Do your DC have a question for Cressida Cowell? Join our webchat on Saturday 26 September, 10:30am

[TinaMumsnet]

We're very pleased to announce that Cressida Cowell will be joining us for a webchat on Saturday 26 September at 10:30am.

Cressida Cowell's How To Train Your Dragon series made has her a household name. Her scratchy, vivid illustrations, mischievous humour, support of the underdog and crazy plotlines have enthralled young readers across the land. As well as being a global bestseller, it also inspired the Dreamworks film franchise of the same name: the second movie, How To Train Your Dragon 2, came out last year, and was a box office smash. Somehow, she's also found the time to continue her work for the National Literacy Trust (NLT), the Children's Media Foundation (CMF) and The Reading Agency.

This month, she brings the series to an end in How to Fight a Dragon's Fury, the 12th and final adventure for Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.

On Saturday 3 October Cressida will be joining a glittering line-up of authors at the Telegraph Bath Children's Literature Festival, which runs for 10 days from Friday 25 September (visit the website for further information).

Do you or your DC have a question for Cressida? Join us for the webchat or if you can't make it post your question on the thread below.

Photo by Debra Hurford Brown.

My DS (aged 10) asks 'Why is the last book? All of the other books were brilliant are you going to write a new series of books. please."
????

Hello there everyone, thank you for all the questions you've asked already - quite a few of you seem to be wanting to know if I will be writing more How to Train Your Dragon books...The answer is probably YES, even though How to Fight a Dragon's Fury is the last in the story arc, and very much a final book, (you'll see what I mean if you read it), I may very well write more books set in the How to Train Your Dragon world. There's so much I could do - stories about Hiccup as an adult, adventures of Camicazi...who knows?

Good morning Cressida we're delighted that you're able to join us our first ever Saturday morning webchat. There are plenty of questions already posted on the thread but I'd like to kick off with the questions we ask all the authors that join us:

What childhood book most inspired you?

What would be the first piece of advice you would give to anyone attempting to write fiction?

What would be the first piece of advice you would give to anyone attempting to write fiction?

And the best you've received?

Over to you...

@AlwaysOutnumberdNeverOutgunned

Hi Cressida, your stories are comic genius and the David Tennant audio versions are a huge favourite in our house. Thanks for these wonderful stories

Dc question - do you have a dragon and what is it called?

Mummy question - how do you feel about the americanisation of Hiccup's accent in the tv version? I feel this let an otherwise brilliant adaptation down and wondered how much say you get as the original writer?

@gingercat12

DS and I love your books. He is 7 and went to school dressed as Hiccup from book 9 (not the film or book 8 - he said outraged) for World Book Day.

We both thoroughly enjoy your humour, sarcasm and humanity. We are only on book 11, as we try to stagger it out to last longer.

I personally enjoyed Stoick's 'We shall fight them on the beaches' speech most. We had to listen to Churchill after that.

I am guessing book 12 is the end. (We had a look at in Morrisons, but did not want to spoil ourselves). Have you anything else in the pipeline? Would you write for adults? I for one would love to read more from you.

Thank you for sharing these stories with us. They led to a lot of discussions and guesswork in our house.

Hi there AlwaysOutnumberedNeverOutgunned, I love the David Tennant audios as well, he is a total GENIUS and does it all in practically one take, it's extraordinary...
I love the movies, and the t.v. series, and I really like Jay Baruchel as an actor, he's v like Hiccup in person, so the Canadian accent doesn't bother me. DreamWorks consult me a lot.

Hi there, gingercat12 I am so glad you noticed the Churchill reference. I sort of AM writing for adults as well, because adults read the books with their kids. I like writing children's books because I want to get kids reading, its a personal Quest of mine - children's books are NOT lesser books in my eyes

My daughter Ailsa (10 yrs old & with 3 younger brothers) wants to know what a Dream Vorpent looks like. Not sure if I messed up the spelling. It was in The Incomplete Book of dragons, but without a picture.
She just did a quick 30 seconds sketch of what it looks like in her head - but still wants to know the way it 'really' looks.

@hermancakedestroyer

Hi Cressida, my friend's daughter absolutely loves your books. She asked me to ask you the following question... Olana would like to know how you feel about the differences between the book and the film versions of how to train your dragon? Does she share Olana's outrage?? Many thanks

hi there hermancakedestroyer, the thing is, that books and films are different mediums and the wonderful thing about books is, they are partly what I write and partly what you imagine - which is why, in my opinion, a film is NEVER exactly how you imagine it is going to be when you read a book. I don't share Olana's outrage, because I didn't write the books as 'screenplays', I write them to work as a book series. I think the films are wonderful films and they have heart, as well as humour, glorious visuals and music and the strong messages about heroism, war and looking after the environment that are so important to me.

