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Articles on writing for children. To the uninitiated, a slushpile is the mountain of unsolicited manuscripts sent to publishers by hopeful writers like me. This is a survival guide to veterans of the slushpile. It's the least I can do while waiting to climb down from the mountain.
Statistics for Notes from the Slush Pile
Number of Readers that added this blog to their MyJacketFlap: 23
It's so cool ... but does anyone remember the excitement of the first CD Rom with all its hyperlinks and clicks and noise?
This is way cooler - but will it work with an audience as hip and desensitized to techno-dazzle? And what about READING?
Questions, questions, questions.
Someone commenting on the video said, "The Bible needs a version of this!" Now that I wanna see!
Can't wait to see the new digi-technologies for publishing at the London Book Fair - I'll be tweeting live to the blog btw - connected my mobile to Twitter, but only for this purpose.
0 Comments on Alice in Wonderland iPad app: the future? as of 1/1/1900
It's so cool ... but does anyone remember the excitement of the first CD Rom with all its hyperlinks and clicks and noise?
This is way cooler - but will it work with an audience as hip and desensitized to techno-dazzle? And what about READING?
Questions, questions, questions.
Someone commenting on the video said, "The Bible needs a version of this!" Now that I wanna see!
Can't wait to see the new digi-technologies for publishing at the London Book Fair - I'll be tweeting live to the blog btw - connected my mobile to Twitter, but only for this purpose.
0 Comments on Alice in Wonderland iPad app: the future? as of 1/1/1900
I am currently working on my book trailer with (it just so happens) my brother who is a motion graphics person and a director (useful).
The trailer is going to be less than two minutes (possibley less than one) and already I've learned huge amount about reveals and sound and visual impact ... which I will share with you when we're done.
Meanwhile, I saw this hilarious take on the indisputably formulaic nature of trailers on Sarah McIntyre's twitter feed!
3 Comments on Formulaic Trailer 101, last added: 4/14/2010
I am currently working on my book trailer with (it just so happens) my brother who is a motion graphics person and a director (useful).
The trailer is going to be less than two minutes (possibley less than one) and already I've learned huge amount about reveals and sound and visual impact ... which I will share with you when we're done.
Meanwhile, I saw this hilarious take on the indisputably formulaic nature of trailers on Sarah McIntyre's twitter feed!
0 Comments on Formulaic Trailer 101 as of 1/1/1900
This (Ryanair's bag scales) is where it all began.
I only went to Bologna because I got a cheap ticket from Ryanair - the reason it was cheap because the return ticket left on the morning of the Bologna Fair's first day.So no fair for me. (Check out illustrator John Shelley's blog post about the Bologna fair)
But I figured the one day SCBWI Symposium was worth the trip.
Publishers of course tend to be too posh to fly Ryanair, except there was a BA strike so they were forced to travel with commoners like me or take long, long train journeys from other parts of Europe. So on the morning of my flight, Ryanair had a field day, stopping editors and publishers trying to sneak books by the ton into their cabin baggage.
Bologna Airport is one of the easiest airports to arrive in. You land, you get your bag, walk out the door, turn right and get on the bus. The bus takes you into the centre of town for ten euros. Sometimes the bus driver forgets to collect your fare. Just saying.
Last year, at the SCBWI conference in Winchester, author Meg Rossoff said once she got published, it became clear to her that she seemed to have a strange power. Everyone she met in the publishing world got pregnant. A warning to all. Indeed, waiting in the queue for baggage, I could hear small groups of publishers chatting away. Their topic? Pregnancy and maternity leave. I looked around but there was no sign of Meg.
I stayed at the I Portici hotel which had a minimalist bed ...
And a not so minimimalist shower.
It didn't beam me anywhere but one of the nozzles did fall off, mid flow.
This trip to Bologna was all by my lonesome. But Bologna is the land of serendipity.
7 Comments on My Not Quite Bologna Fair Report: meeting friends old and new, last added: 4/2/2010
Hey Candy, What are the two books on the right hand side of the UV dsiplay board? The dark blue one and the Angels one?
And... Katie Dale just got a two book deal that includes Someone Else's Footprints! (She'd already had a contract with Orchard for a younger series not from the anthology, but now her anthology book is going to get published.)
sara moo - the angels one is by bryony pearce and the dark blue one is castle of cards by ellen renner. oh i didn't know about katie dale. and in fact this display misses out steve hartley's which i left in the hotel room by mistake on the day of the symposium (i didn't know i could put them up, i just happened to have them in my bag). but it was there at the showcase itself.
This (Ryanair's bag scales) is where it all began.
I only went to Bologna because I got a cheap ticket from Ryanair - the reason it was cheap because the return ticket left on the morning of the Bologna Fair's first day.So no fair for me. (Check out illustrator John Shelley's blog post about the Bologna fair)
But I figured the one day SCBWI Symposium was worth the trip.
Publishers of course tend to be too posh to fly Ryanair, except there was a BA strike so they were forced to travel with commoners like me or take long, long train journeys from other parts of Europe. So on the morning of my flight, Ryanair had a field day, stopping editors and publishers trying to sneak books by the ton into their cabin baggage.
Bologna Airport is one of the easiest airports to arrive in. You land, you get your bag, walk out the door, turn right and get on the bus. The bus takes you into the centre of town for ten euros. Sometimes the bus driver forgets to collect your fare. Just saying.
Last year, at the SCBWI conference in Winchester, author Meg Rossoff said once she got published, it became clear to her that she seemed to have a strange power. Everyone she met in the publishing world got pregnant. A warning to all. Indeed, waiting in the queue for baggage, I could hear small groups of publishers chatting away. Their topic? Pregnancy and maternity leave. I looked around but there was no sign of Meg.
