At the Cheltenham Literature Festival in October 2024, with ideas fizzing in the air, I found myself in a packed tent listening to Helen Fielding, the iconic voice behind Bridget Jones.

She was brilliant: warm, funny, sharp as ever.

But it was one line she said during her talk that really struck me:

"I wrote for the women I stood beside."

Not from above. Not from behind a lectern. Just shoulder to shoulder, speaking her own truth to her own generation.

The Question That Changed My Day

Then someone asked whether she could write for Gen Z today.

She paused and smiled.

"No," she said. "Their world, their language—it's different. I hear it through my daughter's friends. But they're brilliant. Witty. The way they tell stories through TikTok, it's so clever. They don't need me to write it for them. They should be writing for each other."

That moment lit something in me.

Children today do have their own voice, and it's bold, creative, and hilarious. They've lived through COVID, digital overload, and the pressure to be perfect.

And they deserve the space to tell those stories.

Running Back Through Cheltenham

I was so moved I ran back to where I was staying, grabbed a couple of Gabriel's books—stories we've written together—and ran all the way back to the festival.

The queue was already long, but I waited.

I was the very last one.

When I finally reached her, I handed her a copy of The Adventures of Gabriel. I thanked her for what she'd said about generations writing for each other, and about kids being such powerful, funny storytellers in their own right.

She smiled warmly, took Gabriel's book, and then signed the other one for him with words I'll never forget:

"It's your story. Tell it like you're talking to a friend."

That's the Heart of What We Do

That line—tell it like you're talking to a friend—captures everything StoryQuest is about.

We make space for children to tell their stories. Not the adult versions. Not the neat ones. The real ones.

The stories where:

• The hero makes mistakes and figures it out anyway
• The language sounds like how they actually talk
• The emotions are big and messy and true
• The ending doesn't have to be perfect

When children tell stories like they're talking to a friend, something magical happens:

They stop performing for adults and start expressing for themselves.

And when they do? They grow. They connect. They discover they have something worth saying.

Why This Generation Needs Space to Tell Their Stories

Helen Fielding was right: every generation has its own voice, its own truth to tell.

Today's children are navigating a world that's fundamentally different from the one we grew up in:

• They've experienced global pandemic disruption
• They're growing up with social media pressures we never faced
• They're processing climate anxiety, political division, and rapid change
• They're expected to be perfect, polished, and productive from age 5

They need space to make sense of all this. In their own words. On their own terms.

Not through worksheets or essay prompts or "correct" formats.

Through stories that sound like them, feel like them, matter to them.

What Teachers See When Children Get That Space

Across 465 children in 9 schools using StoryQuest, teachers report something remarkable:

When children realize their story can sound like a conversation with a friend—not a formal piece of writing—everything changes.

The child who "can't write" suddenly creates a 10-page adventure.

The student who never volunteers tells a story that has the whole class laughing.

The quiet one who seemed disengaged writes characters facing exactly what they're facing—and imagines them finding their way through.

"I didn't know I had so many stories inside me until I was allowed to let them out."
— Year 6 Student, Bradford

That's what happens when we give children permission to tell it like they're talking to a friend.

What Gabriel's Book Represents

The Adventures of Gabriel isn't polished or perfect. It's exactly what an 11-year-old British-Pakistani boy from Cheltenham would create if you gave him space to tell stories his way.

It has:

• Monsters that represent real fears
• Heroes who aren't always brave but figure it out anyway
• Humor that makes kids laugh (even if adults don't always get it)
• Puzzles and pictures because that's what Gabriel wanted
• Language that sounds like him, not like what adults think kids should sound like

And that's why it works.

90% of children who read Gabriel's books create their own stories afterward.

Not because it's "good literature" by adult standards.

Because it gives them permission: Your story can sound like you.

The Legacy of That Cheltenham Moment

I left the festival with Helen's words ringing in my ears and Gabriel's book clutched to my chest.

Her advice—tell it like you're talking to a friend—has become the guiding principle for everything we do.

When we train teachers in StoryQuest methodology, we say: "Let children tell their stories like they're talking to a friend."

When we work with reluctant writers, we say: "Forget formal writing. Just tell me the story like you're telling a friend."

When parents ask how to encourage their children's creativity, we say: "Listen like a friend would. With curiosity, not correction."

Because that's when the real stories come out.

The ones that matter. The ones that heal. The ones that help children figure out who they are and what they think and what they're capable of.

Every Child Has a Story

His story, like every child's, is his to tell.

Our job—as parents, teachers, authors, adults—is simply to make sure they get the chance.

To create space where their voice matters.

Where they can tell it like they're talking to a friend.

Where they discover that their stories—messy, imperfect, beautifully their own—are exactly what the world needs to hear.

Give Children That Space

For families:
Explore The Adventures of Gabriel—stories written in a voice that gives children permission to write in theirs.
theadventuresofgabriel.com

For schools:
Learn how StoryQuest creates space for every child to tell their story like they're talking to a friend.
my-storyquest.com

"It's your story. Tell it like you're talking to a friend."
— Helen Fielding to Gabriel