I want to write for children... A guide to Writing for Children & YA - Linda Strachan

IN 1996, which seems a lifetime away from today, my first book (in fact a series of 8 books) was published, and it is strange to think that many of my first readers are now adults.  In 2008 with over 50 books published for a variety of ages I put together much of what I had learned and experienced, in both the writing and the business side of being a writer, into a book called Writing for Children.

Now, 11 years later, since so much has changed in publishing, and in the world of children's books, I have a new and very much updated and expanded edition which is published tomorrow.  It is the Writers' & Artists' Guide to Writing for Children and Y.A.

There is also a great  competition for unpublished and unagented writers where you can win not only a copy of my new book but also the latest copy of the Children's Writers' & Artists' Yearbook, a place on their writing conference and I am offering a critique, including a skype or phone call. So, please pass this on to any unpublished writers you know.

Competition for unpublished writers ( writing for MG and YA)  Deadline midnight Monday 9th December 2019

So many people love the idea that they could write a book and get it published, often seeming to expect that one naturally follows the other. But writing is a craft, not merely an extrapolation of what we learned at school when asked to write an essay or a letter.

Some think it will be easy, especially if it is 'just' for children.  But that comment alone shows how the young minds in our society are often disregarded, the adjective 'childish' frequently being used disparagingly. Children, and things relating to them, are sometimes looked on as being of less interest and their opinions as being less valid.

I firmly believe that we should encourage greater respect for children and young people generally, as well as their ideas, and that adults can benefit from listening to them more. They are fascinating and sometimes have an honest clarity of thought that is breathtaking.  Children are also a discerning bunch of readers, less likely than an adult to finish a book just because they started it, which makes writers for children work harder to keep them engaged.

Children and young adults are not an amorphous group of readers, they are not similar to adult readers, in that their ability to read, their life experience and so many other factors will dictate what kind of book is suitable and appealing.

I have often been told, "I am writing a children's book" but the same person looks puzzled when I ask what age they are writing for. It has often not occurred to them that a story for a 3 year old will not be ideally the same as one for an 9 year old, and a 7 year old may not want to read the same book as a 14 year old. Obvious when it is pointed out, but for those new to writing for children sometimes their thought processes have not quite travelled that far.

They have often not even begun to understand that not only is the content different but the format will be different as well, and if they want to get it published they need to understand much more about getting published for children than merely having a lovely idea that their children or grandchildren enjoy, when they tell them about it.

Writing for publication is also a business, it is a commercial venture for all those who work in the industry, not a hobby, so writers are expected to be professional if they want to succeed.  The 'gatekeepers' editors or agents who read submissions are looking for something that a) justifies their time in reading it and b) shows the person who sends their work to these incredibly busy people, understands what is expected and required for publication.

This means learning as much as you can about the area you want to write in and also about the way publishing works. When you write for children there are aspects of the craft that you need to understand, i.e. how many spreads a picture book has, what kind of subjects are of interest or not acceptable for different age groups. Whether what you are writing is right for children of today rather than what you may remember reading and loving as a child.

Being a children's writer often means school visits and for some it is the very first time that they have been self employed. Both of these experiences require added knowledge and often help to avoid the many pitfalls. This is why I have always felt that a book on writing should include what happens after publication, as well as a basic toolkit for writing.

Many writers I know have a shelf of books on writing and associated non fiction. In my case it is not only an interest in the craft but a desire to continually improve that spurs me on, and when someone suggests another new addition to my collection I find myself listening with keen interest.

I have dictionaries of several varieties, books on punctuation, books of quotations, one on phrases and fables and an encyclopedia of magical creatures. My shelf groans with many books on the craft and the business of writing; screen and script writing, writing a bestseller etc. as well as books on the publishing process and classic staples which I love to dip back into every now and then, such as Becoming a writer by Dorothea Brand and Virginia Woolfe's A Room of One's Own. I would imagine most people who have a passion for their work have similar shelves of books referring to their particular profession.

