Dave Cousins
About Author
Dave Cousins completed his first novel in the back of a van, while touring with his band (who were almost famous!)
He went on to be a winner of the SCBWI Undiscovered Voices Anthology 2010 and his debut novel for teens, 15 Days Without a Head, was published by Oxford University Press in January 2012.
Dave grew up in Birmingham and spent three years studying Art and Design at Bradford where he set up a band and spent the next ten years touring with them.
He now lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and family, in a house full of books and records, and writes in a corner of the attic.
Interview
I'M A NOBODY, GET ME OUT OF HERE!
(CHARLIE MERRICK'S MISFITS]
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
JUNE 2015
The follow-up to Charlie Merrick's Misfits: Fouls, Friends and Football, sees Charlie and his team accidentally end up in the Go Wild! survival camp, where they have to spend an entire week with only their football kit to help them stay the course. But while Charlie and his mates are the underdogs, Charlie is determined that his team will win the survival challenge - to make it back to base camp first.
The Charlie Merrick stories are told through words and doodles and they provide a funny, warm and very real look at friendship and teamwork. The illustrations, comic strip style and doodles add to the reading experience and make the Charlie Merrick series ideal for reluctant as well as confident readers.
We asked author Dave Cousins to tell us more about Charlie Merrick's Misfits and his writing for children and teenagers.
Q: How did you go from being in a band to writing books?
A: While I was at college I got distracted by music. I bought a guitar and got a band together. We signed a recording deal, went on television and toured around but the music industry is a bit of a pyramid, there are lots of bands that make it and get a recording deal but very few go on to being well known.
When I was at school I thought being in a band was about going on television and having parties, but that's only 20 percent of the time; the rest is hard work and travel. I did it for seven years but then I met my wife and decided I didn't want to carry on touring. I realised I wasn't putting my all into it so it was time to move on.
I had written songs since I was ten or 11 and that was the bit about music I had really enjoyed but the band didn't want to use my songs. When we were touring, I was still writing bits and pieces and scribbling stories and I even finished my first attempt at a book during a tour.
Q: Your first book, 15 Days Without a Head, was for YA readers; what has taken you into writing for younger readers with the Charlie Merrick's Misfits books?
A: My publisher suggested writing for a younger audience and I've always liked books for this age range. They wanted me to illustrate as well as write the book. I was reluctant to do the illustrations as I wasn't a trained illustrator but I have always really liked graphic novels and comics and the more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be fun to do.
As soon as I started jotting down ideas and drawing, all this material arrived and I got really excited about it. I filled a notebook with ideas and drawings and my publisher really loved it.
Q: The first Charlie Merrick's Misfits book is focused on football. Is that a passion of yours?
A: I support Birmingham City and yes, it's about passion and pain! For me, football is all about identity and family. My family are fourth or fifth generation Blues fans so it's a real 'from the heart' thing that is connected with family, suffering and misery, but there are also the moments of elation when you support the underdogs team and they succeed!
It occurred to me that a football story, focused on the underdog, could work as a kind of David and Goliath battle taking place in a huge arena. I filled a notebook with ideas about supporting an underdog team.
There are a lot of football books around but they tend to focus on the classic dream about becoming a professional or a kid who is really, really good. However, most people's experience is that while we enjoy playing, really we're a bit rubbish. So I wanted to focus on an ordinary kid who doesn't get picked but who really likes the game.
Q: Were you drawing on your own footie experiences as inspiration for Charlie Merrick?
A: I needed to focus on something so I thought back to my time as a kid and my football experiences. I did play with a football team, I was in the under 13's local team but I'm fairly rubbish and I didn't particularly enjoy it.
We had loads of mishaps with the team, like the time we organised a friendly against another local team but when we turned up on the day, we realised it was an adult pub team and they destroyed us!
Q: The second book is all about survival rather than football. Why did you choose a different theme for this?
A: We decided to move on to a different theme for the second book. The first book ends with the World Cup and the team are meant to go to France to a summer camp for football training. When that falls through, the coach decides to put them into a football training camp in the UK instead. But instead of football, he manages to book them on to a survival training camp for a week.
So in I'm a Nobody Get Me Out of Here, the Misfits are in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they are ill-equipped to deal with it; they are on a survival course but only have their football gear with them. There is still their friendship, they are all helping each other out, but they really are out of their comfort zone.
There are lots of survival facts dropped in to the pages we hope children will also find interesting.
Q: Why was it so important for you to illustrate the books?
A: One of the things I really wanted to do was to make the books a less intimidating read for less confident readers. There is a proper 20,000 word novel in there, it's thoughtful and has substance to it, but using illustration is a great way to make it less intimidating.
With illustrations, you also read the story in a different way. Illustrations mean that you don't just show what's going on, the illustrations also give you an opportunity to give an alternative story and I want the reader to spot those things.
Some of the story is told in comic strip form. People may look down on the comic but it makes you read in a different way. You read the text but you also work harder to see the story in the images and I enjoyed having the extra way to tell the story, like drawing what is going on in Charlie's head.
With the second book I was a bit more confident having done the first book and I brought in lots more different techniques into the illustrations. I'm pleased with how it looks but it did take me a long time.
Q: What draws you to writing about real life, both in your younger books and your YA fiction?
A: I'm drawn to books where there's a story about someone in a situation and I wonder how they will deal with it? So that's also what I like to write. I like to put my own characters into different situations and to see how they'll get on. Will they manage it or run away?
I like to explore people's reasons for doing things and I think we are all really interesting, we all have these stories and public personae that we use to hide them. There are bad things you do and things you feel guilty about, so there is a lot to be explored inside people's heads.
Q: Do you ever get stuck for ideas?
A: I tend to jot ideas down all the time in notebooks, or use a voice recorder and a phone. I go for a walk every day and in moving around, I often find good ideas that way and I jot down those ideas on a computer. There are lots of things I never look at again but a lot that I do.
I used to get up at 5am to do an hour's writing before going on to my job in a print shop design department. I'm still a morning writer and when I'm not doing events I write until 4pm or 5pm, when my son comes back from school, and then I'm doing emails in the evening. I do a lot of events, 50 or 60 a year.
Q: Any bad writing habits?
A: Tea, I love tea, and it's a bit of a comfort if I get stuck. I'm not keen on social media, I see it as a necessary evil. I'm also really slow when I write and I take a long time and fiddle and go over and over a piece of writing.
Q: Has your music background influenced how you write?
A: I am sure writing songs was a good training and I still like listening to music. I have guitars around the house and will pick them up most days. I even made a sound track for one of my YA books, Gonzo. I was asked to write down his playlist from the book but all the bands I had mentioned were made up and the music didn't exist so I decided to make it myself. I got in touch with a guy I used to be in the band with and we got a recording together, which we released as an album on iTunes so it's free to download.
I often speak to Years 8/9 and there are always a few students whose arms are folded and who are not interested, but when you mention the music they perk up and hopefully that interest in music will feed them into the book.
Q: Why do you feel it's important to do school events?
A: School events are so important to authors, not just for getting their books 'out there', but for enthusing readers and writers.
I remember being a teenager very clearly and I remember it can be quite a tough time. There were certain books that I read then that still help me to this day.
Books and music helped me through experiences like moving house when I was ten and not knowing anyone - I remember reading and re-reading Jan Mark's Thunder and Lightnings. Reading about similar experiences in a book helped me to get through my problems because it helped to know that someone else also had that experience.
I'd be delighted if my books had the same effect on young readers. So that's why I write the books and love doing the events.
Charlie Merrick's Misfits in Fouls, Friends, and Football
