Writing for Different Audiences by Sheena Wilkinson

Six weeks ago today my adult debut novel, Mrs Hart’s Marriage Bureau, a feminist romantic comedy set in 1934, was published by HarperCollins Ireland. In the handful of interviews I did to help promote the book, one of the most common questions I was asked was how different I had found it to write for adults after eight novels for children and teens. 

It’s an obvious question, and one I’ve spent time thinking about. I suspect that many people imagine it must be more difficult to write for adults – more complex, more emotionally demanding, somehow more literary.  There was even, I think, an assumption that, after eight teen novels I might somehow not be able for a real book – even though I’m 54 and have actually been an adult for a debatable but not inconsequential number of years. 

 

I suppose if I had written fart joke books for 5-7s, and had then attempted a zeitgeisty Great Irish Novel, this might have been a stretch. But I went from writing well-researched, politically-engaged historical novels with literary pretensions and a deep concern for language, imagery and emotional truth to writing … exactly the same thing. 

 

Does that mean there was no difference at all? No, of course not. Mrs Hart’s main characters are in their 30s and 40s, rather than their teens, and a much bigger word count – about twice the length – gave me more space to explore their lives.  I could delve into areas that younger readers mightn’t be so interested in, and take more for granted in the experience and confidence of my readers. 

 

This was brought home to me at the first event I did for Mrs Hart. I walked into a bookshop (the wonderful Secret Bookshelf in Carrickfergus, for readers in Northern Ireland), and it was full of – well, people very like me: middle aged women. And unlike my usual school audiences, they had actually chosen to be there, and would probably buy and read the book. There aren’t any gatekeepers. I feel I can talk more directly to my readers. 

 

Of course there’s nothing new in writing for different audiences, nor in the lines being blurred by publishers and readers. Growing up, one of my favourite authors was K.M. Peyton. As I graduated into adult books in my late teens, it was such a joy to discover that she had a handful of adult novels to her name as well, and funnily enough, they share exactly the characteristics that made her books for younger readers so good. 

Jane Gardam, too, wrote for different ages; in her case, even as far back as the 1980s, novels like A Long Way from Verona and Bilgewater were published in both children’s and adult’s editions. Penelope Lively, Nina Bawden and Jill Paton Walsh were also writers whose adult books I was more likely to pick up because I had enjoyed their children’s books. More recently, other favourite writers such as Linda Newbery, Adele Geras, Celia Rees, Emma Pass, Sophia Bennett, Anne Booth, Eve Ainsworth, Rachel Ward, Nicole Burstein and many others have followed successful children’s or YA books with adult titles. What wonderful company to be in! 

 

For me, it’s mostly about character: if you are looking out at the world honestly through your characters’ eyes – and this can be just an intimate in third person as in first – then the appropriate linguistic register, emotional depth and worldview should follow naturally.  If you don’t write well for children, or don’t take them seriously as characters and readers, then you probably lack the empathy to write well for adults.  

 

Not everyone wants to write for different audiences, but for those, like me and all those wonderful authors above, who do, I hope this post encourages you to go ahead! 

 

Will it be Kansas? -- or somewhere else? A new writing adventure by Sheena Wilkinson

I am transforming. Metamorphosing. Changing.  

No, I haven’t been translated into a donkey, as far as I know.

 

But very shortly my new publisher, HarperCollins Ireland, will announce my new novel, and in one very significant way it’s a huge departure for me, while in another way it’s very much in the tradition of my earlier books, especially my recent historical trilogy. 

The big difference is that it’s for adults, while my other books, though enjoyed by adults (possibly, if I’m honest, more than by younger readers) have all been written for teens.

 

I’m excited. This is the book I have been wanting to write for ages. I have always loved writing for young people and am passionate about the importance of giving them the very best writing and stories possible – after all, if I hadn’t had access to such quality when I was a child, I wouldn’t have become a reader, let alone a writer.