Being a writer can be a lonely business, and without the support of other writers it can seem daunting at times which is why the Scattered Authors Society has been invaluable to me. A lovely supportive and knowledgeable group.  For the, as yet, unpublished children's or YA writer SCBWI (and here in the UK SCBWI-BI) offers a similar kind of support and connections, and many who subsequently became published are still keen members and supporters.

Writing for children is exciting and challenging and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

My new book is part of a new series of Writers' & Artists' Guides- including
Writers' & Artists' Guide to Writing for Children and Y.A. by Linda Strachan (pub Bloomsbury 28 Nov 2019)
Writers' & Artists' Guide to Getting Published by Alysoun Owen (pub Bloomsbury 28 Nov 2019)

****************************************

My website  https://www.lindastrachan.com/
Twitter @strachanlinda
Also new for 2019   Middle grade - Fact/fiction  The Dangerous Lives of the Jacobites

"Things I wish I'd known..." Hilary Hawkes

I was eight years old when I decided I was going to be a ballerina, marry a prince and become an author.

Sadly, in time I had to admit defeat with my first two ambitions. Unrealistic things like that just don’t happen, right? With perseverance though, the last one eventually did, on a smallish scale. I was nineteen when a magazine published my twelve part story serial (well, it turned out to be thirteen because they accidentally published part nine twice). But I was in my thirties before my first children’s books were published by, what was then, Scripture Union Publishing. 

Setting out to achieve something you’d love to happen isn’t necessarily easy. It often involves all sorts you never imagined it would involve when you were there at the starting point.

There are certain things I would love to have known about being an author and so here is a  post for new writers just starting out and for other authors, like me, who are at a crossroads in their writerly lives.

Being at a crossroad phase or the starting point of something new is the perfect time to stop and pause and decide what’s really important and what isn’t. 

This, I find, can save a whole lot of false starts, going in wrong directions, holding of unrealistic expectations and all sorts of other angst.

What better way to pause and ponder all this than to ask a wonderful bunch of  children’s authors (mostly Scattered Author members, but others too) what they wished they’d known when they’d been at a starting point or the beginnings of a new phase in their careers.

So here is the wisdom and insights they discovered along the way - and comments in italics are mine:

Believe in yourself and persevere. Don’t make excuses for not pursuing your dreams.

Being published won’t change your life – you’ll still have the same stresses and you’ll have a new set: sales, reviews, future book deals.

Don’t take yourself too seriously. Don’t take criticism too personally. You need to be thick-skinned. A book is only a book and life is what matters.

Being published is not the end of rejection. And rejection is all part of it.

Being an unknown author IS being an author too. And is actually rather nice.

Sign up for PLR and ALCS straight away – very few authors make a living from writing.

Books go out of print really quickly and publishers don’t keep you on for ever. It is so easy to author-publish your out of print books though.

Writing subsequent books doesn’t get any easier.

Not everything you write has to be published.

School or book shop visits get easier and more fun with practice- but you don’t have to do them if they’re not your thing.

Don’t underestimate the amount of public speaking involved.

Don’t do it for the approval of others because depending on other people’s approval is a highway to misery.

Publishers may be genre restrictive and if that happens find a second/another publisher or other options for your work.

It never gets boring seeing your book on the shelves of a bookshop or library. It never gets boring when your friends send you photos of your book in their local Waterstones.

Writing is like snakes and ladders. When you start you think it will be all ladders. Then you meet the snakes. Keep going though because there will eventually be another ladder.

Do not expect to see your books in bookshops for long – if at all. (It’s ok to take photos of them or do a happy dance right there and then when you do see them).

If you stick at it and learn your craft it will happen.

Your creative friends will hold you up when you’re down and carry you higher when you’re up. Make friends with other authors – they are the best kind of friends.

Writing is absolutely the best thing ever when it’s going well.

Don’t take edits personally.

Having a good agent helps. If you don’t have an agent then the Society of Authors will check contracts and offer all kinds of support.

Each book has to be better or at least as good as the last.

Listen to advice but trust your own instincts.

Stay positive or at least pretend you are.

You’ll need to write a lot of drafts before you have the one that will be published and hopefully you’ll be thrilled with the final one.

If you ever stop writing the world will NOT come to an end.

Be prepared for emails and  bizarre requests from readers etc

Join a critique group - for example a SCBWI group.

