A message to my readers…
Hi! I love stories, don’t you? They can take us to places we never imagined and introduce us to characters we wish could be our friends for real. They can lift us up out of our boring, everyday lives and take us on exciting journeys of full of drama and adventure.
Yes… I love to read stories, but I also love to write them. Not everybody goes through their lives with so many stories inside them, waiting to get out, but for those of us who do… once you start writing, it’s hard to stop!
Of course, there are lots of people out there who would love to be writers, but when you’re starting out as a new writer it’s hard to get noticed by the big publishers who print books and get them out onto bookstore shelves… which is why I’ve decided to have a go at publishing a book on my own. If you’ve got far enough to read this, then you’ve already taken an interest, so thank you!
Publishing children’s books also seems to come with certain rules. I’m told the books I write may be a bit longer than most books that are written for children aged 9 to 11. But… you know what? The Lights at Beacon Hill has almost the same number of words as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and I bet you’ve read that! If you’re a keen reader like I was at that age, you’re not going to let a few extra chapters put you off.
David, the star of The Lights of Beacon Hill, has been with me for a long time. His look dates back to a dream I remember having when I was at primary school, in which I had changed from a quiet, solitary kid to a confident, outgoing kid with strange blue hair. I’ve remembered how that felt ever since!
I had my first go at writing David’s story when I was barely a grownup myself, but I ground to a halt very quickly as I didn’t know what I was doing or where I was going with it. Twenty years later, I had another go, only this time I planned the story from start to finish, and The Lights at Beacon Hill is the result. I’m really happy to let David, my first child, loose into the world at last!
What the book says…
Michael Wilberforce is an English author who likes to tell proper stories for young people full of real drama and exciting adventure.
As a child Michael was an enthusiastic reader and enjoyed reading challenging books that were fun and frightening in equal measure. He has written stories on and off ever since, and hopes to share his love of words and stories with a wider audience for the first time with The Lights at Beacon Hill, his first published title.
The Lights at Beacon Hill is also the first in what might become a trilogy of stories collectively known as David’s Gift.
Michael lives in Bristol, England with his son, in a home chock full of books, DVDs and audio dramas.
Michael Wilberforce - Author 