Sarah Lean on Voice

Charlotte Comely

@SarahLean1

Warm, friendly and amazingly down to earth were the comments from students after Sarah Lean came to give a pep talk to Creative Writing Students at Winchester University.






Author of A Dog Called Homeless, A Horse For Angel and The Forever Whale, Sarah fully understands how desperate it feels trying to get that first publishing deal. She was working as a primary school teacher while dreaming of being a writer, even after three books out and another two in the pipeline, she describes feeling worried, 'I can't believe it will last.'

So how did she get that foot hold?

Voice.

Her tutor had praised Sarah on capturing a child's voice. Here's an example:

'I wasn't really listening. The tip of my green felt pen had gone inside the tube. I was trying to poke it out with a compass under the desk. We had geography next and you always need a green felt tip in geography.'
A Dog Called Homeless

Several thousand drafts later, getting it wrong, getting it wrong again, Sarah finally had a polished manuscript. Winchester University holds a writing conference every year and Sarah had been asked to show some of the agents around the building. Of course she had a copy of her manuscript with her, but when she handed it over her heart sank as the agent pushed it to the bottom of her pile.

'Remember your opening line. It was the only question the agent asked me.'

Students wondered if Sarah now had everything right and were comforted to hear that she is only human. 'My writing style is so haphazard,' she told us emptying her bag, and at first failing to find a small pad of paper. 'I desperately need to learn to be more organised and disciplined. I often leave the house without paper, so I'm forced to write ideas on scraps which I find again when I'm not expecting it.'

At the moment, Sarah's out of the classroom and writing full time.  Hero is due to be published at the end of this month and Jack Pepper for World Book Day on Thursday 6th March.

Hero is a story about a little dog with the heart of a lion:

Leo feels invisible – at school and at home. When he’s not doing homework with his one friend, George, Leo spends most of his time in his imagination. It’s easy to feel brave if he’s pretending to be a gladiator.

When an accident at school brings Leo overnight fame he likes being centre of attention, for once. But then Leo finds himself doing things he knows are wrong, just to impress his new ‘friends’. And George no longer wants to be friends with a liar . . .

Disaster strikes when a meteor hits the town. A little dog belonging to Leo’s neighbour is missing and Leo knows he must be trapped. If Leo can bring the dog home, can he make it up to the people he’s hurt? Can he be a real hero?

Jack Pepper is Sarah's World Book Day book and another chance for readers to catch up with this loveable four legged character.

Sarah's own loveable four legged character.

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SARAH'S TIPS FOR FINDING YOUR CHARACTER'S AUTHENTIC VOICE:

Voice is hard to define. There’s the author and the character, and both are unique. I suppose I’d say the author’s voice has to do with the way characters are written (style, maybe). Character voice portrays a recognisable individual in the story.

...one needs to remember the limit of the child’s knowledge and experience

The story (circumstances that challenge the character) needs to draw on their entire psychology.Writing as a child is not less well-researched than writing as an adult, but one needs to remember the limit of the child’s knowledge and experience. Their habits, the way they move and react are all important but not more important than them as a whole:

Think about the wider environment in which they have been raised and how they have been nurtured. Their experience and their own nature work together. Answer difficult questions such as:

• What newspaper does the dad read? 
• What was the parents’ experience of education? 

All these things may be key to understanding the child. These answers are not for the story, they enable you (and therefore the reader) to connect with the character.

I always follow Egris’ tri-dimensional-character bone structure (The Art of Dramatic Writing, Lajos Egris) because it makes me address these questions. It is a challenging exercise, but rewarding. Draw on what you’ve heard, what you've read and think is good, and your own childhood. Experience as a teacher in the classroom was definitely helpful.

It’s more a question of revealing not building a voice

Be yourself, without force, but with lots of practice, which authenticates the voice; let the character be themselves. It’s more a question of revealing not building a voice. Practise restraint over authorial intervention; learn to hear the ‘false notes’ where you’ve lost contact with the character. I think it is a trap to write to order, what you think the industry or the reader wants to hear.

Maintain the development of the character until they seem to speak for themselves. As soon as you find yourself trying to get them to do/say what you want them to do/say (recognisable when things fall flat or feel complicated and stodgy), go back to the character analysis and keep working on it. Something’s missing in your understanding of them.

There's a kind of rhythm and flow when the characters are well formed: individuals speaking on a universal level.

