Writing Friends, Old and New - Elen Caldecott

This blog came about because a group of children's writers who were feeling isolated and remote (in the days before t'internets) formed a society. Members of that society later went on to invent An Awfully Big Blog Adventure. Later still (if this were a film, I'd do a montage), other members (including me!) established the Winter Warmer.
This is an annual retreat in which relaxation and creativity are the main focus. It takes place in the Somerset countryside amid hills and sheep and such. You have to be very careful on the drive in not to hit something cute and furry. And even more careful on the night-time drive out, on a desperate booze-run after the group has - literally - drunk the bar dry, (naming-no-names, but you-know-who-you-are!).

I set off to Somerset this year with a little trepidation. I was one of the organisers and heavy rain was threatening to make the event a wash-out. In the end, one dramatic night of gales brought out something of the Blitz spirit. And the muddy trousers after tramps in the hills were more of a badge of honour.

The studios we stayed in

The weekend is made up of optional talks and workshops; lots of good food, and quiet spaces to work. Though, if you'd like to spend the whole time in bed, re-reading all of Harry Potter, then no-one will mind.
Equally, you can attend all the talks. This year, I found them to be hugely entertaining, and even moving.
The focus on creativity means that no business talks are planned. There's nothing on the schedule about working with agents, or honing your pitch, or managing self-publishing. (By the way, I have nothing against such talks, they can be incredibly helpful and other Scattered Authors' conferences do include them). Instead, people shared tricky writing experiences; suggested ways to inject a bit more fun; shared tips on things that had worked for them. They were open, honest and frank in a way that felt like a stiff broom brushing out brain-webs.

I particularly enjoyed Liz Kessler's poi workshop. At the end of which, I was battered, bruised in some odd places, but with the new-found ability to twirl a ball on a string. Proper playtime.

Proper playtime

There appeared to be a bottomless vat of cake, which is terrible for the diet, but certainly made me feel snuggly and wintery.

In between workshops, there was enough free-time for me to work on a proposal I have for a play script. I wrote the lyrics to six songs, I wrote one long monologue and also collaged the main character's living room (is that actually work? It didn't feel like it, but it was ace).

I met up with what feel like old friends, made lots of new ones and came away enthused and refreshed.

I felt like a part of an extended family of very generous writers - thank you, all!



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This is Not a Book Review - Elen Caldecott

Today I thought I would look at one specific book and see if I can share what I've learned from it. This isn't a review, or a critical reading, this is an author looking at a book I admire to see the nuts and bolts of its construction. WARNING: If you have not read Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce and would like to do so one day without being encumbered with a sackful of spoilers, STOP READING NOW.

Everyone else, here's what I've learned from the book, in visual form:

Each of those post-it notes represents a moment where I said 'ooh, that's clever.' Shows why it wins prizes!
The idea for this post owes a lot to Stroppy Author's Book Vivisection (which I'd love to see more of.) But, it also owes as much to the current MA students in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University who shared their thoughts about the book with me during a recent seminar.

I can't share every single post-it note, so instead, I have decided to share my top five post-it note revelations (TFPINR from here on in).

TFPINR No. 5 - Prologue Pro
Online writing advice would have you believe that prologues are the work of the devil and his literary minion, Beelzebook. Received wisdom has it that they shamelessly trick the reader into swallowing a boring Chapter 1. In Cosmic, Cottrell Boyce has the briefest of prologues. It is a media clip announcing a missing space rocket. It tells you that you're in a world a lot like ours, but with one crucial difference - manned space programmes are active. Immediately following this, there's the traditional Chapter 1, which begins 'i am not exactly in the lake district'. The hook for Chapter 1 is more interesting than the prologue, not less.

TFPINR No. 4 - First-Person Present and Correct.
I have a confession. I don't much like first-person present. As a teen reader I always wondered 'who are you talking to? And why?'. Cottrell Boyce neatly deals with this question, wraps it up and puts it to bed. The MC, Liam, is recording his last words on his mobile phone. He's lost in space, you see. He hopes some friendly alien race will one day send the recording home to his mum and dad, with Liam's love.
The narrative then moves regularly into first-person past by using flashbacks. The transitions into these flashbacks are superbly handled. My favourite goes (to paraphrase): 'I can see Earth. All my stuff is on Earth. Including my house and everything in it. Like my Viking Playmobile. Except I gave it away when I was big enough to grow facial hair. I didn't notice the facial hair. Everyone else did, on my Year 6 leavers' trip. The trip was...cue anecdote about leavers' trip.' Seamless.

TFPINR No. 3 - Themes Legit
There's a masterly orchestration to the way that symbols are handled. They are the wing-men to the major theme, always there to get his back. A distilled statement of the theme might be (with thanks to the MA Group!) 'No matter how far you go, your dad (God?!) will always bring you back.' The symbols are a scaffold to support this theme: circles; gravity; space; playing; Waterloo and Dads. They all pop up at the right moment to explore different facets of the theme.

TFPINR No. 2 - Engage Disbelief Suspension
The idea of the book is ridiculous: a group of children get themselves lost in space and manage to find their way home again. Completely implausible. However, the main action (told in flashback during the second act), is foreshadowed by three separate events. These events rely on the same type of misunderstanding, without being so similar to be repetitious. Another regularly utilised concept is the game imagery that plants the idea of skills 'levelling-up'. Liam collects the skills to be an adult, so of course he has to put them to use.
Also, everytime that something truly ridiculous happens - for example, the point where the children are told they will go to space alone - Cottrell Boyce uses a bait-and-switch, stating the ridiculous then talking about something completely different at length.

