A few days ago (or maybe even yesterday, I have no track of anything) we saw the real Helen Moss! It was really exciting. She was really nice. We saw Grace, Eve, Annie and Nicole. Tilly went too, and so did another Grace! We brought a notebook and a pen each, and then we listened to Helen talking about being an author after quickly dropping William off at school. She introduced us to herself, and then she got to know us a bit more by asking what our names and favourite books were. Gracie (I’ll call her, as in this one with Eve and Annie, Gracie, and the other Grace) immediately said, “Adventure Island!” before anyone else could guess anything. Most of the answers were indeed Adventure Island, or the Famous Five. Then we listened about Helen and how she works and gets published and how you should always have a notebook lying on your bedside table in case you get an idea at three in the morning! She said there’s nothing worse than lying awake trying to remember a plot until eight!
This workshop was about Helen teaching us how to write mystery stories. We jotted down some notes on the characters and scenes and plots, etc., and then we asked and answered some questions. Grace (remember, not Gracie) asked a lot about who was based on who, so we found out lots about the people in the Adventure Island series, and, of course, I couldn’t forget to ask who Drift was based on.
“Helen, do you mind if I ask who Drift was based on?”
“Of course not! In fact, this is quite a troublesome question, as my editors said that I should have three children and maybe a dog. Hearing this, one of my publishers said, “If I had a dog, I would name it Drift.” She was more of a ‘catty’ person at the time, so I think she must have planned what to call a dog for quite some amount of time! But anyway, I thought that Drift was a lovely name for a dog, so there you go.”
When we got home, I immediately started to begin my mystery story. I’m really excited about next week!