Wacky Facts AboutThe Backand Our Brain Page Teasers About Our Universe Our sun measures nearly 1,400,000 km across. Who first But this is not the biggest star. Some stars realized that called Supergiants can Earth travels i on D be as big as 400 m lli km across. around the Sun? That’s GIGANTIC! O T a h r e s e d e a a M e s r w k v o o a o n e p s n t l t h w a d a e in u re c h s s a ic t W l h y What is the l se w a e s study of . stars called? N I Ju o p is it ite on h r’s e as m of I a o L o t l on b is ea s ec un st – au us 16 se u . v a i al Did you know that How many olc ct t h WOW!!! a iv a Astronomers believe the no e s moons Have you checked out our new look es O o Universe is constantly does n it. expanding—growing Saturn bigger and bigger and have? websitewebsite— bigger all the time A ——it’s FAB! Click onit’s the FAB! Game Arcade for some serious fun. D MARCH www.rotorualibrary.govt.nz 2006 An Interview with JANEEN BRIAN What’s Around The Corner What’s the best thing about being a writer? Creating with words and, thereby, creating images in peoples’ minds. “I love the malleability of words” and to be able to create endlessly with them. I en- April School Holiday Programme joy working with and re-working words that were created thousands of years ago to create different stories. “The joy of words is more than what they cre- @ the Library ate…I love the taste, smell, sound, and sight of words”. When did you decide that you wanted to be a writer? ART CREATIONS What happened really, was that I bgan writing and kept writing – and being published. Now I consider myself a ‘wr-author’ – both a writer who works with words and an author who works with stories. I don’t recall making a con- Wearable and Recycled Art scious decision to become a ‘wr-author’. I never dreamed I would be. I start- ed writing at 30 and was very interested in looking at the other side of words Join us at the library to create your very own wearable art. Choose a design i.e. writing as opposed to reading. I was fortunate to be invited by an educa- that is uniquely Aotearoa and start thinking about how you can bring it together. tional publishing house to write a series of ‘Early Readers’ and my writing Or, if fashion isn’t your thing career has grown from there. Writing is very rewarding but you need determi- join us to make a model out of all your rubbish – create aircrafts, ships, nation and ‘stickability’. monsters, buildings—almost anything. Which ever project you choose start collecting materials now – keep those Do you write everyday and is there a pattern to your writing day? weetbix packets, marmite labels, magazine cut outs, egg cartons, plastic bags I write everyday except weekends, though I often write one afternoon a – anything that you might need to create the best ever outfit or model. weekend depending on the weather, my mood, deadlines and flow of work. Though time-out from writing allows for a fuller more balanced life I often feel PLUS the computer drawing me back to it. A typical ‘work’ day for me involves an STORY QUIZ early morning walk then, to warm up, I conduct a brief writing workshop to returns for 2006 . Suitable for children aged 9 to 12 years this quiz help prompt the flow of ideas. I usually work from around 8.30 am to about 4 will challenge your knowledge on that fabulous book or 5 pm with several breaks in between and tend to do the creative side of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe writing in the morning and then research in the afternoons. by C.S. Lewis. Plus, be warned, we will throw in some wacky questions about other children’s books. Do you write notes through out the day of things/ideas that you think you Meet the challenge—register you team now! might one day write about? I have notebooks in which I record thoughts, snippets of conversations and observations. These entries give me ideas and inspiration for stories, charac- Visit the library or our new look website for programme and registration details ters, events etc. Even the smallest thing observed can lead to a new story. I for both ‘Art Creations’ and the Story Quiz. keep all my notebooks so I can revisit them at any time. NEW ZEALAND POST BOOK AWARDS: When writing do you use a computer or long hand? Does this help you in the CHILDREN & YOUNG ADULTS writing process? 2006 I use both - moving from one to another – but this can change from day to For more information check out the article in this issue of DownLoad day. I tend to find that typed work appears more finished even though it may not be. Writing directly onto the computer somehow reduces the story/detail/ Interview with Brian Falkner exploration of the story line, of characters. Long-hand produces more gems, more ideas – they seem to flow easier. I transfer written drafts on to the com- Check out DownLoad next month for an interview with puter to sharpen them up. I use single line spacing at this stage as double Brain Falkner, our visiting author for the line spacing gives more of a sense of completion. 2006 New Zealand Post Book Awards. Challenge those brain cells and Do you listen to music while you write? If so what? CHECK OUT YOUR LIT SKILLS No. I work in complete silence though I do have a phone in my work room. I like a solitary quiet environment to work in. 1. How many gems does the Belt of Deltora have? You have accomplished a lot in your career and have been involved in thea- 2. Who wrote the classic Black Beauty? tre, you’ve travelled extensively and you were a primary school teacher for 20 years. Did any one of these influence your writing more than the others or 3. What comic book character features in the books by the author Hergé? do you find you draw on your experiences from all three sources? Sadly I have used less of my overseas experiences than I perhaps may 4. Treasure Island is a fabulours adventure story. Who wrote it? have. Except, that is, for my year here in New Zealand. I found that my time here has been very inspirational for my work and have used, and will use, 5. Name one other title by this author? many of my experiences in stories. I like to draw on local events and charac- ters and work with situations that may help to clarify life for my readers. The theatre group gave me the opportunity to write, particularly plays, and my 6. Can you name three New Zealand children’s authors and for each one teaching career has provided a myriad of observations of life being played can you name a book they have written? out. The school playground and the classroom gave me the opportunity to witness the dynamics of groups, of how people/children interact. This is inval- 7. What wonderful non-fiction series looking at history did Terry Deary uable to an author when developing characters and consequences of actions write? for a story. I developed empathy for children and an understanding of how important it is for children to believe in themselves. Again, this helps when 8. A super hero is created in a series of books by Dav Pilkey. What’s his writing for children as it assists in making characters more real, more believa- name? ble. 9. Which author was the overall winner in last year’s New Zealand Post One of your books, ‘Dog Star’ was based on the antics of your own dog Nell. Book Awards and what was the title of the book? Does a little bit of your own life and experiences settle in most of your work or do you usually write about things that you observe about other people? This is where my notebooks are invaluable. I use ideas from observing my 10. Can you name four books written by the Australian children’s author own family, people in general, witnessing events, seeing things on my walks Janeen Brian? and even from reading about something – my new book for young readers aged 11-14 titled Cross Currents was inspired by a newspaper article. I note Answers to January’s Quiz: down anything that has a potential for a story. 1. The Lillies of Life; 2. A wolf; 3. Frances Hodgson Burnett; 4.. The Trolls; 5.It protects from the terrors of the night; 6.A wolf; 7. Jenny Nimmo; 8. Her Do you re-write as you go or do you revisit your work at a certain point? Wand; 9. They had three legs; 10. New Zealand Post Book Awards: Children I find that reworking my writing too much to begin with can stall the writing & Teens; 11. David Hill; 12. The Belt of Deltora process. However, I do need to get a sense of voice and tone of the book before I can move on.