#InterviewByTheme with Megan Higginson

We are exploding with excitement to welcome Megan Higginson to our ‘Sci Fi and Fantasy’ themed interview today! You’re a gem! 🔮 🎇

What are the most imaginative books you’ve ever read?

So many books. So little time. Hmmm. Unless I had a time machine. Ok. I’m breaking the rules. I love Sci-Fi and fantasy. Anne McCaffrey is my all time favourite author. I love her Dragon Riders of Pern series. She effortlessly combined Sci-Fi and fantasy. Ooo. Then there is Tony Diterlizzi’s WondLa trilogy. Tolkin’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series. As a kid I loved Enid Blyton’s Folk of the Faraway Tree.

Which particular book passage or illustration do you find to be out of this world?

I am privileged to be friends with an amazing artist and children’s book illustrator, who is also working on a novel. She drew part of the world that she has created for her story. I love looking at the picture and seeing the stories held within it, waiting to be discovered.

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Which author / illustrator would you travel through time to meet?

Anne McCaffrey. The first book I read of hers was The Ship Who Sang. From that time on, I was hooked. I have nearly a whole bookshelf dedicated to Anne MacCaffrey.

Where do you see yourself in the year 2036?

I would be still coming up with fun, quirky kid’s tales. I would have written some chapter books by then too. I would also be often found surrounded by children as I read to them.

In which literary time and setting would you most like to visit? Why?

In a world similar to our own, but where time, space and the laws of physics are different. How much fun would that be? To ride the back of a dragon? Or to be the dragon if you felt like it? Or maybe where it is normal for people to have powers beyond what we know. I could just think myself on the other side of the world, or onto another planet, and in an instant I’d be there.

Favourite literary invention:

I do like spaceships – really well-built fast ones with the ability to dive through and navigate wormholes with no problems. Spaceships that can zip around exploring the galaxy and not take years and years, unless you wanted to of course.

Finish the sentence… “He mysteriously disappeared into…”
…the labyrinth of ice caves beneath the ocean. There, Sebastian discovers an alien octopus with telepathic abilities, who convinces Sebastian to help him escape the caves…to the detriment of all.

Which Science/Fantasy Fiction literary character best represents you? Why?

It would have to be Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit. I love his line, “We’re off on an adventure.” I live life like that. It was also said of Bilbo, “There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself.” I’m finding this to very true about myself.

What advice would you give to future writers and illustrators?

Read a lot. Write a lot. Be prepared for a lot of hard work and a steep learning curve. You will only continue doing it if you are passionate about it.

Be authentic and write the stories and the characters that you believe in. Write stories that excite you and the ones that are in you burning to be written.

Make connections with others: other authors, writers, illustrators, editors, publishers and agents; librarians, teachers, bookstore owners; parents, grandparents, caregivers and children.

Most of all, discover who you are as a writer, and stay true to yourself as you learn about this wonderful craft of writing stories.

What will we be seeing from you in the near future?

I just did my first author visit recently, so I hope more of them will be lined up in the coming months. There will always be my blog on my website as I really enjoy this other (recently discovered) form of expression.

I continue to write kids picture books and send them off the manuscripts to the publishers, so I hope that one day, in the not too distant future, I will be able to announce that I have received THE email.

My friend, Ester and I will be self-publishing one of my stories, ‘Raymund and the Fear Monster’, as it doesn’t seem to fit into a format that is acceptable at the moment. I trialled it at the school last week, and the kids loved it. It got the thumbs up and a “When can I read it?”

Megan, thank you for being so ‘extraordinary’! 😋 😇

Megan has always been an avid reader of books from all genres, but she especially enjoys sci-fi and fantasy. As a child and teenager, if she could have combined reading from horseback while galloping along Mackay’s beaches, or while mustering cattle in the Queensland outback she would have. (Of course, she would have not enjoyed the thrill of adventure if she’d had her head in a book).

Megan has always written stories, and she loves to encourage children to read, and write their own stories. Megan has dyslexia and shares about her journey with children to encourage them not to give up reading and writing. Through reading her own stories, sharing where she gets her ideas for her stories from, and with the motto, ‘Stories are everywhere,’ she hopes to encourage children to create their own stories, and have fun doing it.

Feel free to visit Megan’s website to find out more about her, or visit her blog. Megan can also be found on social media at her Facebook Profile, Facebook Author, Twitter and Instagram pages.

#InterviewByTheme