December 8th - Jo Byatt

#W8PAdvent

See the whole image and the growing Advent calendar here.

jobyattchildrensillustrator.co.uk 

Do you have a Tweetable micro story for

Jo's illustration?

Post it in the comments and we'll tweet it with #W8PAdvent and your Twitter handle

Don't forget to allow for the # and the @

---

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."

---

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.

---

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.

December 7th - Katherine Lynas

#W8PAdvent

See the whole image and the growing Advent calendar here.

katherinelynas.com

Do you have a Tweetable micro story for

Katherine's illustration?

Post it in the comments and we'll tweet it with #W8PAdvent and your Twitter handle

Don't forget to allow for the # and the @

---

December 6th - Sue Rundle-Hughes

#W8PAdvent

See the whole image and the growing Advent calendar here.

suerundlehughes.com

Do you have a Tweetable micro story for

Sue's illustration?

Post it in the comments and we'll tweet it with #W8PAdvent and your Twitter handle

Don't forget to allow for the # and the @

---

December 5th - Katie Weymouth

#W8PAdvent

See the whole image and the growing Advent calendar here.

weymo.co.uk

Do you have a Tweetable micro story for

Katie's illustration?

Post it in the comments and we'll tweet it with #W8PAdvent and your Twitter handle

Don't forget to allow for the # and the @

---

Featured Illustrator: James Brown

James Brown is this month’s Featured Illustrator. One of the winning artists in last year’s Undiscovered Voices, James studied English Literature at Sheffield and Stockholm Universities before taking an MLitt (Master of Letters) in Creative Writing at St Andrews. Illustration has always featured in James’ work, he came third in the 2014 Illustrate It competition and is now represented by United Agents. Find more of James’ artwork in the Featured Illustrator Gallery.



To some people, Twitter is a dangerous place full of trolls blurting out horrid things, following you around and popping up when you least expect them to. But in the children's writing and illustration community this is not so. People are friendly, supportive, enthusiastic and reassuring, particularly to someone like me who two years ago knew nothing about Twitter and had just set off in search of The World of Publishing, hoping one day to find himself on bookshelves across the land.

It’s through Twitter I learnt about the SCBWI and its Undiscovered Voices competition. Having joined, I was spoiled for choice in picking which story starter extract to illustrate, but for me the one that leapt off the page was Maureen Lynas’ Sophie in Gargantua. Immediately I could picture the arch of the scene and Sophie’s trailing curls. An hour later I’d drawn the main characters, along with other bits and bobs, and went on to glue them together digitally.

My winning image for SCBWI Undiscovered Voices 2014 based on
Maureen Lynas’ story Sophie in Gargantua.

I remember Jan Carr being incredibly helpful when I was submitting my entry. And then it was a waiting game.

December arrived and so did an email that told me I’d won a place in the 2014 Undiscovered Voices anthology. The winning illustrators were all invited for a ‘portfolio intensive’ with Anne-Marie Perks, John Shelley, Bridget Strevens-Marzo and Loretta Schauer who were all incredibly supportive and generous with their advice. It was a rigorous and thought-provoking day and helped us prepare for the February launch to meet agents and publishers. Being in the anthology was wonderful; as a result I was offered representation by several agencies and I’m thrilled to be represented by Jodie Hodges at United Agents who fell in love with my Santa Claus:

The image that got me ‘spotted’ on Twitter.

Meeting Chris Riddell at the launch party was pretty awe-inspiring. He took the time to chat to each of us about his work and his speech was riddell-ed with humour, much like his artwork. And the evening just got better. If I hadn’t entered the competition, and if Ali Ardington at Stripes hadn’t seen Sophie in the anthology, then perhaps I wouldn’t be looking forward to two Elspeth Hart books (written by Sarah Forbes and illustrated by me) coming out in May and September next year. Before long I was doing character sketches and spending the summer drafting roughs and then the final artwork for Book 1:

A rough and final image of the main character in Sarah Forbes’
Elspeth Hart and the School for Show-offs, published May 2015.

For black and white illustration I use pencil, fine nib pens and Faber-Castell crayons (usually blacks, greys, browns). I then enhance using Photoshop.

At the launch party I also met Fliss Johnston from Orion who liked my colour illustrations for younger readers. From meeting Fliss, I’m now writing and illustrating two books for the Early Readers series, published in 2016. For the artwork, I sketch in pencil then use crayon and a lightbox before colouring with watercolour and gouache (ramped up with Photoshop). This project is very dear to me and I can’t wait for the books to hit the shelves. I’m a great fan of Francesca Simon’s Horrid Henry and Kaye Umansky’s Algy’s Amazing Adventures. I can’t believe I’ll be part of the same series, especially with illustrators like Tony Ross and Richard Watson.

The style of illustration for my books published by Orion in 2016.

