Alison has been writing short stories to share with friends and family for many years and always enjoys exploring her creativity when putting pen to paper. She is excited to have the opportunity to share her love of writing with others. She lives in a small town in New Zealand near many beautiful parks and beaches. Alison has been playing trombone since about 2010, euphonium from mid-2019, and always likes getting together with a few friends to ‘make a joyful noise’ sharing music.
One of her books, The Bronson Escapades, is a Silver Recipient of the Mom’s Choice Awards® honorary seal of excellence, and The Wolf Cub is a 2nd place winner of the Royal Dragonfly Book Award Competition of 2024 in both the ‘Education’ and ‘Coffee Table & Gift Books’ categories, in addition to obtaining Honorary Mention in several others: Best Cover Design, Children’s Chapter Books, Middle Grade Fiction, and Animals/Pets (a complete list of results can be found on the Story Monsters Book Awards website). Alison’s 2024 trilogy titled Whisper, Lucas, and Escape have also been presented with the NAPPA Award winning seal. Alison hugely appreciates having received this outstanding recognition, as well as all the other encouraging comments regarding her earlier works.
More details about Alison’s books can be found on her website or by following her author page on Facebook for more regular updates.
About The Wolf Cub
Lewis lives with his mother in a small cottage which backs onto a vast forest. Too young and poor to join any classes at the village school, the cheerful little boy instead makes friends with all the local animals, so he isn’t too lonely while his mother is busy scrambling about to put food on the table.
But Lewis instinctively longs for a special companion, and looking after a timid wolf cub might be just the answer he’s looking for. But as the wild animal grows stronger, some of the villagers are less than pleased and Lewis begins to fear the loyal creature will meet the same fatal death as its wounded mother. Modeling kindness and compassion on every page, this book seeks to teach readers about the respectful treatment of those around them while also helping them learn not to judge others merely by appearances.
Why do you write in the genre that you do?
Children’s middle grade fiction is still one of my favorite genres to read, even though I’m no longer in that age group, and my stories are likely a tangible reflection of that. I especially enjoy the ones about animals, so it seemed perfectly natural for me to adopt a similar sort of approach with my own writing.
Do you keep a notebook of ideas?
Yes, indeed. I actually have a file on my laptop where I jot down whatever comes to mind that I might want to use for something later on. This may be anything from choosing story titles, noting key dialogue between characters, or could even cover entire scenes to include within specific books that would help move the plot along.
Fill in the blank: “People will like your book if they like stories about…”
Animals! 🙂
Would you rather own a bookstore or run a library?
Hard question! Both would be awesome, but I think I would go with owning a bookstore as presumably the owner would have greater flexibility and more creative freedom over what content is actually being stocked, rather than simply needing to have certain material available just because it’s in popular demand. I could be mistaken about how the library option would work, but the idea of being more selective and able to choose the titles sold in a bookstore resonates more strongly with me personally.
How do you name your characters?
Umm… to put it simply, names for my characters usually seem to just pop into my head for no reason, and then annoyingly enough, not go away again until after I’ve written it down somewhere (like on my ideas list). At this stage, I have only written fictional stories which have no need for me to change names for anonymity’s sake or anything like that, so once I’ve come up with something suitable I tend to just stick with it permanently.
If Hollywood bought the rights to your book, would you want it to be turned into a movie or series?
Movie, please! I think my style of writing in The Wolf Cub would be more fitting for a feature length film, not split up into different episodes as what would naturally happen with a series.
What are your passions/obsessions outside of writing?
For the last few years, I have really enjoyed developing my basic skills as a hobbyist photographer and building up a small-scale freelance business on the side. Chief subjects include different forms of nature, such as landscapes and close-ups of flowers, as well as birds and other local wildlife.
I also love spending time with my dog, Smoky, who is always keen to explore various parks and other places with me and is very patient while I’m taking lots of pictures! She is my favorite model, and another recurring theme in my photography is attempting to capture as many beautiful sunsets as possible, especially at some of the nearest beaches.
Who is on your Mt. Rushmore of greatest/inspirational authors?
Only four!? Currently, I would have to say Jen Turano, Beverly Lewis, Janette Oke, and Tracie Peterson. One day I hope to write some adult novels that more closely resembles what these incredible authors have achieved so far.
Have you ever mentored another writer with their writing?
I very much still feel like an amateur myself as there is always more to learn about the art of writing, but I do have one friend who is an aspiring writer whom I try to share different aspects with fairly regularly. This could be anything from deciding what descriptive words to use in various settings or what actually happens in the entire publication process once one of my polished-up manuscripts has been accepted for print.
Is there an idea that a non-writer has pitched to you that you have written or considered writing?
Yes, there certainly is. One instance in particular comes to mind straight away whenever this concept is mentioned…
Several years ago, I wrote a short story about a little girl who is forced to run away from an abusive home and is consequently separated from her loving mother in the frantic search for safety. They are reunited much later on, but the main storyline follows Britney’s journey while the terrified little girl has to live off the kindness of strangers until she feels as if she really does belong with them and comes to accept that everything around her has changed.
A friend read this early manuscript and commented that it could easily be turned into a series, with the chief focus being switched to some of the other key characters, and in turn, filling out their own backstories in more depth. Optimistically, I churned this idea over for a while, and eventually, my trilogy Whisper, Lucas, and Escape quickly followed suit and was published in 2024.
Lucas follows the childhood journey of the orphan boy who grows up to take the vulnerable Britney under his wing and Escape seeks to provide dedicated readers with more empathy and understanding by describing some of the same traumatic events that caused her mother to send the little girl away in the first place, only this time it’s from a different point of view.
Are you a big reader? Do you own a large collection of books, or are you more of a borrower?
Absolutely! I’ve always been an avid reader and there is no such thing as too many books, so yes, I have quite a lot… I do borrow books on occasion but generally prefer adding to my own collection as I can always donate any that don’t end up being of enough interest for me to keep.
How do you measure the success of your writing career?
My main focus as an author is to create engaging chapter books for children who are able to read simple plot-lines on their own, continuing to help them grow in confidence and learn about real-life issues, even within fictional settings. A long-term goal for my writing is to present younger readers with a wider range of material which illustrate high moral standards and assist those children to personally embrace these traits in their own day-to-day lives. It has never been about the number of sales made, but rather, how many people I can reach in a positive way who will then come away from their reading experience feeling encouraged or more inspired by the underlying messages of hope found in most of my books.
Buy it!
Buy a copy of The Wolf Cub here, and help support local bookstores!
This is an affiliate link, and I will earn a commission on any sales.
Pin it to Pinterest!