Have contact with children and your reader age group. There are lots of ways this can happen – school visits, library story times, bookshop signings, volunteering with reading charities etc.

Specific to self-publishing:

                Get your books properly and professionally edited.

                Bookmark anything helpful you find online for future reference.

                Don’t try to illustrate your own books unless you are a talented artist.

                Offer your book in different formats in as wide a selection of different markets as                    possible.

Don’t give up your day job until your advance is three times your salary. This is not likely to happen!

Persevere. Find the way so you don’t give up on your dream.

If you're one of the lovely authors who contributed to the above then thank you! And if you've just read this and have a further snippet of wisdom you can share then please do so.

For those embarking on their writerly journey, or about to discover the next ladder: onwards and upwards.

Picture credits: pixabay.com

Hilary Hawkes

My journey to becoming a published author by Sarah Driver

Hello! This is my first blog piece for ABBA and I’m delighted to be stopping by. I thought I should start by introducing myself, so here goes! I’m Sarah, I come from Shoreham-by-Sea in Sussex, and I’m the author of The Huntress Trilogy; a fantasy adventure series for 8-12s published by Egmont. I graduated from the Bath Spa MA in Writing for Young People in 2014. My debut novel, The Huntress: Sea, was published this April. The experience has been magical, and so surreal – made even more so by wonderful happenings such as Sea becoming Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month (a month before official publication!) – that at times I’ve struggled to feel anything but dazed, even numb. There has been a fair bit of pinching myself in disbelief. This is all I’ve ever wanted, but how do you cope with achieving your wildest dream when suffering from intense imposter syndrome? How do you adjust to the sudden externalization of your innermost identity, especially when writing was once an escape?

I’ve loved reading and writing for almost as long as I can remember. I started writing around the age of five, filling notebooks with stories of family holidays and writing nonsense poems to make my family laugh. One of my most treasured possessions was my bright orange typewriter. Aged about nine, I started binding stories into little books and asking friends to illustrate them or write the blurbs. Spoiler: I may have been a bit obsessed. Aged fourteen I started my most serious stab at writing my first word-processed novel. This experience remains, to date, my most successful attempt at writing a synopsis – I wrote it instinctively and easily in about half an hour. If Doc Brown appeared right now and offered me a DeLorean ride back in time, the only thing that might make me consider being a teenager again would be having so much natural confidence at writing. I never finished the novel (note to former self – FINISH SOMETHING!) and not long after that, various unfinished projects began to gather, as life gathered speed. A level English put me off studying English or Creative Writing at university, and besides, no one in my family had been. From a young age I knew very well the importance of ‘learning a trade’ and not risking a repeat of the struggles faced by my parents – job security was worth the world and, after all, no one really becomes an author, do they? I’d never met one, and couldn’t be completely certain they existed. 

After a gap year of traveling, a dropped university course, a clutch of story rejection slips from magazines and competitions and an assortment of jobs, I finally decided to train as a nurse – my mum had once been a nursing assistant and my aunt was a nurse in London. I’d also met some fantastic nurses as a kid when myself, my brother and my dad were all seriously ill at one point or another (sorry, Mum!) Although not the most natural choice for a severely introverted bookworm, this turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. After a humbling, at times terrifying, exhilarating and life altering three years of university and hospital based training, I worked as a staff nurse before training as a midwife on an accelerated degree course. It was as intense as it sounds, and I rarely had the chance to read fiction, let alone write it. But the urge to write, as well as a deep sense of guilt that I wasn’t, itched inside my bones.

As soon as I finished midwifery training and began my first post at a London trust, I started to increase my fiction reading and even to write again on days off, between tough shifts.

There was something about the way that health work had changed me that made me ready to take myself seriously as a writer – I’d seen how high the stakes can be and learned how important it was to live fully and wholeheartedly for the moment. I’d also had a few poems published in an online poetry zine and that was a hugely validating moment for me as a writer. I desperately needed time and space to write and decided to investigate MA courses in creative writing. I found out about the Bath Spa MA in Writing for Young People and knew it was for me – I realized that every project I had ever worked on had been, in essence, aimed at younger readers.

