
MEET THE AUTHOR

Nicholas Hodgson was born in New Zealand the same week that Star Wars movie came out (let’s not even discuss what year that was!) The first movie he remembers seeing at the cinema was E.T. The Extra-terrestrial (he was five and has a distinct memory of being frightened that the boy in the movie was going to get in so much trouble from his mum for going flying with E.T on his bike!)
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Growing up he loved reading! Especially The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, lashings of Enid Blyton and devoured Asterix comics.
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At school he loved writing stories. Usually fairly lousy ones.
When he was five, he (with lots of encouragement from his teacher) published his first book. There was one copy, with a gold cardboard cover. It was called ‘Cute the Cat.’
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It sold out.
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(His titles got better).
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When he was eight he wrote a letter to the Queen. When she responded (well… a lady in waiting anyway) he was so excited he ended up with a photo in the paper.
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(In case you’re wondering – the letter was a complaint that she wasn’t coming to visit his home town during her upcoming New Zealand tour).
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As he grew older, he discovered a love of movies, Monty Python and The Beatles, not surprising since he grew up just down the road from Peter Jackson (of Middle Earth fame).
He dreamed of being a filmmaker as a kid (along with a pilot, an astronaut, and a time traveller) but being an adult means being a realist. (Boo!) So, he moved to Australia and became a high school English and history teacher.
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Currently Nicholas lives and works full time as an English teacher, with a reputation for bad jokes and constant movie references. He has a loving family, three dogs and a nice house in rural New South Wales.
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Partners in Time is his second book (the first was A Christmas Conclave – published under a pen-name in 2022). He already has plenty more adventures with Harry and Jett planned.
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So watch this space!
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And this one…
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FAQ
Are Harry and Jett based on real people?
No. I don’t know any time-travelling eleven-year-olds in real life, only in my imagination. But as a teacher for twenty-years I have worked with a lot of kids and there are elements of Harry and Jett’s personalities which I have most likely subconsciously or unsubconsciously used a real person I know as inspiration for. And yes, I have taught kids named Harry and kids named Jett.
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But there are some real people in your stories, right?
Yes, I have included some real people from history in my stories. If you’re interested in knowing which ones are real, each book as a section at the back where I explain the real stories behind the real people I used. However, it is important to know that I’m not saying any of this stuff actually happened to the real people. For instance, the real Princess Margaret, as far as I know, never time-travelled or was held prisoner in the Tower of London.
Where do you get your ideas?
They are zapped into my brain by space aliens when I’m asleep.
No, I’m kidding. Actually, ideas come from a thousand different places. It usually starts with a ‘what if?’ question and then I go from there. Like for Partners in Time it was two what if questions put together:
What if two boys from different time periods met and became friends?
What if history changed and the Germans beat Britain in World War 2?
Partners in Time is a result of me exploring all the ideas that led on from those two ‘what if?’ questions.
What about the Christmas Conclave?
I actually had the idea for the Christmas Conclave ten years ago when I was watching the all the Catholic Cardinals from around the world meet in Rome to elect a new Pope (Pope Francis – back in 2013).
And it was a big ‘what if?’ question too.
What if every time they needed a new Santa Claus/ Father Christmas they had to hold a secret election at the North Pole?
That question led to other questions like:
Who would vote in that election?
What might go wrong in that sort of election?
How might the North Pole even work? (Who would live there? How would presents get delivered? How did it all start? How is it kept secret?)
But it wasn’t until I came up with the idea of Ben, a kid from Australia, being invited to the North Pole and falling into a big adventure that I had the story I needed to write.
Does it take a long time to write a book?
Yes.
And no.
Actually, it only takes me about 40 – 50 days to write the first draft of one of my books. But then I have to go through all the editing stages, both with myself and with my editor, before the book is ready to be published.
Partners in Time for instance, I started writing in mid-November 2022.
It was published in August 2023.
Is it hard to write a book? How do you come up with enough stuff to fill up a book?
It can be hard some days and it can be easier other days. But I’ve been writing stories for a long time, ever since I was a kid. And it’s one of those things that the more practice you have, the better you’ll get at it. Like the first stories I wrote – I wouldn’t share those with anyone because I know how terrible they are. One thing I have learned though is not to think in terms of writing a book. I think in terms of a Chapter. Each chapter is its own mini story with a definite beginning, middle and end. I just focus on writing one chapter at a time. And when I get to the end of the chapter usually, I’ll have some idea of what the next chapter will be about. If I don’t then I do something else like read a book or listen to music or go for a walk and fresh ideas tend to show up after that.
Are you going to tell more stories with Harry and Jett?
Yes. I have another Harry and Jett book coming out next year and the third one is already written too. I have plans for a lot of books involving these two boys because they are fun to write about and they’re not scared about getting into amazing adventures.
What about the Christmas Conclave – will there be a sequel?
Perhaps. But I haven’t come up with anything yet. Right now, Ben is having a well-deserved rest and enjoying Christmas with his mum.
If you have any other questions – please feel free to email me at author@nicholashodgsonauthor.com I’d love to hear from you!