Ten-Minute Blog Break - 28th October

Attribution is an interesting subject in publishing. The writer is often credited as the sole creative force, but what about all the editors and designers behind the scenes? And what if the book is illustrated as well?

Attribution certainly became a big issue for Sarah McIntyre, when her book Oliver and the Seawigs was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, but only her co-creator Philip Reeve was listed for the award. You don’t need me to tell you that Sarah did not take that lying down, as her crusade to change the submission rules proves!

I know I featured the fight against Liverpool City Council’s plan to close eleven of its libraries last week, but:
A) You can never make enough fuss about library closures
B) I was much taken by Paula Rawsthorne’s letter to Mayor Joe Anderson, which argues the case for public libraries both from the heart and the head.

To live your creative life fully is to accept a constant process of evolution. To that end, I’m very much enjoying watching Maureen Lynas (who I once saw as primarily a writer) spreading her artistic wings. Her Klimt-inspired Red Riding Hood is a lovely image.

Marie Basting is getting in touch with her inner small person this week, in a bid to perfect her voice and point of view. Prepare to tie a towel around your neck as a makeshift superhero cape when you dive into her blog post.

Finally, a couple of SCBWI bloggers are focusing on the importance of reading to improve your writing. K.M. Lockwood provides her own take on the Kathleen Hale story about stalking book reviewers (which appeared in the Guardian recently). As a writer and a reviewer, K.M. gives a very positive perspective on the perks of being a reader. Elsewhere, I found myself nodding in agreement with Vanessa Harbour, as she complains about some writers of children’s fiction, who somehow think it’s appropriate to claim that they don’t read other children’s books. Not big and definitely not clever!

Nick.

---

A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is an Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine (September issue out now).

Nick's most recent blog post takes a look back at a year of Stew Magazine stories and teases out the common threads that bind them. What's the Story?

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 19th August

August is one of those rare times of the year when living Down South seems like a disadvantage, as the various Edinburgh festivals take centre-stage. I'm hoping this isn't the last year that this cultural smorgasbord is held in the United Kingdom!

The SCBWI South East Scotland regional team were particularly busy at the Edinburgh Book Festival, organising a panel on author events with Nicola Morgan as one of the speakers. Nicola's terrific blog post on getting and giving great author events covers everything she talked about and a lot lot more.

Maureen Lynas was also in Edinburgh last week, indulging her inner artist and soaking up as much inspiration as possible. And because she's nice like that, she's blogged all about what she learnt.

Candy Gourlay has been nominated for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (yay!) and this week it's her turn to feature on their website. Candy's re-posted the two videos she made on her blog, one of which wasn't even supposed to be a video (but is great anyway). Hooray for quiet books!

I didn't have room last week for Marie Basting's blog response to the last Slushpile Challenge (in which Penny Holroyde infamously failed to find an entry funny enough to make her laugh). With the help of The Sooty Show(!) Marie's blog post explores how that competition result made her feel, and her thoughts on the enduring popularity of "goo and poo and stinky farts."

I'm going to end this week with four letters - TGFW. It stands for "Thank God for Writing" as Vanessa Harbour talks movingly about what writing means to her and how it helps her through some difficult life situations. #TGFW indeed.

Nick.

---

A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is a former Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine.

Nick's most recent blog post found him coming Out of the Cave, to consider writing, hiding and "the rent-a-gobs of children’s literature."

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 29th April

What does it take to get a book published? Is it simply a matter of persistence and luck? Can we writers/illustrators influence the process at all, or should we just get out of the way and let the gatekeepers decide?


These are the questions that the first of today's Blog Break selections had me pondering. Mike Brownlow's Ten Little Pirates has been a great success, yet it came very close to not happening at all. Mike's candid and fascinating article is the first of two great posts from Picture Book Den this week. The second comes from our Regional Adviser Natascha Biebow, who shows us Ten Really Cool Picture Book Openings.