I secured a place on the course as well as a part time midwifery contract (yes, I worked night shifts alongside a full time one year masters course. I seem to have an appetite for intensity.) 

The idea for The Huntress came about just before starting the course, when I was ‘supposed’ to be working on something else. I sat at my kitchen table and scribbled about half a page of a new project, which I called All the Gods’ Little Creatures (definitely a working title!) It was a page of free-writing in the voice of Mouse, my protagonist in The Huntress, telling me about her family and life aboard her home, which I immediately knew was a ship. Lots of things had brewed in the back of my mind and influenced the voice, atmosphere and setting that began to unfold.

The MA gave me space to read and write. It felt like making a stand against self-doubt. It gave me something I had never experienced before – a writing community who encouraged me to keep going. 

I learned as much from my peers as I did from the course itself.

I completed a first draft of The Huntress: Sea in 2014. Later that year I won the annual United Agents prize for the ‘most promising writer’, which is how I met my agent. By September 2015 she had sent the manuscript off to publishers, and by November we had a three-book deal with Egmont. The whole process probably seems very fast to onlookers (and I know it was fast, in comparison to many experiences) but in some ways, it’s taken a long time. The inward journey has been epic. The fact that it’s been slightly convoluted feels right, like everything was meant to be and contributed to making me the writer I am today. Sometimes, the right path isn’t the clearest or straightest one. I can’t wait to keep learning as much as I can about writing. The learning curve has been steep, but I know it’s only just beginning.

Last month, I found myself celebrating another amazing milestone – publication of my second novel, The Huntress Sky, only five months after the launch of Sea! I grabbed a copy of the book and invited my dad to Herstmonceux Castle, where we spent a fantastic few hours with Sussex Falconry, flying hawks, kites and owls. Here is (the extremely vocal) Halo, a barn owl:

And here’s a slightly wonky photo of Sky against the castle backdrop.

This year, I’ve been slowly calming down and learning to enjoy the experience of being in such a privileged position. I’m gradually learning how to speak in front of audiences at festivals and schools, though my palms still sweat and my throat still tightens. I’m learning how to trust in my creative process, as well as my innate sense of storytelling – a sense I believe is in all of us. I’m learning how to wear my new identity of ‘author’ (such a beautiful word) and not feel so exposed in doing so. It helps that I have the most supportive community of writers, agents and editors to guide me. Big thanks to my lovely friend Jess Butterworth for the chance to write this piece, sorry for the life story and thank you for reading! 

Sarah Driver 

New writers – a leg up and a helping hand... Lari Don

Earlier this week, I was privileged to attend the Scottish Book Trust’s New Writers Awards Showcase, where the winners of this SBT scheme read extracts from their startlingly good new writing, and where we were all given a lovely little book of their writing.

I can take a tiny bit of credit for how wonderful the evening was, because I was one of the panel who chose the two new Children's and Young Adult Fiction writers. (A process so wrapped in secrecy and cloaked in mystery that I can say NOTHING about it at all...)

But I can say that we chose Claire Squires and Michael Richardson, and I can also say that all the new writers were fantastic and all their new writing was great... it was a really inspiring evening. The awards they received were pretty impressive too – including mentoring, a week long retreat, and a grant to help with the costs of finding time to write. An amazing leg up and helping hand for anyone trying to work out how to be the best writer they can be.

And most people need a leg up of some kind at the start (or even in the middle...) of their writing career. For example, I got my start when I entered the Kelpies Prize with a draft of my first children’s novel, First Aid for Fairies. It didn’t win, but being shortlisted led to all sorts of other opportunities...

So well done to the organisers of initiatives like this, and best of luck to anyone entering competitions or awards to give them a bit of a leg up, a helping hand, and a bouncy friendly start to their writing career.

And especially well done to Claire Squires and Michael Richardson, both of whom I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about in the future, as they move from being new writers to published writers!

Lari Don is surprised to discover that she’s no longer a new writer – she’s now written more than 20 books for all ages, including a teen thriller, fantasy novels for 8 – 12s, picture books, retellings of traditional tales and novellas for reluctant readers.
Lari’s website 
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Is Success Dangerous for Writers? – Heather Dyer

Once published, writers often find themselves under pressure to produce a second book within a certain time frame. This creates conditions under which it can be difficult to be creative.

