The news is that Kingdom of Nerada book 1 ‘Sleepy’ is now an exciting, almost completed, compelling novel. A self-publisher, I have set myself a pre-Christmas deadline. Excitingly, my text is still evolving. The magic is quite demanding, so a few more details need are required to chisel out the complete picture and  ensure my fantasy fairytale texts absorb younger readers. The characters are now realiseable, visualiseable and intriguing  though a few more details are required to capture key elements of their attitudes and appearance. I am privileged to be a novelist, but writing quality novels is a  multi-layered process, one of the most challenging and creative processes  on earth. …

Writing fantasy is not only filled with fun, but fraught with danger because there are so many overlapping themes and images. Moreover, there are many coincidences. We take the focus and combination of  fantasy characters, original settings, and sink them into a fresh plot, and voila, a new fantasy novel emerges, but it is all a challenge. Take my Galaxy Trotters, written and produced over a twenty-five year period. I wrote it from 1987-1991, while on family leave from teaching English and Humanities in the Department of Education.  I successively revised my novel during the next few years, received countless rejections and finally published with Sid Hartha publisher. My novel…