What a wonderful visit to St Mary's School - Great feedback!

On Monday I set off on my bike to St Mary’s School to meet fifty-six Year 6 pupils and their teachers who had read the first chapter of The Hidden Tales of Cambridge last week. Their feedback was so positive they had asked if I would be happy to read to them the next chapter and answer any questions they might have. My Hidden Tales co-founder, Sorrel May, came with me to observe how the children responded to the new chapters and take notes of their questions.

When I arrived, Mrs Cliff and Mrs McKay debriefed us on the previous week’s Hidden Tales workshops where their children had listened to the story, pored over one of Jenny Bell’s illustrations and tried to decipher Fiona Boyd’s new alphabet. We looked at the children’s worksheets and the quality of their work was outstanding. Their understanding of the story and the way they linked together the clues from the illustration was impressive and I was delighted that they were able to decipher some of the alphabet as well.

I hope they enjoyed the reading and the question and answer session as much as I did. Their questions were excellent and I was particularly impressed at how well they listened and worked together. It was a pleasure to spend time with such an intelligent and engaging group of young people.

I promised Mrs Cliff and Mrs McKay that I would keep them informed on progress and promised to read another chapter to the children when we are closer to publication.

With the Easter Holidays around the corner, let's see if some of the children go in search of more Hidden Tales around the local museums!

St Mary's pupils have found the Hidden

This week, Sarah Cliff, the Head of English at St Mary's School in Cambridge introduced Year 6 to the Hidden Tales of Cambridge. Through a series of classes the children met Arthur and Victoria and joined them on their first encounter with the Hidden.

The feedback has been so positive that Sarah has asked if I would come and do a reading to the whole year group on Monday morning, which I've agreed to do.

I'm looking forward to meeting the children and their teachers and hearing their questions and comments about the story and giving them a tantalising glimpse into the World of Secrets.

A reading for a group of Visiting Scholars

Today I read the first three chapters of my next novel: The College of Shadows.

I invited a group of visiting scholars who gave very helpful feedback so I can get this book ready for publication in the summer.


During the chat afterwards it was suggested that my novel would fit well with novels written by Urban Fantasy authors Neil Gaiman, Charles de Lint, Ben Aaronovitch and maybe Philip Pullman
  

I would like to thank Felicia, Christine, Annie, Anastasia, Melendra, Hugo, Simone and Karina for their constructive feedback and am delighted that they were willing to become my advanced readers.

Pupils of Coton Primary School meet the Hidden

To be able to get some feedback on the book, Tom (Mr Wells) prepared 2 x 40 minute sessions designed around the following skills:

• Reading comprehension,  
• Creative writing 
• Problem solving
• IT skills (filling out an online questionnaire)

The  questionnaire gave some great insights and pointers. I can't wait to read ALL of them so I can incorporate the feedback into the book. Here are some of the comments so far:

"I love it"

"I liked that you had to find clues at the end of each chapter"

"I like the idea of the end of  each chapter you as the reader get to do something rather than continue reading"

"I really liked that it was based in Cambridge and in the Fitzwilliam museum"

"I loved that it was intense and a new style of story"

"I really liked how there were different clues and that you could find them out in the museum."

In the pupil's 'Golden Time' the children were given Jenny's concept sketch which included a riddle designed by Fiona to solve. The atmosphere was buzzing. They had  lots of fun and loved the activity.  I can’t wait to see their faces when they see Jenny’s finished illustrations including the real clues to solve the Hidden's secrets.

Feedback was unanimous: When can we read/hear the next chapter?
So to thank them for their help, I am planning a secret visit to the school so they can hear the next chapter read by the author himself.

An exciting afternoon in Coton Primary school

Today, Tom set off to Coton Primary School, a lovely school in a village just outside Cambridge. He read the first chapter of the Hidden to  a group of 9 to 11 year olds who listened intently with great excitement and curiosity.

Afterwards these 23 pupils were given questions to answer on little slips of paper:

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Tom told me that the workshop went really well, which was quite a relief. I am so lucky to have a son who is prepared to do this for me. Hopefully we can now conduct similar workshops at St Mary’s, The Perse and Trumpington Meadows over the coming weeks. 

Tom is introducing the Hidden to local schools

My son Tom, who is a primary school teacher, has just finished a year in Salamanca and has offered to spend a few weeks helping us run some reading workshops with some local schools.

