Rebecca's Interview with
Laura O'Keeffe & Trevor Reaveley

Author & Illustrator of
The Freddy Fly Books

Rebecca :
How did you come to write these stories about Freddy Fly and the Christmas Cuddle; Freddy Fly and his Magic Eye; Freddy Fly and the Naughty Nightmare & Freddy Fly and the Venus Fly Trap?

Laura :
I made up Freddy stories for my small children and my brother Phil suggested that I write them down! So, with plenty of spare evenings (!) as a single Mum, I sat at the kitchen table and invented the rest of the characters and story lines, then spent months distilling out the best.

Rebecca :
For what age of children are your books written & why?

Laura :
They are written for 4-6 year olds, because this was the age at which my own kids were most interested in the stories and also the age at which the little problems that Freddy faces are mirrored in their own lives.

Rebecca :
In what ways can parents & care providers use your Freddy Fly books to get conversations going?

Laura :
In each book, Freddy has a problem which he overcomes or understands with the help of the other characters. His problems can be the same as the children's and so, while the child is relaxed and enjoying reading or having the story read to them, the carer can use this opportunity to gently explore these issues in their child's own life.

Rebecca :
In each book you present a very real childhood event about which authors have written volumes on such subjects as choosing between an adventure which kind of seems dangerous or going to soccer practice; getting all excited about presents around Christmas only to find out that there are somethings more important; about learning to discern between “real” & “imaginary” - how did you keep the stories simple?

Laura :
Lots and lots and LOTS of hard rewriting!!! I found it extremely difficult and demanding to write a story that had an interesting and useful storyline as well as character descriptions plus language simple enough for young children to understand, whilst being confined to 30 words a page! It would have been much easier to waffle on and write short novels but I think that the brevity has contributed to the impact and relevance of the tales to this age-group - so, despite all the frustration and hard work, it was a worthwhile exercise.

Rebecca :
Would you tell me about yourself? Have you been writing long?

Laura :
I am a doctor and complementary therapist by profession. Freddy is my first attempt at writing as a “grown up” but I was very good at creative writing at school - I just never had time to devote to it!

Rebecca :
Do tell us about your future books. Will there be a Freda Fly who encounters problems particular to girls?

Laura :
Regarding Freddy, I have plans for about another 15 books - they will cover such subjects as bullying, peer pressure about material goods, illness and dying, self-image etc.

Freddy has a girlfriend called Fluffy Fly, who will be making an appearance in the next book. Despite her name, she's quite a tough cookie and a feminist role model! She will continue to pop up throughout the series and I hope the girls will love her as much as Freddy does! She was originally called “Frisky” Fly - but I think that was a bit outrageous!;) Mind you, It's a good idea of yours to give her her own series! Must have a think about that!

Rebecca :
I went out to Amazon.Com only to find they don't carry your Freddy Fly books here in the U.S. Where can we buy them?

Laura :
The UK site of Amazon.Com does have them - I think it's something to do with needing an American distributor?

Rebecca :
I shall donate the 4 books I do have to our local rural library - I think the children there will have a grand time with Freddy Fly. Well done, my dear! I am impressed!

Laura :
I'm really thrilled that you're giving the books to the children - it gives me such pleasure to see how much they love the books. We took them into my kids' school for a reading session and they were entranced - they even invented and drew their own flies(Fantastic Fly, French Fly etc) and then spent all playtime rushing around bzzzzing and making up fly games - that sort of thing is the real reward!

It's a pleasure to see Trevor get good reviews too - the books are a joint effort and he's done wonderfully well. Thanks for recognising his contribution.

These questions are for Trevor Reaveley, illustrator of the Freddy Fly books:

Rebecca :
What are the media you use for your pictures?

Trevor - MacArtist :
All of the Freddy illustration are done on an Apple Macintosh. They do however start life as pencil sketches from initial roughs, which are then scanned into the computer, redrawn and coloured.

Rebecca :
How big did you make them?

Trevor - MacArtist :
Sorry to be a disappointment, everyone expects artists to work huge, but they are all done at the finished size. What you see in a Freddy book is the same size as the working image.

Rebecca :
Did you have fun with Freddy Fly?

Trevor - MacArtist :
Yes, a lot of fun and a lot of hard work. I've always enjoyed drawing this chunky, graphic style of illustration, it probably stems back to many years ago when I used to do the illustrations (on paper) for a toy company's “childrens activity” books.

Rebecca :
Tell my readers about yourself - what new projects are you working on?

Trevor - MacArtist :
There's not too much to tell really. I'm 39, self-employed, and I've been illustrating for about 18 years. I started out working traditionally with pencil and paper, but now about 95% of my work is computerised.

I have new projects everyday, but I'm not a book illustrator in the true sense of the word with months of work on various books ahead of me. My background is in doing illustrations and photo-retouching for advertising and marketing purposes, and these are normally wanted with just a day or two as turnaround times. At the moment I seem to be spending all of my time drawing Santa Claus, Christmas trees, Rudolph and angels for Christmas cards.

The largest project I've worked on recently is the Christmas promotion for Safeway supermarkets, appearing now in a store near you!

Rebecca :
Trevor, I greatly enjoyed your images of Freddy Fly buzzing about his interesting life! I hope this exposure gets a distributor in America to carry these delightful books!

Do check out my review of The Freddy Fly Books.

Rebecca
(Published December 03, 2000)