Arts Heroine

 

                                                            

                                                          Inspiration in the literary world.

                                                              Dame Jacqueline Wilson

I had the pleasure of watching a talk with this wonderful women last year at the Oxford Playhouse. I found out on Twitter that she was giving a talk and promoting one of her new books and after growing up reading her stories, I just had to technically meet her. It's a bit surreal seeing a celebrity in the flesh, and I hate the fact that certain people are put on another standing than others, but that's the industry. The first book of hers I probably started with was obviously and unsurprisingly the Tracy Beaker series. I loved the way she wrote, she understood her characters and their child like mind set and she intertwines real life struggle and hardships very well. She gives children the knowledge that growing up can be very hard, that there are family struggles, poverty, issue with mental illness, bullying and so on, but growing up can be a lot of fun too.

 

 I remember reading this book, about two best friends. One accidently gets hit by a car and dies. I think this book is very inspirational to young children who go through the loss of a friend, it tells them that its normal to experience grief, it explores how children grab on to the trauma and guilt of losing someone, and that letting that go is ok, it doesn't mean you have to say goodbye and forget.

Midnight is another influential book that I loved reading. And even though it was published in 2003 it still touches on relevant issues today. This book explores obsession, and in this case of the  'fantasy author/illustrator Casper Dream', in Wilson's book that one of the main characters has. It explores how sometimes you can forget about the people who are really there for you, the people who acknowledge you, and how you can put energy into obsessing over someone who will never be there. This book also  explores issue about adoption and helps children to communicate with their parents if they were going through a similar issue.

 

  The Illustrated Mum, is the last I will talk about. When reading this book, it felt so strong at the time, you could really feel for the character's, their frustrations, their hardships. This book explores metal illness and addiction. I like how its called 'The Illustrated Mum' because its a metaphor for how what's going on outside may not reflect what is truly going on inside.  This was a very good book in helping to explain issues such as addiction, dyslexia, foster care and bipolar disorder.

 

 

WHY DOES SHE INSPIRE ME?!?

 

This remarkable women has sold over 30million copies of her books. She is a well known, loved and established author with a whole host of awards. She has a garage full of stacks even taller than her of versions of her books in different languages, she's a mother and most importantly she is human. She inspires me because like me she was just a girl, and then she had ideas and then her creativity and drive propelled her forward. When asked, "What advice would you give to a future writer" at her talk she answered, "Just write. Simple, 200 words a day... I sit down for 10 minutes a day and jot down things on the mind.. plots, characters."

 

So there, one of my inspirations is this lady because I could only dream of getting an ounce of success and recognition she has. She has incredible love for her characters, she talked and talked about her characters on stage and she knows them inside out and upside down, and I would love to achieve that one day.