On Wednesday 11th November Joe Craig the author of the Jimmy Coates books visited Churchfields School. He talked to all of Year 7 about how he writes his books and how he comes up with ideas for his stories.

He asked the audience for ideas that he could include in one of the Jimmy Coates stories. First he asked people for their ideas. Then he read a bit from one of his books. Then he took the ideas that we had given him and he told the story from where the story in the book stopped and included all of the ideas.

Some of the things he did were very funny, like when he pretended to be Cheryl Cole and walked in high heels, and when he tried to do a Michael Jackson voice.

At the end I asked him some questions. These are the answers he gave.

How long have you been writing for?
I started writing books in 2003

What age did you figure out that you liked writing books?
When I was about 23 years of age.

Have you always liked writing books?
No. I had never thought about it until I wrote one.

Were you the brainiest in the class?
Close, but it depended on the subject it was.

Do you always plan all of your books?
Yes, very carefully.

Would you put the gripping part at the start?
All the way through.

What kind of ending do you like?
An exciting twist.

It was a really good afternoon and now that I have met Joe Craig I want to read more of his books.

By Charlene O’Neill, Year 7, Churchfields School