Craft Book Review: Writing for Children by Linda Strachan

Reviewed by K.M. Lockwood (Philippa R. Francis)

This Writing Handbook from Bloomsbury is dedicated to The Scattered Authors Society (The ‘other’ SAS) by its author Linda Strachan. The SAS keep a very useful and stimulating blog: An Awfully Big Blog Adventure so I took that as a pretty good indicator of the quality and good sense of the content and writing- as well as being endorsed by Celia Rees and Nicola Morgan. I was not disappointed.






The text is enlivened with a smattering of short relevant quotations from writers, and includes summaries. It is usefully divided into five major sections. The first part outlines the wide variety of different readerships there are in the children’s market. Wisely, it stops at Middle Grade (10-12) and leaves YA (Young Adult, 13+) to others.

Secondly, it gives you a Writer’s Toolkit to use throughout your first draft and into the start of the editing process. There are straightforward guides together with worthwhile exercises to develop skills, like handling point-of-view, for instance.

Then there is a brief and level-headed segment on Submissions. This also includes some rather dated advice on self-publishing (the book originally came out in 2008 and was revised in 2009). My advice to Bloomsbury would be to drop that section altogether – the changes are too rapid for a general guide to reflect.

It is followed by a practical and worthwhile manual on what to do next: Now You Are Published. This is a welcome extra compared to many other guides and advice books in my experience. (I have a shelf of how-tos)

Finally comes Useful Information. It includes the Society of Authors in its list of Organisations and Associations – but in a glaring omission, leaves out SCBWI! We are mentioned in the text, however. 

Overall, I found it appealing that the process is seen in such a logical, pragmatic yet optimistic way. Hard work and hope are both encouraged by the tone of the writer, Linda Strachan. A couple of quotations will give you the idea:

‘There is no magic formula and there are no guarantees. ’

‘Everyone has imagination and sometimes it only needs permission to come out and play!’

This would be a good addition to the beginner writer’s bookshelf in particular – but it has enough constructive advice for the more experienced writer to find it worthwhile.

http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/writing-for-children-9780713687743/

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K. M. Lockwood is a writing name of Philippa R. Francis. As well as being a regular contributor, Philippa (@lockwoodwriter) also tweets as @Words8Pictures helping to maintain our 'Industry news' feed.

Ask an Agent - with Gemma Cooper and Molly Ker Hawn, from the Bent Agency

Are you looking for a query critique from those in the know? Or do you have a question you've always wanted to ask an agent? Each month, agents Gemma Cooper and Molly Ker Hawn from The Bent Agency are offering just that.

This month, they critique two very different queries sent in to us by our readers.

ORIGINAL QUERY ONE: 

Dear ***,   

I am a self taught author/illustrator living in Southend on Sea with my wife and daughter, and work as an office manager. I have been working on a number of books for some years and am now at a stage where I would like to have them in print.  I would be most grateful if you would spare a moment to view my attached submission of 4 sample pages and consider representing me in my pursuit to publish the first of my childrens picture books ‘The Tale of the Greedy Fish’.   

It is written and illustrated by myself, aimed at children around 3 years through to 8 years, and 24 pages in length. It is illustrated in a genuinely unique, eye catching style with enormous merchandising and possible animation potential. All scenes, characters and pages are completely editable and has the ability to be published in paper, ebook or any other medium.   

In brief it is a humorous story of greed and forgiveness - the Greedy Fish eats all the underwater towns food in Lobsters 24 hour Swim-Thru, and is told to leave town by the King of Crabs and the Octopus Judge. His adventure starts and leads him to find a pirates treasure, which he finally gifts to his town who forgive him for his greediness.   

All will become much clearer upon viewing! If you would allow me, I would like to send you a pdf copy of the full book for your consideration. The book has a website www.......should you like to have a look at some samples of the character illustrations in the meantime.   

I hope that I will hear from you soon to discuss my submission, and have the opportunity to discuss working together further.   

Yours sincerely,    

NAME 

Telephone: 

Email: 

Here's what Gemma and Molly said:

Dear ***, Make sure to address this to the agent in person, so for us Dear Mrs Ker Hawn or Dear Gemma   

I am a self taught author/illustrator living in Southend on Sea with my wife and daughter, and work as an office manager. This should come at the end of your query. Also, is being an office manager relevant to the books? If not then don’t include. There is no need to say ‘self-taught,’ just say ‘I’m an author/illustrator.’ If you have studied illustration, then add this at the bottom in your bio. 

