For Tanya Hennessy, the Newcastle-born radio host turned YouTube comedian's motivation to write her first junior fiction novel, Drum Roll Please ... It's Stevie Louise, came after discovering she had a growing fanbase of children.

"When I was eliminated from I'm A Celebrity [... Get Me Out of Here], I had all of these videos sent to me from parents of their kids crying," Hennessy laughs.

"I had, like, 200 children crying in my DMs.

"I asked my friends who were on the show, 'Did you guys get that too? Videos of kids crying when you were eliminated?' and they were like, 'No ...'

"I suddenly thought, 'Maybe kids have an interest in whatever I am?', so I set out to write a picture book for them."

Three weeks after sitting down at her laptop, Hennessy had churned out 3000 words.

"My publisher said 'Um, this is junior fiction' and I said 'Oh, then I guess I want to write junior fiction?'," Hennessy says.

"It is very, very close to the original draft.

"There have been minor changes, but it was written in three weeks and I know it sounds wild, but I feel like I channelled it through something else.

"It was so fully formed and I'm like, 'I don't know how I did this!' [laughs]".

Released earlier this week, Drum Roll Please ... It's Stevie Louise is Hennessy's third published work following her debut Am I Doing This Right (2018) and the 2020 follow-up, Help Self: Learn From My Mistakes So You Can Make Different Ones.

The warm, funny and relatable story follows the life of 11-year-old Stevie who comes up with a plan that will allow her to have fun, make money and ensure that her bunch of buddies stay best friends forever.

The book explores themes such as resilience, confidence and self-belief - all of which Hennessy wishes she knew more about as a kid growing up in the Lake Macquarie suburb of Eleebana.

"Resilience is a huge one. People always ask me, 'How do you do what you do?' And I say 'I just don't give up'," she says.

"Your resilience defines you, it really does, and it has with me. There are a lot of strong messages around confidence and self-belief.

"Stevie has a lot of insecurities. She's a very outgoing kid when she's with people she knows, but very shy and reserved at school.

"It's about her overcoming her nervousness and anxiety.

"There's no love story or crushes. It's just about this really special girl on her own journey to be creative and put her own stamp on the world."

It is perhaps no surprise that Hennessy found herself penning a children's book.

Her mother, who lives in Belmont and works as a librarian, instilled the importance of reading in Hennessy from a young age, encouraging her to pick up a book every day, with authors such as Roald Dahl and Robin Klein among her favourites.

Hennessy revisited books from her past, such as Hating Alison Ashley and The Baby Sitters Club, as part of her research for the book.

She also spent time hanging out with young girls to gain a better understanding of life as a tween in this day and age.

"I went to my friend's houses when their kids were having sleepovers and I spent time in Maitland at a friend's cheerleading school, just so I could hang out and hear what kids talk about, see what they pack in their lunch box and pick up on their dialogue," Hennessy says.

"It was so interesting. I did a lot of research to get into those characters."

Naturally, Hennessy also set out to ensure the lead character was very funny.

"As a kid I loved Hating Alison Ashley and I actually performed it with Young People's Theatre when I was a kid," Hennessy says.

"I played the funny girl part and I remember thinking, 'There's no other funny girl parts out there'.

"So, when I wrote the character of Stevie, I had this really desperate desire to make sure all of the girls' parts were really funny, so that if it ever became a play, all the girls could be funny."

In fact, Hennessy is already working on the script for a stage version.

"Look, I don't know if you know much about me, but I am a bit of a workaholic," she laughs.

"As I talk to you, I am writing it as a play.

"I don't stop."

Drum Roll Please ... It's Stevie Louise is out now though Allen & Unwin.

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