The importance of being flexible by Vanessa Harbour

Meera Syal

Do you ever sometimes listen to a podcast and the pieces of the jigsaw drop into place? It felt a bit like that when I was listening to a great podcast this week with the multi-talented Meera Syal. She talked about being open to opportunities that come along and the importance of rolling with them. Also, she spoke about how putting in hard work can create these opportunities. It made me think and I related it to how important being flexible particular as a writer can be. Forgive me but in this post, I am going to show you how being flexible can make a difference by telling you a bit about my story. 

For me personally, flexibility has played a huge part in my own life – literally as well as metaphorically – I was a gymnast when I was young. The idea of being flexible has come in two levels in my life, mainly because it has never run to plan. I have always ended up doing things by accident or by a serendipitous event. When I became divorced with three very small children, I set up a business from home and every time somebody asked me if I could do something I would say ‘yes, of course.’ I would then go away and read up madly on how to do it if I didn’t know. From taking these opportunities on it meant I got to work with companies like Sony and Nuffield Hospital and as well as charities. I seemed to have literally taken Meera Syal at her word, using every opportunity and rolling with it.

Me being very competitive!
I am old enough to know better
And yes I did do myself some damage!

Once I became disabled, things changed. I no longer had a business. I had to be open to different opportunities and be brave in an alternative way. What I did was when a leaflet came through for an open day at the University of Winchester, I popped along and so started a new chapter in my life. When I started studying English, there were some Creative Writing modules. I thought I knew what sort of writer I was. It wasn't a children’s writer. That hadn’t even occurred to me. In one module we had the opportunity to write for children. I gave it a go…the rest is history.

The next serendipitous moment came three degrees later when I was lecturing at the university. Someone came to talk to my students – the brilliant Imogen Cooper. We started chatting. It was like we’d been friends for years and we have been friends ever since. Out of that meeting came so many other opportunities that I rolled with including the chance to work with the Golden Egg Academy. That was definitely a great day. 

These are life decisions where I have run with the opportunities, some have been forced on me and it’s been a case of making the most out of a really difficult knockback. More often than not I have seen it as a positive in the end as I have taken a chance to do something I wanted to. Its all about being brave, being open to opportunities, as Meera Syal said, and being flexible.  I am sure I am not the only person to have had this sort of journey. I am positive many authors can tell you of their unplanned journey where they were open to opportunities that enabled them to write.

Editing

I have spoken about flexibility with regard to the big stuff, but it is also just as important when writing. You need to be flexible in your approach. The number of times I have heard horror stories about fledgeling writers who would not budge when agents or publishers have asked them to make amendments to their stories. They felt their narratives were perfect and they knew better.  The wonderful, and deeply missed, Carole Blake and I used to often compare notes on this. It is so important to be open to criticism during the editorial process. Of course, we all know how hard it is initially when you hear criticism but let’s be honest more often than not most of what they bring up will be stuff that in our gut we already knew, just had pretended to ignore – am I wrong? We need to take a step back and think about the editorial comments in the cold light of day and often we start to see how they will make our story better. Be flexible and roll with them otherwise you risk losing that opportunity of a lifetime and a contract.

Sometimes this flexibility means being brave enough to walk away from a story that you’ve been working on, maybe for months or even several years, because you realise that it is just not working. This is one of the hardest moments of flexibility. I did precisely that with a novel that I had been working on for four years, and it was the best decision I ever made because the next novel I wrote was Flight. Imogen Cooper gave me the confidence to do it.

The wonderful Imogen Cooper

 Flexibility can also mean shifting genre. You don’t have to stay in one genre. Flight is historical fiction and I am currently writing contemporary realism. I have previously written realism and fantasy.  However, it can be quite a challenge to chop and change. It is never an easy option. But it also can be good fun. 

As an author, and as I mentioned in my previous blog post, we must be flexible in everything we do. We find ourselves not just writing and creating narratives, but acting as our own social media manager, event manager, marketing manager, performer, administrator and accountant even. Jack of all trades, it might be said.

Acting as a judge in a competition

What I am trying to say in this post is to reiterate Meera Syal’s point about being open to all opportunities, giving them a chance and rolling with them as you never know where they might lead you. Certainly, if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here now doing what I am doing. There is some argument over who said this, but the sentiment is the harder you work the luckier you get (The golfer Gary Player is said to have said it in connection with practising golf). For me, there seems some logic in that and will keep trying to be as open as possible to all opportunities.

Dr Vanessa Harbour

@VanessaHarbour

www.vanessaharbour.co.uk

http://chaosmos-outofchaoscomesorder.blogspot.com

Opportunities for Young Writers - Joan Lennon

It's the autumn term, and here are a few exciting opportunities for young writers to get their teeth into. These can be life-changing experiences, and if you know anyone who might like to have a go, make sure they know what's on offer -

What's Your Story? Development Project
(open to 13-19 year-old writers and illustrators in Scotland)

The Young Sir Walter Scott Prize 
(for young people in the UK, in two age groups: 11-15 years old, and 16-19 years old)

YWSP workshop at Holkam

The Pushkin Prize

(open to students in S1 and S2 in Scotland)

What opportunities for young writers have you come across, in the UK or other parts of the world?  Share them in the comments below, and then let's spread the word! 