 

But just as I love reading all sorts of books, I also want the freedom to write all sorts of books. As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, I’ve loved experimenting with memoir, but my big project over the last few years has been this novel. It feels like, for the first time in a long time, what I write and what I love to read are the same. 

a little teaser from the cover 

                                                                    

By next month I’ll be able to talk freely about the novel, and show you the gorgeous cover, but for now I can say that it’s a bittersweet romantic comedy set against the turbulence of the 1930s, with a strong, endearing Irish heroine called April. The action takes place in a marriage bureau, but not all the happy endings are the ones you might expect. It's what I call feminist feelgood. I started it in lockdown, when I yearned to read books that were uplifting but substantial, and found myself going back to the novels of Dorothy L Sayers and discovering the author who has since become one of my favourites, Dorothy Whipple.

I do read authors who aren’t called Dorothy, but in the spirit of one last Dorothy, as I embark on the world of adult publishing, with different readers, different festivals and different – let’s hope more – reviewing opportunities, I wonder if I’ll feel I’m still in Kansas, or will the world look very different?

 

I can’t wait to find out. 

 

 

 

 

It's all in the research...Lynn Huggins-Cooper

In last month's post I talked about cheating on my current WIP with a new idea...well, it was one of those delious ideas that 'has legs' - so I have run with it. Despite being in the middle of a huge educational writing project, with proofs arriving every day and demanding my attention, my head has been swimming with ideas. I've been a bit naughty and rather encouraged it by collecting reasearch materials. I revel in this stage of writing.
When I was writing 'Walking With Witches,' I spent a lot of time in situ at The Lit and Phil library and at the castle keep in Newcastle, where part of the story was set. It helped me to soak in the atmosphere, but it also gave me access to all manner of resources such as old documents and artefacts that helped me to get into 'the zone.'
This current WIP (it has become that now; its legs are that strong) is a real departure for me - for a start, it is for the adult market. Up until now, I have only written non-fiction books for adults so that feels rather strange. My postman has realised that a new project is afoot, because we are getting more mail. Odd tomes ordered online; strangely shaped parcel of things I just have to test before I can write about them with any degree of authenticity...bliss.

Does the photo give you any clues about my new idea? It is drawing together so many things I know about, and have lived, that it feels 'right' somehow. I suppose I am finally 'writing what I know' - and on that note, I'd better get back to it!

Constructing Complexity - Cathy Butler

Fiction for adults, fiction for children – which is more complex?


The obvious answer is that books for adults are generally more complex than books for children. They use a wider vocabulary and more sophisticated language, deal in “adult” concepts and experiences, are fluent in abstract ideas and thoughts, and assume a familiarity with literary genres and devices that cannot be counted on in the average child reader.

Once we look carefully at this list, however, some of its items appear rather less solid. First, not all books for adults are in fact particularly sophisticated. Literary fiction of the kind that makes the Man Booker shortlist represents only a small percentage of the adult fiction published and sold, and it would misleading to take Hilary Mantel and her peers as representative of “adult fiction”. Moreover, if the vocabulary of (some) children’s books is limited, this need not imply simplicity: ask Hemingway or William Blake. Nor are sophisticated post-modern devices such as intertextuality, frame-breaking, genre-mixing and mise en abyme the preserve of adult literature: in fact, they are probably found more often in picture books for young children, from Lauren Child’s Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book to the Ahlbergs’ Jolly Postman.

It’s true that children’s books don’t generally deal with specifically adult experiences such as old age or marital infidelity (although some do); but equally, adult books don’t in general deal with the specific experiences of children, such as going to school for the first time. None of these experiences is more, or less, deserving of treatment in fiction than the others.

What about plots, though? Are the plots of adult books more complex than those of children’s books? Here I’m reminded of an article written by Diana Wynne Jones shortly after she started writing adult fiction in the early 1990s, having already been a children’s writer for almost twenty years. She explains that her assumptions were in fact the opposite – that a point she would have explained only once in a book for children she felt the need to repeat several times for adult readers: “These poor adults are never going to understand this; I must explain it to them twice more and then remind them again later in different terms.” This idea derived from her experience of being told by adults that they found the plots of some of her children’s books hard to follow (and that therefore they must be "too difficult for children"). Children themselves, however, never seemed to have any difficulty. Jones’s explanation is an interesting one:

Children are used to making an effort to understand. They are asked for this effort every hour of every school day and, though they may not make the effort willingly, they at least expect it.

