Output details

Drawing with Light

Drawing with Light is a novel for teenagers/young adults with a realistic and contemporary setting, in which the teenage protagonist goes on an emotional journey to find her absent mother, and in doing so, finds out more about herself, in particular about her talent as a photographer. Research questions include: 1 what are the consequences of growing up without knowing anything about your real mother? 2 How might the traditional forms of a coming-of-age story and a love story be expressed through the changing nature of contemporary families and relationships? 3 How might an older tradition of writing for young people (Dodie Smith, Rumer Godden, Jane Gardam) in terms of narrative style, form and language, be combined with a contemporary psychological and emotional complexity in characterisation? 4 How might the novel be made to reach a wide audience, and be entertaining and engaging for its readership of teenagers and young adults, but also provide a more thought-provoking and challenging read than is currently commercially ‘fashionable’? Research practice included wide reading, and training in areas of outreach and social engagement, and work with young people generally. The novel is also available as an audiobook, an e-book, and its publication was accompanied by school visits and creative writing workshops for teenagers, supported by the publisher, to ensure the book reached wide audiences of young people.