Quite a while ago I went to the British library to attend a talk with authors Chris Riddell, Chris Priestly and Sally Gardner. Being a fan of some of both Chris Riddell’s and Sally Gardner’s books I thought that it could be interesting to hear them talk about their works and writing gothic teen fiction.
After delayed trains and people at reception leading us in lots of different directions, we eventually found the room and the talk had only just started.
Chris Riddell spoke about his book series ‘Goth Girl,’ and discussed how he makes the books engaging and appropriate for the audience, as well as giving us some examples of puns he has used (some of which were pretty funny and clever, I must admit). Then Sally Gardner discussed her book, ‘Tinder,’ which was based on one of her favourite fairytales, ‘The Tinder Box.’ It was written with the intention of having an anti-war message. The extract she read us was engaging and very well worded, packed with detailed descriptions which made it easier to visualise. I would’ve loved to have heard more as it was very interesting. Chris Priestly then read us two of his short stories which were exactly 247 words each. They were impressively concise, still containing interesting story lines and descriptions. I liked the sinister nature of them, which added to the gothic feel. The deaths were subtle, not blatantly stating the fact that a character had died but using interesting descriptions instead.
Next they all discussed how they’d been to art college and how important illustrations can be in books. They spoke about their interests in drawing and how they’ve always enjoyed art. Whilst the others were speaking, Riddell decided to draw a few drawings to illustrate things that they had said, and they were all hilarious and brilliantly drawn. It’s so impressive how quickly he can draw from imagination and how unique his style is. He also showed us his sketchbook, filled with lots of random character drawings. I really love his drawings.
A discussed topic was the sense of “otherness” that accompanies the gothic genre, which they liked the idea of and thought that they could relate to, many of them not initially being over-popular due to their different interests, etc. They discussed the individuality and quirkiness of the style. I found it interesting to see the types of people in the audience, as many of them had adopted a gothic clothing style. A few of them had top hats and big boots, and the prominent colour being worn was black.
The talk was thoroughly enjoyable, covering many different topics, and afterwards we got to meet the authors. I spoke to Sally Gardener and Chris Riddell, getting some of their books that I owned signed. They were really nice to talk to, and I spoke to Riddell about his interest in art and how he attained his style and learnt to draw so well. He told me that it’s important to continuously practise drawing and to copy artists’ work if you like their style, to get a feel for how they draw.
Chris Riddell also drew me a drawing, which was pretty cool.
Pure Destruction 