Changes

KD: I hadn’t planned to – in fact when I started writing ''Someone Else’s Life'' I had never even heard of Huntington’s disease. I knew I wanted my character, Rosie, to have been swapped at birth, but I needed a compelling reason why she’d find out about the switch. I decided if one of her parents had a genetic illness and Rosie took a test to find out if she had it too, she would discover that way that she was not biologically related. 

KD: I think that’s a very interesting question, and one I am fascinated by. We are brought up with the lesson that honesty is the best policy, and in the majority of cases that’s true. But the world isn’t always as simple as that. Most of the characters in ''Someone Else’s Life'' hide the truth in one way or another, for a variety of reasons, but what would you do in their shoes? Would you lie to protect yourself? What about to protect someone you love? Is it okay to tell a lie that doesn’t hurt anyone? Or a lie that saves a life? Is hiding the truth the same as lying? I think the truth can be a very grey area and it isn’t always easy to judge what the right thing to do actually is until you’ve been in that situation yourself. .

KD: 1) '''READ'''. A lot. You can learn so much from reading good (and bad!) writing – and it’s great fun! 2) '''Write, write write!''' When I was doing a writing course, my teacher made us all write an observation in our notebooks every day. It could be about anything, but it was a really good habit to get into, finding new ways to describe things and express ideas.

32) '''Don’t get it rightWrite, get it writtenwrite write!''' It’s so easy to stew over how you’re When I was doing a writing something as you’re writing itcourse, my teacher made us all write an observation in our notebooks every day. It could be about anything, but just it was a really good habit to get it down firstinto, because…finding new ways to describe things and express ideas.

43) ''' Writing is Re-writing.Don’t get it right, get it written!''' ''Nobody’s'' first draft makes It’s so easy to stew over how you’re writing something as you’re writing it to print – I’m certainly glad mine didn’t – , but just get it was 140down first,000 words!because…

54) '''Enter competitions!Writing is Re-writing.''' Not only is the feedback really useful for your future writing, but you never know what doors it’ll open – the ''Undiscovered VoicesNobody’s'' competition run by the SCBWI and Working Partners played a huge part in kick-starting my career, and I’d recommend first draft makes it to any aspiring writer.print – I’m certainly glad mine didn’t – it was 140,000 words!