The official website for MICK ELLIOTT

Dads & Dogs is my first picture book and it is a celebration of all the different types of dads - and dogs - in the world.

I am a dad who never quite feels like he fits the job description of what a dad is meant to be like. So the book is a funny, irreverent exploration of the fact that there are actually lots of different ways to be a dad.

It was SO much fun drawing all the pictures. There is even a little cameo from my dog, Gypsy. (She also inspired a character in SQUIDGE DIBLEY DESTROYS EVERYTHING.)

I always wished that I had read more books when I was a kid. I wasted far too much time eating Coco-Pops and watching bad TV shows. So I wanted to write that book that I would have loved to read when I was 11.

Apart from the privilege of collaborating with lots of clever people who are involved in the process of creating books, it's seeing how readers respond to your stories.

Writing is a very solitary process, so it is always a delight to meet readers of all ages and discover how they have enjoyed your ideas.

The re-writing. The first draft is usually pretty messy with lots of ideas still floating around that don't necessarily work.

It’s only in the re-writing that a story really starts to come to the surface as you peel away all the ideas that aren’t keeping the story moving.

Sometimes this even means deleting whole chapters! Ouch!

I only just got an actual writing studio, so I am still getting used to having a dedicated space. But I tend to just write whenever and wherever I can.

Much of my writing for SQUIDGE DIBLEY and THE TURNERS series was done on trains, buses, at the kitchen table or sitting in bed.

I was also lucky enough to spend a week at the Varuna Writers' House in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales when I was writing the first TURNERS book. It is an amazing writers' retreat, where I was able to think about nothing but Leo and his many hair-raising adventures in THE TURNERS.

But my advice for anyone wanting to write their own stories or books is don’t wait until you have a dedicated space. Just write wherever you can. (And wear headphones if you need to block out distractions.)

Firstly, know exactly who you are writing for. If it is for kids, then what age group is it for? Is it for boys or girls, or both? What is the genre? Is it fantasy, comedy, historical fiction, or any of the many other genres out there?

Think about all these things as you start to plot out your ideas as they will impact your creative decisions about your characters, the language you use and the pace of your story.

Most important of all is to read as many books as you can for the same audience.

When I was writing THE TURNERS, I read hundreds of books for the same age group (kids 9 - 12.) This gave me a strong sense of tone, pacing, language and also conventions of the genre. This included reading the great ones (like The Mysterious Benedict Society, Holes, Diary Of a Wimpy Kid, Con-Nerd) and even the bad ones too (which I won't list here.)

When I started SQUIDGE DIBLEY - which I also illustrated - I researched the many different illustration styles from successful series that I enjoyed. This helped me develop the aesthetic for the drawing style and character designs.

Also, when you set out to write your story, expect it to be both exhilarating and exhausting. Just getting a first draft written is a huge achievement. But it is only when you have the first bunch of words on the page that you can really start to carve the story out. That takes time, patience and persistence.

The first TURNERS book took four years to get to a point where I felt like it was strong enough to submit to publishers.

That's a hard question because I have had to think A LOT about all the different animals that Leo turns into during the TURNERS books.

I'd have to say probably an owl because they are kind of noble, they can fly, they can turn their head around to look behind them and they get to stay up all night.

I love Roald Dahl, particularly his biographies, BOY and GOING SOLO. I pretty much re-read them every year.

I’m a big fan of Derek Landy's SKULLDUGGERY PLEASANT series which has such a strong balance of action, humour and fantasy with excellent characters driving the plot along.

Trenton Lee Stewart's THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY is one of the best series for upper primary readers. It’s pretty much perfection.

And I love Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton's TREEHOUSE series; Jeff Kinney's WIMPY KID series and Liz Pichon's awesome TOM GATES series, which is absolutely hilarious.

There are so many wonderful Australian authors writing outstanding books. I love Karen Foxlee’s books Dragon Skin and Lenny’s Book of Everything. The writing is breathtaking. Mark Smith’s YA series The Road to Winter is brilliant, as is his recent book If Not Us.

For laughs and great characters, I love Tim Harris, R.A. Spratt, Nat Amoore, Matt Cosgrove, Matt Stanton, Remy Lai and James Foley. Honestly, there are too many great local talents to list here!

I used to hide rubber animals in my grandmother's bed whenever she visited. Spiders mostly.

I had a whole variety of fake insects in different sizes. I branched out into other species though. Snakes. Reptiles. Once I put a small rubber turtle in her sheets and she didn't notice until the middle of the night when it was embedded in her back.

She actually seemed to encourage my mischief though.

Another time I poured tomato sauce all over my leg and came running screaming out of the house just as my mum was arriving home from working a night shift. At the time it seemed hilarious, but looking back I can understand why she didn't find it funny. AT ALL.

I think that sense of mischievousness runs in my family. I still find it hard to take anything too seriously, even as a supposedly grown adult.

Nobody! That would be a terrible movie. Nobody would go and see it. It would just be me sitting at a laptop mumbling to myself and getting up now and again to go to the toilet.