Liam Dwyer
I am an ex teacher, principal and RTLB (Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour). When I eventually retired, I decided to follow my dream and write and self-publish picture books that could be read and understood by all children, regardless of their so called ‘reading age’. I have written and self-published four books so far: Uncle Hen’s Gumboots; Ivan The Terrible; Tangaroa’s Caviar, and Scruffy the Scoundrel.
Themes include: Family, the bond between an aging grandparent and granddaughter; the death of a pet; and the importance of memories.
I believe that reading is a process of getting meaning from the whole page of a book. A picture book is a combination of pictures and words that tell a story. The pictures and words tell the reader the same story with the illustrations adding depth to the story.
So if you are a stronger picture reader or word reader it doesn’t matter.
More often than not children are a combination of both. The starting point is always pictures, no matter the age of the reader. As we get older the balance usually changes.
My books always have a question for the reader. In Scruffy the Scoundrel the story asks ‘Would Abby love Gran as much if she didn’t have her ‘forgets’’?
My website gives you access to information and parent support for reading the first 3 books. Simply click on the book cover and clickable buttons will appear:
- Reading Support
- Fun Activities
- Draw
- More
How do you select the names of your characters?
Uncle Hen was based on the name of the caretaker at the first school I was principal. It was a small school in the far north and our two children doubled the Pakeha population. Most of the children were all related (Hence the Uncle title and everyone had a nickname. I thought Hen would be a good name for a surrogate duck. His actual name was Henare, everyone called him Henry.
In Scruffy the Scoundrel, Abby started as Gabriel, then for a while became Gabby. Then I tried Abigail and shortened it eventually to Abby, which was her mum’s abbreviation in the story.
If you had to do something differently as a child or teenager to become a better writer as an adult, what would you do?
Read more picture books – I didn’t read any books myself before I was 10 years old. My teacher taught me to read text at this time. He didn’t teach me to spell. I’m still a VERY poor speller, thank goodness for Grammarly!!
Have you Googled yourself? Did you find out anything interesting?
Not until I tried to answer this question.
There was very little about me. Although I did find out how I came to write Ivan The Terrible through reading about G3, a godwit and its unbelievable journey to Alaska, and combined it with the true experiences of an angry young boy who had 3 mothers and 4 schools in one year, before coming to our school up north.
On the first day the boy destroyed the classroom that my wife was teacher of before morning tea, and was last seen disappearing under the school. I set out to try to find him and noticed that the door under the classrooms was open. I went to the door but couldn’t see inside. I started talking to the hole in the wall when Uncle Hen pulled up on the tractor and pointed to the pump shed by the pool, where saw a scared face looking at me talking to a hole in the wall.
Are there any secrets in your books that only a few people will find? Can you tell us one? Or give us any hints?
I think I have done this already
Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym? Why?
No. Never even thought of it.
How did publishing your first book change your writing process?
It didn’t change the process. After I was happy with the story, I left the illustrations totally in the hands of the Illustrator. In all the books the illustrator took care of the pre-print process. Each did a the illustration spreads and cover design, and provided PDF files ready for printing. All I had to do was take the files to the printer and pay for them.
How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
I am currently writing a follow up to the Scruffy story where Gran’s ‘forgets’ get worse and Mum and Abby go to live with Gran.
What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters of the opposite sex?
I don’t have difficulty writing characters of the opposite sex as I use my experiences as a teacher, parent, principal and RTLB from a range of schools to help me.
Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
When I am a local markets I give away copies of my books to children in exchange for a short review:
- What did you like most about the book?
- How could I have made it better?
I don’t get many returns.