My final project in Children’s Fiction: Write Compelling Adventure Stories course

THE STONE CALLERS has been through about four or five very different synopses - when I first wrote it, it was incredibly different, set in the Victorian period during the Great Exhibition. You'll hear more about this in the course - but ultimately it was far too complicated, far too dark, and far too alienating!

Once I had decided to set the story during the present day, I began exploring London and looking for things that would inspire me. When I couldn't get out and about, I used online videos and photos to push me in the right direction. I've used none of these in the final synopsis, but it was all an invaluable part of the process - establishing what I wanted to achieve, and more importantly what I didn't want to achieve!

The single page synopsis below hides how much work was done in sculpting it - remember, this is my fourth or fifth rewrite of the entire idea! Each one of these sentences has been tweaked and changed a hundred times - never compare your work in progress to something finished.