Here is my interview with Cressida Cowell

Name Cressida Cowell

Are there any children’s books that made a big impression on you when you were a child?

I read a wide variety of books: domestic books like Noel Streatfeild and Enid Blyton, but my particular preference was for fantasy like Diana Wynne Jones; Ursula Le Guin; Tolkien and Lloyd Alexander.

My favourite book as a child was ‘The Ogre Downstairs’ by Diana Wynne Jones. I loved this book so much that I read it to my younger brother and sister, to my little cousins – to anyone who would listen! It has a wicked stepfather, and chemicals that make you fly, and turn you invisible, and bring your toys to life. My children loved it as much as I did thirty eight years ago.

How did you become an author? What was your first book?

I have been writing stories since I was about eight or nine years old. But I was about 30 when I had my first book published: it was called’ Little Bo Peep’s Library Book’, and it was a picture book.

What inspires you? How do you decide what to write about?

The ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ books were inspired by the summers I spent as a child on a tiny, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland. The island had no roads, houses or electricity, and I used to imagine that there were dragons living in the caves in the cliffs. By the time I was eight, my family had built a small stone house on the island and from then on, every year we spent four weeks of the summer and two weeks of the spring on the island. The house was lit by candle-light, and there was no telephone or television, so I spent a lot of time drawing and writing stories. In the evening, my father told us tales of the Vikings who invaded this island Archipelago twelve hundred years before, of the quarrelsome Tribes who fought and tricked each other, and of the legends of dragons who were supposed to live in the caves in the cliffs.

A lot of the characters are inspired by real people in my life. For instance, my own daughters gave me the idea for Camicazi. They’re not as good at sword-fighting as Camicazi, but they’re every bit as chatty.

Can you talk a bit about how How to Train Your Dragon was made into a film?

Dreamworks Animation approached my agent and it was very much out of the blue and a surprise. The book was published in America but it was a British book so I wasn’t really expecting any film interest. I had a bit of movie and television interest, which I had turned down, but, particularly if you’re writing something, and if it’s based on something that’s very close to your heart like these books were, it isn’t completely easy to have it optioned. It needed to be something rather special to make it worth the risk and I thought they were very interesting, so I took that risk.

I wouldn’t have had it optioned at all if I hadn’t gone into it feeling that film was a very different medium and this was going to be there thing. They kept in touch with me all along, but I needed to feel that this was going to be their thing, otherwise it would’ve been too difficult for me. That was the spirit with which I went into it.

What did you think of How To Train Your Dragon 2, the second film in the series?

I’ve been extraordinarily lucky to have the same team at DreamWorks making the entire trilogy of movies, and Dean DeBlois (the screenwriter/director) and Bonnie Arnold (the producer) took four years to make the sequel, so that they could be absolutely sure that it was as good as the original. The entire cast and crew are back for all three films as well, which makes a huge difference.

The new movie is absolutely stunning, with, quite literally, the best animation I have ever seen. It’s had such a fantastic reception, and deservedly – the movie team have done a really brilliant job.

Like the first film, it is not only spectacular, but also funny and touching and moving. I would advise everyone to go see this film in the cinema if you can, don’t wait for the DVD, it’s one of those films that really is worth experiencing on the big screen.

What was the inspiration to create the hero Hiccup and the other boys?

I wanted to write a story about a boy who was finding it hard to ‘fit in’ with his peers and to live up to his father. Hiccup is eleven years old at the start of the book. I think that is a very interesting age, when a child is beginning to leave childhood behind and enter adolescence. At that age in particular children begin to wonder what kind of adult they are going to be. Hiccup is very different from his father, and that is difficult for him. Children very often think that they ‘ought’ to be like their parents, and it can take time for them to realise that it is okay to be themselves, to find their own way of doing things.