I have been working on a number of books for some years and am now at a stage where I would like to have them in print.  I would be most grateful if you would spare a moment to view my attached submission of 4 sample pages and consider representing me in my pursuit to publish the first of my childrens picture books ‘The Tale of the Greedy Fish’. You don’t need any of this. Just open with ‘I am seeking representation for my author/illustrated picture book, ‘The Tale of the Greedy Fish’ complete at X words.   

It is written and illustrated by myself you said you were the author/illustrator so this is superfluous, aimed at children around 3 years through to 8 years if you tell us earlier that it’s a picture book so you don’t need this. However, picture books do generally fall into two bands – 3-5 and 4-7, so you could clarify this in the line above, ‘picture book for 3-5 yrs’, but you don’t have to as the agent should be able to gauge, and 24 pages in length What is the word count? 

It is illustrated in a genuinely unique, eye catching style with enormous merchandising and possible animation potential. This description doesn’t actually tell us anything about your illustrations. Every illustrator would describe his or her work this way. And mentioning things like merchandising and animation at this stage will make an agent think you are running before you can walk. Concentrate on pitching the book to the best of your ability in this query and leave the agent to think about the next steps. 

All scenes, characters and pages are completely editable To get a book published, it would be very likely you would do an edit with the agent and then another few with the publisher, so you don’t need to tell us that the book is editable and has the ability to be published in paper, ebook or any other medium. Again, an agent will know this already, so no need to include.   

In brief it is a humorous story of greed and forgiveness Your brief synopsis of the book should show this, so no need to tell us - the Greedy Fish eats all the underwater towns (town’s) food in Lobsters 24 hour Swim-Thru, and is told to leave town by the King of Crabs and the Octopus Judge. Do we need all these names in this short pitch? It’s a lot to take in. 

His adventure starts and leads him to find a pirates treasure If this is where his adventure starts, then you need to tell us more about the exciting bit of the book, which he finally gifts to his town who forgive him for his greediness. Think about this part of the query letter as the blurb on the back of the book – hook the agent with an exciting few lines about the main character and what his motivations and obstacles are, without knowing a lot about the book, here is an attempt – ‘When Greedy Fish is told to leave town after eating all the food, he swims straight into a pirates’ hideaway filled with treasure! Greedy Fish gets the gold, but can he finally learn to share and will the townsfish forgive him?’   

All will become much clearer upon viewing! If you would allow me, I would like to send you a pdf copy of the full book for your consideration. The book has a website www............com should you like to have a look at some samples of the character illustrations in the meantime. It’s a great idea for illustrators to have work online so that an agent can look at it while viewing the query. 

Here is where you can put your biographical information: ‘I live in Southend on Sea with my wife and daughter. Are you a member of any writing organisations – SCBWI, perhaps? Mention this here. You could also add a line about why you are the best person to write this book. Perhaps you own a prize-winning goldfish, or you run a local kids reading group.

 I hope that I will hear from you soon to discuss my submission, and have the opportunity to discuss working together further. ‘Thank you for your time’ will suffice here.   

Yours sincerely,    

Name 

Telephone: 

Email: 

 

Original Query Two: 

Dear (AGENT NAME HERE),   

Twelve year-old Fidelia Quail lives for the sea. She and her parents, esteemed marine biologists, have tagged and tracked every creature in Arborley Sea: whales, jellyfish, octopuses, sea snakes, even sharks.   

But the experienced scientists are no match for the Undertow. This annual end-of-summer storm makes an early appearance in the bay, and the Drs. Quail are blown out of the research submarine. They float, lost at sea, and it's up to Fidelia to rescue them.   

Fidelia heads for the local pub to find a sea dog brave enough to sail through the deadly Undertow, but no one will do it... until a mysterious pirate, Merrick the Monstrous, offers Fidelia a bargain.   

If she will use her marine biology savvy to dive through shark-infested waters and retrieve his sunken treasure, he'll find her parents. Easier said than done! Merrick has a list of treasons longer than a ribbon eel. The navy's hunting for him, and they won't stop until he hangs.   

Fidelia suspects Merrick isn't playing with a full deck. His pocket watch ticks backwards in a countdown. His cough sounds worse than a seagull at low tide. And his beloved underwater treasure turns out to be just a worthless, salt-eaten pewter brooch.   

