Martyn Bedford - Writer

I know, I know, it’s Day 40 of my novel-in-progress and I’m still harking back to Day 27. But I want to give a special mention to two of the 81 students at Scissett Middle School who acted as “research assistants” by completing my three-wishes questionnaire. In asking for the school’s help, I offered to name one of the characters in The Fourth Wish after the student who produced the best – or most useful – wish. As it happens, about ten of them came up with a similar wish which I’ve decided to use in the novel. But two, in particular, had an interesting an original take on the idea which lent it an added dimension. (I’m being coy about exactly what that wish was because I don’t want to give away a key element of the plot.) Anyway, since my earlier blog post, I’ve received permission from the school and the parents to use their names and so I am now able to publicly thank the two students – Jade Ellis and Tierney Rhodes, who are both in Year 8 at Scissett. In their honour, I have called my heroine Gloria Jade Ellis and her best friend Tierney.