildly successful and ledby his Dilly the Dinosaur series, which has sold over 2million copies alone.

 

Bradman said he first “discovered”books and stories reading Thomas the Tank Engine storiesbefore gravitating to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.  “That,”he said, “really got me hooked.”    

 

 “I love the feeling of being drawn into astory, the delicious sense of tension that comes from wanting to know what isgoing to happen next and almost being afraid to find out,” he said.  “That happens when you read the best stories –and as I found out, it can happen when you write a story of your own, too.”