Steve Cole
In Aliens Stink! I've aimed to put the comic into cosmic! It's a sci-fi adventure about a boy called Tim who’s caught up in a mahoosive struggle to save the Earth from a way-out, outer-space plot. He’s helped and hindered by an alien called Little G, some brainy kids, a manic depressive soldier and a goldfish with hidden depths...
Why does children fiction appeal so much to you as a writer?
For me, it’s a chance to let my imagination run riot and have some real fun. I love telling stories with big, crazy ideas - and I love the way children will grab on to those ideas and ride them like wild horses into the sunset. Children make committed, intelligent and above all, honest readers – if you can get it right, they’re a terrific audience.
You write in a secret cottage, so tell us about your writing environment.
It’s a little place you can only get to up a footpath, currently hidden by great tangles of cow parsley. It’s lovely and quiet and crammed full of books – I keep all my file copies and foreign editions there. No TV, no internet, no phone. There’s a thinking room upstairs (i.e., a room with a chair beside a window overlooking a large horsechestnut tree). There’s a pool table in another room but because the place is so small you can only play on two sides of it, so as distractions go it is limited!
How have you juggled your career with family?
I’ve got two children – a 10-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl – and feel very lucky that the flexibility of my work allows me to spend extra time with them, especially at holidays. I miss everyone when I have to go away for a week or two at a time, on a book tour or for foreign festivals, but at the end of the day, it's a part of the job (and an important one - meeting young audiences keeps me fresh).
How much has your background as an editor helped you with your novel writing?
I tend to be open to editorial ideas – I self-edit lots throughout the writing and production process. I always feel it’s the author’s job to be clever and the editor’s job to be wise, so you can’t do both – a fresh pair of eyes and someone else’s red pen is in the book’s best interests! The other way it’s helped me is that I know how much time is really required for the various stages of production, so I know when someone's snowing me - which means I can sometimes bag myself extra time without compromising the true schedule!
How much do your children help you with ideas and editing of your books?
My son in particular is a great springboard for ideas. He likes me to read him my new books as I write them – which was a great incentive to get a chapter of Aliens Stink! written during the day so I could read it to him aloud at night. From his reactions, I can see what’s working and what needs a bit more attention, so it's instant feedback from the target audience - which is incredibly helpful. As for my daughter, who’s an emerging reader, she’s inspired me to write younger fiction with extra girl appeal, such as ‘Twit – the Owl Who Wasn’t Wise’ and ‘Monstar’.
How did you come to work with Jim Field?
When Simon & Schuster approached me to write some books, we agreed it would be good to have the same illustrator on board for all the titles. I was shown some samples from different illustrators, and was immediately taken by the depth, charm and technical skill in Jim’s illustrations. He’s terrific, and his art for Aliens Stink! is some of his best, I think.
Why is this the perfect book for reluctant readers?
Short chapters, big dramas and long laughs! It’s got action, aliens, starships and silliness, but it’s also a story about family and finding your place in the world – possibly, in an alien world!