I stayed at the I Portici hotel which had a minimalist bed ...
And a not so minimimalist shower.
It didn't beam me anywhere but one of the nozzles did fall off, mid flow.
This trip to Bologna was all by my lonesome. But Bologna is the land of serendipity.
0 Comments on My Not Quite Bologna Fair Report: meeting friends old and new as of 1/1/1900
So yeah, I was supposed to still be blogging about Bologna - about Ellen Hopkins' really cool talk about writing for teenagers and how to win prizes as explained by Leonard Marcus and the making of Coralilne as told by Fiona Kenshole and various other cool bits and pieces that happened.
But events have overtaken me.
Specifically, the launch of Jonathan Mayhew's amazing new Victorian gothic book MORTLOCK (the young heroine is a knife thrower. How cool is that?)
I went to the book launch (originally, I wasn't invited but we SCBWI people have our ways and managed to force Jon to give up some invites).
It was a thrilling evening at the Water Poet pub in Shoreditch - if you ignored the fabulous shopping and cafes and restaurants, it's like, cobbled Jack the Ripper land. Here is a slideshow of launch photos (thanks to Kathryn Evans and Sue Eves for additional photos):
Did I mention that most of the attendees had a striking resemblance to Jon?
The Mayhew family. Jon said the heroes were composites of his children - or did he say villains?
The SCBWI crowd turned up dressed in Victorian black with a touch of raven and shadows.
It looks like a night to remember. And actors too? Wow!
My darling husband has just seen my copy of Mortlock and (though incapable of reading any fiction as "it isn't real") commented "hey cool, the pages are black." Obviously he didn't mean the actual pages or you wouldn't be able to read the black print but it was about as impressed as he has ever been by a fiction book so big thumbs up for Mortlock!
P.S. I was saving Mortlock for the Bank Holiday but I have no will power and sneakily read up to Chapter 4 today. Shhhh
I started reading Mortlock last night - totally brill! Can't believe that I first read bits of it four long years ago - it's evolved so much since then and become a real cracker of a story. Well done to Jon - and you SCBWIers - you look wonderful! Am deeply envious and glowing an unattractive shade of green not to have been able to join you!
So yeah, I was supposed to still be blogging about Bologna - about Ellen Hopkins' really cool talk about writing for teenagers and how to win prizes as explained by Leonard Marcus and the making of Coralilne as told by Fiona Kenshole and various other cool bits and pieces that happened.
But events have overtaken me.
Specifically, the launch of Jonathan Mayhew's amazing new Victorian gothic book MORTLOCK (the young heroine is a knife thrower. How cool is that?)
I went to the book launch (originally, I wasn't invited but we SCBWI people have our ways and managed to force Jon to give up some invites).
It was a thrilling evening at the Water Poet pub in Shoreditch - if you ignored the fabulous shopping and cafes and restaurants, it's like, cobbled Jack the Ripper land. Here is a slideshow of launch photos (thanks to Kathryn Evans and Sue Eves for additional photos):
Did I mention that most of the attendees had a striking resemblance to Jon?
The Mayhew family. Jon said the heroes were composites of his children - or did he say villains?
The SCBWI crowd turned up dressed in Victorian black with a touch of raven and shadows.
Teri Terry is one of those writing friends I met online, and have been lucky enough to have a peek at some of her works in progress which are very, very good.
She currently divides her time between writing, stalking agents and publishers, and working in a library in Bucks. She is contemplating a research Masters degree at Bedfordshire on limits in YA literature. Teri won second prize in Writing for Children 12-plus at the 2009 Winchester Writers Conference, and first prize in ages 8-11 the previous year. She has written seven novels to date. She is currently stalking agents and publishers with a YA fantasy, Life's a Beach, Katie Moon, in which Katie sells her soul to surf, and also an adult crime series, Ready Steady Die: shades of Janet Evanovich, but as it is set in England, more polite and with fewer guns. Work in progress includes a YA horror story, Claustrophobia, and a dystopian fantasy, Slated.
That Teri is still an author-in-waiting is, I believe, a temporary situation. It's only a matter of time, Teri.
I have a confession to make.
I suffer from Rosoff-envy. I can’t help it. I can’t read any of her stuff without turning a deep shade of lime green and reaching for chocolate.
The blurb had it that they were going to tackle what it means to write for Young Adults, and it was even capitalized. They were going to chip away at the limits of teenage fiction; avoid its comfort zones; discuss edginess, and risks. And Meg’s blog also promised it would be ‘chaotic, messy, and horribly indiscreet’.
Soldiering on despite sneezing and sniffling and general germy-ness, I caught the bus to Oxford, prepared to be shocked.
As promised, there was no moderator to rein them in. They were free to interrupt each other at will, and they did.
Thanks for sharing this, Teri! The Bunny of Hope shines like a beacon on your shoulder. (there was rather a worrying amount of chocolate featuring in this post)
Teri Terry said, on 3/29/2010 8:59:00 AM
Oh, yes. I went to Hotel Chocolat in Oxford for dark chocolate salted caramels after the bus not stopping incident, too. p.s the Bunny of Hope wants to point out that his name is Banrock
I'm planning to be Hilary Mantel's stalker, Teri, so I'd be pleased to have you as mine. (Though Bookwitch has first dibs, of course!) Next time come say hello. I'm always grateful that anyone wants to talk to me.