One or two of my rhyming picture book texts are in the pipeline with publishers too… I love picture books. My texts are usually a bit bonkers with a twist at the end.
I’ve always found books compelling. It’s their smell and texture, the pause between the pages, the way the illustrations add even more to each narrative. I get lost in details. I’d pore over Errol Le Cain’s The Twelve Dancing Princesses and Arthur Rackham’s Peter Pan. I remember reading Dahl’s The Magic Finger over and over and listening to James and the Giant Peach and George’s Marvellous Medicine on my tape player so much that I’d have to wind the tangled tape back into the cassettes with a pencil. And then I’d spend hours drawing and painting at the dining room table, something my daughter Eliza loves doing now too. I’ve no idea where she gets it from… Rather than spreading out on the dining room table, I’ve now got a work station (which is strictly out of bounds to the cat and sticky-fingered children):

Here is my bubble.

It’s surrounded by my favourite authors and illustrators (such as Sally Gardner, Caryl Hart, John Boyne, Peter Bently, Tracey Corderoy, Oliver Jeffers, David Roberts, Alex T Smith, Nikki Dyson, Steven Lenton, Jim Field, Rebecca Cobb, Benji Davies, Leigh Hodgkinson, Steve Antony, Sara Ogilvie, Ed Vere, Kate Hindley, Becka Moor, Ella Bailey and Mei Matsuoka). I have lots of Moleskine sketch books to hand and I tend to draft and write initial story ideas on my phone.

Tips 

Having a Twitter account and joining the SCBWI have made me realize how important it is to share your ideas and passion with other like-minded people. If you have a question about something, always ask. If there’s a conference or talk with your favourite authors and illustrators, go to it. Research. Contact people. Meet people. Act on advice. Read as much as you can – not only your favourite texts but also literature about publishing. Sketch then trace over using a lightbox. Overall, be flexible: people in the field know what they’re talking about.

Venturing into the world of children’s books has brought me one step closer to sitting on bookshelves for others to reach out and, hopefully, pore over. The help I’m enjoying along the way is due in no small part to the leg-up the SCBWI has given me.

Elspeth Hart and the School for Show-offs, written by Sarah Forbes and illustrated by James Brown, is released in May 2015. It is available for pre-order now.

 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

See more of James' work in the Featured Illustrator Gallery.
Follow James on Twitter at: @jb_illustrates
He is represented by Jodie Hodges at United Agents
jhodges@unitedagents.co.uk

London Professional Series: An Evening with Book Packagers

David Richardson

It was a 'two for the price of one' evening for the last Professional Series meeting of the year on November 25th when we were pleased to welcome Michael Ford, editor (and writer) from Working Partners and author Benjamin Scott to speak on all things Book Packagers.


Book Packagers are the creative team behind many of the well-known children's series such as Animal Ark, Dinosaur Cove and Beast Quest. They are responsible for the creative process, brainstorming regularly on new concepts and ideas. It is these ideas that they will eventually look to sell to publishers.

Benjamin Scott and  Michael Ford

What they want is a series that can produce entertaining books which young readers will fall in love with. These ideas are then developed by them to become a full story synopsis.

During the discussion, we had an excellent overview of the writing process from both sides of the editing desk.

It's when a full, chapter-by-chapter synopsis has been written that the authors are invited to audition (by writing the first three chapters) for the opportunity to write a book in the series. All submissions will get detailed feedback, enabling even those who are not selected to receive something for their time.

But for the chosen author, the real work is just about to begin.

Benjamin as the writer explained how he approached a new synopsis, beginning with a thorough read through before next working on the overall story, getting in done quickly in an 'open' first draft, He would then spend time rewriting and rewriting the story making it ready to send to the editor.

Michael, back in the office, would be one of the two editors who would then read it, making lots of comments on the text, highlighting both good points and constructive criticism.

The next step is for Benjamin, with him reviewing the edited text before spending further time rewriting and honing it based on the editors' comments. He only has a certain amount of time before he needs to return it to the editorial team.

It was good to hear both Benjamin and Michael explain the collaborative process, the time scales involved, the feedback that the author receives and the discussions between them both.

Money was mentioned, and there is the opportunity to make a reasonable income from this type of writing. Money is paid by an advance (into the four figure territory) followed by bi-annual royalty payments. There is the possibility of overseas markets too.

Working Partners are always on the lookout for new writers. There is a lot of work available and if you're able to fit their need, they are interested. Check out their website for details on how to audition. As well as children's books, Working Partners also produce books for adult readers.

Benjamin also gave us a presentation on his school visits. It was full of useful tips to help those of us that do this, including how to keep things entertaining at how to get the children involved.

A great evening to finish off this year's London Professional Series.

The London Professional Series has been going a number of years now and we're reviewing it for 2015. So if you have any suggestions on things that could be changed to help it fit with what the SCBWI membership want, please email us on profseries@britishscbwi.org or leave a comment below and let us know.

---

David Richardson is co-organiser of the London Professional Series with Non Pratt. He's working on two new projects as well as continuing with his YA novel and Picture Book texts.