Stephen Davies

Welcome. My name is Stephen Davies and I am a children's author writing picture books, chapter books and teen novels. I have lived in Africa for ten years, working with World Horizons amongst Fulani cattle herders. My books are set in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, on the edge of the Sahara Desert.

Tag: writing tips

The Importance of Physical Exercise for Writers

by Stephen Davies

Writing, like chess, is a famously sedentary activity. Authors spend their days sitting hunched over a keyboard, and the only exercise they get is wriggling the fingers, wrinkling the brow and reaching for Rich Tea biscuits. As the deadline nears, the hapless keyboard-basher begins to ignore her body’s needs for sleep, social interaction and physical [...]

Published: September 21, 2011 | Filed Under: Writing Tips | Tags: : : : : : : : : : : : :

The Making of a Picture Book Part Five: Synergy

by Stephen Davies

This is the last in this week’s blog series on how to write a picture book. Whether you are a published picture book author, an aspiring picture book author or a simply-curious, I hope that you have found one or two morsels of useful advice over the course of this series. I am no picture [...]

Published: September 9, 2011 | Filed Under: Picture Books, Writing Tips | Tags: : : : : : : :

The Making of a Picture Book Part Four: ILLUSTRATION

by Stephen Davies

There has been some kind appreciation and enthusiastic tweeting in response to this ‘Making of a Picture Book’ blog series, so thank you very much. If the series has interested or entertained or provided new ideas then I am happy. If you missed parts one, two and three, there’s still time to catch up: The [...]

Published: September 8, 2011 | Filed Under: Picture Books, Writing Tips | Tags: : : : : : : : :

The Making of a Picture Book Part Three: LANGUAGE

by Stephen Davies

Welcome to The Making of a Picture Book Part Three. Today we will be taking a closer look at the language of picture books, and zooming in on rhyme, rhythm, sequences and repetition. If you’re still catching up, here are Part One: PLOT and Part Two: CHARACTER. Rhyme and Rhythm: Why you should Listen to [...]

Published: September 7, 2011 | Filed Under: Picture Books, Writing Tips | Tags: : : : : : : : : : : :

The Making of a Picture Book Part Two: CHARACTER

by Stephen Davies

Welcome to part two of my blog series ‘The Making of a Picture Book’. If you need to catch up, here is The Making of a Picture Book Part One: PLOT. In today’s installment we will be looking at character. . The characters in most picture books are pretty two-dimensional. What can we say about [...]

Published: September 6, 2011 | Filed Under: Picture Books, Writing Tips | Tags: : : : : : : :