Teri - I can't think of anyone better to stalk than Meg! I know what you mean, though - I still have trouble introducing myself to "real" writers because you feel so diminished without an agent or contract to your name. I reckon there should be a special SCBWI card you can show people that says "I am currently unpublished but please take me seriously because everyone tells me I'm nearly there."
Teri - get out of my way! You can't stalk Meg. Anyway, you seem too polite for stalking.
And how come you go on the bus and Bunny cruises with drink in hand?
Teri Terry said, on 3/30/2010 3:14:00 AM
Ah, simple. The Bunny of Hope is my muse, and it pays to look after your muse... I am more of a stalker-in-training than an actual stalker: any hints appreciated
LOL! Brilliant post, Teri and long live the bunny of hope and organic dark chocolate. I'm just wondering, can I join the ranks of "Meg Stalkers"? I've been oohing and aahing over her magnificence ever since I read How I Live Now, six years ago.
Jeannie Waudby said, on 3/30/2010 1:05:00 PM
Really enjoyed this, Teri. Did Bunny of Hope say hi to Meg?
Teri Terry said, on 3/31/2010 2:47:00 AM
The Bunny of Hope doesn't work Sundays, so he didn't come along. Another time, perhaps
Teri Terry is one of those writing friends I met online, and have been lucky enough to have a peek at some of her works in progress which are very, very good.
She currently divides her time between writing, stalking agents and publishers, and working in a library in Bucks. She is contemplating a research Masters degree at Bedfordshire on limits in YA literature. Teri won second prize in Writing for Children 12-plus at the 2009 Winchester Writers Conference, and first prize in ages 8-11 the previous year. She has written seven novels to date. She is currently stalking agents and publishers with a YA fantasy, Life's a Beach, Katie Moon, in which Katie sells her soul to surf, and also an adult crime series, Ready Steady Die: shades of Janet Evanovich, but as it is set in England, more polite and with fewer guns. Work in progress includes a YA horror story, Claustrophobia, and a dystopian fantasy, Slated.
That Teri is still an author-in-waiting is, I believe, a temporary situation. It's only a matter of time, Teri.
I have a confession to make.
I suffer from Rosoff-envy. I can’t help it. I can’t read any of her stuff without turning a deep shade of lime green and reaching for chocolate.
The blurb had it that they were going to tackle what it means to write for Young Adults, and it was even capitalized. They were going to chip away at the limits of teenage fiction; avoid its comfort zones; discuss edginess, and risks. And Meg’s blog also promised it would be ‘chaotic, messy, and horribly indiscreet’.
Soldiering on despite sneezing and sniffling and general germy-ness, I caught the bus to Oxford, prepared to be shocked.
As promised, there was no moderator to rein them in. They were free to interrupt each other at will, and they did.
At the end of the interview (in case you don't get there because your attention span has been so shortened by hours in front of facebook) the interviewer asks him for one word that captures the role of children's authors, aspiring or published.
"Responsibility."
He didn't hesitate.
4 Comments on Richard Peck: "All novels are based on an epiphany", last added: 3/25/2010
At the end of the interview (in case you don't get there because your attention span has been so shortened by hours in front of facebook) the interviewer asks him for one word that captures the role of children's authors, aspiring or published.
"Responsibility."
He didn't hesitate.
0 Comments on Richard Peck: "All novels are based on an epiphany" as of 1/1/1900
If you cannot find yourself on the page very early in life, you will go looking for yourself in all the wrong places.
When Richard Peck said that, I would have applauded had I not been typing as fast I could to get down his every meaty line.
In all his books, he said, he always has an older character."I always put old people in, just in case there are no old people in my readers's lives. Just in case they no longer have to write thank you notes to their grandparents. A book, like a school, should provide what is no longer available in life ."
Mr. Peck was speaking at the 2010 SCBWI Symposium in Bologna. He is now 76 and it is nine years since he won the Newbery Medal for A Year Down Yonder, a book that few publishers would embrace these days because not only is it of a very specific regional bent, its lead character is a big fat and old lady, plus there is not a single handsome bloodsucker in sight.
His theme had somewhat evolved from the announced topic "The Right Books Right Now" to what drives or should drive us children's authors to write for "a generation who knows no earlier century, who knows no time but now, and who recognizes no government but the peer group."
Says Mr. Peck: "We write for a generation we never were because ours is a higher calling: a deeper craft", trying to woo "a readership whose facebooks glow hot into the night long after their parents are fast asleep".
He listed what was required of us in breathtaking language:
"We have crossed terrible minefields of our own making ... the opening mine of the opening line. Are we writing with invitational simplicity without a word to slow it down?" He cites as an example of an opening with "invitational simplicity" a line from EB White's Charlotte's Web: "Where is Papa going with that axe?"
"Like no other authors we can doom ourselves before we start, fall at the first fence ... when the thickets of our dark woods see the adverbs coiling to strike. Boys don’t use adverbs. Boys live in an unqualified word." He quotes Mark Twain: "If you see an adverb, shoot it."
"We have to write as the readers. We cannot write as ourselves ...We must write nearer to our readers and farther from ourselves than any other kind of writer.".
"Character development is the beating heart of what we do."
"Dialogue is best written standing up. It improves the pace ... I write with my feet. That way I can act out my scenes when I get to the kids. If you are unwilling to get up and act out any of your scenes, you will be reduced to writing for adults
"The hard truth that a story must entertain first before it can do anything else ... and what entertains you and me doesn’t necessarily
18 Comments on Richard Peck on the beating heart of what we do as children's writers, last added: 3/25/2010
Some lovely thoughts, but I have to take exception with the idea that we cannot write as ourselves - because he totally contradicts that with the idea of putting an older character in every story! I think the joy of children's writing is meeting the reader halfway - sharing our wisdom and their enthusiasm for the world.
