FUSE July 2015 | Page 14

Mc Cl u r e STORYWRITING U wit h ia n Gi l l Gillian McClure is a much-loved British author and illustrator. Her books have been translated into many different languages and Selkie won an award for Outstanding Achievement in Children's Books. Some of Gillian's picture books, like Tom Finger, have been inspired by classic themes or fairy tales. Others were created completely by her own imagination. As mentioned in our Librophilia! page, “Zoe's Boat is illustrated in watercolour using an interesting frame format. The way the text, drawings and frames flow together gives a really fun, graphic novel effect.” This is typical of Gillian's rich and unusual style. Keen to visit schools and work with students, Gillian uses her stories and artwork to inspire children and young people to write and illustrate their own books. She says she tries to make her stories timeless and placeless yet relevant to children today. How do I combine the Images and Words? Gillian shared with us how she makes sure her paintings and writings fall into place, using as an example her recent book, Flood. "When I’m asked which comes first in my picture books, the images or the words, I say the words come first. I like to do a first written draft and then, when I’m thinking about page layouts and the integration of image with text, I do the second draft. This is when I remove all unnecessary words where images can do the work instead. However, I do hold an image in my head right from the start. -An image forms the essence of the book. In my book, Flood, (July 2014), that first image was full of opposites. Paradoxical. There was a hen in a flood, safe in what looks like a red furry nest...but really it's a fox’s tail! It was from this image that the story started to emerge; a hen trying to