Rescue the Quails before they drown. Find the brooch before the navy blasts the pirates into driftwood. Unravel Merrick's secret before the pocket watch runs out of time...   

Holy hammerhead, it seems impossible. Even for a girl who swims with sharks.   

My 50k-word MG adventure, RACE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, is Jules Verne meets Robin Hood.   

Thank you! 

(name) 

 

Here's what Molly and Gemma said:

This is actually a pretty solid query: it gives us a clear idea of the main character, what she wants, and the high stakes of this adventure. But it’s a bit wordy; we don’t need quite so much description of Merrick, nor do we need to know about the Undertow: we just need to know that the Drs. Quail are lost at sea. 

Remember that we’re likely to be reading your query after reading thirty others, and we’ll still have thirty more to go: if you can be economical with your words and still get the plot and the feel of your book across, you’re much likelier to pique our interest. 

(One line that could read confusing is the Drs. Quail being ‘blown out of the research submarine’ – Gemma read this as being ejected from the submarine, rather than being blown out to sea!) 

Gemma and Molly will be back next month answering more questions and critiquing your queries. If you have a question you'd like to ask them, or are ready to start querying and would like some feedback from the professionals before you start submitting, email us at writers@britishscbwi.org 
 

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@gemma_cooper 

@mollykh.

Gemma Cooper and  Molly Ker Hawn represent authors of books for children and young adults. For more information about Gemma and Molly see The Bent Agency website and blog. 



Ten Minute Blog Break - 30th of July

By Candy Gourlay
Acting Nick Cross Clone

So Nick Cross has gone off on an amazing adventure holiday but the Ten Minute Blog Break must keep going ...  so you guys are stuck with yours truly. (Unlike Nick, I rather like using photos in my blog posts, so please do not be alarmed by the number of unauthorized images below.)

This week, our bloggerati have been posting stuff that, if one were in a plotting mood, could be plotted nicely on a SCBWI wannabe to publication story arc.

To start there's Mark Jones' momentous news over on the Book Monkeys Blog.

Mark randomly mentioned that he's getting married in a few days while at the same time announcing rather too casually that he's SIGNED WITH AN AGENT AT LAST.

What? You haven't congratulated him in the comments? Go on, do it. Now.

Julie Day, who tirelessly publishes as an indie author while seeking traditional representation with an agent, reports that after trying many self-publishing platforms, she's now planning to  experiment with KDP Select.

If you've never heard of Kindle Direct Publishing, read these FAQs or ask Julie the next time you happen to be standing next to her at a London Social.

Addy Farmer's Silly Season series over on Notes from the Slushpile has delved into character naming, missing letters in book titles, and now she's determined to put us in the writing mood with music.

Meanwhile Undiscovered Voices starlet Rosie Best has rather excitingly revealed the cover of her forthcoming novel SKULK. I mean ... aren't you jealous of that title? That cover? Rosie's name, which makes such an amazing byline? And what about the fact that Rosie's getting published within mere seconds of winning the Undiscovered Voices? Are you jealous? Are you?

No. Not us.

Nick Cross was one of the volunteers deservedly shortlisted last week for the Outstanding Contribution Award or OCA (pronounced "Oh! Kaaaaaaa!"). He felt so good about it that he began wondering, as Nick usually does, why can't we do more recognizing in other areas?

Nick writes:

For the sake of our sanity, we are no longer allowed to dream about getting a six-figure deal or winning the Carnegie Prize. Instead, the love of writing has to become its own reward. Read Nick's post

... which is why we've got to celebrate everything. I know what he means about needing that pat on the back - how many times have we handed in a manuscript  for critique when what we really wanted was praise?

Nick's right. We need praise sessions just as much as critique sessions.

Meanwhile, over on Edge Authors, Miriam Halahmy has been contemplating her characters - particularly Sam, a ten year old boy suffering from bone cancer in Peppermint Ward, a book she wrote for Cancer Backup.  Putting poor Sam through the wringer aroused feelings of guilt and pain. Was that a good thing?

As a writer, evoking strong and lasting feelings about your manuscript is a good barometer of how deeply you will probably affect your reader. That’s why we write – to evoke response and engage the reader in the journey we have sent our characters on. Read Miriam's post

Gratuitous picture of my new book

Speaking of journeys, I've come to the end of one very long journey. My book SHINE is finally, finally, publishing in September after three years of teeth gnashing! Hurrah!

