My Passion with Wendy Heather: Children’s adventure stories that have become a Caravan of love

Wendy Heather, credit controller at Dalepak in Northallerton, talks about her passion for writing children’s books

I WAS a single mother of two at the time and had long evenings and weekends to fill when I took up my hobby writing stories for young children.

I had no computer, only a trusty old typewriter with a fabric black ribbon and tip-ex correction fluid. I sat at my dining-room table taking the first of many pieces of paper from a ream and began tapping the night away as I started the first of the Doris The Caravan Stories while the children slept sound.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

I was soon engrossed as the story became alive in my head; I enjoyed the escape into fantasy, combining reality and experience with my own children’s mischief and their caravan holidays. After a couple of late evenings my table was soon covered with several typed pages and I could not wait for the weekend to do more. I got myself a note pad and began listening to people and their sayings and jotted some funny phrases which I thought would be humorous to use just in the right place and found myself inventing characters in daydreams and how I would get to the most fascinating and enchanting wonderment believable to a child.

I have to date written eight books and have ideas for more when the time is right. Doris is readily identifiable by thousands of children. Caravanning by its very nature involves the whole family. As a character, she can be transported to many different locations, enabling me to create a varied range of adventures including the Andromeda Galaxy, Llangollen forest with Goblins, Wizards and Mermaids in a Cornish tin mine not to mention a place called Christmas.

Doris meets many different characters in situations she finds herself, which combine reality with fantasy. Tatty Matty, Fungus Fingers and the McDoodle family with their people things and her suffering companion Septimus. Sep to his friends is Mr McDoodle’s trusty old Volvo and Doris finds herself hitched up for many experiences.

Several years ago I took my ideas to a caravan supplier and they loved them. They helped me with my start-up artwork and I was enthusiastic about getting published. I was soon to discover how difficult it is to get a children’s book published, unless you have an agent or you are famous. It’s extremely hard to get a publishing house to accept unsolicited material. I sent samples of work to several publishers and agents and got very good feedback saying my work was interesting. However, they did not have a place in their schedule for my work at that time. I have used the art in my start-up book and it would be my passion to get my books published.

In my mind the concept of Doris has potential for children’s playthings and collectables for the commercial sector. Who knows? A short TV series or a children’s Disney-like movie. One day, perhaps.

Related topics: