Turning nightmares into publishing dreams
A Tullamore father has turned the object of his son’s nightmares into the central character of what he hopes will be a series of best-selling children’s books.
'Melvin - The Friendly Bedtime Monster’ is Tullamore native Seanie Morris’s first foray into the competitive world of children’s publishing.
The inspiration behind his debut book came from his now five-year-old son Sam’s nocturnal imaginings as a three-year-old. Through the course of the story Melvin reveals that monsters aren’t real and are only the product of fertile young minds.
“Sam had a series of nightmares about what he believed was shadow like figure that he said had black hair, red eyes, yellow teeth and orange legs. Many kids have nightmares or see bogey men, but it wasn’t until he drew a picture of the monster and I put it up in my home office that I thought that would be a great idea for a story,” Seanie told the Offaly Independent.
“As a parent reading your children books you wonder about writing a story yourself, or you might make tweaks to some stories. While I came up with the text over two evenings, it took six months between sitting down originally and getting the book printed.”
The creation of the book has been a truly family affair with Seanie’s sister- -in-law Aine providing the artwork, and his brother Jessie’s Tullamore-based design firm Dezynamite, printing it. In addition to the standard version of the story, Seanie also offers personalised books, which have been very well received. He is also putting the finishing touches to an Irish version.
“Some parents who have bought personalised copies have sent me photos of their child with the book as they can’t believe that their name is on it. A personalised book will also become a great memento of someone’s childhood when they grow up.”
While it is early days yet for Melvin, Seanie, who has is a DJ on Midlands 103, has big plans for his creation.
“I’ve been asked to create a series of Melvin books and once the Christmas period is over I will be starting the follow-up to this book. I am already working on Melvin merchandise and have Melvin T-shirts, colouring books and book marks. We are expanding the Melvin universe,” he jokes.
As for his own little monsters, dad-of-two Seanie says that Sam and his younger sister Lucy (3) are big fans of his new creation. “Lucy loves the pictures and the colours and Sam is thrilled that his nightmare is now a story that kids enjoy. He’s drawn more Melvins for me and I now have a family of them on my computer.”
'Melvin - The Friendly Bedtime Monster’ will be stocked in the Made in Offaly pop up shop in Tullamore in the run-up to Christmas. Seanie will also be taking a stand at the Christmas Fair in the Tullamore Court Hotel on November 29.
Orders can also be placed via the website www.greenbeaniebooks.ie.