But wait, we're going on holiday in August ... which means I've got to get book trailer, promo stuff, book launch organized before I set off. So much to do.

Which is why I quickly made a video message for a book group reading my other book Tall Story. If there was an Outstanding Contribution to Procrastination Award, I would win it hands down. Oh! Kaaaaa!

***

In other children's book news  ...

That debate sparked by Shoo Rayner worrying about young adult books being more adult than young sparked this response from librarian Kelly Jensen on Book Riot - the problem, Kelly says, is not the children, it's the adults.  And if you want to sound intelligent and well-informed at the next book launch you attend, do revisit Shoo's blog post - pay close attention to the fascinating debate in the comments.

And if, like me, you're gearing up to make hay without hay (as in market your book with no money), read this Guardian article by Anakana Schofield about how authors suffer exploitation in the name of marketing. I was surprised to see a comment over on Facebook saying she should stop moaning, because it's marketing. That. Is. The. Point. Just because something might promote an author's book doesn't mean that author should do it for free.

So ... was that ten minutes? Hmm. Anyway, that's your blog break for today (ten minutes or not). There will be someone else covering for Nick next time. So goodbye for now from me - happy blogging and happy reading (I should say happy commenting too - we bloggers are needy like that).

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Candy Gourlay's second novel SHINE will be out in September. She's just made a book trailer and promptly blogged about it in How to Make A Book Trailer .

“No holidays, no country.”

Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity, c/o Good Reads.

As holidays are pretty much common to all countries and communities in one form or another, they can work for different periods in history – or futurity – and be a point of reference in fantasy. Dragons might like a day off, too.




The word ‘holiday’, fairly unsurprisingly, comes from the Anglo Saxon haligdæg or Holy Day. In this more secular age, we tend to think of it as a time of recreation, of just fun – but I’d suggest re-creation would be a great way of thinking about holidays from the point of view of a storymaker.

[I include writers and illustrators here] 

It is always interesting to see someone in a period of change. Holidays and little trips out make ideal sequences to show a character changing - or revealing themselves. Think of Chaucer’s Canterbury pilgrims.

I’m going to suggest three aspects of holidays that might inspire the storymaker in you – Preparation, Journeying and Arrival. These are key phases where what a character does will tell the reader a good deal about them.

Preparation 

• What will your character pack?
• What might she leave out?
• Will she forget something important? 

Journeying

• What will your character anticipate?
• How will he react to the change of scene?
• Will the journey be eventful? 

Arrival

• Will she think to help unload?
• Will she wander off full of delight and hope?
• Are there things she will hate or fear?

I am sure you will think of many more questions yourself – but I hope these might get you sketching out some ideas.

K.M. Lockwood July 2013 
 

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@lockwoodwriter

K. M. Lockwood is a writing name of Philippa R. Francis. Once a primary school teacher, she became a graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at West Dean College in 2011. Her story The Selkies of Scoresby Nab was short-listed for the Mslexia Children’s Novel Competition and long-listed for the Times Chicken House in 2012/13. She was born in Yorkshire but now lives by the coast in Sussex. Her writing shows her deep fascination with British folklore and the sea. Her interests include reading, scuba diving and belly dancing, though not at the same time. She also blogs at the-wedding-ghost.blogspot.co.uk

Tap Tap Tappity Tap...

Can you hear it? The tap tap of keyboards up and down the land honing 4k word opening extracts for Undiscovered Voices. Illustrators, how are you perfecting your entries? The scratch scratch of pencil, the splash of ink or slide of a mouse? I do know writers who've submitted already - maybe they've reached the point where after a tour of the thesaurus they're switching words and ending up with the one they first thought of?

I'm not quite at the submission stage yet, eek, but I have decided to enter, which is mad with less than 3 weeks to go. People are saying you've got nothing to lose - well I have but  inspired by Christina Banach's story of perseverance and success in gaining agent affirmation,  I'm going to wo-man up and risk it.

This is in spite of the foolish thing I did on Friday evening - after a pint of Orchard Pig cider, I told my OH how my story was panning out. It ALWAYS sounds ridiculous without the security of a full MS, complete with solid ending, in the bag. He was honest and encouraging but 'Whatever I say you're not going to believe me are you?' Let him join all the other  Mr and Ms Ducks who've also suffered long for our Ducky & Beary creative angst. They can't win.