TFPINR No. 1 - Make 'em laugh, make 'em laugh
At number one in the TFPINR chart is the humour. In these 300-odd pages, there are examples of all the following types of jokes: puns and wordplay; visual humour; juxtaposition; physical comedy; irony; comic characters; observational comedy; hyperbole and litotes; parody (a difficult one to use in books for young readers, but in this case skillfully foreshadowed); sarcasm; situational comedy and one-liners. Blimes. That's one funny book.

There are loads more post-its. But this is already the most wordy blog post I've ever written.
One often hears writers advise novice writers to read. I would expand on that and say read like a writer. Tear apart books you admire and work out how they do the things they do. Get the post-its out and sticker like it was a skinny stick-insect stuck in glue.


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Show Me The Money - Elen Caldecott

I never studied economics at all, but I have a vague idea that the cost of things, commodities, objects, is determined by balancing what people are willing to sell it for with what people are willing to pay. Plus taxes, of course.

This can be illustrated by my recent decision to buy, on Kindle, Marian Keyes' latest novel The Mystery of Mercy Close. It was £10 as an instant ebook, but only £9 as a snail-mail hardback. If I'd been willing to wait even longer, I could have got it for £7 as a paperback, or 60p from the library (I'd have to reserve it), or, if I waited two years, I could have bought it for 1p plus post and packaging on Amazon. However, I wanted to read it immediately, so, it was worth £10 to me.

More recently, J K Rowling suffered a series (what's the collective noun? A witch-hunt? A mass hysteria?) of 1-star reviews, based solely on the fact that the £12 price-tag of the ebook was deemed too expensive. The convenience of an instant book wasn't worth it to the reviewers.

Of course, much of the vitriol came from the fact that JK is assumed not to need the money (there was little mention of the publishers who presumably paid huge amounts for the rights and need to make back their investment).

So, does the value of a product change if the person selling it doesn't need the money? There's a slim case for that, based on my understanding of how prices are set. But the amount of time spent on making the product isn't any less. The effort and graft are the same.

There seems to be an idea, among the general public, that writers are either starving in attics (which is considered stupid, but morally sound), or greedy fat-cats milking their fans.
I know lots of writers, but I know none who match either image. Most are trying to maintain a modest life-style through precarious means. Like any small-business owners, they have to be mindful of income and expenditure.

Personally, about half my income comes from writing and writing-related activities. The rest comes from three shifts a week selling tickets (so, you can probably make a reasonably sound guesstimate of my level of income! No lighting cigars with hundred dollar bills going on in this part of the West Country!). I write five or six books a year, some long, some short. I teach creative writing. I visit schools and libraries. I work reasonably hard (is it always a self-employed person's curse to believe they are lazy? But I digress...) So, I get cross when people demand that writers subsidise entertainment by producing cheap books.

If you don't think the price is worth it to you, wait until it becomes available in a cheaper format, wait 48 hours for the hardback to be delivered, but don't insist that the seller has to change their position. No-one owes writers a living, but equally, no-one has the right to take that living away. Not even from the rich ones.


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Slanislavski and Me - Elen Caldecott

Many moons ago, way back before email and wikipedia, I did Drama A-Level. I went to the library and hand-wrote essays about Brecht and Stanislavski.

I remember very little about this time (too much cider and Bjork to recall it all properly), but one thing I do remember is Stanislavski's acting method, which would later evolve, by a cunning word-switch, into method acting.

I had reason to think of this last week. Some of you may know that I have recently moved into my first owned-by-me-and-the-bank home (rather than owned by my-landlord-and-the-bank). It has been incredibly stressful (well, duh). There have been moments where my partner and I have wanted to bury ourselves under duvets and only come out once the nasty damp has gone away. I realise this isn't an effective approach to home maintenance, but at times it has been the best we've had.

Anyway, under such circumstances, it has been difficult to find the joy in writing. It has all felt very leaden, lifeless, heavy, murky, like a bad souffle, where you've forgotten the eggs.

Back to Stanislavski.

I had been working on a particularly dreadful scene. I gave up in disgust and went to my day-job. There, I found a member of staff, a pile of cardboard and no customers.

In no time, the member of staff had turned the pile of cardboard into some cute, teeny-tiny houses, as though Kevin McCloud had visited Toytown.

My skill with the scissors couldn't run to houses, but I felt brave enough to try a kennel to go with them. Once that was mastered, I found an online guide to making an origami dog to go in it.

Our little street joined some of the other paper-craft creations that 'decorate' (also known as 'clutter') our collective workspace.

Later, when I revisited the annoying, leaden scene, I found that I was approaching it with a new lightness of heart. It seems that the act of playing made my writing more playful.

I was reminded then of Stanislavski and his belief that good acting came from finding the real emotion, rather than simply declaiming lines. In other words, you just have to feel it.

I have resolved that whenever my writing is doing it's no-egg-souffle impression, I'm going to get out the origami, or the colouring, or the placticine and remind myself of how writing should feel. It should be like playing.

And at least it will take my mind off the damp.
I'd love to hear about other creative outlets help you with your writing!