In the following interview by Julia Copus, I explain how publication led to a 5-year writing block, and reveal what needed to happen for my creativity to return: 

CLCK TO HEAR PODCAST


Heather Dyer - children's author and Royal Literary Fund Consultant Fellow

• For enquiries about creative writing workshops for children or adults, or editorial services, go to www.heatherdyer.co.uk

• For enquiries about academic writing workshops, go to:  http://rlfconsultants.com/consultants/heather-dyer/

Why I don't want to self-publish again

(Kate Wilson of the wonderful Nosy Crow asked me to write a guest post for her on my experiences of self-publishing as a published author. For your info, she didn't know what those experiences were, so there was no direction or expectation. I have re-posted it here, with permission. Note that this is personal experience, not advice.)

Many writers, previously published or not, talk excitedly about why they enjoy self-publishing. Let me tell you why I don’t.

I’ve self-published (only as ebooks) three of my previously published YA novels and three adult non-fiction titles which hadn’t been published before. From these books I make a welcome income of around £250 a month – a figure that is remarkably constant. So, why have I not enjoyed it and why won’t I do it again?

It’s damned hard to sell fiction! (Over 90% of that £250 is from the non-fiction titles.) Publishers know this. They also know that high sales are not always about “quality”, which is precisely why very good novels can be rejected over and over. Non-fiction is easier because it’s easy to find your readers and for them to find your book. Take my book about writing a synopsis, for example; anyone looking for a book on writing a synopsis will Google “books on writing a synopsis” and, hey presto, Write a Great Synopsis appears. But if someone wants a novel, the chances of finding mine out of the available eleventy million are slim. This despite the fact that they had fab reviews and a few awards from their former lives.

But some novels do sell well. So why don’t mine? Because I do absolutely nothing to sell them. Why not? Well, this is the point. Several points.

First, time. I am too busy with other writing and public-speaking but, even if I weren’t, the necessary marketing takes far too long (for me) and goes on for too long after publication: the very time when I want to be writing another one. This is precisely why publishers tend only to work on publicity for a short while after publication: they have other books to work on. We may moan but it has to be like that – unless a book does phenomenally well at first, you have to keep working at selling it.

Second, I dislike the stuff I’d have to do to sell more books. Now, this is where you start leaping up and down saying, “But published authors have to do that, too!” Yes, and I do, but it’s different. When a publisher has invested money because they believe in your book, you obviously want to help them sell it. But when the only person who has actually committed any money is you, the selling part feels different. It’s a case of “I love my book so much that I published it – now you need to believe in me enough to buy it.” I can’t do it. Maybe I don’t believe in myself enough. Fine. I think books need more than the author believing in them. The author might be right and the book be fabulous, but I tend to be distrustful of strangers telling me they are wonderful so why should I expect others to believe me if I say I am? And I don’t want to spend time on forums just to sell more books.

Third, I love being part of a team. Yes, I’ve had my share of frustrating experiences in the course of 100 or so published books, but I enjoy the teamwork – even though I’m an introvert who loves working alone in a shed; I love the fact that other people put money and time and passion into selling my book. It gives me confidence and support. They won’t make money if they don’t sell my book and I still like and trust that model.

And I especially love that once I’ve written it and done my bit for the publicity machine and done the best I can for my book, I can let it go and write another.

See, I’m a writer, not a publisher. I may love control – the usual reason given for self-publishing – but I mostly want control over my words, not the rest. (That control, by the way, is never lost to a good editor, and I’ve been lucky with genius editors.) So, yes, I am pleased with the money I’ve earned from self-publishing and I love what I’ve learnt about the whole process, but now I’m going back to where I am happy to do battle for real control: my keyboard.

It’s all I want to do.

Nicola Morgan has written about 100 books, with half a dozen "traditional" publishers of various sizes from tiny to huge. She is a former chair of the Society of Authors in Scotland and advises hard-working writers on becoming and staying published, and on the marketing/publicity/events/behaviour that goes along with that.

