Alex Milway - Official Website
Children's author, illustrator, screenwriter
Over the coming few months I’m finishing off the 4th yeti book, and that means, you guessed it, I’m about to start something else. There are lots of projects I’d like to attempt, including umpteen potentially exciting stories sitting in my ideas folder, but today I feel a bit like this about all of them.
And while I’m here, there really is nothing like getting out a paintbrush and going crazy on a huge sheet of A1 paper with paint/ink.
It takes a long while to work out how to animate a character, especially when they only have feet. Legs, I’ve realised, are very useful. Any way, here’s a very quick and very poor stab at making Harold run. Let’s just say that it needs work…
In trying to make sure I achieved something today, I animated Harold drinking tea.
I have no idea who Nigel was, but he was a real knight who lived in Chalgrave during the 13th Century.
I bet he was a bit of a dude.
Last week I took part in the fabulous Pop-up Children’s Book Festival, which is running loads of school events plus a festival weekend in London on the 9-10th July. Just have a look at that line-up!
I was lucky enough to get to run my event at the British Library. I don’t spend enough time there, and for anyone who’s never been, you’ll be blown away by things such as Jane Austen’s writing desk, the Magna Carta and Captain Scott’s notebook (I was almost in tears reading the “I may be some time” entry).
There’s also a smart Sci-fi literature exhibition running at the minute, which my event was twinned with. It’s mostly made up of a selection of books and covers and, annoyingly, everything is behind glass. It’s like being led into a sweet shop and not being allowed to touch the sweets, let alone eat them! But that’s by the by. It’s simply great to have a timeline of sci-fi in book form.
If there’s one thing that makes it imperative that you visit, it’s the typed first page of the Day of the Triffids. I love seeing the workings of a writer, and this is brilliantly revealing, as it’s missing its most amazing first line:
When a day you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.
I’m not sure if that line can ever be beaten.
And so, without further ado here’s a picture of Harold the Hamster. This time he’s dressed as Miss Marple.
I was wondering what to do as a video to celebrate the new Mythical 9th Division book, and settled on a bit of reading. So here it goes: sit back, check out my living room doors, and hear me read the first chapter of the Magma Conspiracy.
I’ve been watching Game of Thrones, and loving every minute. I’ve loved it so much that I’ve started drawing Harold the Hamster as characters from the story.
In this one he is dressed as the wonderful Tyrion Lannister!
It’s quite exciting to find someone such as Julia Donaldson being picked as the new Children’s Laureate. Obviously she’s massive in the book publishing world, and her name alone will get column inches, but more importantly for me is that she makes a big deal of events.
Events form such an important part of being a children’s author. Not only do they help us authors pay for the weekly shop, but they really are the key to getting children excited about books. Give a child a book, and they may read it. Give a child a book of an author they’ve just met at a great event, and they’ll love it and probably read it three times. It’s a surefire way to unlock the reader in a child.
So it’s exciting news! Yes.