Orchard and Pig heady combination when served in a bottle.

One day I will call myself an author and I might actually cave in sooner than you think, as this week Sheila raised my awareness of Google Authorship  and how much it's a good idea. But is it really calling myself an author I'm after, no it's having lots of authory fun on something like an agent's retreat - by the time I'm in that position, they'll all be having them not just trendsetters like Gemma Cooper.

In the meantime, I delight in volunteering for SCBWI and it is a delight to do this for such a lovely group of people. Six-books-published-in-two-and-a-half-years author from the South West Network, Ellen Renner, delights in volunteering too, even with that punishing schedule. In fact, SCBWI volunteers abound on W&P, not least of all, Nick, who for one week, will be taking a well deserved blogless break and handing over to a mystery blog breaker while he's on his hols.

Also next week, Ask an Agent will be here on Wednesday as will another imagination fuelling meditation from KM Lockwood, on Monday it's 'holidays'. There'll be some illustrator know-how in a spluttering of ink from Anna Violet on Friday and from Thursday, Network News will be coming together with Craft Book Reviews  to see us through the summer. Next Saturday, there'll be information for another SCBWI competition with a design bent and I'll be in Edinburgh having a laugh at the Fringe for most of the week, yay!

If you've been following our Chalkface Challenge, head over there now to find out the results from the Shadowing Judges - did they pick the same as the kids?

Hoping the sun is still shining in your part of the world,

Jan Carr

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Jan Carr is the editor of Words & Pictures. Her fiction is older middle grade, she blogs occasionally and loves to write in magenta.

The Chalkface Challenge: The Shadowing Results

So far no one has told me that the Chalkface Challenge isn't the only kidlit competition wholly judged by children so, so far, we are! Half way through the preparation for our first Chalkface Challenge I thought wouldn't it be interesting to find out if some industry professionals chose the same as the children....

...or not.


Here are the three industry professionals I asked to Shadow Judge and who all, wonderfully, said YES:

Imogen Cooper              Sara O' Connor           Gemma Cooper

All very good friends of SCBWI and Words & Pictures.

The three shadowing judges chose from the five shortlisted entries. They were asked for their 'favourites'.

Imogen, Senior Editor, Chicken House Books
"I have eventually decided on entry 1. The author knows how to handle their material, the voice is consistent and by the end of the excerpt the reader knows where the novel is going." Jennifer Killick, Alex Sparrow and the Really Big Stink

Sara, Editorial Director, Hot Key Books
"I'm really liking entry number 10... And I'm really pleased to see how many middle grade stories there are floating around in SCBWI land!" Mike Pringle, Autopet Farm

Gemma, Literary Agent, The Bent Agency
"What I liked about this one (entry 10) was that it instantly threw us into a world that had android dogs (of sorts), but it didn't dwell on this or explain it." Mike Pringle, Autopet Farm

Gemma went on to comment further about Mike's winning entry:
"The world just is this way, and because the opening is so confident and the first paragraph so fantastic, the reader is happy to go along for the ride. I loved the little details thrown in, like Cedric eating a curry without any lubricating oil additives - it added to the world-building without being a massive info dump. The main character, Berthold, is likable because he's been given this faulty little terrier, but despite having to clear up all his poo, he shows a lot of affection for the little dog. I found the beginnings of their relationship rather sweet, with Cedric slobbering in Berthold's ear. I'd love to read more. "

In fact all three judges wanted to read more. I'm so pleased for the authors and for everyone who was brave enough to enter, as they all ticked boxes for the young judges.

In the autumn we'll have a new Chalkface Challenge for  a younger age group, I'd love to hear from any industry professionals who would like to shadow judge, do contact me at editor@britishscbwi.org.

Meanwhile all good wishes to Mike and Jennifer and again, many heartfelt thanks to Gemma, Sara and Imogen.

How entering Undiscovered Voices could bag you an agent - even if you don't win...

This week I'm excited to crack open the bubbly and say a big congratulations to Christina Banach. She truly is a testament to Never Giving Up. Even though she entered Undiscovered Voices twice but didn't win, Christina carried on writing and working on her craft. And I’m delighted to tell you she has now been signed by agent Yasmin Standen of the Standen Literary Agency, for her 11+ novel, Minty.

