Imagination, Editing, and Writing with Steve Cole
Childhood imagination pays off
This week on the podcast, I’m talking with bestselling children’s author Steve Cole.
Steve’s love of story starts with his fascination with TV as a child, from The Incredible Hulk to Doctor Who with stops at other 70s classics like The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. He tells me about his journey from editor to writer, including time editing childrens’ books for Ladybird and the BBC’s Doctor Who range in the 90s, and how his editing background influences his writing these days.
There’s also a great story about meeting his childhood writing hero, Terrance Dicks, who wrote the vast majority of Doctor Who novelizations from the Classic Who days, and eventually working together on the BBC Books series.
Steve’s latest book, Drowning in My Bedroom, just came out in April, and he’s also the author of the Astrosaurs and Young Bond series, as well as my personal nominee for the Best-Named Picture Book Ever Award (should anyone decide to give one): Go to Sleep or I Let Loose the Leopard. (If only my nephews were still small enough for picture books…)
Listen on your favorite podcast app or at YouTube. (YouTube takes a little while to process, so if you don’t see it yet, it’ll be there soon!)
Please share your thoughts in a comment!
P.S.: Podcast transcripts are now available in the full show notes on my website! I’m adding them to new episodes, and going back to add them to previous episodes as time allows. They’re only very lightly edited, so there may be a few errors, but they’re very good. Apple Podcasts has also auto-generated transcripts in its app (for all podcasts, not just mine), so if you can’t wait for an older one, you can find them for every episode there. I’m very excited to finally be able to make these available, and I really hope they’re helpful! You can find the link in your podcast app.