Brilliant post. What a great guy! Thanks for putting this up. I particularly loved this: "If you are unwilling to get up and act out any of your scenes, you will be reduced to writing for adults."
thanks all. Nick, I think what he means by we must write as our readers and not as ourselves is that we must take a young person's point of view. there is nothing that jars more in a teen/children's novel than an adult comment slipping into the voices of younger characters.
his comment about putting older people into a story to give readers the experience of such an encounter has actually inspired me to shift something in my current work in progress. i just started reworking it and it has made all the difference. exciting.
Tricia Heighway Brilliant. I like the bit about writing dialogue standing up. I have been known to stand up and act out little bits of my dialogue. Thought that was just me :)
A great read, Candy. He sounds wonderful.
Candy i really was torn betwen the desire to applaud and the desire to write every single word down.
Tricia Heighway I bet. And I expect you wish you could go back in time and watch and listen unimpeded by the keyboard. Good for you capturing it all for posterity, though, and sharing it with people.
Candy The delivery was also something to behold. He's very technophobic. We asked him if he could email us a copy of his speech and he said, "'Give me your address and I'll come to your house and tell it to you."
Tricia Heighway Ha ha. Brilliant. He sounds a real character :)
Bex Hill Wonderful. Thanks for sharing Candy.
Odette Elliott That is so full of insight. Really wonderful. It's so good that you shared this with us. (If he turns up at your house, can I come too?!)
Bryony Pearce There were tears in my eyes reading that post. But I'd better go and start shooting adverbs!
Ok, well I couldn't agree more about writing from the character (and therefore the reader's) perspective. And I agree that we have to lose our vanity when writing for children - the story is king!
Nick.
Anonymous said, on 3/25/2010 7:06:00 AM
Very good post Candy - thank you. Interesting that he was a teacher before he was a writer. I feel very similarly about writing, and reading - but I thought perhaps that was my teaching side coming out - but from your comments it seems to strike a chord amongst lots of writers. I love the comment about a story moving in a straight line with hope at the end. And the part about older characters, I have 2 main protags who are the reader's age, but all my other characters are of varying ages, and I have given a flavour - through the protags eyes of their problems too - it's important for children to realise that adults (of any age) are just like them in so many ways, only with a few more years under our belts. ;) Tricia
This is all fabulous - and inspiring - but am I the only one to find my good intentions as a writer watered down and homegenised by editors/publishers? It may sound arrogant but I honestly think I could fulfil my responsibility a bit more if editors bloomin' well left me alone.
Candy, ah, what to say, have actual tears in eyes. Feel like I am doing something important, so important, I must stand up because I don't want to be reduced to writing for adults. I'm with Mariam, I feel like saluting. Thank you for being there, thank you for sharing.
If you cannot find yourself on the page very early in life, you will go looking for yourself in all the wrong places.
When Richard Peck said that, I would have applauded had I not been typing as fast I could to get down his every meaty line.
In all his books, he said, he always has an older character."I always put old people in, just in case there are no old people in my readers's lives. Just in case they no longer have to write thank you notes to their grandparents. A book, like a school, should provide what is no longer available in life ."
Mr. Peck was speaking at the 2010 SCBWI Symposium in Bologna. He is now 76 and it is nine years since he won the Newbery Medal for A Year Down Yonder, a book that few publishers would embrace these days because not only is it of a very specific regional bent, its lead character is a big fat and old lady, plus there is not a single handsome bloodsucker in sight.
His theme had somewhat evolved from the announced topic "The Right Books Right Now" to what drives or should drive us children's authors to write for "a generation who knows no earlier century, who knows no time but now, and who recognizes no government but the peer group."
Says Mr. Peck: "We write for a generation we never were because ours is a higher calling: a deeper craft", trying to woo "a readership whose facebooks glow hot into the night long after their parents are fast asleep".
He listed what was required of us in breathtaking language:
"We have crossed terrible minefields of our own making ... the opening mine of the opening line. Are we writing with invitational simplicity without a word to slow it down?" He cites as an example of an opening with "invitational simplicity" a line from EB White's Charlotte's Web: "Where is Papa going with that axe?"
"Like no other authors we can doom ourselves before we start, fall at the first fence ... when the thickets of our dark woods see the adverbs coiling to strike. Boys don’t use adverbs. Boys live in an unqualified word." He quotes Mark Twain: "If you see an adverb, shoot it."
"We have to write as the readers. We cannot write as ourselves ...We must write nearer to our readers and farther from ourselves than any other kind of writer.".
"Character development is the beating heart of what we do."
"Dialogue is best written standing up. It improves the pace ... I write with my feet. That way I can act out my scenes when I get to the kids. If you are unwilling to get up and act out any of your scenes, you will be reduced to writing for adults
"The hard truth that a story must entertain first before it can do anything else ... and what entertains you a
0 Comments on Richard Peck on the beating heart of what we do as children's writers as of 1/1/1900
Well it's Bologna time again! Here are some photos from my very first trip to Bologna back in 2006 to attend the SCBWI conference, which has now been renamed as a 'symposium' (visit the SCBWI Bologna website if you feel like signing up at the last minute).
If you're on Facebook and can't view the slideshow, you can view it here
I must confess I had to look up the meaning of symposium to find out what makes it different from a conference:
n., pl., -si·ums, or -si·a (-zē-ə).
