Frame, Susan

writers in schools information

Frame participates in the Writers in Schools programme. She is happy to discuss being a children's picture book author. She can speak to students at kindergarten level right up to Year 12, and would prefer to speak to 30-60 people at a time. She is able to tour outside of her region.

KAPAI: Kids Authors Pictures and Information

Where do you live?
I live in Maori Hill, Dunedin with my husband, Greg. We only have 2 of our sons at home now, Adam (20) and Patrick (17). Nic (23) must have got sick of his mother's cooking and went flatting!

What sorts of books do you like to read?
I love reading children’s picture books, inspirational books and novels (especially romantic novels).

Who is your favourite author?
Tough question! There are so many. One of my favourite picture authors is Giles Andreas – his book Giraffes Can’t Dance is just lovely. One of my favourite novelists is Barbara Kingsolver. I read four of her books in January while I was on holiday. I love the Chicken Soup books too. Sandy McKay who is a friend of mine is a great writer —I love her book Recycled.

How do you think up your ideas?
Sometimes I see or hear something that makes me think, ‘Oh, yes, that would make a good story.’ Sometimes my stories are based on things that have actually happened in our family. And sometimes I have to write stories according to fairly strict guidelines, so in those cases it’s a matter of sitting down and getting my thinking cap on.

What is the best thing about being an author?
I love going into schools and talking to children about writing. I love knowing that something I have thought up (when I’ve been peeling the spuds) finishes up in China, Africa and lots of other places, helping children to read.

Some Questions from Primary School Students

Do you have any pets?
Unfortunately our cat, Daisy, died after she was hit by a Landrover. We now have a West Highland Terrier called Becky although I call her my Beautiful Baby Bexter Boo.

What is your favourite colour?
Difficult question! I love red and green, but probably red just a little bit more. I’ve just bought a lovely warm red coat for the winter.

Do you have a favourite food?
I love all food, but if I had to choose it would be fruit, any kind, especially when its all mixed up with spirulina.

Do you have a favourite movie?
Pretty Woman has been replaced by Young at Heart, a documentary about some elderly folk who sing in a choir in America.

Do you play any games or sports?
Scrabble. I am also into walking in a big way. I trained for a 100km walk in Taupo early in 2009 for Oxfam.

What is the most fun thing about being an author?
Going to schools and talking to children about writing is really great. Getting copies of my stories in the mail is fun, too. It’s always a thrill to see how each new story looks.

How do you make books?
I think up an idea, then I write the story and finally, I send it off to the publisher (after I have typed it all neatly of course). Then, if the publisher likes the story, I sign a contract and the story is illustrated and made into a book.

Where do you like to go on your holidays?
We have a holiday house in Naseby which is in the Manitoto — very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter — sometimes the temperature drops to - 18 to -20 degrees. Our boys love it there. Greg, my husband, and I have been to Fiji and Australia.

Some Questions from Secondary School Students

How did you get started?
I think the thing that got me started was reading endless stories to our children. One day I decided that I could write too — so I did.

I wrote my first story at children’s writer’s workshop in 1993. The story was accepted for publication by a company, which unfortunately went out of business - so the story is still sitting in a cupboard! I wrote my next story called ‘Scary Spiders’. Not long after writing that story Wendy Pye Ltd published me.

Who inspired you when you were getting started?
My mum was a great person to have on hand (well, she still is actually) to read stories to because she is a teacher, and the teaching of reading is her forte, and she could always see a story from a teacher’s point of view. Our boys inspired me too. When they thought a story was ‘cool’ I would write another one.

What advice would you give an aspiring young writer?
Never give up! Getting published is a tough business. When Scary Spiders was published I thought, mm, this is easy. Wrong. I wrote for two years after that and never got a word publishedso believe in yourself and if you are passionate about your writing you will reap the rewards.

Is it difficult to make a living as a writer in New Zealand?
Yes, I can’t quite remember where I read this but I think about 60 authors in New Zealand make $25,000 or more in any one given year.

What were you like as a teenager?
This is pretty puke-making, but I was the model teenager — just ask my parents! It’s true. I never gave them a minute's worry — can’t say the same about my brother and sister. Actually, I’m over 50 and I still haven’t learned how to be an adolescent. I was involved in music and dancing in a big way so those activities kept me fairly busy. I was so good I wouldn’t step foot inside of a pub until I was 20. I don’t drink anyway so that was no big deal. I wouldn’t dream of smoking, although my sister tried to teach me when I was 21. I am, by my own admission, a people pleaser, which is probably a good story in there maybe; I should write a novel entitled ‘Breakout!’

Is there anything else you want to tell us about yourself?
Well, I haven’t cut off any toes with a Flymo but I did break a toe once. I was practising a sword dance in my bare feet in my bedroom when the phone rang. I ran to answer the phone knocking my toe on the wooden leg of my bed and promptly broke it — no more dancing for a while!
I have also lost many a toenail after walking half marathons — bit tame after Duncan Stewart’s effort.

I bungy-jumped once and suffered a bad haemorrhage in my left eye — it looked ghastly. My whole eyeball was swimming in blood and it stayed that way for 2 or 3 weeks before it went varying degrees of yellow. Yuk! I don’t think I’d bungy jump again for that reason.

I was a Highland dancer for many years and as well as competing I performed in many concerts —two of the most memorable were performing for the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

I played in an orchestra while at high school and I remember this embarrassing moment when I was the percussionist. A concert we were performing at had an MC and halfway through one of his wee spiels, I had to get from the timpani to the xylophone — in the half dark I didn’t see the cymbals and I tripped over them making the most terrible racket. You can imagine how I felt with every eye in the Town Hall looking at me!

Once when my husband and I were holidaying in Stewart Island with friends, I nearly found myself ‘in the poo’ — literally. The house that we were renting didn’t have a flush toilet so we had to use a long drop. The floor boards were rotten so we had to be very careful. But, I wasn’t careful enough one afternoon and fell right through the toilet floor. I just managed to save myself and no more. I sported a bruise from shin to knee — most impressive. I dined out on that story for months.