John Fardell
Home address:
33 Barony Terrace, Corstorphine, Edinburgh, EH12 8RF, ScotlandTelephone:
0131 334 6675Email:
jfardell@clara.co.ukBRAW network:
yesLL funded:
yesBiography:
I was brought up in the countryside near Bristol with two sisters and a brother. We spent many hours in our dad's workshop, learning to make model planes and boats. I always enjoyed drawing inventions, and making up comic strips. I also have great childhood memories of travelling to various islands off the west coast of Scotland for big family holidays.In my early adulthood, before and after college, I had all sorts of temporary jobs - potato picker, toilet cleaner, care worker, film extra, door-to-door salesman, pierrot, barman, viola player - but for the past eighteen years or so, I've mostly earned my living as a freelance cartoonist and illustrator. My comic strips and cartoons have appeared in a wide variety of UK publications including Viz, the List, the Independent and the Herald.
I've also done quite a bit of puppet theatre work, though not much of that recently. These days I spend a lot of my time writing and drawing my children's books.
I live with my wife Jenny and our two sons in Edinburgh.
About writer's work:
I try to write exciting, intelligent adventure novels, where fast-paced action, humour, sadness, friendship, awe-inspiring locations, amazing inventions, strange science, eccentric characters, murderous villains and big ethical questions are all woven together into a really well-shaped, page-turning story.My books typically seem to feature ordinary children (boys and girls) being plunged into dangerous situations and doing their best to do the right thing with very little. Another common feature in my books is the occurence of elderly characters, with secrets and back-stories stretching back into the mid 20th century. I like writing completely contemporary stories, but with a rich sense of history behind them.
The books I've written so far contain no supernatural or magic elements. Some of the science gets pretty far-fetched, but I work hard to root it in reality and to make even the most unlikely invention seem entirely believable to the reader as they're reading it!
About writer's events and projects:
My author visit events (typically for 9-12 year olds in primary schools or libraries) are fun, interactive sessions, which are as much about the scribbly processes behind writing and illustrating books as about the finished product, with opportunities for everyone to participate in some inventing and story-generating activities. I encourage the children to always write about or draw what excites them persoally, and to never worry about having to get a story or picture right first time.
I show the children my ideas notebooks, rough drafts of artwork, research material and the model vehicles and planes that I build to help me with illustrations.
In the last part of a session, I'm always happy to answer questions on any aspect of my work.
Events for teens and adults tend to be similarly visual, again with plenty of opportunity to get a "behind-the-scenes" look at rough drafts, original artwork, etc, and plenty of opportunity to ask questions.
I also do comic strip workshops sometimes. I recently did one for adults at the education wing of Edinburgh's Saughton Prison. And I'm about to take part in a Scottish Book Trust residency project at an Edinburgh primary school (throughout Jan and Feb 2008), where I'll be helping the pupils to produce their own comic.
I mostly do events for the 9-12 age range, since that fits with the target age of my children's novels.
But I'll be happy to do events for the 5-8 age range once my picture book has come out in Ocober 2008.
And I also sometimes do events for teens/students/adults on the subject of writing and illustrating books and comics for a living, and I find these events interesting too.
Language:
EnglishAge groups:
5-8, 9-12, Teens, AdultsBooks written
Due out in October 2008
From its secret underground streets to the top of Arthur's Seat, the city of Edinburgh has been the inspiration for many children's books and writers. This unique guide will help children and adults ...
Sam and Marcia are back in Edinburgh with Zara, Ben and Professor Ampersand. The friends are helping to build an amazing electric-powered flying boat when they stumble across an old photograph - a ...
Due out in August 2008
'Listen!' croaked the man. 'Can't...stay...awake...much...longer.... Summon the others, Alexander... Professor Murdo has returned to Nordbergen.'
A storm-ravaged traveller has blown in to Ben and ...
