How Abigail became an author

Abigail from the Scottish Borders recently published her own book – and now she’s sharing her tips for other writers

I have always loved creative writing. When I was younger, I would make little books with folded paper. As I got older, I started to write longer stories and poems.
My tutor Mo encouraged me to write my own book. This is how I made Wolf and Wolf Warrior.

Writing my first draft

The idea for my story came from two Lego pieces. To create the story, Mo helped me with characterisation, plot and setting scenes. I used a mix of typing and voice-to-text to help, and I brought my Lego with me for inspiration. When we completed the first draft, it felt absolutely fantastic.

Seeing the story all at once

Mo gave me big sheets of lining paper and printed out my story. I stuck them on in the right order and did little doodles of what I wanted the pictures to look like and where they needed to go.

Using AI and finding workarounds

Turning the images into illustrations wasn’t easy either, with many hiccups along the way.
I decided to use AI for the illustrations. It didn’t always do what we wanted it to do. When I asked it to extend a sword to match the words in my story, it just added a little white triangle shape on top. I asked it to try again, but it generated a fully black image with a tiny white triangle in the middle! I decided to just change the wording in my book from “huge sword” to “threatening dagger”.

Reasons why my book is dyslexia friendly

From my point of view, there aren’t enough dyslexia-friendly books as there should be, so I wanted my book to be as accessible as possible. These are things that I chose:

• Century Gothic and Quicksand 14 pt fonts because they are clear and easy-to-read
• text spaced at 1.5 spaces apart and paragraphs 2 spaces apart so the story isn’t jammed together on the page
• short paragraphs so nobody feels overwhelmed while reading
• off-white paper. (I personally like reading from off-white paper because I find white paper too bright for my eyes.)
• lots of illustrations to make the book less overwhelming.

Holding my first printed book

When my printed books arrived, I felt indescribable joy and shock. The effort and work that I put in all felt worthwhile.
My book is also for sale on Amazon and I have donated copies to my old primary school and two of my local libraries. My first retailer was Stow Post Office. I have now sold over a hundred copies, and I want to thank everyone who read my book and supported me, especially my tutor, Mo.

What I’ve learned

I’ve learned many things from this experience, but my most important ones, I think, are: good things take time, believe in yourself, and do things step by step. ■