Cressida, I did not mean that children's books are lesser somehow, I am happily reading them myself

DS says hi and he is delighted there will be more Hiccup books.

@TinaMumsnet

Good morning Cressida we're delighted that you're able to join us our first ever Saturday morning webchat. There are plenty of questions already posted on the thread but I'd like to kick off with the questions we ask all the authors that join us:

What childhood book most inspired you?

What would be the first piece of advice you would give to anyone attempting to write fiction?

What would be the first piece of advice you would give to anyone attempting to write fiction?

And the best you've received?

Over to you...

Hello there TinaMumsnet, thank you so much for having me on, what a great idea this is!

So many childhood books inspired me - I adored Tolkein, and Wizard of Earthsea, all of Diana Wynne Jones's fantasy books, Enid Blyton's adventure stories, Pippi Longstocking, Brothers Lionheart, I could go on and on and on...I read voraciously as a kid

My first piece of advice to anyone attempting to write fiction would be to READ masses of different kinds of books and genres, because it gives you a feel for the different way stories can be told...

Never give up, and write what you want to read. If you're writing for children, bear in mind that they may find the mechanics of reading difficult, but they are highly intelligent and want to be entertained, made to laugh, made to cry, scared (in a thrilling way rather than freaked out) and made to think...

PS - after spending ages buying well reviewed 'big kids books'- with more words and less pictures- that never got used, I was getting a bit frustrated. My daughter then ran home at the age of 8 saying that her teacher had started reading a book and that we 'had to get it right then' so that she didn't have to wait for her teacher to read it. The Book? Yes, it was 'How To Train Your Dragon' ...which was already sitting on our bookshelf - feeling lonely and unloved. She dove in right away and she hates waiting for new books to come out (no pressure - quality of quantity and all).
Thank you! - I love hearing her giggle out loud when she's reading your books, as well as watching her show her music teachers the pictures of her favorite Dragons in your Incomplete Book of Dragons.

Many Thanks,
Karen

@Racundra

DS has more questions! (sorry)

Who did Hiccup marry when he grew up? (his first thought was that he might be gay and marry Fishlegs because he loved him so much, but then I pointed out the children bit...)

And I really, really have to know about the scars on the dragons' chests- where did Wodensfang and Toothless' scars come from? How did they have them, are they really related to Furious in some way? (in which case, why was it never mentioned?)

Thank you!

Hi there Racundra, I've been asked this Hiccup marriage question so many times on the book tour! I don't want to give anything away IN CASE I want to write more books about Hiccup when he's older. I think I have said somewhere that Hiccup has a daughter though.

If you re read the books you'll find that Toothless gets the scar on his chest defending Hiccup from the Green Death in book 1, and Wodensfang gets the scar on his chest when he is sent to kill Hiccup the First (who sews it up for him - I think I tell this story in How to Steal a Dragon's Sword)

@muffincuriosity

You've marveled in amazement before at how David Tennant will almost seemlessly go from character to character when recording the audiobook. If he's yet to record this final adventure, is there any chance when he does so of sharing a short video of his doing the reading for the rest of us to see and marvel at his skill as well?

Are there any new tribes in the new book? It won't be released here across the Atlantic for over another month from now...

Thank you in advance for your answers!

Hi there muffin curiosity, I'll ask my editor whether that's possible...There ARE new Tribes in the new book (David is going to be really cross with me about that because he told me he's running out of accents!)

@BathshebaDarkstone

From DD 8, who's currently reading How to Fight a Dragon's Fury:

Why do you like dragons?

hello BathshebaDarkstone, I like dragons because of the tantalising idea that they might exist, why not? Peoples across the world and throughout history have believed in dragons, and we've never been down to the trenches at the bottom of the ocean. Perhaps we don't know everything about this wonderful world of ours...Dragons for me represent wilderness, the wildness of nature, and how we ought to respect that wildness, and learn from it.

Also as a kid I really wanted to own my very own hunting dragon, and fly on a dragon's back

@gingercat12

Cressida, I did not mean that children's books are lesser somehow, I am happily reading them myself

DS says hi and he is delighted there will be more Hiccup books.

