'If you're writing a story, keep going and don't let anyone put you off no matter how long it takes you to finish,' Liz advises young writers. It could be comics, graphic novels, books on insects anything - just read as much as you can,' she implores. 'This sounds obvious but nothing sucks the joy out of reading more than being forced to read something you're not interested in. Liz has spoken about her, and her son's, experiences of dyslexia in the past and urges children to find books they enjoy in whatever form. Liz is clearly looking forward to unleashing tracks including Don't dip your biscuit in your tea too long. More music is in the pipeline for upcoming books including songs for character Tea Cup Tony, a former country and western singer who lives in Leafy Green Old Folks Home. Tom's always trying to have band practices that don't work out and they never seem to be able to play a whole gig as things always go wrong.'
'I've often used the music to help the plotlines along and I've given Mr Fingle (Derek's dad) a whole record collection that he's very protective about. 'All the DogZombies' songs are written with simple chords so kids can learn to play them too,' she adds.Īfter training in graphic design, Liz became an art director at Jive Records and she explains that music is integral to the storytelling in the Tom Gates books. When she asked husband - music producer Mark Flannery - to turn some of the lyrics into real songs her brief was to remember what is was like to be Tom's age and have fun. 'It also meant I got to write song lyrics and make up band names, which was really hard to do as so many of the names I thought of turned out to be real bands!'ġ3 books later - the 14th hits the shelves in May - the Tom Gates series, with its anarchic mix of fonts, illustration and humour has struck a chord, not just on the page.
#LIZ PICHON FULL#
'I knew I wanted them to be STUFFED full of lots of creative things like drawing, doodling and music, everything I used to love as a kid,' says Liz. When Liz Pichon started charting the adventures of 10-year-old schoolboy Tom, his family and of course his band the DogZombies in 2011, it was from a desire to create something she would have loved to read at that age, as if from the pages of a child's own exercise book.
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