She has also just created BRAIN STICKS™, an original and huuuuuuge set of teaching resources about the brain and mental health.

Worth the Wait - John Dougherty

Image © LostMedia

It's pretty rare to have your very first submission accepted for publication.

I certainly didn't. My first submission was a series of four picture book scripts about a teacher called Mrs Daffodil and the strange things that happened to the children she taught. Inspired to write them by some of the children in my own class, and inspired again by their responses when I read them to them, I sent the manuscripts off to a bunch of agents and I waited.

And, slowly, the rejections began to come in.

Except that one agent didn't entirely reject the stories. She told me that picture books are pretty expensive to produce and no publisher is likely to take a chance on a series of them by a previously unpublished author; but she did like them, and felt that if I reworked them as a single book of four stories they might stand a chance. Despite the fact that she was gearing up for maternity leave and so wasn't taking on any new clients, she took the time to give me a bit of advice about submitting the stories directly to publishers - and, crucially, gave me permission to use her name in approaching them.

So I did. And, again, the rejections began to come in.

Except that one editor didn't entirely reject the stories - or, rather, didn't entirely reject me. I had a letter from Sue Cook, then at Random House, telling me that although she couldn't use these stories, she liked my writing enough to want to see more from me.

And so began a period of years during which I would write stuff in my spare time - when teaching and, latterly, being a dad allowed me enough of the right sort of spare time - and send it to Sue, who invariably took the time to give me genuinely useful feedback and guidance. One of the stories I half-wrote during this time was The Legend of Bansi O'Hara, a fantasy-comedy which got completely tangled up in its own sub-plots but in which Sue still saw enough to encourage and advise me.

And then, finally, after Sue had suggested I try writing a school-based story for Random's Young Corgi range, I came up with Zeus on the Loose, and - after a bit more guidance from Sue, and a couple of rewrites - it was accepted for publication, more than six years after I'd first sent off those Mrs Daffodil stories.

"Wow!" said a friend, when I told him. "You've worked for such a long time for this, haven't you. It really shows that if you want to do something, you shouldn't ever give up."

It's been twelve years since that first acceptance letter, and more than ten since my first book was published. I have eleven published books now - including Bansi O'Hara and the Bloodline Prophecy, much reworked from the original - and another five finished and due for publication in the next year or so.

And it's been about eighteen years since, naive and hopeful,  I first sent off my Mrs Daffodil's Class stories. Eighteen years during which, occasionally, I'd read my favourite of the four on a school visit and tell the children that not everything you write as an author gets published, but that I still hoped this one might do one day.

So imagine my excitement, just a few days ago, to hear that Egmont has made me an offer on it. It's my first picture book deal, and - while I have other unpublished picture-book MSs in the figurative bottom drawer, many of which i still very much believe in - it feels somehow fitting that it's for one of the stories which, all those years ago, started me off on the road towards publication.

It reminds me to never give up.

_____________________________________________________________________________

 John's latest book, Stinkbomb & Ketchup-Face and the Badness of Badgers, is illustrated by David Tazzyman and published by OUP

Giving worthwhile advice, or being a bit of a fraud? Lari Don

I love writing. I love talking about writing. I love writing about writing.

So when people ask me questions about writing, I will blether away happily about how I write, why I write, where my ideas come from, what my writing process is, and how I edit. Whether I’m talking to 500 pupils in a theatre, or 15 kids at a workshop, or 1 child in a signing queue I also ask about how they write, how they feel about writing, what they enjoy about writing …

I also try to remember to give the usual health warning: there are lots of ways to write, I can only talk about how I write, don’t assume I know everything. Over time I’m gathering examples of writers who work differently from me, so I try to give glimpses of their methods too. I’ve recently discovered that the lovely Roy Gill, who is also published by KelpiesTeen, writes at the other end of the pantsters / plotter spectrum from me, so we are able to chat to kids together about our different methods and how we wrote Mind Blind (my one) and Werewolf Parallel (his one), which is a lovely way to show that there really is no one way to write.

So, talking about writing, to other passionate young or old writers – that’s fine. Because I’m a writer. I know (a bit) about writing. 