Sam Zuppardi is pursuing a rather different project than children's books at the moment, illustrating the pieces for a board game called Stormy Weather. It looks like a lot of fun, and in an attempt to get you to stump up for the Kickstarter campaign, Sam has been posting his illustrations of various weather-controlling machines. Check out The Light Sharpener, The Thunderiser and The Solar Wind Tunnel.

I mentioned Patrons of Reading last week, and Jane McLoughlin has just become one! Her first duty for Kincorth Academy in Aberdeen has been to write the foreword for an anthology of pupils' work, and she shares those inspiring words on her blog.

The writing process blog tour is unstoppable. It cannot be stopped, I tell you, until it has consumed every creative person with a Blogger or Wordpress account! This week's poor unsuspecting innocents are Maureen Lynas, K.M. Lockwood and (making his Blog Break debut) James Nicol. Thankfully, someone had the good sense to tag Mark Jones, who tries his best to make the blog tour implode by writing his entire entry in the persona of a "crazy mutant shrub."

Nick.

---

A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is a former Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine.

Nick's life as an author is filled with ups and downs, so he made a graph of them! Ride The Roller Coaster of Writerly Emotion.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 4th February

I'm sure you've been on tenterhooks since last week, wondering what happened to that enormous boil on Maureen Lynas's bum? Well, you can either find out here or you can read on for some blog posts that don't sound like an episode of Embarrassing Bodies...

Amanda Lillywhite hasn't blogged for ages, so it's great to see her joining in Hourly Comic Day with a comic strip all about her life on the 1st February 2014. As a special bonus, Sarah McIntyre also contributes her own graphical slice of life.

Mark Jones is someone else I haven't featured for a while, but his latest post about Resketch Books caught my eye. These are a terrific idea, sketchbooks made from paper that has been recycled simply by turning it over! So you get all kinds of random text and architectural diagrams on different grades of paper, interspersed with blank spaces for you to dream up your own ideas. As someone who suffers greatly from the tyranny of the blank page, I strongly approve.

Space on the Bookshelf have found space for Karen Ball this week, who undergoes a rigorous Q&A from Nicki Thornton all about the Book Bound Retreat that Karen and others are running in May. If you're really serious about getting your book published and you think you've got the writing craft part sorted out, this initiative could be for you.

We hear a lot about the benefits of SCBWI writing critique groups, but what about drawing critique? Shana Nieberg-Suschitzky posts at Big Little Tales with a fascinating example of before and after picture book drawings that have been improved by group feedback. And she even receives further useful feedback in the comments for her blog post. That's SCBWI in action, people!

Nick.

---

Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round techno-ninja. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead and currently writes short fiction for Stew Magazine, an event that was recently celebrated on this site.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 28th January

Oh, the agony of choice!

I had far too many good blog posts to choose from this week, so do excuse me if I missed you out - your time will come, I'm sure.



There's nothing I like better than a bit of call and response, where one post sparks off another writer to blog on the same issue. Nicky Schmidt's post on her voice-related epiphany was the catalyst this week, generating many comments and inspiring Maureen Lynas to relate The Boil on the Bum Incident in response. And how can you go wrong with a title like that?

Candy Gourlay continues her mission to take over the Blog Break, posting twice on different sites this week. But I'm wise to your tricks, Gourlay! Out of the two posts, the most useful is a nifty guide on Notes from the Slushpile, where Candy brings her journalistic background to bear on the world of social media.

Fans of wormholes, whirlpools and other things that swirl will love Nick Cook's cover reveal for his forthcoming Cloud Riders. It's bold and beautiful!

Movie adaptations of books often get a bad press for dumbing down their source material, but Sally Poyton has a different point of view. As a child growing up with dyslexia, she found that book adaptations were a fantastic way to unlock the material and help her enjoy the printed work. Read all about it in her blog post.

Finally, I was very excited to get a sneak peak at the artwork from Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve's new book. Sarah blogged here and here about their follow-up to Oliver and the Seawigs which is set (oh still my beating heart) in space!

Nick.

