Liz Kessler
Children's author

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Section: My Books

Philippa Fisher's Fairy Godsister

Once I'd written three Emily Windsnap books, I felt it was time for a change. I wasn't sure what to write next, and spent quite a few months umming and ahhing as I tried to decide. Then I remembered something that had happened to me when I was about eight years old. It was to do with finding a daisy which I was sure was going to turn into a fairy. The idea grew and grew in my mind, until I ended up with Philippa Fisher's Fairy Godsister!

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The Tail of Emily Windsnap

My first book actually started out as a poem. One day, I was sitting at home staring into space (a very important part of any writer's life) and a couple of lines came into my head, which I quickly scribbled down…

Mary Penelope lived on a boat,
Which was all very well, but it didn't quite float…

I worked on the poem for a few weeks and sent it to a good friend and very special writing-buddy, Lee Weatherly, who liked it very much. She sent it to her editor, David Fickling, and he suggested I try turning it into a novel instead of a poem. So I thought about it, scratched my head, went 'hmmm' for a bit…and then got to work! And that's how The Tail of Emily Windsnap came about!

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Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep

I knew I wanted the second book to be set in the Bermuda Triangle. I started working on the story soon after I'd finished the first book, but I knew there was a big part of the story missing. I just didn't know what it was. Till I took a trip to Spain.

On the flight, there was a programme about an adventure park in Florida called Sea World. There was an enormous rollercoaster ride, full of twists and turns made up of a sea monster's tentacles. The ride was called The Kraken. As soon as I saw the video, I knew I'd found the final piece of the puzzle. All I needed to do then was take a trip to Bermuda and write the book!

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Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist

After these two books, I was going to write something different, but I realised I hadn't quite finished with Emily yet. A friend told me about a place in Cornwall called St Michael's Mount where there was a very magical castle on a small island that was cut off from the mainland for most of the day and night. I was intrigued.

I packed my bags and off I went to Cornwall. After three weeks of exploring the castle, the island, the beaches and the coastline (and doing plenty of the staring into space thing) I started putting together my ideas for the third Emily Windsnap book. This one took a few rewrites and ended up completely different from how it started. But finally all the people who mattered (my editor, my agent, my writing-buddies, oh and me!) were happy with it. Yay!

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