But I don’t know a THING about publishing!

Yesterday an aspiring writer (an adult, not a child) came up to me after an author event to ask for advice about getting published. This is a question I am fielding more and more often. Yet it’s not something I know anything about at all! I am published, yes, but I still don’t entirely know how it happened. Unlike my close personal relationship with my own writing process, every time I get a book published it seems like a bit of a miracle which I only had a small hand in, and the elements of success and failure seem to be completely different with every book. So I only know how I got published and even then, I’m not really sure how it works! (That’s why I have an agent, so I don’t have to know more about publishing…)

Therefore I don’t feel even remotely qualified to give advice on getting published! I tend to witter on about writing the best book you can, and persevering, and the market changing all the time, and finding an agent being the best thing I ever did. But I feel like a complete fraud.

So, apologies to the chap I waffled at yesterday.

And what do other writers do when asked for publishing advice? Do you waffle, or do you have any really useful to say (and if so, can I borrow it?)

Lari Don is the award-winning author of 21 books for all ages, including a teen thriller, fantasy novels for 8 – 12s, picture books, retellings of traditional tales and novellas for reluctant readers. 

Lari’s website 

Lari’s own blog

Lari on Twitter

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Lari on Tumblr

 

The Good, the Bad and the Quirky.

For the last five years I’ve been writing and rewriting a book in which twin sisters, taking alternate chapters, tell their life story.  They are child prodigies, musical geniuses, but rather than virtuosos, their instruments are the enigmatic black boxes and warm circuits of the recording studio.

 

There is a third voice, their bitter old brother.  He is the main protagonist, but he’s almost a ghost.

I created playlists of music to listen to as I constructed each character: one sister always seeking out new sounds, forever stretching the possible, the other twin crafting these experiments into something intricate and more beautiful. One is an experimenter, the other is obsessed with craft.

Creativity, it seems to me, is the constant smashing of the old and familiar, and then remaking something new with these fragments.  I wanted my book to be about creative children, and about creativity.  How we battle against our own instincts to make something worthwhile.

Authors are forever compromising, trying to do things differently, yet always holding back, aware that something too idiosyncratic will frighten publishers and audiences away. My new book may be a little eccentric, but I hope it's not that quirky. 

I’ve spent five years nurturing this trio of siblings, taking them from their father’s recording studio in Frankfurt, via their grandparents’ loft in the west of England to the improbable denouement in the deserts of Kazakhstan. Their musical odyssey is a search for authenticity, theirs and mine. It’s the book I’ve always wanted to write, I just hope I can find a publisher who believes in it too.

Researching the Market - Lynne Garner

I'll admit when I first starting to write picture books I didn't approach it as I did when writing my non-fiction books. That is to say I didn't see my stories as a product that had to fit in a competitive market. However when I finally experienced that light bulb moment I quickly placed my first picture book, A Book For Bramble.

What changed?

I started to research the market. I visited the local library and spent hours looking at picture books. As I read I took notes. I then visited the local bookstore and repeated the exercise (slightly more discreetly) to discover if there were differences between what was being published and what had been published (the books in the library). Armed with these notes I returned home and tried to discover if I could see patterns in subject matter, in the way subjects were covered, in the way sentences were constructed.

I discovered:

• Humour appears to play an important part in many books
• Tools such as repetition are used to help move the story along
• The magic number three appears in many books for example in The Gruffalo you'll discover 'three' hidden all over the place

Today I still continue to research the market and read picture books as often as I can. The receptionists at my dentist, doctor, optician and vets are used to seeing me rummage in the stock of picture books they provide to keep kids entertained. The assistants in the library and bookstore now take no notice as I read their picture books. Family and friends watch in amusement as I encourage their children to show me the latest addition to their bookshelf. Without this research I'd not be able to keep up-to-date with a changing market. 

So if a new writer (of any genre) wants to become published my advice is research, research, research.

Lynne Garner

P.S.

I have three new distance learning courses commencing in September via Women On Writing:

How To Write A Picture Book And Get Published

Five Picture Books In Five Weeks - Advanced Course

How To Write A Hobby Based How To Book