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We Need to Talk About the Mid-list - Elen Caldecott

Before being published I had dreams of what it would mean: seeing my book on the shelf in a bookshop; seeing tattered copies full of library stamps; typing away on a shady balcony in some village in the south of France. I'm sure you know the sort of thing. I was dreaming bestseller.

(c) Christopher S. Penn

No-one ever sets out to become a mid-list writer, such dreams would be more getting texts from friends saying 'I was in Coventry Waterstones and they don't have your book'; being able to reserve your book only via the inter-library loan system; typing in the early hours before you go off to your day job. Nope, those dreams don't keep us going in the long, dark editing hours. But it is the reality for most writers.

The reason I'm talking about this is because I had a meeting with my publishers last week about 'reaching the next level'. It was a lovely, supportive, cake-filled meeting, but the bottom line was the bottom line. What can we all do (me, editor, art director, sales and marketing, publicity etc) to go from solid to spectacular sales? We discussed various strategies and ate some delicious scones.

But, a week later, I was left wondering at the disconnect between the art and the business of books. You see, solid sales give me a nice lifestyle that I really enjoy. I write three days a week on projects I find entertaining. I work three days a week in a lovely place alongside good friends. I live in a house that's just big enough, with a nice park nearby for walking the dog.

What's to be gained by going from solid to stellar?

There's the relationship with the publisher, of course. A good long-term business proposition, that sees them making money, will give me security. There's ego. It would be nice to not have to explain who I am to school receptionists. There's money. I could add a conservatory, or really have a flat in the south of France. All of that would be lovely.
But these feel a bit like the pre-publication dreams. While dreaming is attractive, I actually enjoy living my life in a quotidian way, without pinning too many hopes on the future.

And even if I we do make changes, will it even work? I think there's just a kind of magic stardust that gets sprinkled on some projects and not others. If you work diligently and you write with a commercial audience in mind, that doesn't mean you're bound to become stellar. No-one knows what makes a book take off in that way. And I don't have a handy packet of stardust in my desk drawer. Furthermore, I don't believe that being mid-list means that you've failed.

I came away from the meeting full of excitement. I will do the sort of thing they want to reach 'the next level', I do want a good relationship and a boosted ego, after all. But it's also important for me to remember that life is about the way I live right now, today and I have to be proud of the daily choices I make.

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Wickworth Manor - A Competition!

There's an arcane bylaw round these part that is rarely used, but I'm going to today because I'm super-excited. The bylaw is that if you have something interesting to say and it isn't your day to post, then you can say it after 3pm.

So, my interesting thing is, that to celebrate today's launch of The Mystery of Wickworth Manor I'm running a competition.The prize is a signed copy of the book, a signed poster and a badge set. There are five prizes to give away.

To enter, simply 'like' my Facebook Page. For those not yet old enough to be on Facebook/not into Facebook/hate Facebook, it is fine to persuade a friend/parent/guardian to enter on your behalf. On 19th July, I'll randomly select five 'likers'. The competition is open to anyone, anywhere in the world. Good luck!!

I'm not the only one with a book birthday today. Congratulations also to Sarah Hammond; Susie Day; Mary Hoffman; Kate Harrison; Jenny Colgan; Marcus Sedgewick; Jackie Marchant; Zoe Marriott; Sophie McKenzie; Mary Hooper... who've I missed?

The Negro Coachboy; inspiration and indecision - Elen Caldecott

My newest novel was inspired by a painting. It is a painting that I was very familiar with as a child. It hangs in Erddig Hall, near Wrexham, which was our day-out of choice on rainy weekends, because of the amazing dollshouse in the nursery.

I remember being puzzled by the painting. The boy in it is black, definitely black. But I had seen Sunday night adaptations of Austen and Dickens et al and, in the 1980s, all the people in them were white. As far as I could tell, the 18th and 19th centuries were wall-to-wall Anglo-Saxons, unless there was a scene in an opium den.

So, who was this boy in the painting?

It took me a long time to decide to write about him. It was problematic in many ways.

First, there is the difficultly of writing about an ethnicity which is not your own. This is not something that held me back for long. I think it is more important that there is diversity in children's book than wondering where that diversity comes from. Research and imagination can fill the gaps of experience.

However, once I had begun my research, then I realised that there would be a bigger problem.

It has long been an accusation that the ghetto-ising of minority experience does more damage than simply ignoring those experiences. So, for example, there are people who feel that Black History Month is problematic because black history should be taught alongside other histories on a daily basis (though this criticism has been loudest in America). One heartfelt and regular cry is that so much black history is associated with the slave trade - as if no other history exists.

Well, I researched the boy and the conclusion was, if he existed, then he was a slave.

Damn.

I absolutely did not want to write a book in which black experience is a slave's experience.

Which meant that the book had to take some interesting detours.
I decided that I would not simply tell the boy's story in a simple narrative - I decided to get metatextual (check me!). I have used careful devices to avoid presenting his life as a de facto stand-in for everyone who sailed the middle passage.

I moved the time-frame. Although the boy's story is told, it is done through the eyes of contemporary children (I nicked some ideas from Possession which sounds massively hubristic now I've said so out loud, but there you go).

