Q&A with Claire Freedman - Dragons Love Underpants -

Today, we are thrilled to welcome a very special guest to our blog—Claire Freedman, author of the bestselling Aliens Love Underpants series. Claire joins us as part of our exciting blog tour celebrating the release of her hilarious new picture book, Dragons Love Underpants.

In Dragons Love Underpants, Claire introduces us to a fiery new adventure that promises to be as heartwarming and hilarious as its predecessors. But what inspires these quirky stories? How does Claire dream up her hilarious scenarios? And what can aspiring young writers learn from her journey? We’ll dive into all these questions and more in our Q&A.

Your Underpants series has been a huge hit with kids. What inspired you to create such a fun and whimsical series?

When I wrote the first book, Aliens Love Underpants, I certainly didn’t envisage it would turn into a series, or become so popular with children. I’m always searching for new characters, and with aliens you really have free rein to do whatever you want with them. I love writing humour, so I decided to make my aliens ridiculously silly and funny. By teaming the crazy aliens with underpants, I asked myself, why would aliens come to Earth? The answer was to steal our underpants, of course! From there the story almost wrote itself.

How do you come up with the hilarious situations? Do you have a special process for brainstorming these ideas?

Coming up with the germ of an idea is quite easy for me, but fleshing the ideas out in ways that are new, fresh and exciting is the hardest part of writing. I generally spend a lot of time thinking before putting pen to paper. Then when ideas start to come together (hopefully!) or characters appear, I jot down my ideas or dialogue. It’s only when I have the whole story mapped out in my head that I can begin to write properly. If I’m writing about a particular animal, for example a duck, I’ll surround myself with pictures of ducks and duck environments to get into the feel of the book.

Illustrations play a big role in your books. How did you and Ben Cort collaborate on bringing your new book, Dragons Love Underpants, to life? What do you enjoy most about working with Ben?

I am just so grateful that my editor and the art director at Simon & Schuster decided to choose Ben as the illustrator for our books, right from the very start! I really couldn’t imagine anyone else illustrating our Underpants series. Ben really ‘got’ the book right from the start. With Dragons Love Underpants, I knew I could rely on Ben’s brilliant work. I couldn’t wait to see his rough drawings and was of course delighted with his interpretation of the text. We don’t really cross over on our work – I write, Ben illustrates. We have worked together a fair amount over the years, and get on very well indeed. In fact, it’s so much nicer to do an event together than on my own.

How do you think children’s books can impact a child’s imagination and creativity?

Reading and being read books has a significant positive influence on children in so many ways. Picture books are generally the first step into reading, and a well written, engaging and imaginative book can foster a lifelong love of reading – and often writing too – which has to be a good thing. Even if the child has yet to learn to read, there’s so much fun to be had just from the illustrations. Picture books are often a shared experience, so there’s plenty of opportunity to spark a child’s imagination through discussing what’s going on in the story. I know I was inspired by books at a very early age.

Do you have any tips for young aspiring writers or illustrators who want to create their own stories?

Here are a few tips…

Write about what excites and interests you – then that excitement will spill over into your writing.

Ask yourself the question: what if…? You can make something very ordinary into something very exciting. What if you woke up and… heard a loud growl, saw a monster tapping on your window, found a dinosaur under the bed, discovered you were on another planet? The ‘what if’s’ can be as crazy and wild as you like, and will help ideas and plots flow more easily.

Try putting two very different characters together who have opposite traits to their usual expectation. Perhaps a shy huge whale and a bold tiny fish, or a clumsy character with someone who likes order. Good characters help make good plots.

When you’re not writing, what do you enjoy doing? Do you have any hobbies or interests that influence your work?

I like making things, like personal birthday cards or gifts for friends, and also sewing clothes. I don’t have a lot of time for major projects but I enjoy getting the sewing machine out and getting creative. I have also fallen in love with gardening, as I get so absorbed in potting out plants and deadheading, I totally forget everything else. I love walking and, of course, reading – giving myself time off to read a great novel is total bliss! And if I’m in the mood, some home baking is relaxing, and I get to eat the results. I’m not sure that my hobbies influence my work, but they do give my brain a much-needed rest!

What has been the most rewarding part of your journey as an author so far?

I’ll never forget when Aliens Love Underpants won the Sheffield Picture Book Prize, years back. Ben and I were in the audience and a video showed children reading our book, some of the children actually bent over double with laughter. I was so amazed that our book caused such enjoyment – that was so lovely! Meeting children is one of the most rewarding parts of the job for me. I often ‘virtually visit’ schools via the internet – it’s so convenient for all, and I still get huge pleasure seeing children giggle and having fun hearing me read and talk with them. It’s very special.

Just for Fun

Tea or coffee? Tea

Paper books or e-books? Paper books

Cake or chocolate? Tough one! You really want me to choose? Chocolate.????

Write or type? Write

Poetry or prose? Poetry

Hot or cold? Cold