April Artist of the Month – Nicky Singer
Our April ‘Artist of the Month’ is wonderful writer Nicky Singer. We talk to Nicky about Greek myths, covering difficult topics with teens, transforming her work for the stage and valuing our planet.
About Nicky Singer
Nicky is a novelist who occasionally strays onto the stage. Winner of the Blue Peter Award for her first children’s book Feather Boy, her novels have been adapted for television (BAFTA winner for Best Children’s Drama); musicals (lyrics by Don Black and music by Debbie Wiseman) and opera (Knight Crew– premiered at Glyndebourne).
Nicky’s first play for young people Island (about ice-bears and the nature of reality) was staged at the National Theatre. She later re-wrote Island as a novel with illustrations by former UK Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell. Her most recent novel The Survival Game (about what you’d be prepared to risk or sacrifice to stay alive in a climate changed world) has already been optioned for film.
‘Compelling’ and ‘moving’, are the two words most often used about her books and ‘inspirational’ about her presentations. She is in demand at festivals and schools all over the world.
What a visit from Nicky entails
Nicky works with pupils in Year 4 up to those in sixth form, with a range of talks and workshops to suit all ages and various themes.
All details can be found on her author page.
Feedback from Nicky’s previous visits
“I just wanted to drop you a personal note to thank you so much for your fantastic contribution to Book Week. Everyone who worked with you commented on the way that you engaged the children – and the fact that you could work with the drama students was an absolute gift! You did not seem to stop when you were here and gave over and above anything we asked.”
The British School of Brussels
“We had a lovely two days with Nicky Singer, where she conducted workshops on writing and drama with our English and Drama classes in both Middle and High School! She also spent time with our exam drama students. Nicky is very versatile, and hard working. Students engaged well in her writing workshops, and during the big assembly for Middle School she mixed up the story of the novel Island very well with the environmental and cultural message of nature and people under threat. The book sale was very successful and she was very willing to talk to the students and sign all their books. Nicky was pleasant to work with, and no demand was too much for her.”
International School of Luxembourg.
Read about Nicky and her author visits on her author page here
Interview with Nicky Singer
When and why did you join Authors Abroad?
I joined Authors Abroad over a decade ago because I love working with kids and I wanted to do more of it. I chose Authors Abroad particularly because they were recommended to me by I writer I really respected when I was on a British Council tour.
Where do you get your inspiration for stories from? What is your writing process?
Hmm. It’s a mystical process – even to me after all these years. A combination of my own obsessions (there are many…), what’s alive in the world about me, and what the characters in my head begin to chat to me about.
As for process: I think, make notes, do research and storyboard for about 6 months, then I write for about a year. I used not to start the actual writing until I knew everything – including the last line. Now, I start a bit earlier, which is exhilarating but also scary.
Is it easier converting a play into a book like you did with Island, or do you prefer a clean slate for a new project?
I found it very difficult to make the play of Island into a novel. I’d done it the other way round before (eg making my novel Feather Boy into a musical) but that’s a process of stripping down and leaving out, so the bones of the piece become visible which gives the whole a satisfying, architectural clarity. But in taking the pared down play of island and ‘bulking’ it up for a novel, I often felt I was just adding baggage rather than interest. So, my ‘quick’ re-write, turned into a labour of love and learning.
As for clean slates generally - I love them. That’s why I don’t write sequels, because I like a new set of toys each time.
Some of your stories contain quite serious topics, how do you decide what to include and get the balance between educating young people and keeping it age appropriate?
OK. Going to stick my neck out here – I think there’s far too much cotton-wooling of young people today. The whole purpose of stories (I have an entire presentation on this subject…) is to explore difficult things in a safe space. This is, for the record, why fairy tales (told, after all, to very little children) are full of mayhem and stampings to death. But – guess what? No-one actually gets killed in the making/telling of these stories! They are thought experiments. We stop understanding this at our peril.
A percent of all royalties from your Carnegie nominated Island are donated to Greenpeace. Why did you choose this charity and how well do you feel it links with the topics in Island?
This is to do with the huge generosity of former Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell who illustrated Island. He did this because he loved the book and, infuriated that it had been turned down by many mainstream UK publishers, wanted to ‘gift’ me his support. It was impossible to pay him nothing (as he requested) so we agreed a deal to benefit Greenpeace, an organisation whose campaigns keep the climate agenda freshly before us. How we plunder, or care for, our planet is at the heart of the novel, so it seemed a good match.