Simplicity is key. That doesn’t mean not challenging the reader’s vocabulary, but the character will not spout purple prose (extremely unlikely anyway). It’s a balance. There's a kind of rhythm and flow when the characters are well formed: individuals speaking on a universal level. That’s what the reader recognises – someone in particular, and also themselves.

Thank You, Sarah.

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Charlotte Comley creative writing group organiser and now self employed writer of educational resources. Her fiction has been published by Ether Books, Darwin Evolutions, Flash Flood, Chuffed Books, and 1000 words. Non fiction work has appeared in magazines such as The Green Parent, Take a Break, Woman's Weekly, The Motion Online and Grow It. Charlotte Comley was one of the writers and script editors of Express FM Conway Street, a radio soap airing three times a week for eighteen months. She came highly commended at The Winchester's Writing Conference competition for children's fiction.  In 2012 she read at The Umbrella Festival at The Groundlings Theatre, came third place at Alton's Book Festival The Pint Pot of Fire, at Wordsouth Havant and of course in the Portsmouth Book Fest 20 x 12. She was short listed for the You, Me and Everyone project in Portsmouth and has won various poetry prizes at poetry Cafes.

Falling in Love Again...

Next month is the submission window for the SCBWI Work in Progress Grants and in my Internet meandering this morning I came across an interview with Karen Cushman whose grant is also up for grabs in March - if you're old enough!  But we're still in February and some of what Karen was talking about fits so well with this month's  theme. She quotes Ray Bradbury, who said so many great things, here's one of them:

"To sum it all up, if you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. I wish for you a wrestling match with your creative muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolish and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria and out of it make fine stories. Which finally means may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days and out of that love remake the world."
Ray Bradbury via Karen Cushman

It's not the passion for writing but the being in love with the story that gets me. The writing of it is the hard but necessary bit. As bleak as it is, I do love my story and I'm hoping someone else will too. The thought that stories have the potential to 'remake the world' is mind blowing.

I'm reading a story that I love, too. I've broken last week's duck and read half a book in just a few hours. I can't tell you what it is because we can only review craft books on W&P  but you can guess if you like. Daughter handed me the book, I started reading and was hooked - fantastic feeling. It was as if the author was there, speaking to me. Tomorrow we have an interview with Sarah Lean and her tips on Voice. For me, like every agent I've ever read or listened to, my passion for a book is all for the voice and hearing one is magic.

This week, I loved Philippa's suggestion to consider what 'ignites' our characters' passion, in The Blog Break Nick highlighted the aid to passion for writing - goals and targets, and Nicky interviewed wonderful SCBWI member Morag Caunt whose passion is overflowing, specifically into the young drama group from West Yorkshire who are acting her stories out. On Friday, it was brilliant to see all the featured illustrator quickfire answers together and find that what binds them is tea! And of course, many congratulations to Nick Cook who's kept the faith with his story for seven years and is now being published in May! Faithfulness and Passion go well together, I think.

Next week with Sarah Lean, we have Catriona with another brilliantly wordy post When Words Get Together and Friday's illustrator feature is all about Pop-Ups.

Here's the lovely Karen Cushman's interview, which works great as a podcast but I thought you'd like to see her.


Podcasts? Hmmm... wouldn't it be great if Words & Pictures did some of those….

Have a great week!

Jan Carr

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Jan Carr is the editor of Words & Pictures. Her fiction is all over the place, she blogs occasionally and loves to write in magenta. You can contact her at editor@britishscbwi.org.

More than words on a page

Nicky Schmidt

Morag and Nicky

Everyone keeps reminding us; writing is tough, as is getting published. For those writing short stories and poetry it can be even tougher. So when I met Morag Caunt, of the SCBWI-BI’s North East region, I was fascinated to hear what she was doing with her short stories. As I listened to this unassuming but enthusiastic woman I knew Morag’s story had to be shared.

Morag, I’m so glad you agreed to this interview. You’re doing something remarkable and heart-warming - something that other SCBWI members might consider too. Could you start by telling Words & Pictures readers what you write, where you draw your inspiration, and why you write what you do?

I started writing three years ago after retiring from a career spent working with children, primarily as a paediatric nurse, and latterly as a family support worker for Social Services. A lot of the young people would not, could not or had never been given the encouragement to learn to read. I write short, quite gritty stories aimed at reluctant teenage readers. My stories are always taken from my own personal life experiences. My hope as a writer has always been that a teenager would read one page of my stories, then, want to read on.