Hiccup’s father is the Chief of this very macho, bullish Tribe called the Hairy Hooligans, and Hiccup is supposed to inherit the Chiefdom one day when his father dies. This adds an extra layer of pressure on poor old Hiccup who isn’t shaping up to be the kind of violent bully-boy that the Hooligans admire, like his cousin Snotlout.

The other boys look down on Hiccup as ‘weak’, but in fact Hiccup is quite the opposite, he is very strong in resisting the pressure to conform and be the kind of Hooligan both his father and his Tribe want him to be.

I suppose I was inspired to create these characters and write this story because I think that these are very common pressures that children face day-to-day. I have exaggerated the situation for Hiccup, and put him back in fantastical Viking times, but the problems are the same. I get lots of letters from children saying how much they identify with Hiccup.

Why do you like to write for young people?

I love being able to reach kids that wouldn’t ordinarily pick up a book to read.

Are any of the characters in the Hiccup books like YOU?

I identify with Hiccup a lot, because I think he is in a really difficult situation, trying to live up to a parent, (Stoick), who is very different from him. However, Hiccup is a diffident person who doesn’t put himself forward as Mr Important, but in fact he is full of clever ideas and very calm in a crisis. (He would actually make a great Leader of the Tribe one day if those stupid Hooligans would only recognize how lucky they were to have him as the Heir.)

I, on the other hand, am a bit of a show-off and in a crisis situation I tend to panic and run around in circles.

Who are your favourite authors?

Ooo dear, I’m terrible at favourites; there are just too many wonderful writers to choose from. I love David Almond, Lauren Child, Louis Sachar, Eva Ibbotson, Michelle Paver, and so many, many more.

How long does it take you to write a book?

About a year including illustrations!

What is your preferred genre of writing and do you write across any other genres?

All writing is difficult, as well as exciting. I like writing comedy, but making sure that the comedy does not overtake the book can be challenging – I want the books to be moving and thought-provoking as well as funny. Finding the balance is tricky.

It was very satisfying to write ‘How to Steal a Dragon’s Sword’ because in this book, the reader suddenly realises that things that seemed to happen accidentally in earlier books have a significance that was not clear at the time. This is a very ‘Hiccup-y’ idea. It’s also very true to life – often we don’t realise what journey or ‘Quest’ we are on, exactly, until we are half way there already.

How old were you when you realised you wanted to be a writer?

I was about eight or nine. When I was a child my handwriting was terrible, my spelling was incomprehensible but I loved writing stories… Aged nine I entered a writing competition which, to my amazement, crowned me the winner! It gave me the confidence to think, ‘I could be a writer one day’.

How can we inspire more of our children to love writing?

Well, to start with, inspire them to start from a young age and encourage them to keep going throughout their childhood and make them appreciate that writing is important for their adult lives. I don’t mean just writing stories but writing anything at all! It doesn’t matter if they don’t finish writing the stories, as long as they’re practising their own stories as much as they possibly can and creating something unique.

Ask them to make up stories about people they know. Some children may struggle to come up with characters’ names and personalities so to resolve this encourage them to write about their favourite characters from TV or film – or perhaps one of their friends or family.

Reading books to a child is a great way of sparking their imagination, even to an older child. Once children learn to read, you could be tempted to let them get on with it, but if you read a book with a child, you’re enjoying the book with them. You’re sending a message that books are important, reading is important, and therefore writing is important.

Of course grammar is essential later in life, but I can’t emphasise enough that grammar can’t and shouldn’t prevent creativity. Quite simply, if a child starts their creative writing by thinking they have to be perfect, they won’t express themselves in the way they want to.

Enter competitions. I am a testament to the positive impact they can have on a child’s confidence so when you see any writing competitions, encourage them to enter! You never know that competitive element might bring out the best in them!

How did you go about becoming a writer and was it difficult getting your first novel published?

I read English at university, and I took an M.A. in Narrative Illustration at Brighton. I won a ‘Highly Commended’ in a competition for students called the ‘Macmillan Children’s Book Competition’, and at the awards ceremony I met an editor who published my first picture book the year after I left the M.A. So I was very lucky.

