Author inspires pupils

Lucy Jones, author of The Nightmare Factory, shared her story-telling secrets with Exmouth pupils

A former Exmouth pupil returned to school to tell youngsters at Brixington Primary School about her new book.

Lucy Jones, 25, who had been a pupil at Withycombe Primary School, met the year four, five and six pupils to tell them about life as an author and her book, The Nightmare Factory.

ME sufferer Lucy, who wrote the book after the idea came to her in a dream while struggling with the illness, plans to return to the school in the autumn with her sequel Rise of the Shadowmares.

Gregory Candy, a year six pupil, said the author had read from her book and played games based on the novel with the youngsters.

“She talked a lot about her writing which was very inspirational,” he said.

Literacy subject leader, Nicki Wood said the pupils enjoyed meeting Lucy, asking questions about her story and having the opportunity to buy signed copies of her book.

“This was an exciting opportunity for the children to meet a young local author,” she said.

Lucy said her love of writing developed while at primary school but she was inspired to follow her dream of becoming a published author thanks to her English teacher David O’Mahony, at Exmouth Community College.

The Nightmare Factory, published by Orchard Books/Hachett for readers aged nine and over, focuses on characters Andrew Lake and his twin sister Poppy, who are stolen from their dreams and find themselves trapped in a strange parallel realm.

There, the evil Vesuvius rules over the Nightmare Factory with his army of Shadowmares, extracting fear from children to create nightmares all over the world.