East Sussex eight-year-old offers wizarding adventure

Eight-year-old author William Swinnerton is in print with Will Wizard Will, a story “based on my imagination and adventures”, he says.
William SwinnertonWilliam Swinnerton
William Swinnerton

The book is self-published at £4.99 on Amazon

William, who lives near Lewes said: “I first thought of the idea of Will Wizard Will as I loved being outside and I also love magic!

“I thought it would be such fun if I could turn myself into someone really small but then I would have to have some magic powers to be able to survive! I just kept imagining what it would be like and where I would go and what might happen!

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“It was really fun thinking about the ideas for the story and I used to imagine I was Will Wizard Will all the time. I think that lots of children would love to be able to go on adventures like this if they could, especially with their very own pet if they are lucky enough to have one. If you don’t have a garden or a pet of your own, then maybe you would like my book because it will take you on adventures with nature and our world.

“I love playing outside and we have always had lots of animals in our home. We had a big garden with a little woodland to play in and we had been helping my dad to build a tree house at the time. I was about six years old when I first had the idea of Will Wizard Will. I was sitting with my mum trying to get started on the first chapter of the book and the ideas just kept coming from my head as I was imagining myself outside and how exciting it would be to be really small and what adventures I could get up to!

“I have always loved tiny things, right from when I was tiny. I just love everything mini, and I have always wished I could have been able to make myself really small.

“I began writing Will Wizard Will and just wrote it whenever I had the time with the help of my mum. I would write as much as I could but I was really young so it used to take me ages so my mum used to sit next to me and type as I spoke. We moved house later in the year which meant my mum and dad were really busy for a while but it did mean that we could finally get a Shetland! I really wanted to get a Shetland at our old house but there wasn’t enough space to keep one but when we moved to our little farm, we managed to find one. Ross arrived in the autumn and we began our adventures together and he then became a big part of my book. He is a cute little Shetland but can be very naughty at times.

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“My brother is really good on his computer and he helped me to draw some of the pictures with my sister and then put the pictures into a special format so I could include some in my book.

“With everything going on, we didn’t have much time to concentrate on my book but when Covid came, we managed to learn how to self-publish it during my time at home school as we couldn’t afford to pay someone to do it for us, and finally after lots of hard work we managed to create Will Wizard Will. I love thinking of story ideas and I get excited when I think of a new part. David Walliams inspired me to publish my book because he writes really fun stories and I thought if he can publish a book, then why can’t I? I think my book would be really enjoyed by four to eight-year-olds because it’s an easy to read, fun adventure story.”