@ChristinaBanach

Christina is a former head teacher who lives in Scotland with her incredibly supportive husband and their two rescue dogs. She is an avid reader and particularly enjoys children’s and young adult fiction (all those years of buying for school libraries!). Since childhood she has dabbled in creating her own stories but it wasn’t until late 2001 that she began to write seriously. Then, in January 2006, she made the decision to resign from her teaching post and become a full-time writer. 

Christina joined SCBWI; devoured more fiction; studied James Scott Bell - Vogler, McKee, King, Brooker – every book on the craft of writing she could lay her hands on. She made notes, cogitated, digested – applied what she’d learned to her writing. She surfed the Net for anything that would make her a better writer. She sent work to Cornerstones Literary Consultancy for editorial reports; they offered to sell her through to agents. She kept writing, draft after draft. On and on. She entered Undiscovered Voices, unsuccessfully – twice. She thought about giving up... often! Then Cornerstones said her book, Minty, was ready to submit to agents. Enter Yasmin Standen of The Standen Literary Agency, with an offer of representation. Eureka! Is publishing success on its way at last? Here’s hoping... the manuscript is already with several publishers. Meantime, Christina is hard at work on her next book.

The blurb on Minty… Fourteen-year-old Minty and Jess are inseparable. Nothing can tear them apart. Until a family trip to the coast puts their bond in jeopardy. As Minty tries to rescue her dog from drowning she places herself in danger. Because she loves her dog – she has to save him. But at what cost? Only the stormy sea knows the answer. 

Please join me with a Hip Hip Hooray to Christina! Here's to her future success! And I hope her story will inspire you to work on your UV entry, as much as it inspired me....

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Tania Tay is an ex-advertising copywriter and has been published in Sable LitMag. She is writing MG and YA fiction, and is on the editorial team at Words & Pictures.

Duck & Bear Episode 5

It's here! The climax of the tale. Will Duck's epic tale see the light of publication? What has Bear been cooking up? Find out here!

In the concluding (for now) episode of Amanda Lillywhite's adventures, Duck and Bear are Taking it Further!

Network News, Featuring Ellen Renner South West Network

Ellen Renner on SCBWI and the writing life - in conversation with Lesley Moss

@Ellen_Renner

Ellen Renner has been a South West Network Organiser for SCBWI_BI since 2006. She talks to Joint Organiser Lesley Moss about volunteering for SCBWI, her writing career, and her latest book.
 Ellen was born in the USA, but came to England in her twenties, married here, and now lives in an old house in Devon with her husband and son. She originally trained as a painter and surrounds herself with sketches of her characters as she writes. She spins wool as well as stories, knitting and weaving when time allows. She plays the violin, fences (badly!) and collects teapots and motorcycles.
 Her first book, CASTLE OF SHADOWS, won the Cornerstones Wow Factor Competition, the 2010 North East Book Award and was chosen for both the Independent and London Times summer reading lists and, along with the sequel CITY OF THIEVES, was included on The Times list of best children's books of 2010.

Ellen, you’re a multi-published author – how do you fit in volunteering for SCBWI_BI as well?

That's right: start with the tricky question! I wasn't published when I first volunteered. My life went crazy in 2010/11 after CASTLE OF SHADOWS and CITY OF THIEVES came out. I was headhunted to write a series for OUP (THE FLIP FLOP CLUB, as Ellen Richardson). Working with OUP and Working Partners was a totally brilliant experience: I loved the collaborative process, but it was hectic because I was doing a lot of school visits as well as beginning my own next 'big idea'. When the final OUP ms went off, an editor came fishing. Within a few weeks there was a UK auction for two books based on a concept and twenty thousand words. Exciting but scary.
At times, volunteering has had to take a back seat to writing: I've written six books for publication in two-and-a-half years. The fact is, once you have a contract, deadlines can be brutal, especially with the self-promotion side added in. I'm not a born organiser (cue ribald laughter from friends and family) but I enjoy sharing some of the editing and writing skills I've learned working in the industry.

Why did you volunteer for SCBWI?

I wanted to pay back a little of what SCBWI-BI has done for me: given me support and friends, along with the information and tools to understand what it takes to write professionally. SCBWI provides a unique service to aspiring writers/illustrators. Also you make very good buddies in SCBWI.

What kind of events did you put on in the SW in the beginning?

