Fostering Children

When I’m visiting schools and I’m asked which of my books is my favourite I always say it’s a bit like asking parents which is their favourite child. I give the same answer, ‘I love them all equally but differently’. Of course that applies to my ‘birth’ children – the books I created from start from my own imagination. However I’ve recently ‘fostered’ two children.

ABC TV in Australia currently has a teen TV series called Dance Academy. In February I was asked if I’d like to write one of the books to accompany the TV, based on one of the central characters. It had to be 18,000 – 20,000 words, cover the character’s story across the first season and I only had 3 weeks to foster the child into his novel form. Unable to resist a (paid) challenge I naturally agreed.

It proved a really interesting exercise. Take someone else’s characters and stories written for a different medium and embellish them into a novel. First there was the episodic nature of a TV series which doesn’t immediately translate into a book. I had to unearth a complete story arc and decide which plot elements to jettison. I also had to give my character thoughts as the book had to be in the first person.

As much as I thought it was just a writing job which I referred to having to go en pointe, I did grow to love my and gain a parental sense of ownership over him. The character I had was Sammy – a young Jewish boy rebelling against his father’s wish for him to be a doctor. For a couple of weeks, Sammy was one of my own and I still feel a sense of pride when I see him on the TV. It helps that the actor playing him is terrific and one of the best cast members.

My guardianship of Sammy proved so successful that I was asked to take in another waif from the Dance Academy – Kat, the rebellious daughter of a prima ballerina. Kat had an even tighter time frame. She was with me for just two weeks, but lucky Kat managed to accompany me on my overseas trip. She sat with me as I went en pointe in a cold kitchen in Newcastle Upon Tyne in England, warmed only by the coke fired water heater.











The two foster children will be hitting the stores in July and I will be as clucky about seeing them on the shelves as my other children. You can also see Sammy and Kat on ABC TV at 5.40 Monday to Friday.