Fun, Fur and being Fearless

Sue Bentley’s Magic Kitten series has enchanted children for over a decade. She has sold over two million books worldwide, and library loans of her books run into tens of millions. Sue agreed to share the secret of where she found the magic hidden in her stories. She explores the challenge and rewards of writing for readers aged 4 to 9 years. This promises to be a colourful and heart warming post for all ages.

Animals featured prominently in my life from a young age. We always had pets; cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, a tortoise – even a stick insect. Before I knew better, my mum caught me in the gardening ‘helping’ snails learn to fly over our garden fence. I was also ‘helping’ ants get a suntan with my grandfather’s magnifying glass. Terrible I know. Mum gave me such a telling off. I was consumed by guilt. There were many tears I and never did anything like it again!

I’m now a lover of nature and wouldn’t hurt a fly. Our house is a spider sanctuary. Although not brave enough to handle one of our eight-legged fellow creatures, I live happily alongside them. They have their territory, the dusty corners under furniture and bits where the wall joins the ceiling. They munch up the flying, biting things that come into the house in hot weather and give me itchy red bumps, for which I’m most thankful!

I’m best friends with frogs, newts, hedgehogs and butterflies in our garden. Slugs and snails – not so much. We have about a million of them – probably still getting their own back. I go out at night with a torch, pick them off my plants, put them in a bucket and transfer them to a field of long grass. They’re happy and I’ve gotten over my childish guilt – almost!

I started out writing for adults, but when the opportunity to try out for an existing series of children’s books came my way, I jumped at it. (That’s where ‘being fearless’ comes in. My motto is, Say Yes to anything writing-wise, smile enthusiastically, and then go home and work out how to do it.)

It took a while to settle into writing for children, especially to get right tone without ‘writing down’ to them. The editor must have seen something in my writing as she stayed with me. I read lots of Jacqueline Wilson, who’s brilliant at dialogue between kids and adults.

My first children’s book was Horse in the House for the popular Animal Ark series, writing as Lucy Daniels. I was lucky to contribute very early on to the amazingly successful Rainbow Fairies series, as Daisy Meadows. Writing over a dozen of these books was a baptism by fire, but I learned to write to a tight word count and make every single word earn its keep.

I’d also gained the confidence to write my own series and began developing a character who was cute, magical, fun and would have a different adventure in each book. Fanfare please – introducing Flame the Magic Kitten!

Flame is more than a kitten. He’s a Royal Prince, a regal young white lion, whose wicked Uncle has stolen his throne. Disguised as a cute, fluffy kitten, Flame comes to our world to hide until he’s strong enough to fight for his throne. In each book he meets an entirely new cast of characters and shares an exciting adventure.

Flame is a loyal friend, very sweet, honest and sometimes innocent of the ways of our world. He’s always keen to help with a sprinkle of sparkly magic, but can be over-enthusiastic, with sometime hilarious results. One of my favourite scenes is from Magic Kitten – Classroom Chaos. Flame is dealing with the ringleader of a group of bullies. Here’s an excerpt.

“There was a horrible squelching noise. First one purple blob appeared and then another. Big purple blotches began popping up all over Marsha’s face. She peered at herself in the sweetshop window. Her face was completely purple and her nose was all lumpy, like a blackberry.

‘Aargh! What’s happened to me?’ she wailed.

‘It’s probably the Black Death. Stay away from me!’ Keera said.

‘Oo-oer! It might be catching.’ Tiwa backed away.

‘Are you all right, dear?’ The shopkeeper asked with some concern.

‘Mnnff,’ mumbled Marsha, pulling her school sweater over her head. Moaning she stumbled past the counter and attempted to open the door with her elbow…”

(Don’t worry, mean Marsha soon recovered from her ‘strange allergy’)

There are fifteen Magic Kitten books, all with gorgeous, collectable covers. Which I’m sure is part of the reason why they’re still so popular. They were followed by Storm the Magic Puppy, who is just as cute and helpful as Flame, but more eager, bouncy and out-going – as puppies are, of course. Then came Comet and Destiny the Magic Ponies. Comet is searching for his lost sister, Destiny and comes to our world to find her. Lastly there’s Arrow the Magic Bunny. Arrow is timid, sweet and brave, and also the keeper of a magic key that keeps the bunny community’s home meadow fresh and green.

Special titles, which are favourites of mine, include: Magic Reindeer – A Christmas Wish and Magic Puffin – A Birthday Surprise – a ‘pocket money puffin’ edition. Magic Kitten – A Special friend, written especially for World Book Day 2008. The series is published by Puffin a division of Penguin RandomHouse Children’s.

I’m feel very lucky and proud of the fact these books are still in print, in this the 13th Anniversary year. Flame the Magic Kitten and his friends have fans all around the world. Here are a few foreign edition covers. Aren’t they gorgeous? The latest are from Russia. I love how my name looks in Cyrillic script.

On recent Czech copies, my name is Sue Bentleyova – which I find adorable! Soon to come will be books in Romanian. And who knows to which country my lovely sparkly animals will travel next?

More about Sue:

Sue Bentley is the bestselling author of the bestselling young fiction series Magic Kitten, Magic Puppy, Magic Ponies and Magic Bunny. Her books have sold over 2 million copies in the English language. She has met and loved many cats, dogs and horses, and each one has brought a special kind of magic into her life. Sue lives in Northamptonshire.

Recently, Sue has branched out into YA fiction called We Other.  We Other is a dark fantasy. We Other is a story of: family secrets, changelings, and fairies you never want to meet on a dark night.  Sue is fascinated by English Folklore, the extraordinary in the everyday and the darkness that hovers at the edges of the light.

Sue says…

Louis Armstrong says it best – ‘the bright blessed day and the dark sacred night’ You can’t have one without the other.

I always enjoyed ‘real’ fairy tales – not the sanitised Disney versions. For example, in some versions of Cinderella – the ugly sisters snip off their toes to be able to cram their feet into the glass slipper. 

I was that kid in a class of pink tutus who was dressed as a vampire bat. I never wanted high-heeled dancing shoes, I wanted sturdy boots to go tramping around forests looking for the shapes of goblins in the trees.

As for characters – Goody, Goody is all very well, but it can get boring. We all love the ‘bad’ characters who do doubtful things – they’re much more fun to write about.

‘Sue Bentley’s dark, sensual, magical story will catch you in the gut, move your heart and set your imagination on fire. It’s unmissable.’ Thea Bennett, Radio Times.

 

Please see all my guest’s posts at Mail from the Creative Community and my website and blog at JessieCahalin.com.