A meeting or conference for discussion of a topic, especially one in which the participants form an audience and make presentations.
A collection of writings on a particular topic, as in a magazine.
A convivial meeting for drinking, music, and intellectual discussion among the ancient Greeks.
Ancient SCBWI symposium 475BC
So ... well, I'm not going to try to explain.
Anyway ... two great things happened on that first SCBWI conference in Bologna.
1. I met a shy Italian named Paolo who loved fantasy and wrote in English. He has remained a close writing buddy ever since - I love his cinematic plot lines! Here's the terrific website he built for his wip The Vespertine Hour.
Have a great Bologna 2010, Candy and all the others going with you. So sorry not to be there myself but I'm very grateful to SCBWI that my latest edition of SELKIE, with its new look, will be on the stand.
Ellen Renner Good luck and enjoy, Candy. Just don't get too cold in that bikini!
Ebony McKenna I read in The Bookseller that Ryanair has since put its flights up to £350 to Bologna for the book fair, and BA is on strike! Yikes!
Carmel Waldron Well, that's free market capitalism for you!
Amanda Craig Great post - and I love Scott Westerfeld too. Good luck, hope all goes well for you Candy.
Candy ebony, i paid 20 quid for my tickets (that's because i'm leaving on the morning of the fair) ... my editor tells me she has had to divert to Milan and take the train from there.
Jonathan Mayhew One day... sigh...
Frankie hahahahaha.... looking forward to the photos of you in your ryanair bikini
Julie Day Have fun there Candy.
Candy thank you!
Sue Eves Have a great time - are you taking your new book too - the proof, I mean- or is it too soon?
Tracy Ann Baines Have fun :)
Candy i know that my agent is taking it, and so is my publisher ... but alas, i will not be able to check up on them as i'll be gone when the fair begins
Well it's Bologna time again! Here are some photos from my very first trip to Bologna back in 2006 to attend the SCBWI conference, which has now been renamed as a 'symposium' (visit the SCBWI Bologna website if you feel like signing up at the last minute).
If you're on Facebook and can't view the slideshow, you can view it here
I must confess I had to look up the meaning of symposium to find out what makes it different from a conference:
n., pl., -si·ums, or -si·a (-zē-ə).
A meeting or conference for discussion of a topic, especially one in which the participants form an audience and make presentations.
A collection of writings on a particular topic, as in a magazine.
A convivial meeting for drinking, music, and intellectual discussion among the ancient Greeks.
Ancient SCBWI symposium 475BC
So ... well, I'm not going to try to explain.
Anyway ... two great things happened on that first SCBWI conference in Bologna.
1. I met a shy Italian named Paolo who loved fantasy and wrote in English. He has remained a close writing buddy ever since - I love his cinematic plot lines! Here's the terrific website he built for his wip The Vespertine Hour.
It's Mothering Sunday this weekend and to mark the day, my guest blogger and friend Fiona Dunbar has written this moving tribute to her mother, who herself had writing aspirations. Fiona is the author of the Lulu Baker trilogy which has been turned into the TV series Jinx, and the Silk Sisters trilogy which features a girl with the power to change like a chameleon. You can follow Fiona's blog here. Welcome to the Slushpile, Fiona!
I have killed my father. He lies over the desk in the study. The angle of his neck is wrong and from where I am sitting, I can see the side of his dead eye and thick blood at the corner of his mouth…
So begins a science fiction story called The Medusa Plant that, to my knowledge, has never been published. Or maybe it was – if so, it’s all lost in the mist of time now. It was written by my mother.
For years, I strenuously avoided turning into my mum. Having completely idolised her as a child, I then morphed into a teenager, and the rose-tinted spectacles came off. I vowed not to be loud and embarrassing in social situations like her, or have such disastrous relationships with men, or fail repeatedly at achieving goals, such as getting one’s work published.
I really don't know why Fiona doesn't want to turn into her yummy mummy
Not that I had any such ambitions at that time. In those days, my creative impulse was channelled not into writing, but drawing. (I have always written, but back then, the words were a mere adjunct to the pictures). Everything I produced was pronounced a marvel by my mum – and therefore, as far as I was concerned, utter rubbish.
Cornwall 1971: Interesting this photo because grown up Fiona so looks like her mum (see black and white pic below of Fiona with her kids)
This is th
10 Comments on Guest Blogger Fiona Dunbar: a Mother's Day Tale, last added: 3/14/2010
I'd love to see some of her work published posthumously. If anyone hears of an anthology that might be suitable, I'd be interested. I have some more stuff to read through; for a long time it was too painful to do that.
Vanessa: Fiona this is wonderful, I have just come home from hospital where my mum has been for the last 6 weeks.She is no longer the mother I knew ... Thank you for such pertinent (sp?) blog and Candy thank you for inviting Fiona.
Fiona Dunbar I feel for you, Vanessa. My mother was operated on but never regained consciousness, despite our strenuous efforts at stimulation (music, talk, touch). We were devastated, but at the same time relieved that we were spared the nightmare of having her wake up and be severely brain-damaged ...
Harriet Goodwin ... it was a wonderful blog - very, very moving. Thank you.
Keren David ... I was so moved by this blog and so sad about your mum and the party. Very happy though about the tv play and Dennis Waterman, she must have been thrilled.