What advice would you give kids who would like to become writers?

My top writing tip would be to read lots, to give you a feel for the way different stories can be told. Also practice writing as much as you can – write, and re-write – don’t worry if you don’t finish a story, as long as you are practising, that’s what matters.

What advice would you offer to parents who want to encourage their kids to read more or love books?

Reading a book with a child, even an older child, is the most important thing you can do for improving literacy and communication skills: books read to a child in their parent’s voice will live with them forever. Sharing a book with your child, whatever their age, communicates how important books are. I read aloud with my children, even now they’re older, both picture books and older books, and we also listen to audio books in the car. I take them to libraries, bookshops and second-hand bookshops – libraries and second-hand bookshops are particularly good for children experimenting and trying books that they might not have expected to like… I think it’s also vitally important for children to see their parents reading so they know that it’s a lifelong enjoyment.

Do you ever get writer’s block, if so, how do you overcome it?

I have to admit, I haven’t had writer’s block yet.

Your illustrations are amazing! How did you develop the How To Train Your Dragon style because your other stories illustrations are quite different.

Well, some of my picture books have been illustrated by other people, so maybe that accounts for the confusion! I went to art school after university, and I developed my style on the Illustration course at St Martin’s and Brighton.

If you could be transported into Hiccup’s world for a day, how would you spend it?

I would spend it on the back of the Windwalker, chatting to Toothless as we flew above the Archipelago. One of my childhood dreams was to be able to fly on the back of a dragon.

If you could be someone famous from history, who would you be and why?

I would love to be William Shakespeare, not only because he wrote those wonderful plays, but also because he wrote them as an actor, performing in the excitement and hurly-burly of Elizabethan London.

Were you encouraged to start writing by anyone in particular when you were young?

Yes, I had two teachers who were very encouraging. In year 3, Miss Mellows gave me loads and loads of blank exercise books and she let me write stories in them, even in maths lessons. Miss Macdonald was my history teacher when I was 12, and she set wonderful homeworks, such as ‘Write a story about a child living in a village on the west coast of Scotland, who sees a Viking sail on the horizon…’

What job would you like to have if you weren’t a writer?

Teacher; anthropologist; stand-up comedian.

What do you like about being a writer and what do you hate about it?

There are so many things that are wonderful about being a writer – the pure pleasure of making things up, the glorious moment when you write something that you feel is poetic or moving or makes you cry, meeting children and parents who read the books together, and tell you that the books have meant something special to them…

I hate it when I get to the point in the process of writing a book when I have written reams and reams of words but the book hasn’t ‘come together’. That is like being lost in a very tangled, dark wood with no obvious hope of rescue, and it can be a very bad moment indeed

What would your school reports have said about you?

They said that I day-dreamed a lot and that I was very disorganised. Here is an extract from one of my school reports, written by one of my teachers when I was 16: ‘To follow up one of Mr. Byrom’s points, there was at least one examination for which she had very little idea of the exact time until shortly before the examination was due to begin.’

What is the first book you remember reading?

Green Eggs and Ham by Doctor Seuss

What are you currently reading?

Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe

How do you decide on what book to read?

I browse in bookshops, ask advice from the bookshop staff, I read the books columns in newspapers, take advice from friends

One book you regret having read

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was too violent for me.

Who is your favourite author?

Harper Lee, who wrote ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.

If you could ask him/her one question what would it be?

How could you resist writing another novel?

Three newly published books you would recommend?

Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe (a lovely portrait of a very particular part of north London in the 1980s)

Wonder by R J Palaccio (I loved reading this with my ten year old son)

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (I think this one was published last year but I have been recommending it ever since, a wonderful novel)

What is your absolute favourite non fiction book of all time ? And why?

‘1599’ by William Shapiro. It is rare to find a new perspective on such well-travelled territory as the life of Shakespeare, but by concentrating on the single year of 1599, with exquisite attention to detail, William Shapiro brings that long-dead world vividly to life.