Most importantly, I have diversified the ethnic stories that are told within the novel. Have you heard Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED talk on the subject? If not, I recommend it. Her lesson is worth bearing in mind, whoever you're write about. I followed her lesson and have three black boys in the novel, each with very different experiences. Here's the talk in full, if you have a bit of spare time:



The Negro Coachboy was a problematic inspiration, but I really hope that he finds readers. And, if I manage to sell film rights, maybe he will be in a Sunday night adaptation, after all.

What do you think? Am I worrying about nothing? Or am I trampling through history that I should leave well alone?

The Mystery of Wickworth Manor, a novel for children inspired by the painting 'A Negro Coachboy', is published on 5th July by Bloomsbury.

Writing Mentors - Elen Caldecott

On Tuesday this week, I felt like a proud godparent. Two talented writers that I've been working with (and 13 others, that I haven't!) launched their anthology, Writes of Passage. I stood in Foyles Charing Cross with a glass of white wine, a label on my front declaring me to be a tutor and watched as agents and editors hustled to speak to 'our' writers.

Julia Green and agent Jodie Marsh

These students will always be special, as they are the first ones I tutored on the MA Writing for Young People at Bath Spa Uni. I say tutored, because that's what it says on my pay slip. But that isn't really what it felt like. They already had talent, technique and an excellent work ethic. So, I felt more like a mentor. My job really was to drink tea, read attentively and listen while they found solutions.

I love the idea of mentors. I have been very lucky as a number of writers who's careers are further along than mine have taken the time to listen to me, to give advice and say 'that's normal, we all feel like that'.

My own MA tutor, Julia Green (who has a new book out this month Bringing the Summer!) was such a graceful mentor. She told me I had to re-write the first half of my novel with such kindness that I left her office grinning, not crying.

Me and the anthology editor, Sarah Benwell

Other writers have given me wonderful pieces of advice; Marie-Louise Jensen told me about the Scattered Authors' Society, through which I've come to know some wonderful writers. Liz Kessler has been fab at making this industry feel like fun when it can so easily grind you down (see her post on her love affair with Twitter, somehow everything she works on feels like that). Actually, there's lots of great Liz-advice to choose from, but my favourite was during a discussion of commercial books: 'write whatever you want, but then stick wings or a tail on it'.

Molly Drury, Maudie Smith and Sarah Benwell

I remember wondering when I was a teenager how 'schools' of art could arise. At the time, the idea of working with other people, sharing with other people seemed impossible - I kept my angsty poetry close to my chest. But now, it seems obvious. You help people who can learn from you because you have been taught by others. And soon, your pupils will become teachers themselves. There's a lovely sense of inheritance to it; Julia Green was helped early in her career by David Almond. In a way, myself and my students are still benefiting from his mentorship.

Of course, there are writers who would rather stab themselves with their HB pencil than work with others, but I think they are in a minority. The students who launched their careers on Tuesday are joining a very welcoming community of children's writers and we are all the better for that.

Have you had a mentor, and how far back can you trace your 'sense of inheritance'?

For more info about Elen and her books, go to:
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Regional Book Awards - Elen Caldecott

We all love libraries. We know that. The easy access to research titles, the new fiction, the computers and databases and music and films, it's all brilliant.

But there's another reason why contemporary authors love libraries and that's the regional books awards. These annual or bi-annual events select recently published titles and bring together schools, clubs and families to vote for their favourites.

There are some well established ones, like the Leeds and Sheffield awards, there are some that are specific to new authors, like the Heart of Hawick or the New Horizons Book award, there are others that are just starting out (Hi, Warwickshire Junior Book Award!). But what all of these awards have in common is the dedicated professionals behind them working hard to encourage reading. They might be county or school's service librarians, or even teachers with responsibility for the school library and they work hard to bring new books to new readers.

As an author, I am immensely grateful for that.

(l-r) Gill Lewis, Fiona Dunbar, Elen Caldecott

It's too easy for children to stick with tried-and-tested books - school copies of Roald Dahl, or presents from well-meaning relatives who buy books they remember from their youth (how many versions of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' does there need to be, I ask you?).

By having these awards, librarians bring the best in contemporary publishing to the forefront and give those works a chance to vie against the classics for children's attention.

I've been lucky enough to be shortlisted for a few of the regional awards - I rarely win, but I will always turn up at the ceremony and I'll always say thank you. Whether I win, or not, my books have been given a chance to meet readers. What more can a writer ask for?

Gill on stage

On Monday, I attended the Solihull Children's Book Award. It was won by Gill Lewis for her amazing book Sky Hawk. Fiona Dunbar and I were given bottles of fizzy booze to take away for being runners-up.
And while the booze was lovely, the best thing about this award process was getting this review from one of the participants:

"I am not someone that reads all the time but with this book i did. This book gave me a big step in my reading but the book was so good it made me want to read all the three books [nominated for the award]".

My book, my book, has made a reader out of a non-reader. Flipping heck. And the librarians who organised this award made that happen.

So, this is my very public thank you to librarians in all our regions - long may you be there.


Elen will be appearing at the Explore! Children's Festival in Cardiff on 11th April.

For more info about Elen and her books, go to:
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Existential Thanks - Elen Caldecott

Usually I live on a literary diet that ranges from the Gruffalo to the Gallagher Girls and the munchables in between. I rarely pick up books intended for adults. But this week has been different. I've had two experiences that have made me, not change my view of books exactly, but have made me think more carefully about what I do.