:) I know, I think there is a growing understanding that children's books can be taken seriously as literature, I am so glad you are enjoying the books too, say hi to your DS and send my love

@Badders123

Oh fantastic! My eldest son loves your books! They are the only books he has ever read for pleasure - and as he is severely dyslexic that is pretty much the highest compliments I can give you! He read the latest in a 4 hour stint with one break for a snack :) My sons question is... Will there be any further books about hiccup as an adult and as king of the wilderwest? Or more adventures of toothless as a sea dragon? Thank you so much for this wonderful series :)

hi there Badders123

I am so glad your son loves the books so much. I get so many letters/emails from the parents of dyslexic kids who are loving the books, which I find really interesting...I think partly this is because dyslexic kids have problems with the MECHANICS of reading, but they are often highly intelligent. So I never 'dumb down' the stories or the language in the books, I just present them in a highly visual manner, which perhaps dyslexic children feel more comfortable with rather than lots and lots of rather indigestible looking text...

Tell your son I may well write more books about Hiccup as an adult and more adventures of Toothless as a Seadragon...and send him my love

@Prettyinblue

My DS (aged 10) asks 'Why is the last book? All of the other books were brilliant are you going to write a new series of books. please." ????

hi there Prettyinblue, tell your DS I AM going to write a new series of books, set in a completely different world, but I may write more httyd books too...

Hi Cressida

Thank you so much Cressida!
:)
He will be thrilled.
We love the films too, even though they differ quite a lot from the books.
Ds1 and I snigger wildly at each other every year when he begins a new school year and gets his new timetable and and I ask him "have you got "advanced rudery" this year!?" :)
Please keep up the great work x

@gingercat12

Cressida, I did not mean that children's books are lesser somehow, I am happily reading them myself

DS says hi and he is delighted there will be more Hiccup books.

hi there ginger cat :) I'm glad you're enjoying the books too, send your DS my love

My two DSes (age 7 and 4, nearly 5) adore your books - they went to school as Hiccup and Toothless for World Book Day.

DS1's Question to you is "how did you come up with inspiration for dragons and vikings to live together?"

I've heard it said that girls will read books with boys as the main characters, but boys are less likely to read books with girls as the main character.
Have you considered a different book (series) with a girl as the main character.

In There's no such thing as a Ghostie (not a Hiccup book) there appear to be footsteps made by the ghost (making everyone turn around) but then at the end of the book a football goes through the ghost (thus, how would there be footstep sounds). I told my 6 year old that this must have been the difference between the illustrator and the author.

Both of my children have adored your books. Dd would love to see a video of how to draw "proper" Toothless. She draws vorpents and hogflies and nano dragons on all her school books. Thank you for all the joy you have given us!

Hi Cressida

Do you know when/if the last books will be recorded as audio books? We love David Tennant's versions of the characters!

And DS1 wants to know 'How much fun did you have writing the books?'

@Enb76

My daughter loves your books, her favourite person is Camicazi whom she feels is by far the funniest of all the characters.

So we have watched the films, watched the TV series (both Netflix and terrestrial), read the books, and listened to the audiobook (Tennant really is a blinder of a choice to narrate these)

My daughter's question is, would you think about writing any stand-alone stories with girls similar to Camicazi because she would like to read books like that.

My question is - do you feel that the film and tv franchise of your books has created an entirely different world and set of characters to the world your Hiccup inhabits and does it make you sad (it does me) or do you separate them entirely in your head.

hi there Enb76, I am so glad your daughter loves Camicazi, I wrote her because she was the kind of girl Hero I loved when I was a kid (I was very keen on Pippi Longstocking)

I may well write stand-alone stories about her in the future - I haven't quite made up my mind what I am going to do next in the httyd world, but I am definitely going to be also writing a new series set in a different world as well.

I do separate the film and tv world from the book world in my head.

It doesn't make me sad that the film and tv world is different. I would find it very constraining if I had to make everything in the book world consistent with what is going on in the film and tv world. From my point of view, it is creatively liberating that I don't have to worry about continuity in this way...

I can be INSPIRED by what they are doing in the films and tv. But I am not CONSTRAINED by it.

I also have a very good relationship with the film people, I am good friends with the director and the producer of the films (it is the same team writing and making all three films) and they are very collaborative, sending me scripts, asking my opinion etc.

Dragons waiting patiently to see I their question gets answered. Except that dragons don't really do patient... My iPad is getting nervous