About Me
Welcome to Magical Garden Publishing! I’m Terence, the creator behind the enchanting world of Percival’s Garden. From a young age, I’ve always believed in the magic of nature and the adventures hidden within every corner of a garden. Through my stories, I hope to inspire a sense of wonder and adventure in children and adults alike.
What was my Inspiration?
When I was no more than knee-high to a grasshopper, my Great Granddad, Everett taught me to read with Ladybird books and one book called ‘Happy Landings’. It was a book of silly poems with black and white line drawings and it made me laugh and I still have it to this day. He was a very clever man and had he grown up in a time of technology and not war, he would have been a Steve Jobs or Sam Altman of this world. He taught me so much about nature and kindness and his wristwatch sits on my ‘special memories’ shelf in my office and reminds me of him every day.
How did I get the idea for Tales From Percival’s Garden?
My Mum and Dad used to live in a house in Derbyshire that backed onto an old railway siding. They had all manner of wildlife visit the garden and amongst that were squirrels. They used to love watching them frolic and play out there and it gave me the idea of writing a funny poem about them called ‘Colin the Squirrel’. It is a tale of a brave squirrel who stands up to a bully cat who terrorises the garden and attacks his best friend, Dave The Blackbird. I am refining this into a book and it will be released on here soon. This gave me the idea that all of the other characters in the poem might have their own stories to tell too. That’s when I came up with the idea of a magical garden setting where the animals talk and have adventures, the plants have mind of their own, and even the creatures that live underground have a voice that can tell a story.
How long have I been writing poems?
When I was about 17 I used to love the creative poetry of Pam Ayres, who graced our TV screens with her clever and funny poems and west-country dialect. It was round about then I wrote my first funny (well I think so) poem called The Tale O’ Noah’s Ark. You can watch me read it on my YouTube Channel here.
On and off I have been writing poetry of one sort or another ever since then (so about 40 years). During lockdown, my Mum and my Son, and I used to have a weekly video call where we would randomly pick a topic and each take a week to write a poem about it, reading it to each other on the following call. You can read some of these on my personal website HERE
Who created your illustrations?
I have been working on these poems for a number of years, always hoping to collaborate with an illustrator. It was always an ‘eventually’ task. I never had the money to employ an illustrator and I didn’t really like the idea of trawling my work around agents to find someone who might like it and hook me up with one. I wasn’t and am not looking to get rich off this; I just want to put something creative and good into the world. I truly believed that this would never happen, until I discovered Artificial Intelligence.
YES! All of my illustrations (NOT MY POEMS!) are created using only the power of AI. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not easy and it takes a lot of work to get them just right. But as well as me being creative with words in the way I love, I can also now be creative in pictures that I never could with my own pencils. It gives me full creative control of the whole process so that the books I create are ones that I am proud to share with my grandchildren, nieces and nephews alike.
AI has not only created my illustrations but it has guided me in the choice of tools, how to get from manuscript to market, and guided me through the whole self-publishing route.
Do I think I am cheating an illustrator out of work?
No, not really. I would never have found the money to be able to do this using a professional illustrator and so my work would have sat in a folder on my Mac until my dying day. AI has allowed me to take advantage of tools that were never available to me before and bring my creative writing to the world in a way that the traditional route never could.
I dig my own garden, using a spade I bought at a local hardware store. I don’t feel I am doing a gardener out of work.
I drive my own car. I don’t think I am cheating a chauffeur out of work.
I cook my own food, using a cooker that I have. I don’t feel like a chef goes hungry as a result.
You get the idea?
The technological possibilities of AI, especially for creative people, is already changing what we do and how we work. We owe it to our children to understand its potential. People of my age will remember a time when the internet first became a thing. Who knew where this would lead and the harm that social media would do to our children and grandchildren? it was new to us all – we had an excuse. We don’t any more. AI is here and it can be used a tool for wonder and imagination. It is our responsibility, having missed the boat on social media, to understand these tools, use them in a creative way and teach our children that they are a force for good. If we don’t then we only have ourselves to blame when our grandchildren set up a ‘talk to grandpa’ ChatBot and we miss the boat again.
AI is like a hammer – it can be used to create, or to destroy. We are the ones who can teach which.
Read. Grow. Imagine.
I hope you enjoy my books
Terence x