All about Linda
Find out about Linda Linda Questions and answers
Questions and Answers
Did you always want to be a writer?
Always but I never thought it was the sort of job you really could do, so I trained to be a teacher and then went to work in the theatre as a stage manager and then, like most writers did loads of other jobs including working at Waterstones, being a nanny, a dog trainer, working at a university, teaching after school drama classes, tutoring while I wrote in my spare time and sent manuscripts off to publishers. I spent seven years trying to get published. It isn’t easy! But I kept trying because I believed I could do it and I did and I have now been writing full time for ten years and I love it and wouldn’t want to do anything else. So if YOU want to be a writer keep trying!
How many books have you written?
About 260.
When did you get your first book published?
1999. It was called Bunny Bonanza.
How did you become a writer?
I started off writing under different names. I have written some (but nowhere near all!) of the books published under the names Lucy Daniels, Jenny Dale, Katie Chase, Daisy Meadows, Lauren Brooke, Rosie Banks, Amber Castle, Astrid Foss and Tilda Kelly. Someone else had had the ideas for the stories but didn’t want to write the books themselves and so I was asked if I would write some of them. I love writing under lots of different names, it’s really good fun.
Why do you always write books that are more for girls than boys?
I don’t actually. I know people think I do and I know I do write more for girls but the Genie books are for both boys and girls and a few years ago I decided I wanted to write for boys so I came up with a series called Superpowers which is about two boys. I wrote it under the name Alex Cliff in case the name Linda Chapman put any boys off. It’s such a fun series. The two boys in it are completely normal boys and yet for a week one of them gets to have a superpower each day and they have to try and complete an impossible task each day like killing a nine headed river monster or clearing masses of poo out of a huge stable or capturing a sabre toothed lion. Lots of girls love it too because there’s loads of action and excitement. It was one of Iola’s favourite series of mine for ages.
You write some books with Steve Cole, Lee Weatherly, Michelle Misra and Julie Sykes. What is it like writing with another author?
It’s brilliant fun. Writing can be quite lonely and it is lovely to be able to talk about ideas and to share the writing of a book. It is great to go to bed at night and the next day find some more of the book has been written. I love it but you have to get on very well because there can be quite a few arguments!
I am eleven and getting a bit too old for some of your books, do you write for older readers?
'Yes, my series Loving Spirit is a horse series for readers age 9+. It is meant for readers who liked My Secret Unicorn but have grown up a bit. I have also written Bright Lights and Centre Stage about an eleven-year-old who becomes a film star and the Genie books I write with Steve are aimed at 9-12 year olds.. I have also written quite a lot of the earlier books in the Heartland series (published under the name Lauren Brooke). It is for ten year olds and upwards and is about horses and family and an amazing fourteen-year-old girl called Amy who helps heal damaged horses who no one else will help. In the first book her mum dies and she is left on her own with her grandfather, an older sister who has grown up away from her and her best friend, a boy called Ty, who works at her family’s stables. Actually Heartland is one of my favourite series too!
Do you have any pets?
Yes, we have three dogs, a Golden Retriever called Simba, a cockapoo called Candy and a Tibetan Terrier called Bracken. We also have a 15.2hh grey, Anglo Arab called Pinky.
I had lots of horses and ponies growing up too. I got my first pony, Swizzle on loan when I was 9, he was a grey 12.2hh Welsh Mountain, then I had Heidi who was a rose grey 13.3hh Arab x Welsh, then I had Juan who was a dapple grey 15hh Arab x Welsh and then I had Tan who was a dapple grey 16hh Trakhener.
I used to do lots of pony club shows – gymkhana games, show jumping, cross country, equitation and as I got older I started doing a lot of dressage although I always loved cross country.
I had to sell Tan when I was 20 because I was at university and he was missing me too much. It broke my heart at the time because although all my horses were special, he was extra special. He went to a lovely home but I missed him so, so much.
Swizzle
Heidi
Juan
Tan
What are your top tips for writing?
Always write something you would like to read. Make it exciting, if you are using chapters make sure each one ends at an exciting point. Try to give the reader a feeling for what is happening inside the main character’s head. Describe what is happening, everything you see, as if you are watching a film. If I am trying to think of an idea I think of something that would be an amazing thing to happen, something I would really like to happen.