It's difficult to know where to begin charting the phenomenal success of children's writer Malorie Blackman writes Children's Express Editor Della Hicks-Wilson.
| Some publishers tried to pigeonhole me and asked if I could make my characters white, but I resisted and they stayed black. |
The London-based author has written 51 books, sold nearly a quarter of a million copies and has accepted numerous well-deserved awards for her famed books such as Hacker, Whizzwig, Pig Heart Boy and Thief. Two of her books have been made into BBC children's programmes.
I had a lengthy chat with Malorie and discussed how it is being black in the sometimes discriminatory world of literature and what young aspiring writers can do to succeed. Oh, and we also talked about her latest best-seller, Noughts and Crosses, described as her most controversial book yet, in which she's created a society where black people are the ruling class and white people the ex-slaves.
Did you ever receive any knock-backs when you first began writing?
Some publishers tried to pigeonhole me and asked if I could make my characters white, but I resisted and they stayed black. I had lots of knock-backs. People told me I was wasting my time because black people don't get published in Britain. It took a long time but I persevered.
You've sold over a quarter of a million books, are you ever surprised at the level of your success?
Yeah, it's nice that a lot of people like my books. It's such a brilliant way of communicating thoughts and ideas to people you don't even know. It constantly amazes me.
Do you think children read enough?
If a child says they don't like reading then they haven't found the right book yet. Reading is so brilliant and there's so many different types of books published. We publish more in this country than in the US, and they've got about 10 times the market. But a lot of children do like reading, I think Harry Potter's success proves that.
What's your advice to young people who want to write?
I'd recommend you keep a diary. That's a brilliant way of recording your thoughts and feeling about things. It's a more immediate and intimate form of writing. Write stories, poems, whatever. Find your own style and your own voice and write about what interests you and don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it.
Any reason why your latest book, replaces black and white people for Noughts and Crosses?
It was set up as an alternative reality but obviously with strong parallels to our own reality. I didn't want people reading to think this is just a black and white society as such. I wanted to set up my own society where I could invent my own words, starting from scratch as it where. The best compliment I've had about the book is when people tell me they have to keep reminding themselves who's the noughts and who's the crosses.
What inspired Noughts and Crosses?
I was so fed up with people asking why I never write about racism. I thought, right, I'll write about racism but I'll do it my way. So I turned it on its head. A lot of white reviewers picked up on the thing about the plasters. I'm stunned that I've heard so many comments saying they've never really thought about the colour of plasters before. It was only a couple lines in the book, where all plasters are brown.
Why is it the most personal book you've written?
There's a lot of me in it, things that happened to me when I was at school. The history lesson for example when the teacher was talking about the Zulu uprising when there were 30,000 Zulu's' and about 300 English soldiers and the Zulu's were slaughtered and only 30 English injured and none died. The teacher was so smug and I was the only black girl in the class. My face was burning up.
How do you develop your characters?
My plots always come first then I work out my characters. I usually writer a two page biography on them, in this case it was 10 pages. Often I don't use all these details but it means that when I do start writing I know everything about them. With these characters it was almost like they were talking through me and I had to type really fast to keep up with the characters in my head. That probably makes me sound nuts, but there you go.
Which part did you enjoy writing the most?
All of it! It was almost like I was living in the book as well as writing it. When they were going through horrible and good things, I was there with them. It sounds really silly but when I reached the end I was actually in tears. It's definitely a book I got a lot of satisfaction from writing
How many drafts did you write?
Probably about six or seven and that's before my publisher even saw it. But I like to do this because if someone comes up and says,'I didn't like your book', at least I know I've done my best.
What can people expect form Nought and Crosses?
A page-turning thought-provoking read.
About the team
This interview was conducted by Editor Della Hicks-Wilson, 15. It was published as part of Teen Talk, the Children's Express page in New Nation.