Sorrel has spoken with Matthew, the Head of St Mary's Primary School, who wanted to take the opportunity in World Book Week to design some lessons around the book. Tom and Sarah, the Head of English, will meet each other on Tuesday 6th March to move the project forward.

Tom will run a similar workshop at Coton CE Primary school, a school he knows well as he taught there for 2 years.

By visiting these schools and working with the pupils we hope to get some feedback on how they engage with the book so we can plan our next steps. Fingers crossed that the story sparks their imagination and encourages them to go hunting for Hidden mysteries in Cambridge...

Arthur and Victoria are coming to life

5.00am each morning, my alarm clock beeps and I creep out of bed to go to my desk and start work on Hidden Tales. Each weekend I research locations and characters and then try to write a chapter a week. It's going pretty well and there is loads of material to draw on in this remarkable city.

Each week Sorrel reads the latest chapter to her daughter Ori who has turned into our most important editor, giving immediate feedback for the author: "Too scary, lovely, exciting, a bit more clarity needed here..."

While really satisfying it is also exhausting as my job is busier than ever. But like any production process, I can't afford to hold back as both Sorrel and Jenny are depending on me for the storyline.
Jenny has now completed her first few sketches and things are looking very promising.  Sorrel has found someone to help us with a new alphabet for the puzzles - Fiona is a calligrapher and has invented an entirely new script for the Hidden world. After speaking with Fiona, I went over to visit the codebreakers at Bletchley Park for some inspiration.

It's all coming together.

Helping out a friend....

This week I had a call from the daughter of a friend of ours who has had an idea for a children's book. In her youth, Sorrel had read with great fondness Masquerade and she was thinking of commissioning a similar book aimed at getting children away from their computer screens and going on real life treasure hunt.

We met up and talked around the kitchen table about her idea. It sounded great fun and I could imagine my own boys really enjoying it when they were children. In the end, I offered to help Sorrel with the story, and we contacted an artist friend of mine, Jenny Bell, to come up with some illustrations. We decided to set the first book in Cambridge to see if we could make it work here. And so began The Hidden Tales of Cambridge.

My first writing session in my new office

After 18 months of planning and 6 months of building our house is now finished. I've just written my first letter to the boys from the desk in my new office. It's a lovely space with a view from my window over the vegetable garden, where Karina grows organic food and vegetables.

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Letters to the boys

When not editing my manuscript, I try to keep in touch with my sons, Thomas and Michael via a weekly letter. Sunday mornings a reminder pops up on my Mac telling its time to write to the boys.
Each letter follows a similar format, starting "Dear boys," and finishing with 'Your embarrassing Dad'. In between I scrawl a bit about the week gone by, keeping it light hearted where possible, with the occasional pearl of wisdom thrown in.

With both boys living abroad, I've adopted the habit of sending it as an old fashioned letter, with a stamp and hand-written address. Just like my parents did with me 40 years ago when I was first living away from home. I still remember the thrill of finding an envelope with familiar writing in my pigeon hole and I hope the boys enjoy it too.

Managed to finish the first draft of College of Shadows - finally. Have found some proof readers who have kindly given up their time to read through it.
Many thanks to Hugo and Dan, both students who have made sure I've got the student experience right.
Monika, one of the housekeeping team who gave some really encouraging feedback when I most needed it.
Stephen, the Chapel Clerk who read it in hospital to take his mind off things.
David , a lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University who gave it a critical appraisal
And Felicia, a visiting scholar from China who gave a really helpful international perspective.
All said the same thing:
When can we read your next story?
Mmm. Maybe I'm going to have to give up the day job.

My job is busier than expected...

The Domestic Bursar's job is turning out to be pretty full on. Early starts and late nights and with over 1000 students and Fellows to look after, not to mention 250 staff, it takes up most of my waking hours. My hopes of finishing College of Shadow, my first novel have ended up on the back burner for the moment. Still, plenty of time to do some research as the setting is not a million miles away from the day job...

And so it begins...

... the first post of Cambridge Tales.

The start of a storyteller's journey through Cambridge

Cambridge 2014. I return to my old college as Domestic Bursar of St John's College. Strange to be back in some ways. Happy memories though. Thirty years ago while reading Law, I met my wife Karina on the playing fields here during a hockey match. Now married with 2 grown-up boys, we are back to start this new adventure together.