---

Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round techno-ninja. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead and currently writes short fiction for Stew Magazine, an event that was recently celebrated on this site.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 7th January

Welcome back to all you word-wranglers and picture-makers, for a whole new year of blogging. Christmas and New Year is a time for both gazing back and looking forward, so we've got a mix of both on the Blog Break today.


Kathy Evans starts her festive blog with an apology - for not having had enough time to write during 2013. But in the midst of all her other responsibilities, "slowly something stirred in the space between words" and she has begun to furiously write a new book. Hooray!

Jane Heinrichs looks back on a super-successful 2013, and instead of making resolutions, picks a single word that encompasses her approach for 2014. I really like this idea and decided to plump for "do", meaning that I will get on and do stuff this year with minimal faffing around. I can't control what other people think of my work, but I can increase my opportunities by getting that work finished and out there!

A simple year-end round-up is clearly not enough for Notes from the Slushpile. Instead, we have 4 authors for the price of 1 as Teri Terry, Maureen Lynas, Candy Gourlay and Addy Farmer each give their highlights for the writing year that was.

Nicola Morgan greets the new year with a rather startling question: What does your existence do to the world? Nicola thinks that authors can make the world a better place and sets out an inspiring list of things she's doing in 2014 to make a difference.

One problem with New Year's resolutions is that outside events sometimes get in the way. Juliet Clare Bell blogs about how her plans to become more organised in 2013 were knocked off track by the sudden death of her mum, SCBWI member Margaret Storr. But 2014 (Clare assures us) will be a happier year, and her advice to herself to JUST DO IT! fits in very well with my new word for the year.

Sue Hyams had a pretty rubbish 2013 as well, but she transmutes that into a joyful list of intentions for 2014. Intensive reading, Tom Hiddleston fandom and experimental cookery? Sounds like it's going to be a memorable year!

Nick.

---

Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round techno-ninja. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead and currently writes short fiction for Stew Magazine.

This week on his blog, Nick wonders if writers have forgotten the Girl Power legacy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And, in case you missed it, he also posted another awesome archive ramble through The Museum of Me - Special Collector's Edition.

Critique - The Trauma!

By Maureen Lynas

You've shared your baby, risked depression, and asked for a critique. Eek! 

Your story (or you depending on your emotional viewpoint and place on the writerly learning curve) has been appraised, analysed, evaluated and judged.

Maybe it's been unanimously praised as being the next GINORMOUS thing. Maybe it's been found wanting. Or maybe, and more probably, it's somewhere between the two and you are now dealing with the aftermath of the critique – confusion. 

One of the great things about a critique session is that you get a lot of feedback and one of the bad things about a critique session is that you get a lot of feedback. There are so many comments, so many differing opinions, so many different solutions. What on earth do you do with all of this information? 

Perhaps how you react initially depends on your disposition and/or experience. On first reading (or hearing) the critique  . . .

You may only see the positive.

OR 

                            You may only see the negative.

Then, on second reading you may become very confused because you're receiving conflicting messages. 

So it's important to take a step back and analyse what you've have. I do LOVE to analyse. 

 

 

Meet Boggarty Bog, a distraught troll. 

 

Boggarty is writing her autobiography (picture book format, illustrated badly). The first installment - Boggarty Bog's Biggest Burps, details a traumatic event in her life where she lost the ability to burp, just after she's been goaded into entering a burping competition by her arch enemy, Sally Mander. 

Disaster! 

The critique arrives. It's a mixed bag of comments and she's had to resort to a quart of slug juice to get her through the trauma. 

 

 

The Comments:

 

Really? A book about a burping competition? The burping genre is soooooo finished. 

The opening line sets the character, the conflict and the tone. 

I love the protagonist! 

I hate the protagonist. 

Perhaps there's too much burping? 

I like that she has to drink ginger beer to make the burps come back but ginger beer's too English. I would change it to lemonade. 

There's too much ginger beer, no one could drink that much. 

Kids LOVE burping, you're onto a winner! 

