Deb knew she wanted to be a writer when she was 7 years old. Her first story was about a man made out of cheese. It wasn’t very good.
She trained as a teacher, travelled overseas where she slept beside alligators, was harassed by monkeys, was almost traded for a camel and was thrown in jail at gunpoint, twice. Strangely, her first writing job was for a kids’ show on channel Ten called “Cheez TV”.
After 7 years of writing scripts about everything from llamas to bungy jumping and how to go to the toilet in outer space, Deb wrote her first novel – Max Remy Superspy Part 1: In Search of the Time and Space Machine.There are 10 books about Max and her best friend Linden who travel the world as secret agents fighting bad guys.
ABOUT NEW CITY
My ‘cranky’ novel, Grimsdon, was inspired by governments around the world not taking enough care of the planet…it focuses on a group of kids left behind in a flooded city with sea monsters, flying machines and sneaker waves.
The sequel, New City, takes the issue of a climate-changed world further by asking what happens when wild weather drives people from their homes? This time, there are ornithopters, ice tornados, rescue eagles and a brand new bad guy.
DEB’S WRITING TIPS
After reading my novel Grimsdon, kids kept writing to me asking, ‘what happens next?’ and I’d write back saying, ‘Nothing, that’s the end of the book.’ But then I asked myself, I wonder what would happen if the story went further and the kids did have another adventure?
That’s how New City and most of my stories begin, with that simple question,. ‘I wonder what would happen if…’ so here are my top 5 tips:
- Ask yourself ‘I wonder what would happen if….’
- Write about things that excite you and maybe even make you cranky
- Give yourself permission to write badly…it’s all practice for getting better
- Write every day
- Start now!
WHERE TO BUY NEW CITY
Here are a few places New City can be found:
About Dee White
