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56 | www.teachwire.net It proved tricky to authenticate his claims, but I soon realised the gaps in his story gave me the perfect opportunity to fill them in. It also allowed me to have fun with Edward’s habit of telling tales and fondness for exaggeration. In Wrong Tracks , Edward, age 14, is invited by Mr George to leave his small village and move to Newcastle Upon Tyne for a very important job – one for which he is the perfect fit. There he is entrusted to care for Premium Engine, a new locomotive that is going to compete in the Rainhill Trials. The prize is £500 and a contract for the winning inventor’s engine to run on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway – the world’s first inter-urban passenger railway. Edward and his new loco-mad friend Prudence soon realise someone is trying to scupper the Stephensons’ chances. It is up to the friends to spot sabotage and chase down spies in a thrilling race against the clock. I like to follow in my characters’ footsteps when writing my books. Highlights were seeing Rocket and riding on the replica at Locomotion in Shildon, two steam train footplate experiences, and visiting the former Forth Street Works in Newcastle. There, I imagined how it was for Edward arriving for the first time at the Stephensons’ Manufactory... TP I love using real people, real places and real events in my stories, especially those that focus on northern working-class lives. In Wrong Tracks , a real boy takes centre stage. Edward Entwistle was born in Wigan, Lancashire, like me, but over 150 years earlier, when life was very different. Yet I felt a strong connection to this ordinary boy, who by chance was caught up in all the drama surrounding early steam travel. In his old age, Edward, now living in America, became a newspaper sensation when he told his story of how, as a lad, he was asked to drive George and Robert Stephenson’s famous Rocket locomotive! Wrong Tracks by Susan Brownrigg WAGOLL Wrong Tracks (£7.99, Uclan Publishing) is out now. DOWNLOAD RESOURCES AT Download your FREE , exclusive teaching pack to help you explore both this extract and the rest of the book with your class. tinyurl.com/tp-WT 5 TIPS FOR USING VERB FORMS FOR EFFECT PASSIVE VOICE Passive voice (when the usual object of a clause becomes the subject) can be useful too, as used well it can add atmosphere and tension to a scene. Passive sentences can also show when a character has lost power in a scene or can be used to hold back information in a mystery. ACTIVE VOICE Stories benefit hugely from protagonists being active and pushing the plot on. Using active sentences ( subject, verb, object ) will give your story more pace as your character is doing stuff – and doing things has consequences. PRESENT TENSE Present tense has the story unfold for the reader at the same time as for the character. Combined with action verbs it can propel your story forward and keep a sense of tension. Some readers don’t like present tense narratives, as they find them less convincing. VIVID VERBS There are lots and lots of verbs to choose from when writing, and the right one (as with strong nouns) will make your writing more vivid and precise. Using a thesaurus can help you find an alternative word that fits better. PAST TENSE Past tense can give a sense of distance from events. How does the passage of time affect the pace of your story? Combined with first person, past tense can mute some of the drama, as we know the protagonist has survived to tell the tale. Past tense is often the default for novels. Peer inside the mind of the author, and help pupils understand how to use various verb forms for creative effect