Successful author's advice to students

Aspiring authors at Dover Grammar School for Girls have beenencouraged to put pen to paper by writer Helen Bailey.

Mrs Bailey, creator of the Daisy Davenport and Electra Brown bookseries, spoke to pupils in Year 7 and Year 10 about herinspirations and how to get started as a writer.

The author of more than 20 children's books, who lives in Londonwith husband John and their dachshund Boris, also read extracts fromher books and diaries and talked about how as a teenager inNewcastle she invested her pocket money in a copy of The Writers'and Artists' Yearbook.

Talking of her early years as a writer, she said: "When I startedwriting professionally, I spent hours surfing the internet studyingHow To Be A Writer websites. This was a big mistake for two reasons.

"Firstly, some of the advice made me feel dumb. I thought iambicpentameter was a folk group, polysyndenton a girl's name and hadn'ta clue about subordinating conjunctions.

"Secondly, because I spent so much time surfing the web, I didn'tactually get down to writing even though I had looming deadlines, sothen I felt dumb and panicky.

"I've learned that, in the end, it's all about plonking your button a chair, writing about a subject or character you care about, andkeeping your butt glued to that chair until you've finished thestory, the chapter or the book."

Mrs Bailey told students to have confidence in their ownabilities to write and become published authors.

School librarian Helen Warner, who organised the visit, said: "Werun a creative writing group and a lot of children at the sessionwere from that.

"These visits encourage the children to read more widely andmakes them want to try something they have not read before.

"Helen really did make them feel that they could be authors aslong as they believed in themselves.

"She also gave them tips, including exam tips, which was reallygood.

"Reading is not necessarily top of the list for teenagers, buthaving authors come in promotes it - so we have a good culture ofreading in school."

Mrs Bailey took part in a book-signing and during an afternoonwriting workshop showed students how to use mind maps to developcharacters and plots for their stories.