At 900 words it's too big for a picture book. 

At 900 words it's just OK for a picture book. 

The beginning could be trimmed to get to the problem earlier. 

You've missed opportunities for escalation e.g. of burps, in number and loudness. 

I'd like to see more ginger beer, great opportunity for an illustrator to draw hundreds of bottles.

Why don't you add in a farting donkey. That would make it even funnier. 

Trolls don't drink ginger beer. Do they? 

You've used me instead of my – as in 'Blimey Bert, me burps have gone,' said Boggarty. Teachers won't like that, words should be spelled correctly. 

I laughed out loud when she was flying like a deflating balloon. 

Your use of rhetoric builds the comedy. 

The punchline is unexpected, the set up brings the threads together and it makes sense. 

The polarity of the characters' personalities creates conflict. 

The story has a symmetrical structure.

I don't understand the setting, why are you living in a house? Why aren't you in a cave? 


Such a lot of conflicting comments. Now what does she do with them? Well, bless her, she isn't very far up the learning curve so most of her reactions are a bit emotional. 

What do they mean too many burps! You can never have too many burps! Escalate? Polarity? Conflict. I'll give them conflict! 

Cue more slug juice with a dash of powdered frogspawn. 

What can she do? Well, she can... 

Divide a piece of paper into two columns:

Positive and Negative 

Choose two coloured pens. One for Subjective (blue). One for Objective (red). Write down each point from the critique. At the bottom, add in any solutions that have been offered. 

Positive:                                                                            

                 

The opening line sets the character, the conflict and the tone.                                                 
                                                                       
I love the protagonist! 
                                                                                                
Kids LOVE burping, you're onto a winner! 

At 900 words it's just OK for a picture book. 

Your use of rhetoric builds the comedy. 

The punchline is unexpected, the set up brings the threads together and it makes sense. 

The polarity of the characters' personalities creates conflict. 

I laughed out loud when she was flying like a deflating balloon. 

The story has a symmetrical structure. 

The ending is sooo funny. 

Negative:

Really? A book about a burping competition? The burping genre is soooooo finished. 

You've missed an opportunity to increase the conflict between Boggarty and Sally on page 6. 

There's too much ginger beer, no one could drink that much. 

At 900 words it's too big for a picture book. 

You've missed opportunities for escalation e.g. of burps, in number and loudness.

I hate the protagonist. 

Perhaps there's too much burping. 

The beginning could be trimmed to get to the problem earlier. 

You've used me instead of my – as in 'Blimey Bert, me burps have gone,' said Boggarty. Teachers won't like that, words should be spelled correctly. 

Trolls don't drink ginger beer. Do they? 

Solutions:

Why don't you add in a farting donkey. That would make it even funnier.

I'd like to see more ginger beer, great opportunity for an illustrator to draw hundreds of bottles. 

I like that she has to drink ginger beer to make the burps come back but ginger beer's too English. I would change it to lemonade. 

I don't understand the setting, why are you living in a house? Why aren't you in a cave? 


The next step for Boggarty is to remove the subjective comments. Then: 

• Work out which of the objective comments require research e.g the word count comments may both be true depending on which publisher she’s submitting to. 

• Work out which comments point towards learning new skills e.g. what exactly do they mean by opportunities for escalation? 

• Look at the solutions; are they highlighting a real problem? What other solutions could she come up with – it’s her story, she should solve the problems. 

Of course, she can’t do this until the effects of the slug juice has worn off and the emotional pain has been dulled. This could take weeks. Months. Years. 

---

Maureen Lynas is the author of the Action Words Reading Scheme and a member of thefuneverse She was a 2012 Undiscovered Voices winner and blogs on writing on Notes From the Slushpile where you can see all about her current work in progress - The Best Witch.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 9th July

If I hadn't realised it was summer from looking out of the window, I'd certainly have noticed from the sudden drop off in new blog posts!

Fortunately, the content is out there and I have found it...