You told me you were finding it tough to find a publisher for short stories – but that hasn’t put you off – instead you’ve done something really enterprising… 

Eighteen months ago aided by a grant, I was fortunate enough to attend an Arvon Residential Course - Writing for Young People. My fantastic tutors, Celia Rees and Martyn Bedford, encouraged me to continue writing short stories but also suggested that I involve myself with a youth group. Shortly afterwards I had a cold call from West Yorkshire Playhouse, telling me about a Youth group called First Floor. I asked if I could donate - and volunteer. They agreed. The minute I entered the door at First Floor, I knew I had found the right place to be. At First Floor young people can attend a variety of creative workshops, drama, writing, music, art, learn new skills, and make friends. Most importantly they can feel safe and supported by the amazing staff who work there.

Tell us a little bit about the teens you met at First Floor.

The young people who attend come from many different backgrounds, and abilities. Some lead difficult lives. Quite a few have left school early without gaining any qualifications, and First Floor offers programmes which help them get onto training schemes. Everyone is respected and treated as an individual, and newcomers are always made welcome. To watch them blossom from shy, nervous, sometimes angry youngsters, to confidently performing on stage when they realize they can be good at singing, acting or writing poetry, is a mind-blowing experience.

Morag with some of the young people from First Floor

What sort of work do you do with the teens at First Floor?

I volunteer weekly with the Tuesday Night Drama Group. We often have 20 per session, so it’s quite lively - and I love the way that they look out for each other if someone is upset or ill. We split into groups to act out scenes or themes, and I help with a group, encouraging them to explore their feelings and make up stories.

You were invited to read your short stories to the young people - how did it feel the first time you did that?

I was invited to read one of my stories to a mixed group at the end of my first term. I was very nervous, but the young people never made a sound and listened intently for fifteen minutes. Then they were split into three groups and acted out the beginning, middle and end. As a writer it was the most incredible moment to see them act out their interpretation of my stories.

The children who participate in the First Floor drama programmes also make videos which are posted on YouTube. They’ve recently taken two of your stories and begun dramatizing them in this way, and the first one was recently posted to YouTube. What were your thoughts on seeing the dramatization of your story?

I've watched the clip, called A Night in the Park, several times. It took a while to fully appreciate that it really was my work as interpreted by the young people who produced it. But it was such a thrill to see what they’d done, and to see my name on the piece. All I can do is sit back and say, “Wow!” and I realise how lucky I am to be able to volunteer with such an amazing group of young people.


A Night in the Park, by Morag Caunt, as scripted, directed and produced by First Floor 

I’ve often said, and I blogged about it recently, that everything is first and foremost about story rather than the specific means of telling the story. As a writer whose work has gone off in a somewhat different direction than you first anticipated, how do you feel about there being more than one way of presenting a particular story?

Who needs to be published when you can actually see your work being acted out, and know that for some of the youngsters, they are acting their real life experiences?

Any final thoughts?

Volunteering for First Floor has been an incredible learning experience for me, and I have been very privileged to have become an accepted member of the team both by the amazing young people and their dedicated staff. I’m also really delighted that at the end of January this year, First Floor won the title of best place for children and young people, in the Child Friendly Leeds awards, receiving many nominations for the activities and support they provide!

In true SCWBI Tradition, my lemon drizzle cake and brownies, will once again be part of our celebrations!

I asked Morag if she’d be willing to ask the young people she works with a few questions – and here’s what they had to say:

What made you join First Floor?

• I joined because I already had friends there.

• My Mother found it on the Internet - I am interested in becoming an actress.

• I wanted more experience in drama and singing.

What do you like best about First Floor?

• I can be myself; nobody is judgemental - and I love drama and singing.

• Everyone is very accepting and friendly - and there’s cake!

• Performing and chilling out with friends.

• The opportunities that you don’t get normally.

• The staff are very supportive.

What surprised you most when you first read/heard Morag’s stories?

• I was surprised, because I thought they’d be boring, but they were amazing!

• I liked the style of writing, I thought it was good.

• I thought a professional had written them.

• Amazing!

What did you like about Morag’s stories picked for YouTube and how did you relate to them?

• They’re all based on real life. They’re amazing and easy to act because you liked the characters.

• We related because they were about our age group.

• At least one person in the group could relate to a real life situation.

• I liked that Zac met the tramp.

What do you think Morag’s stories offer teens and what will your YouTube video give other teens not involved with First Floor?

