Results - Slush Pile Challenge October 2014

This challenge was set by Clare Wallace from the Darley Anderson Agency. 

THE CHALLENGE... 

was to write a first chapter and a synopsis for 5-8 year olds with brilliant characters and great storytelling.

We received 14 entries and we sent them all to Clare anonymously. 

BUT... We have a hitch...

Clare says: "After much deliberating, I don’t think I’m going to pick a winner. 

My two favourites were ‘My Dog Laid an Egg Today’ and ‘Sprite School’. 

‘My Dog Laid an Egg Today’ had a fun concept (the clue is in the title) and a strong voice. The protagonist, Jack, made me smile a few times and I definitely wanted to read on to find out what was going to happen next. But the synopsis was just that bit too complicated and fantastical for my tastes, and I felt that less might be more.

‘Sprite School’, about an accident-prone rat living in a school, again had a lovely pace, and some great characterisation. Both the sample and the synopsis felt very confident, and both made me giggle. But, again, sadly, I wasn’t convinced by the plot and wanted to see something more original.

There were some interesting concepts, and some vibrant characters...

But if these had come through the submission process in the normal way, I wouldn’t have requested the full manuscript for any of the entries.That sounds incredibly harsh, I know, but I think it’s better to be honest. 

The reason I asked for titles for 5-8 year olds is because I think this age group is particularly difficult - and although I would love to find some new talent in this area – it’s a very tricky age range to get right. 

For me, although there was something to enjoy in every submission, some of them felt a little flat or clichéd, or not quite contemporary enough, and some were too ambitious in their scope  - although I do love a bit of bonkers in a book, I also need to believe in the characters and be happy to suspend my disbelief.

Bigger isn’t always better.

There were a few entries involving portals, time-travellers and space adventures – and although the plot might have been moving at a breakneck speed, this wasn’t balanced enough with establishing the characters and the world in which they were living.

We really are on your side and actively seeking to grow our children’s list. 

I’m so sorry not to have picked a winner this time. There was a lot of potential in the submissions I received and I so enjoyed reading them all. But, as you will have heard many times before, this is a hugely subjective business and I didn’t feel that any one particular entry delivered on the brief quite enough.

If you’d have me back, I’d definitely participate again. Thanks so much for having me along."

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While we are all disappointed that we didn't get a winner for this challenge, as writers we understand that honest feedback is very useful to improve our craft. As Clare said this age-group is the most difficult to write for. Don't be disheartened - we have more competitions planned for 2015.

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Chitra has published over 20 books in Singapore, UK, USA and India. She loves writing picture books and retelling folktales. Her picture book Farmer Falgu Goes to the Market was released in India in November 2014 . Chitra is a member of the Words & Pictures' editorial team, managing The Slush Pile Challenge.

Results - The Slushpile Challenge July 2014

This challenge was set by Lauren Pearson of Curtis Brown.

THE CHALLENGE... 

was to bring Christmas to July.

We sent all our picture book and chapter book entries to Lauren Pearson. 

And the winner is Alison Mary O'Donnell for her picture book entry - Wendall's Wonderful Christmas.

We asked Lauren to tell us about the entries she received and why she chose Wendall's Wonderful Christmas as the winning entry.

I had great fun reading these entries in sunny August. The stories, which were mostly picture book texts, covered just about every angle of Christmas that I can imagine, and then some!  

Santa eating silly foods, aliens decorating for Christmas, big machines saving the day, ninjas, a very sweet little donkey--there were a number of great ideas and some very original concepts.  (And actually several writers that I'd love to chat with!) 

But the winner for me is WENDALL'S WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS, which features a Scrooge-like dog who has a more exciting Christmas Eve than he'd bargained for. Our canine hero was a great character and there was a lot to the story that young readers would love.

Lauren gave us some tips about how we could make the stories better. 

Generally speaking, though the concepts were exciting, quite a lot of them needed work on the execution.  It’s a cliché, but for a picture book text every word counts, and sometimes (quite often), the fewer the better. 

Side comments about how someone's feeling, that they are sweaty, etc. might fit in a chapter book but they can spoil the flow of a picture book.

That's great advice, Lauren. What about rhyming text? Did you get a lot of rhyming picture book entries?

For rhyming to work, it has to be absolutely spot-on; the story can't wander just to make a rhyme, something I saw quite a bit of.  

Writing picture books is always tricky - because you are writing for young children but parents buy the book. Here is what Lauren said about that specific conundrum.

And a few of the entries also seemed to lose track of what young children can understand and find funny.  Never forget your audience and what they bring to the [Christmas dinner] table—or more importantly, what they don't bring to it.

My rule of thumb is to write for the children, not their parents.

Are there are any rules when writing a holiday book? Especially something as mega-grand as Christmas that has universal appeal?

Everyone's taste is different, but as an agent and as a parent, I avoid picture books about Father Christmas that stray too much from the traditional Father Christmas backstory--i.e, that he's one, single person who lives in the North Pole and has done forever and ever. 

For me, some rules aren't made to be broken.

We will be inviting Alison to talk about Wendall and her experience submitting to and winning the Slushpile Challenge and how her meeting with Lauren went.

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Chitra has published over 20 books in Singapore, UK, USA and India. She loves writing picture books and retelling folktales. She's also working on fiction for 7+ . Chitra is a member of the Words & Pictures' editorial team, managing The Slush Pile Challenge.

