Ten Huge Congratulations to Mike Brownlow!

Many congratulations to Mike Brownlow on the publication of Ten Little Princesses, a fantastic companion volume to Mike's very successful Ten Little Pirates! These lovely ladeez are fearless and intrepid in the face of terrible danger and give pink the kudos it deserves. 


Over to Mike for how the Princesses arrived in a bookshop near you and some more exciting news...


'Last week the ‘Ten Little Princesses’ were let loose upon the world, giggling, screaming, swooning, as well as being brave and resourceful as they battle their way through a Dark, Dark Wood.

'This picture book is a follow-up rather than a sequel to an earlier book of mine, ‘Ten Little Pirates’. Following the same format, I wrote the words and Simon Rickerty drew the pictures. ‘Pirates’ was written in rhyme, and has proved an unexpectedly successful formula. It’s sold well, with the paperback version having been re-printed 6 times since February, plus co-editions with several countries, including the States. A Christmas version with a shiny red cover is due, and it will soon be featured on Bedtime/Lunchtime Stories on CBeebies.

'It’s amazing how many doors a few good sales figures opens! Buoyed by the success of ‘Ten Little Pirates’, Orchard approached me with the idea of doing a second book along the same lines. ‘Pirates’ was thought to have a boy-bias, and so the idea was floated to do a book aimed more at girls. Princesses were an obvious choice. I was fine with this as it was easy to find a wealth of fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters for the princesses to do battle with.

'As well as the counting element, (a bit like Ten Green Bottles but with more incident,) there are lots of noises throughout the book, and when I’ve read them out at school events, both of them are great for involving the children and getting them jumping about.

'Simon has excelled himself again with the illustrations. The cover, over which I had no control, is a very girly colour though, raising the whole uncomfortable ‘pink’ question and gender stereotyping. The paperback, due out in February 2015, will not only be pink, but thanks to a foiled cover, very sparkly as well. However pre-release figures are again very strong, and everyone at Orchard is really happy with the way things are going. So happy, in fact, that they asked if I was all right with the idea of making the ‘Ten Little…’ books into a series. I thought long and hard about this -- at least a couple of nano-seconds – before saying yes.

'Accordingly I’ve already written ‘Ten Little Dinosaurs’, which Simon is halfway through illustrating, and ‘Ten Little Monsters’, which is at 1st draft stage. At least two more are planned after that.

'So, when I next do a school visit I’ll be carrying a dressing-up bag full not only with pirate hats and plastic swords, but sparkly crowns and tiaras. Maybe I’ll throw in a few fangs and claws as well, because my Ten Little Princesses have quite a few trolls and dragons to overcome. Life is never dull for fairy tale aristocracy.

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Mike, we wish you lots of success for the series! Congratulations too on some excellent decision making and hope you'll send us some pictures of your sparkly, crowned, tiara'ed, and fanged school visits!

Christmas has come early for Tatum Flynn!

Well, Christmas has certainly come early for Tatum Flynn!  Take a break from the mania of late night shopping and wrapping paper to raise a glass of mulled wine in honour of Tatum and her two book offer with Orchard Books!

So where did it all begin?

Tatum decided that writing was the career for her at the early age of seven but has in the past worked as a croupier on cruise ships in the Caribbean, as a travel magazine writer, an English teacher in Italy and as a poker player travelling the world, "lying to people for profit" as she puts it! 

@Tatum_Flynn

But during the of winter 2012/2103, Tatum sat down to write Brimstone for Breakfast.

"Brimstone for Breakfast is a children's novel about Lucifer’s youngest son, who is hopeless at being evil, and the funny and crazy journey across Hell he’s forced to undergo. It features a little ninja girl, a Stardust-addicted vampire bat, a dangerous underground library, a demon sloth, and the scariest carousel horses you will ever meet." 

Then in May the next year Tatum went on her first ever SCBWI retreat. She says:

"I had high hopes, and I wasn’t disappointed: I met lots of lovely writers, ate a bit of cake, drank more than a bit of wine, learned a lot, and even joined in a pyjama party. By the time my meeting with the editor came round on the Sunday, I was just hoping she wouldn’t hate my writing and rain on my parade, because I was having so much fun." 

 What she got was much better. Expecting the promised critique, Tatum was gobsmacked when the editor launched into a flurry of compliments and made Tatum promise to send her the full manuscript. Tatum says "I accepted as quickly as I could before she changed her mind". However, fast forward a couple of months and Tatum had both failed to hear back from the editor and failed to find representation with an agent. After nearly a hundred queries Tatum was close to giving up on Brimstone and move onto the next book. She took herself off on holiday to France, and began writing a new story; "I tried to be optimistic, but rejections kept pinging up on my phone, cackling evilly at me and reminding me how much I sucked. At the end of the week, I sadly boarded the train home". But there was a not-so-little light at the end of the Euro Star tunnel!

 "A little outside Paris, magic happened: An email pinged up on my phone, but it wasn’t a rejection. I stared at it, then stared some more. It was the editor from the SCBWI retreat. ‘We would like to invite you to our offices to meet the editorial team,’ it said. ‘We are enthusiastic about your manuscript.’ If I’d been in a movie, bluebirds would definitely suddenly have appeared." 

In the weeks that followed, Tatum describes how her good luck continued. She received several agent offers and decided on the brilliant Zoe King of The Blair Partnership (JK Rowling’s agency!)’. Here’s what Zoe King said about Tatum’s novel:

 "Tatum’s submission hit me between the eyes: highly original, full of imagination and heart and with characters to fall in love with – her manuscript has masses of appeal. She’s naturally talented and in the right hands will be a great success." 