• Lots of teens can relate because it’s true.

• They don’t feel so alone.

• They can do real stories and enjoy it.

• They help teens relate to similar problems.

• Great music!

And a final word…

• Morag, you can’t leave Tuesday Night Drama!

A huge shout out to Morag for the wonderful work she is doing! 

For more information about First Floor, you can watch their promo video and you can visit their page on the WY Playhouse website.

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@NickySchmidt1

Born and raised in South Africa of central and northern European heritage, Nicky is an ex scriptwriter, copywriter, and marketing, brand and communications manager who "retired" early to follow a dream. Although she still occasionally consults on marketing, communications and brand strategies, mostly she writes YA fiction (some of which leans towards New Adult) in the magical realism, realistic and supernatural genres.
When not off in some other world, she also writes freelance articles - mostly lifestyle and travel - for which she does her own photography. Her work has been published in several South African magazines and newspapers. As well as being a regular feature writer for Words & Pictures, Nicky also runs the SCBWI-BI YA E-Critique group.
Nicky lives in Cape Town with her husband and two rescue Golden Retrievers.

With a Passion

During February, the retailers encourage us to think of passion in its later romantic definition. But before it was borrowed, it had a broader meaning. If someone was in a passion then they might well be in a rage – hence a ‘crime of passion’.


There’s a sense of profound emotion that overwhelms. Unsurprisingly, artists have often used the colours of blushes and blood and flames to convey this visceral meaning.

We might not go as far as Cromwell’s impassioned plea: I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken – but we say ‘fired up’ and ‘heart-warming’ still. Just think of all the fleshy pinks and sanguine reds on Valentine’s cards!

And there’s a further religious connection – the passion of Jesus. In the Christian faith, the suffering of Jesus before death is called the Passion. The passion flower is so-named for the resemblance to the Crown of Thorns and the nails used at the Crucifixion. In that belief system, as in many others, profound emotions led to deep joy – eventually.

Originally, the Latin word meant ‘suffering, enduring’ – and was related to the Greek pathos from which we get sympathy and empathy.

So there’s definitely an element of coming through pain and emotion that most writers and illustrators can identify with.

Two suggestions:

1. For your characters
Consider what ignites them. What brings a glow to their cheeks; makes their heart beat faster; makes them willing to suffer? And how will you convey this emotion, this liveliness, this urgency?

2. For you
Reflect on the words of Nelson Mandela:
“There is no passion to be found playing small—in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”
and of Martha Graham:
“Great dancers are not great because of their technique; they are great because of their passion.”

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K. M. Lockwood is a writing name of Philippa R. Francis. As well as being a regular contributor, Philippa (@lockwoodwriter) is also part of the Words & Pictures team as the @Words8Pictures Tweetmaster, growing our following and maintaining our 'Industry news' feed.

The Yuk Factor

By Celia J Anderson

Let me explain. The Yuk Factor is a term we use in my Year Five and Six reading groups for any sort of writing that oversteps their soppiness mark. The kissy bits. The luuuuurve angle. The parts that make them shudder. 

To tie in with our February theme of passion, I’ve been thinking about how the pre-teen age group feel when they’re reading a great story and it suddenly goes all mushy on them. The books that sparked this train of thought were Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, which completely dominated my Christmas holiday reading. While everyone else in the house was chain-eating chocolates and seeing how much stilton they could fit on a small oatcake, I was curled up in front of the fire devouring the books one after the other – thank goodness for Kindles and the instant gratification of Amazon. 

One of the elements that kept me hooked was the tense, passionate but strangely innocent relationships that developed between the heroine Katniss and her two male best friends Peeta and Gale. Would Gale’s smouldering sensuality and dare devil character win through or would she pick steady, loving Peeta? 

Here’s a taster, as Katniss (with Peeta at the time) battles with her feelings for Peeta and Gale in the first of the trilogy, The Hunger Games: 

‘I want to tell him that he’s not being fair. That we were strangers. That I can’t explain how things are with me and Gale because I don’t know myself. That it’s no good loving me because I’m never going to get married anyway and he’d just end up hating me later rather than sooner. That if I do have feelings for him it doesn’t matter because I’ll never be able to afford the kind of love that leads to a family, to children. And how can he? How can he after what we’ve just been through?’ 

I swayed from one choice to the other as the story hurtled on – the author cleverly makes the reader wait right until the end to see which way the wind blows; no spoilers here though! 

