Bryan Evans Kids' Books

ALPHABET TOWN 

ALPHABET TOWN is my first picture book to be published by New Frontier Publishing in August 2012. I’ts a story about curiosity and imagination. Poor Zero (the number). Nobody took any notice of her because she didn’t amount to anything. Then she met Spot the Dot. Together they discovered ALPHABET TOWN and learned that curiosity and imagination can change everything for the better.

The story was lovingly illustrated by Keiko Moorhouse under her pen-name Kimberley Moon.

The book trailer for ‘ALPHABET TOWN’  can be viewed on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=hqVd5nsmeFs

ALPHABET TOWN is available here:

http://www.newfrontier.com.au/books/alphabet-town/482.html

Writing is an art

I’ve always been driven by my insatiable imagination, inspired by what I can see and feel in the creative processes going on in my brain. I become lost in the visual delights and adventures created there, living and feeling every emotion.

I wanted to share my imaginary journey into delight so I began writing stories. The composition of my writing was inspired by the great storytellers like the Brothers Grimm and the visual transformations by the imaginers of the Disney studios.

Somewhere along the way I realised that writing is an art not just putting thoughts on paper in the form of words. Published authors, writing teachers, editors and mentors gradually gave me a better understanding of the writing process. I still consider myself a student and always will be. I know the benchmarks I like to aim at and I have a fairly good idea of my limitations. But that only means that I work harder to become a better storyteller and a better writer. My books are full of fun, adventure, imagination and creativity. That’s what I like.

I want to encourage kids to pick up a book and read it all.

Many kids and I’m sorry to say, many adults too are put off by the effort of reading. I suppose I too was a lazy reader as a young kid. It was hard to settle down with a book when there was so much going on around me. I started with picture books and then comics and progressed from there. I wanted to be a cowboy or a superhero like Superman and Tarzan. However, I realised I was missing out on the adventures available in books.  Later, I studied the works of the great visual creators too, like Spielberg, Lucas and Disney.

Storyland

These days nothing has changed. I regularly escape into the wonderful, unlimited creations of Storyland. Storyland is my expanding Treasure Island of dreams, created for the ever increasing delights and adventures alive and well in the boy that lives in me.

Alphabet Town – Testimonials

I tested my ‘Alphabet Town’ story in 2010 on a website that printed children’s stories . I’ve included some testimonials at the bottom of this article, from people who read my story.

Funky Lizards 

Many years ago I created some funky lizard characters. I had a theme in mind for these characters and even gave them names. In my mind, the lizard characters had individual personalities. I wanted to create a story for those personalities. It had to be cool and fast moving. It had to be funny and dangerous and different, perhaps even a little way out, oddball, creepy and crunchy. It had to be funky…

For years, these Funky lizard characters circled my mind. What kind of wacky adventure would suite them? I wasn’t satisfied with the storylines flashing through my mind. I knew what I wanted but I just couldn’t see it clearly.

Perhaps I was trying too hard. There were long periods where I just let it go. However, my characters wanted a life. They demanded it. I needed to create a suitable setting for them before I could develop a story. What would be a perfect setting for my Funky lizards?

My Funky lizard characters lived with me for a long time. They became my companions in a way, locked inside my head, waiting for my imagination to get the show on the road.

Persistence pays off

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve read or heard that persistence is 90-95% of success. I knew eventually, something would emerge, and it did. I woke up one morning with an idea. Most of the good creative ideas seem to burst into my brain when I awake after a good night’s sleep. I don’t know where the inspiration comes from or how it works, but it seemed so clear; a dump. Yeah! I could see my characters in that setting, living in cracked tea-pot houses, rusty old cars, tin cans and other wacky homes for creatures that live in a dump.

Okay, so the Funky lizards live in a dump. Now I needed some villians. To get my mind in the right thinking pattern I had to first picture the scene. Another setting began to form in my mind; a swamp. Yeah! The villains lived in a swamp. Why not put the dump in the swamp as well? That would create a conflict situation.

Now my brain was bouncing along with the musical beat of the storyline in my head. Ideas were coming thick and fast. Possible villains were forming in my mind. One-eye and his crow-nees and Rotten Rooney and his swamp rats entered the plot. As the plot thickened, other crazy characters popped up, just right for the part.

My brain moved much faster than my hands. Like a lot of authors, I prefer my word processor to a writing pad. However, my two finger dance on the keyboard is no moonwalk, more like a three-legged race. But the story bounced along nicely and took on a musical theme. The Critterbugs rock and roll band were playing at the dump; Lizard Landing to the folks that lived there. While the rock and roll concert was in full swing, the villains hatched a nasty plan; a kidnap.

The Funky Lizards and a crocodile cousin were chomping mad when One-eye and Rotten Rooney outsmarted them and pulled off the kidnap.

The big lizards wanted a chomp fest. But Hiphop the Swamp Jock, a cool, hip hop lizard suggested they needed a cool, smart rescue plan instead. However, that was not the only problem. Seems One-eye had a gecko feast in mind. Beebop, a popular gecko lived in Captain Benny’s hat. Captain Benny was the Mayor of Lizard Landing (the dump). One-eye had planned a gecko feast for some time. Beebop was at the top of his imaginary menu. One-eye demanded the gecko be handed over as part of the ransom.

I was on a roll now. Ideas were flowing. I wanted some kind of zany peace keeping outfit in the story. Up comes the Swamp Patrol; a misfit bunch of recruits from the dump, under the instructions of Sergeant Booger.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m fairly conservative in my outlook and behaviour, so where did this book come from?

Imagination has its own rules; i.e. No rules at all. When I create characters for a story, my mind must take on and develop the personality of those characters. So dialogue, characteristics, behaviour and language are all important to the credibility of the character and each character has a different personality and disposition. All this must be clear in my mind before it becomes words on paper. That’s the fun part. Using the right words in the right way is where it becomes difficult and requires days and weeks and sometimes months of thought, revision and rework before reaching a satisfactory result.

Having settled on the pace and theme of the story, the title for the book seemed to fall into place; Bog Swamp Boogie

I hope everyone from seven to seventy reads this book. I know you will enjoy it as much as I did writing it.

Review by: Sally Odgers on Dec. 06, 2010 :
Bog Swamp Boogie is a riot to read. The story bounces along like Banjo Paterson on a pogostick and the characters are a rich and ripe bunch of bush critters. The fun really does come fast and furious as blackmail, bribery, kidnapping, plot and counterplot, a stunned owl and escaping maggots all play their part. If you happen to know a nine-year-old boy (or anyone with that delightfully fiendish taste in literature) buy ‘em a copy of Bog Swamp Boogie.

SUCCESS IS A BALONEY SANDWICH     

Success is never easy. We’ve all heard that. However, do we know what success is? For many people it’s a dilemma or at the very least, confusing. So the too hard basket attracts another recruit.

According to Wikipedia; Success may mean, but is not limited to a level of social status or an achievement of an objective or goal.  Read the rest of this entry

Young readers are:

• Passionate readers
• Casual readers
• Reluctant readers
• Lazy readers
• Uninterested

If you’re anything like I was, you’re in the middle somewhere, especially if you’re male. Guys like us struggle a bit sometimes, right; too many distractions.  Read the rest of this entry