My experience on what it is like to write a book.

Here is a little something I wrote for an article...

When I first wrote my book I never imagined the sense of wonder I could invoke with my stories. It came home to me on the day that I was reading in my daughters classroom. The school had asked if I would share the story I had written with the class and to answer some questions they may have at the end.

As I read the book I could see their faces alight with delight, my words were not only making a connection but were actually electrifying them and filling them with joy. Such a feeling I had never imagined when I started to write. If I had any doubt that my stories would entertain then they were completely dispelled that day.

At the beginning I wrote purely to have a personal story from our imaginations to share with my children. I travelled a lot, and I do mean a lot. At one point I was flying about three hundred flights in one year and no I was not home a great deal. When I did manage to be home though we always read stories at bedtime. Books are a big part of our lives so I thought while I am away I will write one for us.

I chose my passion for fireworks as a good starting point and I wanted to make the story personal so my children became the characters. It was fast approaching Guy Fawkes night in the UK and I wanted my story ready to read to them. But how to make it magical and entertaining? Well dreams are always discussed in the house and allow for our imaginations to roam free; they seemed like a good medium in which to have the stories live.

The other characters in the book also came from our home and our lives. Elannah and I had made up simple stories together when she had been much younger and one of the characters from those stories was a fellow named Rodger the Badger so he was a natural choice to be their friend. Grumphspawn the Great Wizard is actually a troll statuette we have in the home that lives on top of the book cases. He was bought many years ago in Edinburgh and came originally from Norway. I named him Grumphspawn when I first bought him as it just seemed to be the right name.

Writing the books was again not done in the traditional way that I hear other authors do. Our stories were written whenever I had a suitable moment. In planes, in airports, in hotels around the world. Whenever the story needed to be written and I would find somewhere to sit, despite the crowds of people about me, that is where the book was first put together.

My English is actually not the best and I even failed my higher English exam at school but thankfully with modern computers and the fact that I have over the years had to write many reports, I am able to write on the computer as well as I can by hand. Word processors are such wonderfully tools to help us polish our stories and boy mine needed to be washed, then polished and then polished some more.

The best touch, and such an unusual one, was to have my daughter's pictures included in the book. Elannah has such a love of pictures, drawing, painting and she has an eye for it much better than I ever had. She must get that from Liz's side of the family. The pictures mean most to the younger readers of the book and I have had such wonderful comments from children who love and understand the pictures after they have heard or read the story.

Finally we made it to the other end and the story was ready for other people to experience. Overall the process was highly enjoyable, the story line creation, the sense of fun I was able to share but the polishing did take effort and persistence and proved to be well worth the effort. The ideas continue to evolve and Of Lights in the Night, Friends and Adventure is only the first of the collection of the Everlasting and Fantastical Adventures of Elannah and Sam. My hope is that the story fills the reader or listener's heart with smiles. Our wish is that all enjoy the collection enormously.

Sean Noonan

Author

'Of Lights in the Night, Friends and Adventure' first of 'The Everlasting and Fantastical Adventures of Elannah and Sam' collection.