I hosted a critique group and I put on creative writing workshops. The Exeter Write-ins we developed together recently are great fun! Y

You and I met first at a SCBWI_BI conference in 2006. And in 2010 you invited me to be Joint Organiser. We’re based in Exeter, where for me, the best thing has been meeting other lovely SCBWI members. An amazing range of life and writer/illustrator experience passes through the group, with a dedicated core and occasional visitors. What have you enjoyed about volunteering for SCBWI?

Oh definitely: the people you meet! And hearing about the things they're working on. Sometimes I want to be an editor just so I can work on some of these exciting ideas! And talking to other people about their work somehow inspires you to push yourself further with your own. It can revive your interest in the whole process. Writing is hard work, especially if you're always trying to take it to the next level.

Our Exeter Write-Ins (writers / illustrators meet in a café and work / exchange news / eat cake / critique) sprang from our discussion with author Lucy Jones, our socials organiser, author and film maker Yona Wiseman, and author Amelia Mansfield – we wanted to meet, but everyone had work to get on with. How well do Write-ins work for you?

Really well. I get quite a lot done - as long as the chatting doesn't go on too long, which is always the danger, as we enjoy the social side. It is good to get out of your normal writing environment and go to a gathering dedicated to what we're all trying to accomplish. It gives our work its appropriate weight somehow. Writers and illustrators can feel quite isolated and it's a joy to talk to like minded people. Family and friends may love (or tolerate) our obsessions, but only other writers/illustrators understand.

A Write-in with Ellen and Lesley

 Yona Wiseman at a recent Scrawl/Sketchcrawl

 

Exeter has become a supportive network, with people travelling in from far afield at times. In the last few years we have offered Meet-ups, Write-ins – with some informal critiquing - Sketch/Scrawl Crawls, support at book launches, and Seasonal Socials. And we plan to have Edit-ins to follow Write-ins. But the SW is a large network area – what would you say to those too far away to travel to Exeter?

The Write-ins and Scrawl Crawls are great, and I have great hopes of the Edit-ins. The size of the SW region is something I've struggled to deal with over the years. There isn't an easy answer other than to encourage people in places such as Bristol to be self-starting and organise their own meet-ups. But it does take one or two people to step forward, set the ball rolling and keep it rolling. And as I know only too well: everyone is busy.

And finally, we’ve all been inspired by your publishing success and benefited from your experience and industry knowledge during our Write-in chats. Can you tell us anything about your next book, or is it all hush-hush?

I'm very excited about the two books being published next year in the UK by Hot Key Books: TRIBUTE in March 2014 and the sequel, OUTCASTE, following in August. The TRIBUTE books are my first foray into YA fantasy and explore themes very close to my heart: power; politics; war; technology and how it drives social structure. The books are about empathy, and what happens when the ability to feel empathy is short-circuited because of tribalism. 
 TRIBUTE is dark: the inciting incident is told in flashback – a nine year old child is murdered for the crime of literacy in a world where only the magical ruling elite are allowed knowledge. It's not all gloom and doom however: there is a love story, which I found the most challenging part to write, to the great amusement of one of my writing buddies, Sharon Jones, who is disgustingly good at it! She tells me I've pulled it off though, so I'll have to believe her. 
This is the first time I've sold a book based on a concept, and I will admit to trepidation about editorial input from the publisher at that delicate first draft stage. I needn't have worried: my editor, Sara O'Connor, is totally brilliant (as is her maternity leave replacement, Jenny Jacoby) and her guidance has been invaluable. 
 For me, entertaining the reader is paramount. I write to ask questions of myself and the reader – fantasy is the perfect form for exploring issues in our own society – but I never forget that story is everything. My ambition is to transport readers to new places and create characters and worlds that live on in the imagination. I'm delighted to announce that the TRIBUTE books have recently sold at auction in Germany. They'll be published by DTV Junior in 2015 as lead titles.

Thank you, Ellen – it’s been great to share part of your journey. Good luck with Tribute!

Exeter Write-ins will begin again in the autumn. And we are very excited to be hosting a masterclass with an experienced visiting editor in October. Please contact southwest@britishscbwi.org for details or visit your Ning group. 

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Lesley Moss joined SCBWI in 2003 and over several years has volunteered for SCBWI as SW Joint Network Organiser, e-critique group moderator for Picturebook Too!  and the Poetry e-critique group, which became  www.thefuneverse.com (run by Maureen Lynas). She writes 8-12 fiction, picture books and funny verse. She originally studied art and design and spent some years in community arts, including a spell as a mime animateur, working creatively with children of all ages, and much more. But her first love is writing.