Adults, by contrast, are used to knowing things already, and their tolerance for uncertainty – negative capability would be a good term, if Keats hadn’t already nabbed it – is correspondingly less. All of us, when we read a novel, will encounter unfamiliar ideas and unexplained facts. I suppose we must have a kind of mental “holding pen” in which to place such items, in the hope that they will be clarified and resolved at some later point. But perhaps children’s holding pens have a greater capacity than those of adults, simply because they are more accustomed to dealing with new experiences? If so, we might expect them to be more able to deal with complex plots – and, in that sense at least, to be more sophisticated readers.


I don’t think that’s a complete answer to the rather silly question with which I started – because of course complexity is multifaceted – but I do find it an intriguing idea. In any case, if I ever see an adult book with as complex a plot as Jones’s Hexwood I'll be very surprised.

Newsflash! New entry at number 8!

Today's Ten Most Viewed posts were set up in advance, but I've just checked the stats, and we have a new entry!

Saturday's very witty post from Cathy Butler has had so many viewings already that it's now our eighth most-viewed post, so if you haven't already read it, here as a special Birthday Bonus is:

Recommending Books for Grown-Ups - Cathy Butler

There'll be another post from Cathy, under her former name of Charlie Butler, later on today; and the next scheduled post will be along in a few minutes.

Recommending Books for Grown-Ups - Cathy Butler

Here at ABBA we usually talk about children’s books, and sometimes about children. But what about adults? Not many people realise that adults have books written especially for them, too, and that it’s a thriving market. In order to learn about the world of adults’ books, I’ve asked Moira Skidelsky of The Square Grey Bookshop in Hampstead, a shop specializing in books for grown-ups, to say a few words about the often-mysterious world of adults and their reading...

Buying books for adults – it can be a puzzle, can’t it? Adults have such strange, changeable tastes. Things that seem hugely interesting to you may be matters of indifference to them, and vice versa. They’re passionate about the LIBOR rate one week, and before you know it they’ve moved on to the next “very important subject”. No wonder, then, that when it comes to birthdays, Christmas, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, I have so many children consulting me about what and how to buy.

The first thing to remember is that adults are at an age when they’re trying to establish and maintain their own place in the world. They may like to give the impression of  being independent and mature, but they always have one uneasy eye on what the next adult is doing, scared of standing out (too much!) from the crowd. So, it's a good idea to find out about the latest buzz books amongst the adults around you. Take a peek at what your adult’s friends are reading, or look at the posters in bus and railway stations. A word of warning, though. Crazes can be very intense, but they can also disappear with baffling rapidity, never to be seen again. Your adult won’t thank you if you buy them The Bridges of Madison County or The Da Vinci Code when the “in” crowd is reading Fifty Shades of Grey!

One question I always ask customers is: are you buying for a man or a woman? It’s important to understand that men and women like quite different things, which is why in my shop I have separate sections marked “Books for Men” and “Books for Women” – just as children's publishers sometimes have separate lists of Books for Boys and Books for Girls. Naturally, the Men’s section features a lot of guns, cars, money and sex; while the Women’s section is dominated by clothes, make-up, sex and money. Sometimes a child will complain to me about “reinforcing tired old gender stereotypes”, but believe me, I’ve been working in adults’ books for many years now, and you can’t fight nature. It’s just the way God made them! Vive la difference!

Occasionally children say to me: “My parents are in the middle of a messy divorce”, or “My godfather has just lost a close relative – what books can you recommend to help him understand and cope with the unfamiliar emotions he may be feeling?” Well, I believe there’s no more noble or worthwhile use for literature than as a form of amateur psychotherapy, and to this end I have compiled lists of books to meet most of the common adult dilemmas and crises. For adults dealing with issues of infidelity I always keep some handy copies of Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary. For those struggling with the loss of a parent, what could be more helpful than Hamlet? While those facing issues of self-worth or pressure at work will no doubt draw immense comfort from reading Death of a Salesman or Glengarry Glen Ross.

The last thing I’d stress is that every adult is a unique individual. It’s easy to lump all adults together and assume they must have similar tastes and ideas, simply because they are at the same "adult" stage in their lives. In fact, however, the problems of a twenty-five-year-old are quite distinct from those of someone aged seventy, while an adult living in an affluent Surrey suburb may have a very different experience of the world from one living in a small village in Mali. Every adult, rich or poor, man or woman, has their own hopes, dreams – and, increasingly, regrets. And that, as I always say, is what makes working in adults' books such a rewarding and interesting specialism.

