Julie Fison
J.E. (Julie) Fison is the author of the new children’s adventure series Hazard River. The books follow the adventures of Jack Wilde, his brother Ben, and their friends Mimi and Lachlan, who come up against smugglers, nasty fishermen, rogue developers and all kinds of baddies, while holidaying at Hazard River. The stories were inspired by a family holiday on the Noosa River. Julie’s sons spent the summer exploring sand banks, dodging stingrays and avoiding snakes. She had to write about it.
Before becoming a children’s author, Julie worked as a television reporter and presenter. She travelled the world, interviewing heads of state some weeks and getting to know the wildlife at other times. She has shaken hands with an orangutan in Borneo, camped with elephants in Africa and has eaten rat soup, which apparently tastes as bad as it sounds. She now lives in Brisbane with her husband and two sons and spends as much time as possible on the Noosa River.
The Hazard River series is published by Ford Street Publishing. Front covers are done by Deltora Quest illustrator, Marc McBride.
Julie’s Ten Tips for Writing
1. Keep a journal for snippets of conversation, story ideas, newspaper clippings, bus tickets – anything that might be useful in a story.
2. Make a plan for your story. Where will it be set and who will be involved and roughly what will happen.
3. Create a back story. This is the background to your story – what went on before the story started. This information doesn’t all go in your story but helps you to work out why your characters act the way they do.
4. Start your story with a problem. Give your audience an exciting start to your story. But remember it has to build to a climax, so don’t throw everything at them in the first paragraph.
5. Add obstacles and build to a climax and resolution. Make sure if you want a happy ending that your characters have the ability to overcome the obstacles.
6. Use detail to add excitementby using all of your senses when you write. What do your characters see, hear, smell, touch, taste and how do they feel about what is going on.
7. Use dialogue to add interest to your story. Dialogue is also useful as a transition – to join parts of your story together.
8. Edit your story. Read over the story, asking yourself if you have answered the questions – how, when, where, why, how?
9. Remove anything that doesn’t add to your story. When in doubt leave it out.
10. Rewrite any parts of your story that need to be improved. You can add dialogue and detail to make it more exciting. You may need to do several rewrites to get it right. I do!
For more visit Julie’s website: www.hazardriver.com
Watch the book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZP4wqrSQSk
Check out her blog for young writers WRITE NOW: www.juliefisonwriter.wordpress.com.au
Book Julie for a school or festival visit at Speakers Ink: http://speakers-ink.com.au/index.php/julie-je-fison.html