First, on the recommendation of Rosy Thornton, I'm reading James Wood's How Fiction Works. It's a short book of literary criticism. It's a manual on how books function. It's a thesis on modernism. It's pretty good, really. I have found that what I thought was writerly intuition, is in fact a cultural construct that I can't escape. The close-third-person points of view of my characters have come to me in a line of influence directly from Flaubert. Who'd have thought?

The second experience I had was hearing Hisham Matar speak about his work at the Bath Festival of Literature. He discussed the process of writing In the Country of Men. So much of what he said sounded so right that I was a bit dazzled by it all. In much the same way that people with faith might feel when they hear an inspirational preacher. (As an aside, he read from his work and described being in the shade in Tripoli as being in 'grey patches of mercy' - yum.) What I took from the talk was that Matar is secretive about his work as he writes, then confused and surprised by it when it's done. He also said that to write was an act of praise; that by taking, naming and recording we were celebrating living.

I loved the idea that I am part of a tradition of writing that goes back centuries. Like a beacon fire passing information across great distances, our words record what it means to be alive now, our concerns and preoccupations, our joys and fears.

Reading what were contemporary novels when they were written, but are now 'classics' offer us a way to time travel. Austen is a favourite writer of mine; her wit is surprising to us, given the ponderous length of her sentences. But her sentence length is just when she was. Her wit is what she was. She was a product of her time as much as we are and we can visit that time by opening her books. She noticed, named and recorded the early nineteenth century

Next time I sit down to write a novel (which will be in April, I expect), I will have a deeper understanding of the tools I have at my disposal. I'll also bear in mind that every detail I choose to include can be seen as an act of praise. An act of celebrating life as I'm living it. Unless it's a book about squabbling siblings, or missing animals, or urban covens. In which case it will just be business as usual. But right now, I'm inspired.


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Live and In Person - Elen Caldecott

I thought I would chime in in what appears to have become an unofficial and impromptu publicity week on the blog.

(c) Eye Imagery

We've had great posts already from Liz, Nicola and Celia on the subject. I commented on one of those posts that my favourite part of book publicity was the live events. I would much rather talk to a room of 200 school children than try to follow a conversation on Twitter. So, events are always a big part of my promo efforts.
But what are events for? What can they achieve? And are they a good use of my time?

I am a secret exhibitionist. If there is such a thing, of course. I did Theatre Studies at A-level and was part of my local Youth Theatre. Whenever there was any getting up on stage and showing off to be done, I was your girl. But I came to dislike the close physicality of the business of show - everyone wanted to plait each other's hair all the time. Ewww.

Doing events pleases my inner thesp. I tell stories, I do the voices, I make 'em laugh, make 'em cry (I do a good 'angry security guard', and that usually terrifies someone...). So, I have a great time, but what else is gained?

In my opinion, there are three main audiences for events. First, there's the actual children sitting in front of you; they need to have a good time. Second, the person who booked you, so that might be a teacher, librarian or festival organiser; they're hoping that you'll bring some added value to their organisation. Finally, there's your publisher and perhaps a bookseller; they hope that you'll actually shift some copies.
And who does the author try to please? All of them, of course!

I try to make sure that every child feels involved and inspired. I show them how stories work and regularly have zombie invasions, pirates, aliens rampaging over magical landscapes. Last week I started a Jelly Babies versus Gummy Bears war, it can get very raucous. For the teachers, I smuggle in some genuine useful information in with the messing around. And I'll plug the books too.

It's that last part that I have the most trouble with - to my publicist's occasional chagrin. I'm more of a children's tv presenter than salesperson. Still, two happy audiences out of three ain't bad.

If you do events, who are you hoping to please? If you attend events, what do you hope to get from them?

If you'd like to see me at my capering best, you can catch me at the Imagine Festival in London on 16th February.


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Top Reads of 2011 - Elen Caldecott

There is a section of this blog devoted to reviews, so it might seem odd to post about my favourites here. But sometimes, rather than review, it's nice to simply celebrate the books you've enjoyed. Reviews seem such a grown-up thing to me, perhaps with a touch of A-Level English about them - character development, plot arcs, language and imagery... It also gets especially difficult when you know the writers, may even be friends with them! Sometimes, it's better to just press a book into someone's hand and say, "read this. You'll love it."

So here I am, pressing books into your hand. "Read these. You'll love them."

A Tangle of Magicks by Stephanie Burgis was a real treat this year. It's a sequel, so do read A Most Improper Magick first. It's a lovely mix of a Georgian comedy of manners and witchcraft - Jane Austen does Hogwarts. I loved the sequel as it's set in Bath and makes good use of the ancient elements of the city.

A Year Without Autumn by Liz Kessler was a joy. It's a time-slip novel, but rather than finding herself in a Victorian kitchen or Medieval stable or somesuch, the heroine moves forward through her own teenage years. She sees the consequences of one event played out among her family and friends. It's warm, sad and very readable.

One Dog and His Boy by Eva Ibbotson may be my new favourite book (sorry, Holes by Louis Sachar, but you had a good run). It is really simple, direct and honest. I wish I'd have written it. Sigh. Still, that's why reading is so good for writers - it should inspire us to try harder ourselves. It's the story of a lonely boy and his quest to keep the dog he loves; this is one I'll come back to again and again.