Preparing to Launch - Megan Rix

Some books appear with a whisper and others arrive with a fanfare - and it's not always easy to tell why. 'The Great Escape' has had much more pre-launching than I'm accustomed to. I've worked with an enthusiastic marketing and publicity team - and it's been fun and exciting.  

So far I've done features for National Newspapers including: My Top 10 Recommendations for Animal Books set during War Time with two books by members of the Scattered Authors Society on the list - plus heartfelt thanks to the members of Balaclava for their own recommendations of possibilities for me to read, as well as my local library's suggestions. I've also done  interviews on why I wrote the book with questions that have no easy answers - like why I thought the terrible pet massacre at the start of WW2 happened. (My animal heroes escape from this fate.)

I've been booked to chat on the Radio on May 17th: It's for the 'Barking at the Moon' with the lovely Jo Good and Anna Webb and their dogs, Matilda and Molly who I met when I was interviewed for my memoir 'The Puppy that Came for Christmas.  

National Competitions: Not one but TWO great competitions. Did you know that from 7th April - 7th May it's National Pet Month? 'The Great Escape' has been selected to be in the line up of  competitions to celebrate it:     
                 http://www.nationalpetmonth.org.uk/competition/greatescape

And the Young Times' is running a competition to win a prize that money can't buy called `My Pet My Hero': http://www.puffin.co.uk/thegreatescape

Libraries: It's been selected as part of 2012's Library summer Reading challenge.

Blogs: Lots of blogs! Not just this one, Girls Heart Books, the Puffin Blog – oh and something   for the Puffin Post and Writer's Digest in the USA. 

Invitations:  Book shops inviting me to sign and schools inviting me to talk have been coming in thick and fast over the past month. The first one's on May 12th at Bedford Waterstones from l0-4 pm with future ones at Kettering on June 30th and Bury St Edmunds at the beginning of July. When I asked if my four year old golden retriever, Traffy, could attend as she came along to my previous book signings for The Puppy that Came for Christmas and loves meeting and greeting Bedford Waterstones remembered her (she's also a PAT dog) and said of course! They gave us this amazing write up:

  
             Waterstones invites the dynamic duo... Megan Rix and “Traffy Rix” 
 Bedford happily invites the fabulous Megan Rix and her loyal companion Traffy for a signing of Megan's new book 'The Great Escape.' It is a story of friendship, adventure and a bit of history thrown into the mix. Set in the Second world war an animal trio are trying to escape their fate. Will they succeed? Come and meet Megan & Traffy and find out.

It was all VERY EXCITING - until real life happened and we stopped being the dynamic duo: An ultrasound scan showed all was not right inside Traffy and on the 19th April the animal hospital found, during a four hour operation, that she had a cyst literally as big as a baby inside her that was attached to her womb and intestines and blocked her ureter to the single kidney she has (the other failed two years ago.) We were so happy when she was allowed home on the 24th April and started learning how to manage life with an initially doubly incontinent dog. But when I took her back for an ultrasound on the 27th there was more bad news - although she was incontinent her bladder wasn't emptying sufficiently and there was no way of clearing the urine infection she had with antibiotics so she'd need to have a cystostomy tube fitted. As I drove home, having left her to be operated on again, all I wanted was to be able stay at the hospital with her rather than remembering her, shaking and frightened, as they took her away. Life at our house felt all wrong without her there. Even her sister, golden retriever, Bella, went to bed and cried. 

