Continuing our TPP Book Club interviews, this month we caught up with Sheena Wilkinson, author of this month’s Book of the Month, True Friends at Fernside.
TPP: What do you think is so special about school stories?
SW: At school, people are forced to live and work together and must learn to tolerate each other and become friends. Everyone can relate to that.
TPP: When writing Fernside, were you inspired by your own school days?
SW: I went to a girls’ school in south Belfast, but it wasn’t at all like Fernside! I was certainly inspired by memories of some of the funny things we did in and out of the classroom.
TPP: Who is your favourite Fernside girl?
SW: That’s impossible to say! I enjoy having two central characters, because when I get fed up with Linnet’s intensity, Robin’s head can be a more down-to-earth place to escape to! But sometimes characters surprise me. Evangeline was intended as a slightly joke character but in the second book I became really fond of her.
TPP: Why did you decide to set the Fernside series in the 1920s?
SW: Secondary education was still new for girls. Many professions had recently opened up for women, so it was an exciting time to explore girls’ newfound ambitions – like Fran becoming a vet, and Linnet wanting to study science.
TPP: Have you always been an author?
SW: I’ve been writing stories since I was about eight, but my first book was published in 2010.
TPP: What advice would you give aspiring authors?
SW: Easy! Read all you can; write all you can and be curious about the world and people around you. There are stories EVERYWHERE.
TPP: Who inspires you as a writer?
SW: I’m inspired by the world around me: by the books I read, the people I meet, little stories I overhear, facts about people in the past – they kind of go into a big stew inside my head, and sometimes that gets cooked into a story. I also love looking at old buildings and imagining the lives of the people who might have lived there in the past. I suppose that’s why I mostly write historical fiction.
TPP: What were your favourite subjects at school?
SW: Well, like many writers I loved English, History and languages best, and I also loved art. Writing stories was my very favourite thing at school and it still is. I wasn’t very good at maths and science, but I’m afraid I was the sort of child who tried hard when I liked something and didn’t bother so much if I didn’t, so although I did well at school I was by no means an ‘all-rounder’. And I often got into trouble for chatting too much.
TPP: Do you have a favourite book of all time?
SW: I have many, many beloved books so I couldn’t pick one, but a few of my all-time favourites from my childhood are, Ballet Shoes – and pretty much everything else – by Noel Streatfeild; When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr; the Chalet School series by Elinor Brent-Dyer, the Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton, and – a favourite of my granny and my mum too – Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott.
TPP: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
SW: I love reading, and going for long walks in the countryside with my two dogs, Daisy and Stroller. When I’m walking I’m often thinking up new stories or listening to audiobooks. I also love music and I sing a lot, and yes, my favourite songs are the ones that tell stories. I also love baking, and when I have book launches, which are like birthday parties for books, I always bake buns and biscuits to match the book.
TPP: If you weren’t an author, what would you like to be?
SW: I used to be a teacher, but actually if I weren’t an author I think I would like to work somewhere like a museum, working with things from the past and helping people to understand them.
TPP: What is the best bit about being a writer? SW: The stories! Always the stories! And connecting with readers. Sometimes I get lovely messages from readers – grown-ups and children – who have enjoyed my books, and it still feels amazing to me that I can make up stories in my head which have become as real to people I don’t know and will never meet as my favourite books did to me when I was young. That is so special.