In a few meetings and weeks later, Tatum had a two-book offer! And we are thrilled to celebrate, thanks in no small part to SCBWI, that Brimstone for Breakfast will be published by Orchard Books in 2015, with a sequel to follow! Who says evil doesn’t pay? ...But best stay on the nice list just in case though!

Tatum can be found (way too often) on Twitter, and also on her website.

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Clare Welsh joined SCBWI in February 2013 after her marriage to her lovely husband James was under threat from constant chunterings, questions and readings aloud over the football.  She is thoroughly enjoying all that SCBWI has to offer, including helping Tania celebrating SCBWI successes, and is pleased that her marriage is still firmly intact.

Tiaras, shamanic journeys and cake cake cake… the SCBWI Retreat at Dunford House

What do you get when you put twenty-nine writers plus one editor in a beautiful house in the Sussex countryside, feed them with slap-up meals and endless cake? An amazing, stimulating time and some inspired writing says Tania Tay.

We had a pyjama party on our last night. Do we look like we're having fun?

Dunford House

This was my first writing retreat and I couldn’t wait to get there.

Our guest writer was Lucy Christopher (below right - editor's note: look, she's grown her hair!), author of Stolen and Flyaway, who teaches creative writing at Bath Spa University, and the guest editor was Rebecca Frazer (left) the editorial director at Orchard Books. We could book a one-to-one with Lucy or Rebecca to discuss our WIPs.

... an evening of cake, wine and chat about writing - the best kind of evening there is!

From the moment we arrived, the stimulating conversation began over chocolate chip muffins on the lawn. Then we settled into the gorgeous 18^th Century rooms of Dunford House. There was time for some to rattle off a few hundred words before an evening of cake, wine and chat about writing - the best kind of evening there is!

Saturday, after a huge breakfast, Lucy Christopher led a workshop on creating vivid settings, and making Place a vital character in our stories. 

Lucy's a very expressive speaker

She explained that her starting point is the setting, above character or plot. It was fascinating to hear how, before writing Stolen, she spent three weeks immersing herself in the Australian desert, talking to locals, absorbing the atmosphere, and making lots of notes. 

For Flyaway, she got a job with the RSPB, and for her current work, The Killing Woods, she lived near the woods. Lucy gave us the exercise she uses herself, to make setting work harder in the story. 

We made notes based on sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. Next we noted the emotions, the fear and/or excitement the setting created. Lastly, we put our character in the setting, moving towards something. We then used our notes to write a short piece. We came away from the workshop totally inspired, ready for a few hours of writing.

Lucy in red silk pyjamas.
She wore normal clothes too

After tea, cake, chat and dinner, Lucy Coats, took us on a shamanic journey. She uses “creative napping” to induce a trance state to help remove blocks. In ancient times, bards and druids - the storytellers - would go into a similar trance to inspire creativity. 

We closed our eyes and relaxed to soothing music and she guided us through a meditation. The visualisation worked for many of us and some had incredible breakthrough visions about their stories.

We came away from the workshop totally inspired.

Sunday, after a morning of writing time, Lucy Christopher was back to tell us about her writing life. She suggested we write the books we do because of presences in our lives, conscious and unconscious. 


She also talked about writing blocks and how she overcame them while writing her third novel, a dark thriller, with the help of poetry, drawing and listening to songs. She then read the first chapter of The Killing Woods to us - even before she sent the final edited version to her publisher – and the power of her writing had us in silence.

In the evening, Candy Gourlay hosted a Tiara and Pyjama Party. Queen Philippa Francis opened proceedings with a poem and others shared their writing. 

All hail, Philippa!

The variety and quality of writing astounded us all. There was everything from poems and hilarious writing for younger ages, to gripping middle grade and YA adventures, mysteries and fantasies. Several writers said they were inspired to up their game….

Monday came too soon, and it was time to pack and go, but not before the last session with Rebecca Frazer, editorial director of Orchard Books. Rebecca was as far away from scary editor as possible – absolutely lovely and really generous with us. 

She gave us the background of Orchard Books, how they see themselves as a boutique publisher with the backing of Hachette. Then she took us through the acquisition process, which explained why there are so many opportunities for rejection along the way. 

She also talked about market trends and what people are looking for at the moment. There is a definite need for more Middle Grade fiction, where humour is important. Marketing trends suggest there is now more emphasis on finding author-led series. In teen and young adult fiction, the 50 Shades effect means that romance is big news, especially contemporary romance and issues stories. 

Rebecca then spoke about pitches and how to pitch our ideas in a query letter. Die Hard meets Rainbow Magic here we come…

 Marketing trends suggest there is now more emphasis on finding author-led series in teen and young adult fiction...

Finally, it was time to go back to the real world. I left feeling frazzled, full of cake, but inspired – and I haven’t quite calmed down yet. The readings made us appreciate being surrounded by the huge range of talent that is in SCBWI. 

I feel really privileged to be part of this gang of lovely, generous and talented writers. Thanks especially to Lucy Christopher, Rebecca Frazer, Lucy Coats, Candy Gourlay, all the staff at Dunford House and, of course, our amazing organiser Teri Terry without which none of this would have been possible.

Teri Terry who organized it all.

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Tania has been published in Sable Lit Magazine and is now writing MG and YA fiction. She has an MA Degree in History of Art and is also a professional cake decorator and baker. She is part of the writing features editorial team for Words & Pictures.