Ways to Live Forever
Sam loves facts. He wants to know about UFOs and horror movies and airships and ghosts and scientists, and how it feels to kiss a girl.
And because he has leukaemia he wants to know the facts about dying. Sam needs answers to the questions nobody will answer.
My name is Sam. I am eleven years old. I collect stories and fantastic facts. By the time you read this, I will probably be dead.
True Facts About Ways to Live Forever
1.
I really did run up down escalators when I was writing this book. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for ages and I thought, if Sam can do it, so can I. I did it in the same place Sam does – at the Cornmill Centre in Darlington.
2.
The chapter Visits is based on something my mother did after I was diagnosed with diabetes as a child. It was supposed to be a funny scene – but it didn’t turn out that way when I wrote it.
3.
I deleted over 20,000 words while writing this book (the finished novel is around 32,000 words long). Some of the scenes I deleted include a list of famous last words, a description of how a dead body decomposes and a scene where Sam and Felix try and break their world record by dropping water bombs on Sam’s dad.
4.
There are a few real names and places in this book. Auntie Nicola, Auntie Sarah and Auntie Carolyn are named after friends of mine, as is Raoul, the airship pilot. Stanley Rhode (the airship captain) gets his name from Stanley Road, the street I lived on at university. My friends and I always meant to put Stanley Rhode into one of our essays but never did, so I put him in the book instead. High Strawberry – on Sam’s list of favourite things – is also a real place. We used to stay there when I was a child.
5.
The first words I wrote when I began this book were:
List No. 1 – Five Important Facts About Me
1. My name is David Oliver Robinson.
2. I am eleven years, two months and seven days old.
3. I have one sister. Her name is Katherine Anne Robinson and she is nine years old.
4. I have acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
5. By the time you read this, I will already be dead.
Reviews of Ways to Live Forever
“impressed by Sally Nicholls’ sensitive handling of terminal illness in Ways to Live Forever”
“Sympathetic, touching, and surprisingly funny…”
“Sally Nicholls has precisely captured the contents of an 11-year-old boy’s head in all its humorous, list-making splendour.”Â
July 23, 2011 @ 4:27 pm
i did really cried for almost a week……….. love you and your book………..thanks for such a great book
bharti
india
June 23, 2011 @ 6:30 pm
i like love your book soooooooooooo much it is the best book i have ever read i started reading it and couldn’t stop i am now reading it for the 5th time <3 that shows how much i love it and now i am reading your other book season of secrets i love it aswell please bring out another one 🙂 plus i am only 12 years old and i have read you book 5 years and now im reading your other book 🙂 <3 🙂 😀 😀 😀 :p
June 23, 2011 @ 8:48 am
Hey sally
Once i read your book, i was so inspired, the book moves alot of people, i am one of them, it was completely amazing and so are you, this was a wonderful topic to write about, I am a small-town author, I have read alot of books and this is by far the best, Once long ago i wrote a book about a 17 year old girl with cancer, she had no friends and i named it coping, in the end, her mother had a heart attack and eventually the cancer killed her, people said it made them cry, i love your book.
June 13, 2011 @ 5:23 pm
“I love your books I have read both and hope that you publish more I am 11 and my favourite book is ways to live for ever I read it so fast I just wanted to see what happened thanks so much for writing them and I hope you write more:) xxxxx”
June 13, 2011 @ 11:44 am
I LOVE your book Sally Its my favorite book I ‘ ve ever read!!! 🙂 Plus I am 12 years old and I have experienced your book and so has my mum my nan and my auntie, and they adore it! 🙂 🙂 🙂 😀 😀 😀
June 4, 2011 @ 5:19 pm
What a wonderful book. I’m a 38 year old man, father of a (healthy) 6-year old son, and found it so touching, so sad and joyous and real and true and simple at the same time, thank you so very much for writing and publishing it. It gave me so much desire to really ENJOY life and living, and to make life an enjoying experience for my kid, and it was such an emotional experience reading it (it took me 3 weeks to finish), really thank you very much. And thank you for not being romantic in it 🙂 It was a great experience.
June 3, 2011 @ 1:59 am
hi..
i love Sam 😉
Actually i was thinking that ‘ways to live forever’ is a true story. I thought the book wrote by Sam.
i wondering about the inspiration of the novel. Please reply this comment through my mail address if you don’t mind
Thank You..
June 2, 2011 @ 2:43 am
It’s a story of death… but at the same time, an extraordinary celebration of life.
June 2, 2011 @ 2:42 am
Ways to Live Forever is one of the best books I’ve ever read, and believe me, I read a LOT. This book is one of those rare stories that is so poetic and beautiful, yet very, very real. Here’s this kid, Sam, who’s dying from cancer, yet he’s still a kid… I love how you portrayed him as very mature for his age, but at the same time a child who has big dreams for his last moments on earth.
Your writing is amazing… I hope to be an author like you some day!
May 30, 2011 @ 12:14 am
Ways to live forever so touching. I virtually cried.