What is more important to you in a book, the writing the plot or the conclusion?

This is an impossible question – all of these things are so important you cannot separate one from another. I want the writing to be poetic and moving, I want the plot to surprise and enchant me, and I want the conclusion to be satisfying and yet somehow unexpected.

If you do re-read books what book have you re-read more than others?

Middlemarch by George Eliot. I re-read this at least once every decade, and it is like returning to a conversation with a witty, wise, and comfortable friend.

Is there a particular genre you opt to read? Is there an author who in your opinion defines this genre

No, I read all genres – thrillers, romance, history, biography, poetry, I am pretty eclectic in my reading.

As a literary enthusiast what have you gained from the books you have read?

Books are like opening doors into other worlds, and reading fiction is the finest way of encouraging empathy in a child. When you watch a movie or television, all the action happens ‘up there’, on the screen. But in a book, it is happening inside your head. In a lovely quote from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’: ‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb in his skin and walk around in it’. Books are a unique medium that allow you to do this, to walk around in somebody else’s skin.

In your opinion the best movie adaptation of a book is?

Well, I love the movie adaptation of my own book, ‘How to Train Your Dragon’…

I guess I’d have to say that ‘Gone with the Wind’ is pretty unbeatable as a movie adaptation.

A character in a book you would like to bring back to life and why?

I love wise, gentle characters, so Atticus from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, or the Warden, from Anthony Trollope’s the Warden. I’d bring them back to life because I’d like to ask their advice.

A book or a series that you would love to be adapted into a movie or TV show?

A memorable book from your childhod?

My favourite book when I was a child was called ‘The Ogre Downstairs’, by Diana Wynne Jones. This was the book that made me love ALL books, and want to become a writer one day myself. It was funny and magical, and it contained a wicked stepfather, and a magic chemistry set, with chemicals that could make you fly, or bring your toys to life.

How would you encourage the younger generation to read?

I encourage my children to read by reading books aloud to them myself, even way beyond the age when they can read themselves. Books that are read to you in your parent’s voice live with you all your life.

Cressida Cowell – Quick Facts

Biography

Cressida was born on 15th April 1966 in London.

She still lives in London. She is married to Simon Cowell (not THAT Simon Cowell), and she has three children, Maisie (14), Clemmie (12) and Alexander (9).

She studied at Oxford University, (English), and St Martin’s and Brighton University (Illustration).

Books & Ideas

Cressida has been writing books since she was 9 years old, but the first book she had published was in 1999, when she was 33. It was called’ Little Bo Peep’s Library Book’, and it was a picture book.

Cressida illustrates the Hiccup books herself, but she also writes picture books that other people illustrate. She has had 18 books published, 8 Hiccup fiction titles, and ten picture books, including the Emily Brown books, illustrated by Neal Layton.

She is currently writing the ninth Hiccup book, How to Steal a Dragon’s Sword. There will be ten books in the series.

She got the idea for the Hiccup books from childhood holidays spent off the west coast of Scotland.

She doesn’t quite how she thinks of the funny names for the characters. She tries to make the names sound like the character of the person they are describing, so a rather unpleasant, stupid person will be called ‘Dogsbreath the Duhbrain’, for example. The Vikings really did have very descriptive names, such as King Magnus Barelegs, Olav the Stout, Eric the Red.

Films & Awards

The film of How to Train Your Dragon came out in 2010; the next one is coming out in 2014.

Cressida won the Nestle Children’s book award in 2006 and the How to Train Your Dragon film has been nominated for the 2011 BAFTAs and the Oscars.

Likes & Dislikes

Cressida likes: dragons, books, movies, plays, musicals, boats, the sea in general, chocolate, drawing.

Cressida dislikes: spiders, limpets (for eating – trust me, not nice),

Odd Facts

Cressida’s best friend at school was Lauren Child, who wrote the Charlie and Lola and Clarice Bean books.