How wonderful that your mum was a writer and that you have her writing still. My mum is a sculptor and I will have her work to keep, but somehow, writing, to me seems even more personal - to express truths about the writer and you can search within it for their influences. I cried when I read how and when she died, what a terrible shock it must have been... Tricia
Thank you so much for sharing this. This struck a real chord with - my own mother died when I was quite young - one thought that makes it easier is that there will always be a part of her in me and in my children. And so it is with you - both beautiful, both talented and I bet she was warm and sociable, just like you, and notloud and embarrassing at all! xxx
I loved this post and the wonderful photos of you and your mother - you do look so alike. Isn't it strange how parts of us stay tied to our parents and parts move on and away.
It's Mothering Sunday this weekend and to mark the day, my guest blogger and friend Fiona Dunbar has written this moving tribute to her mother, who herself had writing aspirations. Fiona is the author of the Lulu Baker trilogy which has been turned into the TV series Jinx, and the Silk Sisters trilogy which features a girl with the power to change like a chameleon. You can follow Fiona's blog here. Welcome to the Slushpile, Fiona!
I have killed my father. He lies over the desk in the study. The angle of his neck is wrong and from where I am sitting, I can see the side of his dead eye and thick blood at the corner of his mouth…
So begins a science fiction story called The Medusa Plant that, to my knowledge, has never been published. Or maybe it was – if so, it’s all lost in the mist of time now. It was written by my mother.
For years, I strenuously avoided turning into my mum. Having completely idolised her as a child, I then morphed into a teenager, and the rose-tinted spectacles came off. I vowed not to be loud and embarrassing in social situations like her, or have such disastrous relationships with men, or fail repeatedly at achieving goals, such as getting one’s work published.
I really don't know why Fiona doesn't want to turn into her yummy mummy
Not that I had any such ambitions at that time. In those days, my creative impulse was channelled not into writing, but drawing. (I have always written, but back then, the words were a mere adjunct to the pictures). Everything I produced was pronounced a marvel by my mum – and therefore, as far as I was concerned, utter rubbish.
Cornwall 1971: Interesting this photo because grown up Fiona so looks like her mum (see black and white pic below of Fiona with her kids)
This is th
0 Comments on Guest Blogger Fiona Dunbar: a Mother's Day Tale as of 1/1/1900
Suddenly, after years of being supplicants to the great and good of publishing, our SCBWI heroes find themselves the object of a schmooze-for-all, with agents, editors and publishers eager to check them out at the launch of the Undiscovered Voices anthology for 2010.
And here's who we have to blame, The Saras (Sara Grant and Sara O'Connor) - who conceptualized the Undiscovered Voices and made it happen. Should you run into them, please be sure to kiss the hems of their skirts (or trousers), they have changed some lives BIG TIME - including mine.
Sara G and Sara O
Of the 12 2008 winners, eight now have book deals and an array of nominations, shortlistings, longlistings for the gamut of prizes available in the children's book world, including:
The Blue Peter book award Barnes and Noble Top Teen book for 2009 American Library Association Best Book for Young Readers 2010 Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize Branford Boase First novel award Borders Book of the Month
Steve Hartley, Sarwat Chadda, and Harriet Goodwin - the first three of the original Undiscovered Voices to see their books in print - were present as were copies of their books for signing.
Okay. Apologies to Harriet (right) and Steve (left). But that's what comes from not taking the time to pose properly. You should really try to be more like Sarwat (center). Just smile.
Here's the cheat sheet that all guests were provided with so that they could target their desired author with appropriate ardour:
It's quite remarkable to think that the lives of these 12 somewhat shy people are about to change forever.
Watching the winners screwing up their courage to talk to agents they had previously feared, I remembered what it was like two years ago when I spent the launch party cowering in the company of friends rather than schmoozing the great and good.
21 Comments on Flight of the Undiscovered: Voices Coming Soon on a Children's Bookshelf Near You, last added: 3/1/2010
it was only editors, agents and publishers, dear heart! i got in (dubiously) as scbwi webmaster and former winner (well probably as former winner because even network heads and those on the honours list weren't there).
Sounds and looks like it was a great night! Once again, huge congratulations to all the winners. Now, Candy, you of the awesome powers, you just have to wangle it so I can somehow enter... ;-)
What am I doing with my hands in that picture? I swear that if they're not holding a pen they just go off and cause trouble by themselves.
Great post Candy and thanks for the photos and the encouragement!
Maureen Lynas said, on 2/26/2010 2:19:00 AM
Brilliant post. Thanks Candy. I thought Melvin's speech was inspiring, we had the same school experience only I didn't get the second type of teacher, sob. But he is right - love it, do it and you will get there.
thanks for not being totally distracted by the white wine, to share the night.
Big congrats to all and thanks to the Sara's and Natascha who have raised the profile of SCBWI so all Undiscovered Voices have a fighting chance in the future
Candy - now you've moved from 'discovered' to 'undercover' perhaps you should change your blog title to Notes from the hush-hush pile?
Great report Candy and great (if terrifying and noisy) night! Excellent pictures too - so glad you got so many as I completely forgot to think of it. Thanks for your encouragement on the night and for the links (I have actually written about the night now!) Did you create your lovely UV winners badge yourself (the one on this page) and can I steal it to make a 2010 one?
hi yona! yes thanks - but your badge would be yellow! i'll make one and send it to you to forward to all your fellow winners. and congrats on your brilliant story which i read today.
Suddenly, after years of being supplicants to the great and good of publishing, our SCBWI heroes find themselves the object of a schmooze-for-all, with agents, editors and publishers eager to check them out at the launch of the Undiscovered Voices anthology for 2010.
And here's who we have to blame, The Saras (Sara Grant and Sara O'Connor) - who conceptualized the Undiscovered Voices and made it happen. Should you run into them, please be sure to kiss the hems of their skirts (or trousers), they have changed some lives BIG TIME - including mine.
