Eve Wersocki-Morris, local children’s author and former Fortismere student, on her writing journey

I have always wanted to be an author. I would spend hours in the Children’s Bookshop in Muswell Hill imagining my name on the
books.

But when I was twelve years old, I was diagnosed with dyslexia and I thought my ambitions were over. I had always found reading and spelling difficult but I still loved stories.

I think stories – in which heroes never give up – actually inspired me to keep writing and keep pursuing my childhood dream. My first children’s book, The Bird Singers, is inspired by me and my sister’s holidays in the Lake District, coupled with Polish folklore from the Polish side of my family.

The Bird Singers became a mystery adventure about a mythical monster and family secrets. My second book, The Wildstorm Curse, also came from a personal place. The hero, 13-year-old Kallie, aspires to be a playwright, despite struggling with her own dyslexia, and attends a theatre camp only to discover a curse on the local theatre.

Both books are full of mystery, spookiness and suspense (mainly inspired by watching a lot of Hitchcock films as a child), and one of my favourite parts of being an author is going into schools to show students how to write their own stories. Last month it was World Book Day and I was visiting Haringey schools talking to key stage two and key stage three students.

The best part of the event is hearing students’ ideas, which are always terrifically terrifying! In my workshops we create a monstrous villain and write a suspenseful opening chapter. The workshops always involve drawing as well as writing, as I think my dyslexia makes me a very visual creator and I find it helpful to sketch and storyboard my ideas.

Besides the activity, my second favourite part of the event is always the questions rom students which can range from “did you ever think about giving up?” to “who is your favourite character in Wednesday?”. (Obviously, Tyler!) I’m currently gearing up for a big schools tour this June to launch my new book Forest of Forbidden Magic while working on a brand-new project, recently announced at London Book Fair: a children’s adventure series Clem Fatale set in the 1950s, about the daughter of a gangster who goes looking for her missing father in the Big Smoke.

My childhood haunts of Haringey have always been special to me and my identity as an author. I spent many weekends of my childhood walking the old railway line up to Ally Pally with my family. As an adult I often walk this route when I’m thinking of new stories. In fact, the evening I heard that my debut book had been accepted by a publisher, I took myself for a walk up to Ally Pally in the twilight and reflected on how far I had come since those early days of wishing to be an author.

Forest of Forbidden Magic is published 4th July by Hachette Children’s Books

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