Results - Slush Pile Challenge April 2014

This challenge was set by Penny Holroyde from the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency  

THE CHALLENGE... 

was to make Penny laugh out loud with a first chapter.

We sent 15 anonymous entries to Penny Holroyde, chosen randomly. Penny read them and asked if she could read all entries and not just the 15.

BUT HOUSTON! We have a problem...

Penny says: "There were some close calls in this Slushpile challenge but I’m afraid I wasn’t able to pick a winner this time around.  

The entry that came closest to making me laugh was called 'ASKING FOR IT'. 

The author has a good voice for this age group (a girl embarking on her sixth form career with all the self-doubt and image consciousness that goes along with it) but, although there were some funny quips, I feel this novel was shaping up to be a quite serious coming of age novel dealing with some quite serious issues and so ultimately I couldn’t really shelve it as a ‘funny’ book.

Funny is of course a subjective concept and I think that I am quite readily made to laugh.

However, I felt that a lot of the entries fell back too easily on what the authors think is funny for children rather than what perhaps is funny for children. It’s quite interesting, reading 15 in one go, how many authors go for perceived tried and tested sure-fire funnies. 

Here’s a list:

Something being stinky

Eggy or cabbagy farts

Overuse of superlatives: 
reeeeeeeeeeally eggy fart, R-E-A-L-L-Y stinky feet, waaaaaaaaaaay too stinky, etc.
A hatred of school

Goo, Poo, More poo

Dads getting fired or quitting their jobs

Girls who don’t like dresses

Old-fashioned language, e.g. ‘poppycock’
Sterotypical parents: why do parents in funny books have to either be buffoons or dictators?

References to current fads which come across to me as overtrying: I read about a flyPhone and an App called Grumpy Pigeons. 

Try to avoid references that may too easily date.

I think a lot of the entries felt like they were trying too hard to tell the reader THIS IS A FUNNY BOOK. Children are smart and don’t react well to be told what to get out of a book. 

I think dialogue is the easiest way to be funny. 

Expositional set up is a much harder context for portraying humour and so I think all the authors need to work on developing dialogue that has verisimilitude for modern children."

Wait, we have some good news!

"I’m pleased to report, though, that all of the entries used age-appropriate language which is a mistake I often see in our submissions pile so all of the authors have clearly read published books in their target age group. 

I found some of the contexts also very promising – a boy who is born (in a grave!)  the heir to a funeral parlour, a boy who takes his pathologically lying grandmother to Show and Tell. These were very promising ideas but I just felt they needed a bit of work with their execution. 

I’d like to ask all the submitting authors to just relax once a funny idea hits and it may make the writing come across as just a little more confident.

Again, sorry not have picked a winner but I do hope these notes help."

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While we are all disappointed that we didn't get a winner for this challenge, as writers we understand that honest feedback is very useful to improve our craft. Writing funny perhaps is the hardest thing out there and the advice from Penny would be very useful to all of us.

Penny has promised to come back and do another challenge for us next year. So sharpen those pencils and the wit and next time let's make her roll on the floor laughing!

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Chitra has published over 20 books in Singapore, UK, USA and India. She loves writing picture books and retelling folktales. She's also working on fiction for 7+ . Chitra is a member of the Words & Pictures' editorial team, managing The Slush Pile Challenge.

Results - 3rd Slush Pile Challenge October 2013

This challenge was set by Mara Bergman of Walker Books. 

The winner of this challenge is Loretta Flockhart for the first chapter of her book titled Hungry Ghosts. Congratulations Loretta!

Mara Bergman

THE CHALLENGE was…

The first chapter of a junior, teen or YA novel; no dystopian, fantasy, vampires or zombies.  Please keep the length of a chapter to less than 2000 words.

We sent 15 anonymous entries to Mara Bergman, chosen randomly. We asked Mara to tell us why she chose Loretta's first chapter from Hungry Ghosts as the winning entry.

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading the entries for the SlushPile Challenge. Picking a winner was far more difficult than I had thought it would be, but after reading through the entries I soon found that several stood out above the others. I reread them a number of times before deciding the winning entry. Hungry Ghosts.

Susie, the main character, is an immediately likeable, spunky young girl. 

She comes home from school one day looking for her mother, Grandpa Si and Grandma Si to tell them her good news. When she can't find them she looks in one last place: the room where fragile things are hidden, where, Grandma had once told her, the Hungry Ghosts live. 

The first chapter in this story about a close-knit Chinese family (Susie is half Chinese, half English) is clearly written and full of character and warmth. The element of the Hungry Ghosts adds a wonderful sense of otherness, and of mystery - 

I'm intrigued by them and want to know more, especially what role they will play later on. 

All the characters are well drawn and I found reading Hungry Ghosts hugely enjoyable - the best test of a good story! 


Loretta will be meeting Mara Bergman for a discussion. We will be posting about Loretta's experience of participating in and winning this challenge in her own words soon.

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Chitra has published over 20 books in Singapore, UK, USA and India. She loves writing picture books, folktales and is also working on fiction for 7+ with a lead character brightly named Aurora. Chitra is a member of the Words & Pictures' editorial team, managing The Slush Pile Challenge.