I was sure that I must have written here about Dave Cousins's genius plan to release an album of songs from his teen novel Waiting for Gonzo, but apparently not! Luckily, Dave blogged at the edge this week to tell us all about it. Even better, he's releasing the catchiest song on the album as a single, with all proceeds going to charity. Trivia fans may like to know that Dave's band Monorail were interviewed in the one and only issue of my fanzine (back in the dim distant days of 1996) but that Dave and I never actually met until Undiscovered Voices. Spooky, eh?

Maureen Lynas wrote a great post for Notes from the Slushpile that I wasn't able to fit in for space reasons last week. Maureen, whose blogs about story structure had been getting ever more analytical, recounts how she was suddenly overtaken by the muse and found herself writing (and illustrating) a book on a subject she didn't even like! Maybe there's an unexpected book lurking in your head too?

I'd never imagined you could get anything out of a favourite jumper except warmth, but Loretta Schauer proves me wrong by scanning the texture of one and including it in her drawings. Loretta's blog post on character development in illustration is a joy, giving a helpful glimpse into how characters change according to publishers' and writers' requirements.

Nick.

---

Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round digital guru. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead.
This week, on his blog, Nick tries to hold crazed authors back from the edge by telling them You Know You've Gone Too Far When...

All about our new SCBWI BI Network Coordinator

Maureen

Maureen  Lynas, whom many of you already know, has just become our new  network coordinator. So, it seemed apt to feature her in our first article about the networks. Here is what she says: 

 Hi, I’m the new SCBWI BI Network Coordinator – hurrah!

Why am I so pleased? Well, I remember the feeling of relief when I attended my first SCBWI chat group with Addy Farmer a few years ago. Here was a person and group who understood my obsession and wouldn't send me for counselling. I've seen similar reactions as North East Coordinator, new members thankful that they are no longer isolated in loft, shed, or study. So I'm more than happy to become Network Coordinator for this incredible group of supportive, creative people.

I joined SCBWI in 2008 and, amazingly, this did not immediately get me a book deal or an agent.

Illustration by Katherine Lynas

What it did get me was access. Access to knowledge about the creative process. Access to industry professionals. Access to friends who understand the ups and downs of being a creative person. And a reality check. I had to up my game if I wanted to write books worth reading and I needed SCBWI to do that.

But all of the SCBWI events were in London. And London is a long way away for me. So, when Addy asked me to take on the North East group in York I grabbed it and organised a workshop. And I worried that no one would come. The speaker was cheap (me) and the venue was cheap (£0) so if all went badly it wouldn’t matter. But all went well. Sixteen people turned up, some were members some were not. A lot joined SCBWI afterwards, the group is thriving and we’ve just added a critique group at Seven Stories.

There are nine networks across the UK all with similar start up stories; someone needed to be with other illustrators or authors. So they took the plunge and volunteered to organise something, anything, to bring illustrators and writers together. They held socials, critique groups, scrawlcrawls, planning brunches, write ins, workshops, masterclasses, professional series, agents parties etc. Just so that members could meet and learn and work together. And laugh. There’s always a lot of laughing at a scoobie do.

With thanks to Katherine Lynas 

In our local group our members are published and non-published, writers and illustrators but they all have one thing in common with all SCBWI members, they recognise the hard work that goes into their craft, they recognise the learning curves that have to be climbed and they appreciate that everyone in the group is there to support and encourage.

So the message from me as your new Network Coordinator is – pluck up the courage to join your local group, meet face to face. If there isn't a critique or social group near you, start one. Whisper or shout on the yahoo group or the facebook group – ‘Is there anyone out there near…’ Get involved. Contact your Local Network Organiser. They will help you because SCBWI volunteers are the friendliest most supportive people on the planet.

Who am I?

I’m the author of Action Words. The creator of The funEverse. A winner of Undiscovered Voices 2012. A blogger on Notes from the Slushpile. I write picture books, poems and funny stuff.

Maureen Lynas

If you need to, you can find out more about me here: Maureen Lynas on SCBWI