Another book that’s been on my reading list lately is Girl with a White Dog by Anne Booth - it doesn’t come out until March 1st (I got hold of the first proof copy in the bidding for Authors for the Phillipines) but it shows a different, gentler side of young relationships. (Find out more here) 

‘I hadn’t realised his eyes were so green and smiley, or how his hair flopped forward. I could feel myself getting redder and I was glad we had just been jumping about so it might not be obvious I was blushing.’ 

Anne Booth

The tentative friendship between Jessie and Ben is only a small part of the story but it’s beautifully woven into the themes of wartime atrocities, the pain of getting old and confused, of fear and family issues and the growing understanding of a worried young girl. 

Even Harry Potter falls prey to The Yuk factor sometimes – I remember reading the books as they were published and wondering what his fans were thinking as he fell in love for the first time and eventually ended up with the girl I wanted for him. At what age do children appreciate the realities of boy/girl antics, for want of a better word? 

With this in mind, I talked to our lovely Year Six class about The Yuk factor. Here are some of their feelings about times when the action begins to get kissy. They even drew me a couple of pictures. 

Sophia: I don’t like in when they describe the characters being in love in too much detail, it makes me uncomfortable. It’s like when you’ve got something on your shoe that you can’t get off. 

Saoirshe: I just get lost if there’s too much of that sort of detail. 

Luke: If it’s right at the beginning I won’t read any more but if it’s half way through I’m fine with that if I like the book. 

Ben: It’s a bit like if you ask somebody a question and they give you too much information. Like somebody telling you why they’re going to the toilet. (more detail was given here but I’ve spared you that, as you might be eating...) 

Ella: The Hunger Games was sometimes a bit too kissy but because I wanted to know who she’d choose I kept going and anyway it wasn’t like that all the way through. 

Klara: And it was good enough to keep you reading. 

Harrison: Sometimes you feel like ‘Aaah, that’s nice’ if it’s a strong story and if the romance is in the ending then it doesn’t feel ‘yuk’. 

Joe: It might put you off if the rest of the book isn’t good. I just skip to the next page. 

So what’s your opinion? How did you feel about the mushy stuff when you were eleven? Have you got children with strong views on the subject? Answers on a postcard. Or failing that, in the space below. 

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@CeliaAnderson1

When she’s not marking children’s work, or writing stories involving pants, Celia spends far too much time on Facebook and does a lot of walking to counteract the cooking, eating and drinking which form another of her hobbies. She's a Romaniac  and you can also find her on her own website. Usually sea-starved in the depths of the Midlands, she can often be found wandering happily around Brighton visiting her two daughters pretending to collect ideas for her next book.

In the flow...

Welcome to February and I think we're in the flow. There's been talk about voice in the SCBWI ether over the last week or so. We've had Nicky Schmidt's epiphany and Maureen Lynas' boil on the bum incident - if that won't make you click over to Nick's blog break, don't know what will!

Thanks for coming back!

It's Valentine's month and here on Words & Pictures, we also have a month of passion - with maybe just a sparge* of romance. (Did Catriona inspire you to embiggen your vocabulary too?) Passion and voice, like chips and tomato sauce, not sure you can have one without the other.

Today is the last day to send in your entries for the Slush Pile Challenge...

If you haven't already, today is the last day to send in your entries for the Slush Pile Challenge to be in with the chance of winning a wonderful afternoon of opportunity at OUP. Opportunities abound here on Words & Pictures - Gemma and Molly have been giving some more invaluable feedback on two readers' queries. Send in your questions and queries for Sally Anne Sweeney, next month's Ask an Agent.

Sally Kindberg is our new featured Illustrator and it's great to have some more comic fun. There's lots to read, learn and laugh about on Sally's post and gallery. We're in the flow here too, because yesterday was…. could well be in danger of stealing Nick's Blog Break thunder here so I'll leave you guessing. But congratulations again to Sam Zuppardi and Julie-Anne Graham whose picture book successes we also celebrated yesterday. 

Next week we're delighted to welcome Beverly Birch with some excellent voice related insights - why we should trust  our subconscious.  We have some graphic design 'Book Basics' from Gillian McClure and Lisa Kirkham and the first sparge of romance from Celia Anderson and her year 5s who give us their views on 'The Yuk Factor' - I love this focus group!

Hope it's a great week!

Jan Carr

*metaphorically speaking

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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. You can contact her at editor@britishscbwi.org.