I do occasionally read books for adults too. So, I have a grown-up choice to add. A Song of Fire and Ice by George R R Martin is quite an old series of books now (the first, A Game of Thrones was published in 1996), but the TV adaptation was first aired in 2011, so I'm counting it for that reason. I started watching the series, but having to wait a week for each installment was killing me, so I stopped watching the show and read the books instead. I say 'read', actually I'm listening to the unabridged audio books. They weigh in at 40 hours per book and with seven books planned for the series I have a lot of epic, sword and sorcery to come. Hurray!

So, those are my highlights of 2011. What would you have chosen?

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Obstructions and Freedoms - Elen Caldecott

I have two very different takes on the creative process to share today: obstruction and freedom. They may seem like opposites, but I think they can both benefit creative people.

Obstructions are the limits that other people set on what we can do. I first came across this idea a good few years ago when I watched Lars von Trier's The Five Obstructions in which von Trier challenged his friend and mentor, Jorgen Leth to remake the same short film five times, each time with an arbitrarily imposed obstruction. Lars chose the obstructions, naturally, and they ranged from technical (one short could only be made up of sections that were 12 frames long) to the emotional (another short had to be filmed in the worst place in the world). It should have been a disaster, but Leth rose to the challenge and, for the most part, the short films he produces are sublime. In each case, it is the obstructions that inspire Leth to try harder, to think bigger, to be bold.

Freedoms, on the other hand, are what you have when no-one is looking over your shoulder. When an idea comes, characters take shape, words spring and there are no deadlines and contracts and editors. Freedom is what you have when writing is done simply for pleasure. It is often the thing that self-publishers will guard jealously.

This week I attended a meeting for a writing project that comes laden with obstructions - it is for the educational market. There will be no violence, no dangerous activities, no pigs, no swearing. There will be a phonics list. I might have felt the weight of a depressing constraint. But I didn't. Instead, I felt challenged - how do you make a story exciting if it also has to be safe? How can I keep readers asking for 'just one more chapter' if it all has to be written in phoneme-decodable language?

Actually, I found myself bristling with ideas. By setting up obstructions, the publishers are forcing me to think harder, to be ingenious.

Next week, I'm attending a writer's retreat. That will be all freedom (even the freedom to lie around in bed eating biscuits all day, if I want). I won't be doing any contracted writing. I hope that it will be invigorating and luxurious. It is just this kind of freedom that keeps writing fresh for me.

And just to illustrate how good things can be with a bit of obstruction, here's Jorgen Leth's 'cartoon perfect human':

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Write the theme tune, sing the theme tune... - Elen Caldecott

As people who know me well will know, films come a very close second to books on my list of 'things I'd rather be doing'. I go to the cinema usually once a week and will also watch a couple on LoveFilm or on TV too.

Last week's cinema expedition was something different to the norm. I went to see Red State by Kevin Smith. When I say 'by' Kevin Smith, that's pretty much exactly what I mean - written by, directed by, distributed by...that Kevin Smith. Even the funding for the film was raised by Kevin Smith from private donors. Once the film was made, most of his marketing was done via podcasts, personal appearances and literally schleping the film from city to city - at least in the US. This film is more the vision of one person than any I've seen in the cinema outside a short film festival.

This kind of one-man-band of filmmaking is a close equivalent to serious self-publishing. Like buying a self-published book for cold hard cash, I went to a cinema, paid the standard fee, bought popcorn, watched ads and trailers and then saw a product that came to me pretty directly from the mind of its creator. It was free of influence of studios, focus groups, distributors etc. All the people who are usually accused of forcing directors to churn out guff like Final Destination 5 (my own personal title-stuffed-with-irony favourite). The publishing parallel to those people might be the bookchains who don't like a book's cover, or the marketing dept who don't like the main character's ethnicity. The people that are usually the subject of irate rants on writers' forums.

So, what was a 'self-published' film like?
Well, quite good.

I had thought about posting the trailer here...but it's 18-rated and so it could get me into trouble. It's on YouTube if you want a look. In a nutshell, three boys get kidnapped by a family of fundamentalist Christians and are punished for their perceived sins. Like I say, it's an 18. In the hands of a studio it would probably have been a shlock-horror, perhaps with a bit of torture porn thrown in. In the hands of a single-voice director, it is something less polished, but also strangely satisfying. Kevin Smith actually has something to say and he uses the actors as mouthpieces for his idea. Admittedly, there are over-long speeches and it's disconcerting not to have a clear hero. But it was also very refreshing indeed.

Auteurs aren't new, of course. But for most of my cinema-going life, they've been the stuff of myth. I'm much more used to studio-productions. Just as I've been used to publisher-led fiction. I wonder, will we find that the self-publishing revolution that's taking place around us will lead to auteurs making their mark in our industry too?

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I have often walked down this street before - Elen Caldecott

This isn't going to be about writing, I'm afraid.

Instead, I thought I would tell you about the affect that art is having in Bristol.

Like London, Birmingham and other UK cities, Bristol has had its share of trouble lately. Young people have felt an appaling disconnect between themselves and the city that is their home - with ugly consequences.
But two weeks after the riots, a different kind of ugly has taken hold and it has changed the way that Bristolians see their streets, well, one street anyway.

Nelson Street in central Bristol was always rough as a badger's brillos. It has high-rise buildings, many deserted; overhead walkways that smelled of tramp's undercrackers and alleys that may as well have had 'get mugged here' written in neon above them.