Do you have a preference between writing plays and novels?
Well, my day job is as a novelist. And I like it because you can be god – ie you’re in charge of everything: story, characters, setting, dialogue etc. Whereas, with a play, there are other people in your creative sandpit: the director, the actors, the designer! It’s quite a surprise for a novelist, used to working alone, under cover of darkness. But it’s also incredibly exciting having all these other people to play with.
What has been your most memorable moment from a school visit so far?
Difficult to choose, there have been so many. It’s very replenishing talking with young people. But I will never forget a girl of about 13 coming up to me after I’d given a talk about Island in a school in a very deprived part of London. It had been a difficult crowd and perhaps not my finest hour. The whole of the girl’s body was trembling. ‘I want to tell you something,’ she said with what I (and the Head Teacher standing next to me) thought was fury. ‘That is…’ she continued, ‘that is…’ And then she paused and the Head Teacher was poised to steer her away when she finally spat it out: ‘The most beautiful book I have ever read’. And she burst into tears.
What was your favourite book as a child? Did it inspire you?
I didn’t really have a favourite. My reading was completely indiscriminate. I read Billy Bunter one week and The Count of Monte Christo the next. And no-one ever guided that reading and I’m quite grateful for that.
You knew you wanted to be a writer from a young age, what advice would you give to people wanting to pursue a career as an author?
Only do it if you must. If you feel it’s like breathing. That you’ll die if you don’t do it. Because that’s the only way to get through the hard times. And there will be hard times.
Do you ever get the dreaded writers block? If so, what do you do to overcome it?
I plead the Scottish Play amendment on this one.
Your books are fictional, but do they still require a lot of research before you get to writing?
Of course! I do non-fiction research, emotional research (interviewing real people) and geographical research. For Survival Game this included: visiting the Tombs at Meroe in the Sudan (off the back of a marvellous Authors Abroad visit!); wading through a river dividing England from Scotland to see if you could cross the border that way (you can); and going alone into a massive graveyard in Glasgow at midnight to see what it felt like…
Does editing get easier with practice?
No. Not for me anyway. It was years before I did any at all… I know this is the wrong answer.
How do you feel when you see your work on stage or screen? Is it difficult if the director has interpreted certain aspects to how you visualised?
It’s thrilling. If you have a good relationship with the director, you can chat and explore and sometimes what s/he creates is more wonderful than what you originally imagined. Sometimes it happens the other way. I really minded when the director replaced Lancelot’s biking leathers (in the Glyndebourne staging of Knight Crew) with…. a white T-shirt. He didn’t look half so sexy then, but, fair play to the director, you could see the blood when he got stabbed…
Knight Crew is a retelling of the King Arthur legend. Do you have a favourite old tale/myth/legend?
I had a book of Greek myths as a child which I read obsessively. I couldn’t possibly choose just one. Each of the ancient tales has resonance. That’s why we still tell them today.
What are you currently working on?
The movie version of The Survival Game and a new novel. This is the first paragraph:
When you’re a child you think everything that happens to you is normal. That all other children experience what you do. I thought this when grandmother sat me on her knee and told me stories. I also thought it when Father stuck electrodes on my head; when he drilled my skull and plugged the hole with a piece of plastic. He could open and close my head like a sauce bottle.
Quick Fire
Sun or snow?
Sun
Would you prefer to be able to fly or be invisible?
Fly
Best children’s classic author – Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton or CS Lewis?
Hm. It’s fashionable to sneer at Enid Blyton now. But everything I learnt about pace, I learnt from her. I loved C S Lewis (and totally missed the religion) and although too old for Dahl as a child myself, adored reading him to my children – especially Danny The Champion of the World.
What’s scariest – a ghost or werewolf?
Neither. Werewolves are way too fictional and ghosts always interesting.
Favourite wild animal?
White tiger.
If you were Prime Minister for the day, what law would you introduce?
Give the arts – and especially creative writing – the same prominence and respect as science and maths in the school curriculum.
Arrange for Nicky Singer to visit your school
To make an enquiry about Nicky, or any of the other authors, poets & illustrators listed on this website, please get in touch. Our office number is +44 (0) 1535 656015,
UK visits
Email: UKbookings@caboodlebooks.co.uk
Or contact Head of UK Visits, Yvonne - 01535 279850
Overseas Visits
Email:Overseasvists@caboodleboverseasvisits@caboodlebooks.co.ukooks.co.uk
Or contact Overseas Manager, Robin - +44(0) 1535 279853