Launching once started doesn't just stop - whatever's happening in real life:

Our weekly local paper arranged to visit us on Monday but then the hospital phoned to say Traffy could come home, so I phoned the paper only to find the reporter had broken her leg and wanted to do the interview over the phone - perfect! But they still wanted to take a photograph of me and Traffy and Bella the next day. Poor Traffy looked like she'd been in a war when I brought her home. Her fur was all chopped about and she had stitches along the length of her abdomen, tubes that needed to be syringed, and a Buster collar so she didn't scratch or dislodge the tube. Still, I thought we could manage a photo. I knew the photographer from previous shoots and trusted her. So, in between syringing off Traffy's urine from the cystostomy tube to make sure she was producing enough - needs to be done every 4-6 hours, I was sticking heated rollers in my hair and slapping on some make-up for the photo shoot. One hour to go and we all looked as ready as we were going to when there was a phone call to say the photographer was running late so they were going to use one of the photos they'd taken previously. I threw off my smart clothes and crawled into bed with the dogs (Traffy hadn't been able to sleep in the hard plastic buster collar she needs to wear during the night so I'd sat up with her so she could sleep while wearing a soft one) Bella snuggled up next to Traffy - she's hardly left her side since she came home. For not the first time I was very grateful to be a writer with my hours as flexible as they needed to be and able to work wherever I happened to be; the animal hospital saw a good few thousand words written on a visit whilst Traffy was being taken off for tests and my office became the laptop on our bed while she rested there. Thank goodness for phones and emails rather than proper human contact! And thank goodness for the animal hospital - Traffy's not out of the woods yet but Tuesday was better than Monday for her and yesterday she was demanding small walks with long sleeps afterwards. Next Monday we go back to the animal hospital and start working hopefully towards her not needing the tube long term. As pre-launch ends with the launch of The Great Escape today it seems like it'll be the beginning of fun times and walks down the river and a million treats to look forward to for Traffy and Bella. And hopefully Traffy'll make it to the book signing. I think she probably will but if I feel it'll be too much for her Bella could stand in for her for part or all of the time - although meeting and greeting isn't really quite her thing - she'd much rather be splashing in the river.

Ruth's website is www.ruthsymes.com. Megan Rix's website is www.meganrix.com.

Party Time!

                                     Party Time! 

                     Ruth Symes / Megan Rix

With the weather outside cold and grey I thought I'd write about parties and in particular book launch parties - of which I’ve had precisely one. Before I was published I used to imagine what a launch party would be like - champagne, canapes, elegant people swanning about. But 20 books later and time for my own launch party the type of event I used to imagine wouldn't do at all, thank you very much.

        After writing children's books for 10 years I wrote my first adult memoir ‘The Puppy that Came for Christmas and stayed Forever.’ It was about one amazing year when we were puppy parents for a charity called Helper Dogs that trains assistance dogs for disabled people. That year we had 3 different puppies, one after the other from only 8 weeks old - not bad for dog novices!

     As soon as they heard the book was going to be published my friends from Helper Dogs said I had to have a party to launch the book - and they'd organise it. We'd have it at the Helper Dogs centre so the venue would be free and the publishers, Penguin, gave us £100 towards the food to drink. I provided the dog treats and found some amazing ones that looked like designer chocolates in elegant boxes. Dogs, of course, were more than welcome and the guests of

honour - as the book's stars.

At the party I signed endless copies of the book and stamped them with my pink paw stamp. Our local bookshop came along with boxes and boxes of them which was just as well as they almost all went and those that were left went at a book signing the following Saturday.

I read from the section where I was learning how to be a puppy parent - trained by a highly experienced older dog called Rusty, who was at the party too, along with Traffy who was the puppy we eventually got to keep and the star of the book.

        Then Helper Dogs did a demonstration and were given a cheque for £100 towards their work. Helper Dogs’ friends made some of the food and we bought more with the money from Penguin along with wine and soft drinks.

        I asked just about everyone I knew locally and was amazed at how many people came as it was on a week day and in the afternoon.

 I couldn't have asked for a better party and it was well worth waiting for. I’m not sure if I’ll have another launch party - the next book that's coming out is set in World War 2 - I suppose I could have a 1940's party but then my Bella Donna books really deserve to have a party for them too and I suppose we could all dress up as witches... but where would we get the unicorns and dragons from?

                        What was/would your launch party be like?       

Ruth's website is www.ruthsymes.com
Megan's website is www.meganrix.com

12 Gifts of Christmas - For Writers

           By Ruth Symes / Megan Rix

There are so many lovely gifts for writers out there, from extremely cheap to lavishly expensive. We must be the easiest people to buy for! Here’s my top 12 Christmas list:

1. Journals and notebooks and paper: You can never have too many or too much, in my opinion, (recycled paper best if poss). A4 books for getting down to some serious writing. Smaller notebooks for stuffing in a handbag or pocket, along with a pen, for when inspiration strikes!