Sara G and Sara O
Of the 12 2008 winners, eight now have book deals and an array of nominations, shortlistings, longlistings for the gamut of prizes available in the children's book world, including:
The Blue Peter book award Barnes and Noble Top Teen book for 2009 American Library Association Best Book for Young Readers 2010 Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize Branford Boase First novel award Borders Book of the Month
Steve Hartley, Sarwat Chadda, and Harriet Goodwin - the first three of the original Undiscovered Voices to see their books in print - were present as were copies of their books for signing.
Okay. Apologies to Harriet (right) and Steve (left). But that's what comes from not taking the time to pose properly. You should really try to be more like Sarwat (center). Just smile.
Here's the cheat sheet that all guests were provided with so that they could target their desired author with appropriate ardour:
It's quite remarkable to think that the lives of these 12 somewhat shy people are about to change forever.
Watching the winners screwing up their courage to talk to agents they had previously feared, I remembered what it was like two years ago when I spent the launch party cowering in the company of friends rather than schmoozing the great and good.
0 Comments on Flight of the Undiscovered: Voices Coming Soon on a Children's Bookshelf Near You as of 1/1/1900
When I read Crossing the Line, Gillian Philip's evocative teen novel, I was amazed at its unabashed Scottishness. Being from Somewhere Else (sunny Philippines), I struggle with the need to frame stories from within my cultural identity while hoping to appeal to readers in the West where I live. My very first novel (yet to be published - perhaps never), had English characters and a European setting. It had SNOW no less - at a time when I had yet to see the stuff though no longer. I was genuinely afraid anything I wrote would be labelled an 'issue' novel or too foreign to be commercial. An agent gently told me in so many words that it would be tough to sell a debut novel by an author who had no cultural connection to the story. So I decided to have a go at a novel with a Filipino element. It was only when I began to build worlds with Filipino characters that I felt my words began to sing . . .
And now here's Gillian!
‘Identity,’ Candy suggested, and I went ‘Gulp.’
I was thrilled to be asked to guest on Candy’s amazing blog, and delighted that she made a suggestion for a subject (because I’m not very good at thinking of them), but as soon as I thought about it my mouth went all dry. I’m not very good at identity either, I realised. But ‘I was very struck by the Scottishness of Crossing the Line,’ Candy told me, ‘which is why I suggested identity.’
Which set me wondering why it did have a strong Scottish flavour. Yes, the book is set in Scotland, though like my other novel Bad Faith, it never says so. Generally speaking, though, readers seem to ‘get’ the setting (Keren David, the author who guested here a couple of weeks ago, got one location right to within about twenty metres). I don’t think I could have set those books anywhere else. I don’t think that’s a strength. It’s probably indicative of a typically Scottish insularity.
I was an expat wife in the West Indies for twelve years and because I was without a work permit for a lot of that time, and childless for all of it, you’d think I would have used my vast quantities of spare time to write. I’d always wanted to be a writer. It wasn’t like my career was going places other than a beach bar at the bottom of our hill.
ha ha ha, bookwitch - there's a book in everyone. just you wait!
coming from elsewhere i saw cultural barriers to breaking into the book business everywhere. i was so desperate to be published that i didn't look in the most obvious place for stories ... my native self!
at the end of the day, it's all about telling a good story. which means digging deep. and deep for me is in the philippines.
Fascinating read, so interesting to think how life influences and shapes what we think and write....It's connectivity isn't it? You are the centre of a web of threads - peculiar to you and informed by your wants/needs/desires but tethered ( or supported?)by the physical fact of environment...Crikey, it's making my brain hurt.....
I completely identify with not being able to write as an expat wife. I had eight years in Amsterdam and everything I tried to write was about being an expat wife in Amsterdam. Came back to London and suddenly I could write again - I think it's to do with the little expat bubble you end up living in.
So proud of myself for getting the location in Bad Faith down to a few metres!
What a fascinating post, Gillian! I could ramble on forever on this topic, but perhaps we should wait to meet up, get a bottle of wine, sit down with Candy and talk identity and how it influences us and our writing. And as Keren said, I also completely identify with not being able to write as an expat - though, I'll say this, it was when I was doing the expat wife thing that I first realised how much I wanted to write. Great post, Gillian!
What a fascinating post, Gillian! I could ramble on forever on this topic, but perhaps we should wait to meet up, get a bottle of wine, sit down with Candy and talk identity and how it influences us and our writing. And as Keren said, I also completely identify with not being able to write as an expat - though, I'll say this, it was when I was doing the expat wife thing that I first realised how much I wanted to write. Great post, Gillian!
Fascinating as ever Gillian. I think you're right - in the end, place is important in its own right. It has a tangible atmosphere - in mean streets as much as hills and glens - which colours and flavours a narrative. But it's the people who drive the story and people are people are people.
I so get the whole identity thing, even after 20 years in Australia (almost half my life) I am still very much connected to Scotland and the landscapes. I don't truly connect with the land (and often the people) over here. Would I feel better if I moved back to Scotland - probably not. So glad I popped by here as I now have something to ponder and a bit more clarity.
I am also with Bookwitch, no book in me as far as I can tell, I have another journey to complete here.
