Lines you would never hear in Enid Blyton!

[Daisy]

Now that's what I call a great sequel! Lovely Sarah.

[Spitfire]

Thank you Daisy!

[Courtenay]

Oh, thank goodness - I'm so glad they all came to their senses at last!!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Very moving, Sarah. When my sister and I were in the middle of reading the Famous Five books as children, we speculated ghoulishly that perhaps Timmy would die in the final adventure. We envisaged a dramatic scene in which he would be shot by baddies. But if we'd come across a heart-rending passage like your first piece, we'd have been inconsolable.

[burlingtonbertram]

Extract from "Five Can't Believe Their Ears"

"Anne! Anne!" Quentin stood at his study door, a letter in his hand.

"What is it now dear," said the long suffering Fanny patiently.

"I've won an award," her husband informed her. "Father of the year!"

[Francis]

It's a good thing that we all know that Timmy will live for ever and not just in George's heart.

Bill ran his fingers through Allie's long flowing hair.
He handed her a joint which she placed between her parted lips and she clutched Bill's bead necklace in her hot feverish hands....

I think I'll stop there!

[Courtenay]

[Daisy]

Bill ran his fingers through Allie's long flowing hair.
He handed her a joint which she placed between her parted lips and she clutched Bill's bead necklace in her hot feverish hands....

I think I'll stop there!

Thank goodness for that!

[MJE]

When my sister and I were in the middle of reading the Famous Five books as children, we speculated ghoulishly that perhaps Timmy would die in the final adventure. We envisaged a dramatic scene in which he would be shot by baddies.

     I never once thought of such a possibility, and even now I would know Enid Blyton would never do such a dreadful thing - although I dare say some writers of the more "new-age", "up-to-date" type might do so. They might think it is their duty to teach their readers the reality of death, and think it bad to have too happy an ending, going against the real nature of life.
     I wouldn't do such a thing myself in any story, myself. What gain would there be in ending a series in such a down kind of way?
     For that matter, as someone who has not read Agatha Christie, I have sometimes wondered why Christie had Hercule Poirot die in his last novel. I still think it's a pretty strange thing for an author to do - although I have heard of authors of popular series doing such a thing as killing their hero when they are sick to death of writing that series - just to ensure that they cannot continue with further books, no matter how much readers clamour for them.
     But I don't think that strategy need necessarily work; because, even if you've killed off your hero, it would always be possible to write further books about them and say that those new books took place earlier in between other earlier books - it would just be that those in-between adventures had not yet been written about. It's usual that books in a series take place in the order in which they appear - but there is no ironclad law that says it must always be that way. If I wrote several books in a series, thinking they were consecutive, then years later thought of an adventure that was worth writing about, which logically had to take place between earlier books, I would not hesitate to write it, and place it in that position in the chronology. After all, C. S. Lewis did it with "The Magician's Nephew" and "The Horse and His Boy".

     (Not sure how I got from the death of Timmy to the Narnia books - it just somehow happened.)

Regards, Michael.

[Anita Bensoussane]

When we speculated about Timmy, my sister and I were around 7 and 8. The Famous Five and Secret Seven series (in tandem) were the first lengthy adventure series we'd read, so we didn't have much idea of what was deemed appropriate for adventure books of that kind. We actually bought Five Are Together Again fairly early on, before reading several of the other titles, as we were curious. We expected that there would be something "final" about the last book but of course there wasn't. Not until many years later did I learn that Enid Blyton had simply kept on writing until her health declined to such an extent that she was unable to write any more.

[Mehul]

     For that matter, as someone who has not read Agatha Christie, I have sometimes wondered why Christie had Hercule Poirot die in his last novel. I still think it's a pretty strange thing for an author to do - although I have heard of authors of popular series doing such a thing as killing their hero when they are sick to death of writing that series - just to ensure that they cannot continue with further books, no matter how much readers clamour for them.

Even Arthur Conan Doyle was known to do that. Only, the public didn't appreciate.

[Moonraker]

For that matter, as someone who has not read Agatha Christie, I have sometimes wondered why Christie had Hercule Poirot die in his last novel. I still think it's a pretty strange thing for an author to do - although I have heard of authors of popular series doing such a thing as killing their hero when they are sick to death of writing that series - just to ensure that they cannot continue with further books, no matter how much readers clamour for them.

That s precisely why Agatha killed him off! She wrote this book in the 1940s, however, the publishers were having none of it, and only released the book in 1975, after many more Poirot's had been written.

[Courtenay]

Well, exactly. It didn't work with Sherlock Holmes either - although in his case, Conan Doyle managed to come up with an ingenious twist by which he DIDN'T actually go over the Reichenbach Falls - and I'm sure if J.K. Rowling had killed off Harry Potter (as there was a rumour she might in the final book), she'd have been forced to resurrect him somehow as well.

[Jack400]

"Woof, woof", said Timmy.
"Oh dear" thought Julian, " such a limited vocabulary" - and he attends boarding school with George too, such a waste!

[Francis]

"Get off your mobile, George, and talk to us for once"! growled Julian.