But last weekend, a group of international street artists reclaimed the walls. The graffiti they produced is breathtaking in scale. Everyone who walks down Nelson Street now is affected by it.

The most noticable thing is the change of pace, no-one hurries anymore. People stop to stare, take pictures, point out things they want others to notice. Complete strangers smile at each other.

It isn't confined to the usual suspects either, urban hipsters and trustafarians are outnumbered by families, tourists, older folks and children. I saw one older lady being helped up steps to get a better view - steps that two weeks earlier would have needed a bleach enema before anyone could walk on them.

I don't pretend that this will cure all Bristols ills. But I do think that anything that makes us feel more connected, less afraid, can only be a good thing.

Here, with apologies to those using dial-up, are some pictures:

The building my husband works in

Steps and walkways

Slowing for a look

My favourite - these columns are wearing knitted jerseys. And check out the new sign.

Adding greenery to the cityscape

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Carnegie Shadowing - Elen Caldecott

One of the troubles with sharing a blog with so many other lovely people is that you have to wait in line for your turn. There's no pushing in. So, a few weeks late, I'm going to tell you about my experience of the Carnegie Medal this year.

For those who don't know, the Carnegie is probably the most prestigious award given to a UK children's writer annually. The longlist is very long, but the shortlist is usually whittled down to about 6 or 8 books by a team of dedicated children's librarians.

This year I was invited to visit a school in Swansea to spend a few hours with their Carnegie Shadowing students - a group of book-mad Years 7-9 with lots of energy, enthusiasm and some very honest opinions!
In advance of the visit, I had a lot of reading to do. The shortlist this year was:

• Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin
• The Death Defying Pepper Roux by Geraldine McCaughrean
• Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
• The Bride’s Farewell by Meg Rosoff
• White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick
• Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace

I also promised the students that I would ask a few question of the authors on their behalf, more on that in a moment.

First we decided on our criteria for what made a good book. We had a huge list of everything from 'makes me laugh' and 'great cover' to 'inspiring characters' and 'feels like I'm there' (none of us could spell verisimilitude...).

Each student judged the books by choosing the three criteria that mattered most to them.
Then, the discussion began...

It became clear quite quickly that despite saying that they didn't judge a book by it's cover, they all had. Very few of them had read all six books, and the cover had had a huge influence on what they'd selected to read. None of the boys had read Prisoner of the Inquisition (I told them what idiots they were being, as this was in my own personal top three). The size of the book mattered too. Hardly any had read Monsters of Men; some of the smaller Year 7s could hardly lift it.

Hearing from the authors influenced their opinions too. After hearing that Geraldine McCaughrean's favourite bit of her book was a transvestite sailor, the students snatched copies of the book from one another searching for La Duchesse. The favourite answer of all though was Marcus Sedgwick's laconic response to a question about the title: 'read the book.' It became our catchphrase for the day.

While we had a great time, it was clear that the challenging nature of almost all of the books had intimidated the students. I'm not sure there is a solution to that. The award is intended to reward excellence and excellence is challenging. A shorter shortlist, perhaps?

Finally we had to declare a winner. After the votes were counted, we found we didn't agree with the official result (sorry, Patrick). Our winner was Marcus Sedgwick with White Crow. Possibly because of that very sage piece of advice 'read the book'.

Elen's latest book Operation Eiffel Tower is out now, published by Bloomsbury.

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WIN: Operation Eiffel Tower - Elen Caldecott

Win one of 3 signed copies of Operation Eiffel Tower by Elen Caldecott.

Lauren, Jack, Ruby and Billy live by the seaside with their mum and dad. But their parents are always arguing, and then their dad moves out. Lauren and Jack decide they have to get them together again. And so begins Operation Eiffel Tower... Suitable for boys and girls aged 8-12.

To enter, answer the following question.

Attack of the Graphic Novel - Elen Caldecott

I have a new book coming out at the beginning of July. The sensible thing to do right now would be to tell you about it. Maybe show a photo of the cover, or quote from a review, or something. If I was a proper businessperson, that’s what I'd do.

But I’m not a businessperson. I’m a writer, a reader and a booklover first and foremost. So, that’s not what I’m doing.

Instead, I wanted to tell you about some books that I’ve recently got excited about. Well, not books. Not exactly. I have stumbled into the darkest recesses of the library and struggled through the angst, boy stench and geek glares to find the graphic novels section. Yes, I’ve been reading comics.

It started at Christmas, when my husband told me that there was a Season Eight of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ‘Season Eight’? I squealed in a hopeless fan-girl way (knowing full-well that Season 7 saw the end of Buffy's Vampire-fighting days). ‘Yup,’ he said, ‘and I’ve got you episode 1.’ He then handed over a comic. I was wary to begin with. After all, Sarah Michelle Gellar in 2D must be missing a dimension?

It took about three pages for me to be hooked. It was an experience similar to watching TV or reading a book, but not exactly like either. I felt as though the characters spoke and moved in front of me, but with no time taken up with description or linking scenes. I had to work quite hard to keep up, but at the same time it was a quick read.

Since then, I’ve read the first few episodes of the brilliant Fables; the intriguing Y: The Last Man and the deliciously long Walking Dead. I’ve got most of these from the library and the ragged pages and mile-long date stamps suggest that I’m far from being alone. The library only has a small number of copies of each episode and the wait for current lenders to return them is agonising.

