Bertha and Blinkby Nicola Colton

We welcome to the blog, Nicola Colton to share some insights into her new series, Bertha & Blink. Rumble in the Jungle is the first in this highly illustrated and colourful series.

When we meet Bertha, she is a super-star inventor. She used to live a glitzy life in the city and was much more confident. However, her trust is broken when her best friend steals one of her invention ideas and becomes rich and famous. Shocked and sad, she moves far, far away. Bertha relocates to the jungle and builds a workshop high up in the trees, where no one can steal her ideas or let her down. The workshop has everything she needs. She has created devices to take the post, answer the phone and even make her breakfast. Bertha has decided that she is happy on her own. All she wants to do is work on her incredible inventions in peace.

But when her treehouse starts to shake and strange noises echo through the jungle, she discovers that she may need a friend and to leave her cosy hideaway after all. And so, she builds Blink, an excitable robo-bird to help her. Together they set off into the jungle and step by step Bertha’s confidence grows, and so does their friendship.

I started writing Bertha and Blink back in 2021. Writers and illustrators are often asked where ideas come from and I would love to have a grandiose answer to this question, but I never do. The truth is that I don’t know where ideas come from. At first this could sound quite disappointing, but to me it makes it more exciting. Ideas are magic because they can be so fleeting and appear out of nowhere. They flit in like a fairy when you least expect them to and whisper in your ear. I often have them when my brain is a bit quieter and ready to listen. Ideas come when I am doing the washing up, out for a walk, and some-times, quite worryingly, when I am cycling.

The idea for the character of Bertha came when I had just finished doing some yoga in my kitchen. An image of Bertha popped into my head: a bear who is an inventor.

It sparked my curiosity. I thought, where does she live? What kind of personality does she have? What does she want most in the world? I had an inkling that Bertha had built a safe haven for herself and that she didn’t want to be disturbed while she was inventing. The story grew from there.

I really loved designing Bertha’s treehouse workshop. I wanted it to feel rustic, so I added mismatched windows and home-made touches. I added a hatch at the top that only Bertha has access to and a secret exit in the tree trunk.

I also loved designing Bertha’s desk where she does all of her inventing and her drawers full of colourful odds and ends. I really wanted her to have a special place to work.

Though I said earlier that I don’t know where ideas come from, I can often take a step back a year or so later after writing something and see why a certain story may have emerged. Bertha loves a schedule, routine and order. As someone with ADHD, these things can be difficult to achieve on a consistent basis. I am slightly fascinated by characters that can.

Like Bertha, I have struggled with friendships at times and have found it hard to bounce back when I have been hurt. I hope that young readers take from Bertha’s journey that it is important to stay open, to ask for help and to step out of their comfort zone. It can be scary but it is so rewarding. It can lead to lots of great adventures and new friends. I also hope they have a giggle, as I have strived for levity in the story too with Blink’s antics!

Having two female main characters feels very important as well, especially as there is a scientific theme to the story and this type of representation can be lacking. I have always enjoyed films with gizmos and gadgets, but when Ghostbusters was rebooted with an all female cast, it felt particularly special. I wanted to imbue Bertha with a similar energy, a self-made character who can invent her way through anything.