Episode 4 #PearceInApril: my favourite of her novels: A DOG SO SMALL. Published in 1962, her 3rd novel was a departure in its London setting. PP was asked to introduce the novel - see extracts in thread below! #ChildrensBooks #HampsteadHeath #childhoodTwitter #dogsoftwitter #Dog

PP: Ideas for stories aren't always identifiable. One needs to be on the watch. My idea didn't look like a story; it looked like...a boy who longed to have a dog. I never did know - & never bothered to wonder - what exactly he looked like. I started knowing him from the inside.

I began trying out different scenes and scenery behind him. This was like carpenter's work. Only this suited him: a large family living in a pokey house in a back street of London...[he was] in the middle, on his own, & lonely. That was why he longed for a dog.

One of the scenes the came to me earliest was set on #HampsteadHeath. There was absolute stillness, until he called to somebody or something. Then there was an answering sound..- a living dog for him alone. The boy & the dog met, overjoyed ...That was the end of my story.

It answered one big question: Did the boy ever get the real dog he longed for? But it asked others. You can't force a story...but you can feed its growth. So the alert, observant part of your mind can be useful, as well as the part that is meditative, half-dreaming.

3 things took me backwards to a beginning.' These were: a bronze brooch medallion of a dog in Greenwich Naval Museum; an embroidered picture of a dog in PP's own home (in the brooch's stead); the idea of seeing things with your eyes shut with more vividness than if they were open

[Soon] I had travelled backwards from the middle of a story to the beginning: a boy's birthday, & his expecting a dog. I wanted to start writing at once. I don't believe in putting off writing, even if everything isn't fully planned. So I started on the first chapter.

The 1st section - the woolwork dog - overlapped with the second section - the imaginary dog that the boy saw with his eyes shut. I wrote that chapter with particular excitement. After that the story would really be growing. A phrase of dialogue at that point gave me the title.'

How much do you love #ADogSoSmall? Please share your thoughts! it's #pearceinapril so we're celebrating our much-loved author all month!