Phillip Pullman Night

Hi Guys

Almost forgot to mention last Thursday 5th July 2012 myself and fellow CWG (Cleckheaton Writers Group), Dawn travelled all the way to Manchester University to see a talk by Phillip Pullman - the Young Adult Author most famous for His Dark Materials Trilogy. 
A film of the first book was made into The Golden Compass but wasn't well received by fans and critics.

My impression of Phillip was a good one.  He was clever, witty with a very dry sense of humour and kept the crowd captivated by his answers to questions and his stories.
I don't know why but was surprised to see so many children in the audience.

I also have to admit that although I have heard of Phillip and some of his novels I haven't read any - but will soon rectify that in coming months.

Some of the things we learnt about Phillip were:
He works in a garden shed.  Is from Oxford.
Some of his literary touchstones which he grew up with are Superman/Batman comics.  The books Swallows and Amazons and The Moomins - also Noddy and Rudyard Kipling.

The first thing he wrote for children was a play when he was a teacher at 28 for his pupils to perform.
When he writes he has in mind an adult audience but is happy as long as its a big audience.  He writes storys that he would want to read  and so when writing doesn't think of the readers.

Phillip was 24 when he had his first book published but admits wasn't very good.

He is currently writing a sequel to His Dark Materials Trilogy at the moment titled The Book of Dust and Lyra is older in the book.  He is currently writing at a steady 3 pages a day.

He wants to write an old fashioned action film with no CGI or shaky cameras and has written a script to a comic story he has written called John Blake.
Phillips motivation for writing includes money - lol, to make a living, a sense of habit as he has been writing 40 years and the personal joy he gets of writing his own storys and characters.

Well hope you enjoyed some info on Phillip and the talk - myself and Dawn did although we were very lucky with the trains - we only got there just in time!!  We also only just got the right train back - was very lucky - ha ha.

Till next time peeps - and don't forget to enjoy my own stories below - the newest a zombie romp called Dead Drunk!
Neil