When walking on the beach this spring I even found a waterproof notebook that you could use in the rain or in the bath.

2. Yearly Planner Wall-chart: I love being able to put a daily sticker (occasionally two) on my yearly wall-chart to mark off each 1000 words written. The best part is coming to the end year of the year and having a wall-chart covered in them - very satisfying.

3. Timer: If I’m needing help to get motivated I put a timer on for an hour and tell myself I can’t have another coffee or lunch etc until the hour is up. A friend of mine used to tie herself to her chair so she couldn’t stop until her designated time was over. I think tying yourself up is too extreme - but a timer is good to have. 

4. Books to read: Reading for pleasure and reading for research. Books you like and ones you don’t. When I was thinking of writing my memoir ‘The Puppy that came for Christmas’ my non-fiction agent told me to read as many animal memoirs as I could. I must have read over 20 before I put pen to paper.

All that reading must have helped because it made the Sunday Times Non-Fiction Bestseller List last year.

5. Mobile phone: With email on it, so the writer never misses a precious publisher or agent’s email while out walking the dogs.

6. Incense sticks: These help me focus when I’m not in a writer-ly frame of mind. I also find them very good for getting me in a mystical, magical mood for when I’m writing the Bella Donna books.

7. Smart Pen: I love writing by hand and although this pen is expensive, along with the special notebooks it needs, it lets my scribbled handwriting be converted into print - it also lets you write anywhere as you just plug it into the computer once you’ve finished – and voila you have text - just remember to turn it on! (I forgot to do this when we were on holiday and came back with tons of handwriting that couldn’t be converted into print - v. annoying.)

8. Dragon Dictate:  For when the poor writer’s hands are too tired from typing and mouse manoeuvring. Seriously though, RSI should not be taken lying down - if a writer starts getting twinges of pain in  their hands they should try to vary the way they write.

9. Pens and pencils: Must haves! You can never have too many pens because you can never find one when you need one.

10. Diary: To record all those things that can be turned into a story or go in a memoir one day.

11.Subscriptions to Writing Magazines: How To ones and Book Review ones. I loved getting this one from America last week: ‘So you've made your list. You've checked it twice, but if "The Puppy That Came for Christmas" isn't on it, you need to check again.’ Thanks Terri Schlichenmeyer.

12. Writers holidays/retreats/courses: A luxury, I know,  but it’s very important for a writer to be rejuvenated every now and again - to keep them going for the next year or two!

 Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Power to your Pen in 2012!  xxx

More details of my holiday gift ideas can be found on my website www.ruthsymes.com or www.meganrix.com

My Secret Life - Lynn Huggins - Cooper

I have a secret life. There – it’s out. Now, I don’t mean I am actually a man (although if you have ever arm wrestled with me you may question that); I don’t mean that I am a closet libertine or a have a covert taste for leather and chains. But I do have another life, outside my usual description as ‘prolific writer of books for children’ (I think they mean ‘Her again? Ho hum...’): I write books for adults.

I have had several non-fiction ‘self-help’ books published including subjects as diverse as self-sufficiency and organic living, pregnancy and parenting teenagers. I enjoyed writing them; they were quite lucrative. The weird thing is, many people seem to think these books are somehow worthier or more valid than my writing for children. Mind you, these people are the type who sidle up to you at drinks parties and say either a. (in jokey voice) ‘Are you that JK Rowling, then?’ Or b. ‘I’ve always wanted to write a book...’ Personally, I get the urge to stab them with a cocktail stick at that point.

Guess what? It’s much easier to write for adults. You don’t have to worry about word levels, or references to rude things, and it’s a good job – my new organics book includes a section on phthalate-free erotic toys. That was great fun to research! I love writing for adults; I am currently writing (slowly) an adult horror story. But I love writing for kids more. I think writing for children is more challenging than any other writing I have done, including my forays into journalism. I suppose the reason for that can be found in my farts, bogies and poo blog earlier – my inner child has a very big gob and shouts incessantly about the stories I should write. I’d better go - think I hear her calling...and she’s a bad tempered beast if I don’t just give in and write.