It strikes me that if I had an iPad then graphic novel apps would be so easy to spend money on. They have the addictive quality of a good TV Box Set, where you find yourself saying ‘just one more’ even though it’s 11pm and you know you’ll be bleary eyed in the morning. It would cost a fortune, but they’d be available right then and there and wouldn’t smell like teenage boy.

Are there any comics...sorry, graphic novels...that you know of that I should add to my list?




Oh, and in case my editor reads this, then the new book is called ‘Operation Eiffel Tower’, it's out on 4th July and you can read more about it on my website:
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Kids and Kindles by Elen Caldecott

The Kindle version of my books appeared one day on Amazon. This came as a surprise to me, as I didn't know that my publishers had decided to turn a contract clause into a real live ebook.
I write for 8-12 year-olds, so I was sceptical about the value of ebooks (please read the whole post before throwning the rotten tomatoes of technophobia at me!). I awaited my first post-Kindle royalty statement with interest. Would I be the next Amanda Hocking? Well. No. In April, my statement told me that paper copies outsold ebook copies by a pretty substantial ratio (8000:1 in case you're interested).

Gratuitous picture of my ebook

Paper, it seems, still rules the school.

So, is there any point in bothering to make ebooks for younger readers available? There's a huge product surge taking place right now, not just in publisher produced ebooks, but self-published new works, or authors giving their out-of-print books a new lease of life through the technology. Katherine Roberts has a particularly useful series of posts on how she went about doing just that.
Is this a bandwagon I should be on? Or should I stay on the fence and wave as it goes past like a northern Jenny Agutter?

I took a look at Amazon's Top 100 Paid children's ebooks last Sunday.
It was - almost - wall to wall vampire novels. My suspicion is that even though these books might be classed as children's books, they are in fact being downloaded and read by young adults, or, you know, adult adults. However, that 'almost' is interesting. There were some books in the Top 100 that really were kids books, though probably downloaded by adults as a result of seeing a film or play-tie in (Rosemary Sutcliff and Michael Morpurgo). But once you'd got past those, there were one or two books that made me pause. Lady in the Tower by our own Marie-Louise Jensen was there. Lily Alone by Jacqueline Wilson. The H.I.V.E. series. Were these books being bought by adults? It seemed unlikely to me. So, are some children buying ebooks?

Last year, I had a conversation with my agent about the value of children's ebooks. Her feeling was that it's only a matter of time before the market takes off. There were a few barriers she saw to their success. First, the ereaders. Who would give an iPad to a nine year old? Well, the iPad2 is now out. Anyone who upgrades might as well give their redundant iPad1 to their children. I certainly saw it happen with smart phones.
Gift-giving was another barrier, she suggested. Lots of books for 8-12s are bought by adults as gifts. You can't wrap an ebook. Will Amazon gift vouchers really do as a birthday present?
Then there's actually making the purchase. Once, my 10-year-old brother bought a camper-van on ebay using my dad's credit card. That was a dark day in the Caldecott household. And a valuable lesson in why my dad should keep his credit card hidden in the back of his wardrobe (yes, Dad, we know where it is...) But a PayPal system for children would overcome that difficulty. Are the children who have overcome these barriers buying H.I.V.E? Probably.

Many school libraries are moving away from printed books to ebooks and ereaders. Children who are in kindergarten now might well start High School with a tablet computer in the bag with no need for a new pencil case on the first day of term.

Right now, I feel that my royalty statement is right. Kids ebooks haven't come of age. Not yet. But it's only a matter of time. I best buy my ticket for that bandwagon!

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Show and Tell - Elen Caldecott

Last week I made a small contribution to the £12,000 raised by Authors For Japan. I bought something very exciting-looking. And I also sold two items. The first, a signed book, was easy. Jiffy bag, job done. The second, a manuscript critique, will be much harder.

When the manuscript arrives, I will be honest, I will be thorough, I will do my very best to be helpful. But, it will be hard to forget that I will be commenting on someone's hard work, something that they will have crafted at for months or even years.

Of course, I know exactly how it feels to have people reading your work and pulling it apart. It happens to me all the time and I love it. Writers need readers like yin needs yang. Yang on it's own looks like a one week old foetus. Hmm, maybe that's an image a critiquer would have me re-work.

Over the years, I have been priviledged to have a number of different people read and comment on drafts of my work. The MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa provided me with a solid core of peers who would shout me down if I went all OMG with the exclamation marks (early drafts of my prose tend to look like a place punctuation goes to die). We still meet once a month, three years after the course ended.

Online communities have also helped. A few authors I've met love WriteWords. Personally, I like Litopia, it has none of the competitive element of some peer-review sites and the critiques are harsh in a way that only strangers can manage.

Then, a little later down the line, there's my agent and editor. People who can be relied upon to tell me when I'm going astray. Some of my stories have even required specialist readers - a Somali family were kind enough to check one a few months ago. The novel that will be published this summer needed a golfer's view of the final draft (a golfer's view?! OMG!! ).

I know exactly how it feels to hand over a piece of work and be told: try harder, think clearer, make it better. It hurts, it's hard. I hope that doesn't mean that I will pull any punches when it comes to the assessment I do, because it's what we need if we're ever going to get our stories out to the harshest readers of all - children.

Who reads your drafts for you?

 Read more about the need for a golfer's view at
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