Joan Lennon's website.
Joan Lennon's blog.
Walking Mountain.

Megaphone: make your voice heard! By Leila Rasheed

Megaphone: type loud!

I am very grateful to Liz Kessler for letting me have her ABBA space to tell you all about a new writer development scheme aimed at increasing diversity in children’s literature: Megaphone.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the author of Chips, Beans and Limousines, and I also teach Writing for Children and Young People on the University of Warwick's MA in Writing. The initial idea for Megaphone came out of an idea I had two years ago, after reading Walter Dean Myers’ excellent article: Where are the people of color in children’s books?


 What he said echoed my own experience as a British Asian reader and writer of children’s fiction. I had of course been thinking about these issues previously, but his article made me see that I really had to try and do something to make a positive difference to children’s literature, which I love so much.

 Fast forward two years, and I am delighted to say that I’ve received funding, from Arts Council England and The Publishers’ Association, to run a new, and I believe unique, writer development scheme called Megaphone, which supports minority ethnic writers as they write their first novel for children or teenagers. There are five places on the scheme, and applications are being accepted now, until 24th December 2015.

Megaphone is aimed at writers who have never had a book for children or teenagers published before (they may have had writing for adults published). They must be from an ethnic minority, resident in England and over 18 years old.

So what does it involve? Well, if you are offered a place, you’ll be expected to write a novel for children or teenagers, between April 2016 and April 2017. But don’t worry – you won’t be alone as you turn your ideas into a fully-fledged book. There will be support in the form of one-to-one feedback on your manuscript. Drawing on my experience working with creative writing students up to MFA level, I will help writers focus on and draw out the story they really want to tell. In no way does this mean I ‘tell you what to write’! My role is as a skilled and experienced beta-reader, someone who can look at your manuscript with fresh eyes that have read a lot of children’s and YA books (as a manuscript editor for Writers’ Workshop, as a bookseller for Waterstone's, as a student of children’s literature, as a creative writing tutor, as an author myself) and help you discover ways through writing problems.

 As well as one to one support during the writing process, the scheme includes masterclasses with award-winning and best-selling authors – Catherine Johnson, Alex Wheatle MBE, Candy Gourlay, Lee Weatherley, Sarwat Chadda. Between them they have a huge range of skills and experience in writing successfully for different age ranges and in different genres – all of which can feed your own writing knowledge.

There will also be two masterclasses focused on working with agents and publishers: one with Julia Churchill, Literary Agent at AM Heath, (who represents, among many others, Sarah Crossan, Julie Bertagna and Jo Nadin) and one with a children’s publisher or editor.

When I was planning Megaphone, I decided I wanted to have publishers and editors involved right from the start. I felt that was the best way of ensuring that the books written during the scheme would have a really good chance of making it to publication and to children’s bookshelves. The result is an absolutely stellar line-up of editors, who have volunteered to help select applications and also to read the completed manuscripts and offer feedback on them at the end of the scheme. Anyone who has ever sent a manuscript to a slush pile knows how hard it can be to get feedback from an editor; well, the best editors working in children’s publishing today are offering a fast-track to their desks through Megaphone, and they are offering it because they know how important it is for children’s literature to reflect the diverse world we live in.

 Your completed novel will be read and commented on by at least one of the following: Venetia Gosling of Pan Macmillan (whose list includes Chris Riddell, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Rainbow Rowell), Jane Griffiths of Simon and Schuster UK (recently double-shortlisted as an editor for the Branford Boase award), Rachel Mann of Simon and Schuster UK, (who has worked with Michael Morpurgo and Darren Shan among others) Shannon Cullen of Penguin Random House (who has a long history of working for diversity in children’s literature, including helping to set up the Commonword Prize for Diversity in children’s writing), Karen Ball and Katherine Agar of Hachette, (who have a huge amount of experience with commissioning and developing series from traditional and non-traditional authors), Kirsten Armstrong of Penguin Random House and Samantha Smith of Scholastic UK.

 There will also be a showcase event at the end of the scheme, and a short, professionally-made film will feature the writers on the scheme reading from their completed manuscripts (just a short extract, to whet the appetite!) so that their unique voices have the very best chance of being heard by publishers. Hence the name: Megaphone!

We are also looking at other ways of adding value to the scheme, for example by involving schools, organising Twitter chats, etc. The cost for the scheme is £300; however there is funding available to cover this, for those who are in financial need. No-one will be unable to take part in the scheme simply because they cannot afford it.

The masterclasses for Megaphone all take place in central Birmingham, in Writing West Midlands’ offices. This means that you would have to spend just eight Saturdays between April 2016 and April 2017, in Birmingham. The transport links are excellent and as a city we’ve come a long way since the 1980s (if you measure progress by the availability of proper coffee – I confess I do, a bit :-) ). Seriously, though – we are a young, culturally and ethnically diverse city and thus the perfect host for a unique scheme like Megaphone.

So please, spread the word – we are accepting applications until the 24th of December. I believe this is a great opportunity for new writers to get a head start and for us all to benefit from a more diverse children's literature world.

For full details and to apply, see the website: www.megaphonewrite.com . Applicants should be 1) from an ethnic minority 2) resident in England 3) not have had a novel for children or teenagers previously published. Follow us at @MegaphoneWrite on Twitter.