When I read Crossing the Line, Gillian Philip's evocative teen novel, I was amazed at its unabashed Scottishness. Being from Somewhere Else (sunny Philippines), I struggle with the need to frame stories from within my cultural identity while hoping to appeal to readers in the West where I live. My very first novel (yet to be published - perhaps never), had English characters and a European setting. It had SNOW no less - at a time when I had yet to see the stuff though no longer. I was genuinely afraid anything I wrote would be labelled an 'issue' novel or too foreign to be commercial. An agent gently told me in so many words that it would be tough to sell a debut novel by an author who had no cultural connection to the story. So I decided to have a go at a novel with a Filipino element. It was only when I began to build worlds with Filipino characters that I felt my words began to sing . . .
And now here's Gillian!
‘Identity,’ Candy suggested, and I went ‘Gulp.’
I was thrilled to be asked to guest on Candy’s amazing blog, and delighted that she made a suggestion for a subject (because I’m not very good at thinking of them), but as soon as I thought about it my mouth went all dry. I’m not very good at identity either, I realised. But ‘I was very struck by the Scottishness of Crossing the Line,’ Candy told me, ‘which is why I suggested identity.’
Which set me wondering why it did have a strong Scottish flavour. Yes, the book is set in Scotland, though like my other novel Bad Faith, it never says so. Generally speaking, though, readers seem to ‘get’ the setting (Keren David, the author who guested here a couple of weeks ago, got one location right to within about twenty metres). I don’t think I could have set those books anywhere else. I don’t think that’s a strength. It’s probably indicative of a typically Scottish insularity.
I was an expat wife in the West Indies for twelve years and because I was without a work permit for a lot of that time, and childless for all of it, you’d think I would have used my vast quantities of spare time to write. I’d always wanted to be a writer. It wasn’t like my career was going places other than a beach bar at the bottom of our hill.
Guest blogger Kathryn Evans is possibly the only belly-dancing-farmer’s-wife- mother-of-two practising to be an author in West Sussex. Nearing the end of her 10,000 year writing apprenticeship, she is currently seeking a home for: SKIN: Surviving cryostasis for 250 years is the least of Laura’s problems. When her little brother Alfie falls dangerously ill, Laura risks more than her own life to save him. A twisted journey of discovery for 12+. DYLAN AND MOUSE: Lonely Dylan befriends Mouse, a rodent with a hamster complex and an endless supply of inappropriate costumes. A series of comic adventures for 7+. All enquires to her agent Sophie Hicks
When Candy asked me to be a guest blogger, I nearly said no. I can’t follow on from Keren David's guest post! I’ve read Keren's When I was Joe, it’s brilliant.
I am unworthy, unpublished and …ah, in need of publicity. I swiftly changed my mind, before Candy could change hers. After all, this is Notes from The Slush Pile, That I can write about.
I take it seriously, my author apprenticeship. I spend half the week on farm work and the other half writing. By some miracle of parenting, I also find extra bits of week in which I look after my family.
It isn’t easy and makes for conversations like this:
Daughter: ‘Mummy, I need to talk to you about something reeeeaaalllly important.’
Me: ‘Can it wait half an hour darling? I’m working.’
Daughter: ‘You’re on Facebook, aren’t you?’
Me: ‘No. I’m working.’
Daughter: ‘But Mummy, I reeeaaallly need to talk to you.’
Me: ‘Can I just finish this chapter?’
Daughter: ‘Oh, so it’s not proper work then? Good, because I really need a haircut and I don’t know if I should dye my hair red and Mr B*****t was so annoying today and it wasn’t my fault and can I go out on Friday? And, and, and……’
Don’t misunderstand me; I want to listen to my daughter download her day but then, I have to write late into the night. I could just go to bed. No one is going to tell me off. I’m not breaking any contractual obligations.
But I don’t.
I work until my eyes are gritty.
Why?
What is this passion?
Where does it come from?
Maybe it started in 1978, seeing my first poem published. The thrill, the utter thrill of putting words together and seeing them in print; basking in the heart swelling warmth of Miss Heathen’s approval.
Volcano by Kathryn Hodgkiss Age 9
I am a volcano, under the sea,
21 Comments on Guest Blogger Kathryn Evans: fat fibs and proper work, last added: 2/5/2010
Now why couldn't we use that photo of you in a bikini, Keren?
Emma Slack said, on 2/3/2010 8:48:00 AM
Love the orange. And the rest. More importantly your daughter already knows, just like Sophie, that it is proper work. The difference is that your daughter pretends not to believe it is so.
Love it, Kathy! We'll have to share stories of our thespian days some day. I was once a maggot, you know.
Lisa Langley said, on 2/4/2010 12:47:00 AM
It's gorgeous! I love the easy rhythm of the language, the humour, your passion for and heart-felt joy of writing. I was particularly impressed by the orange : )
Thank you all, and to all who commented on Facebook, and most especially to Candy...now then, those obligations.....
vasu said, on 2/4/2010 2:28:00 AM
kathy you're wonderful. I'd publish you tomorrow! I don't know your work, but write about yourself, or AS you - the irony and funniness shines through. Vasu
Brilliant - there are a lot of actors whose performances would be greatly improved by replacing them with fruit!
Keep at it, Kathryn, and I don't know how you can write into the night - if I write any later than about 9pm, then I'm too keyed-up to get to sleep afterwards!
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, a book that few publishers would embrace these days because not only is it of a very specific regional bent, its lead character is a big fat and old lady, plus there is not a single handsome bloodsucker in sight.
,’ Candy told me, ‘which is why I suggested identity.’
, it never says so. Generally speaking, though, readers seem to ‘get’ the setting (
LOVE this trailer, Candy. Thanks!
I loved this - so funny and so TRUE!
the other thing that's funny is that it's sooo long! like real trailers.