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A favourite bottom book!

And another!

I’ve jumped onto the bottom bandwagon!

I didn’t meant to. I didn’t consciously set out to write a book featuring bottoms. It was only when Penny Dolan wrote that Wild Thing was “much more than a book that gets 8 year-old children laughing because they enjoy reading about rude words” that I realized what I’d done. I, too, had written a book featuring children's fascination with their nether regions.

 It’s not exactly an untapped theme in children’s literature. (In modern times, anyway – you won’t find Jo March, Anne of Green Gables or even Just William having much to say about posteriors.) But whether it’s Nicholas Allen’s delightful Cinderella’s Bum or the famously scatological The Little Mole Who Thought It Was None Of His Business, there’s a whole branch of kids’ books about rear ends and what comes out of them. In fact when I (rather bravely) did some googling, I was stunned to find out just how many titles there were.

I suppose the whole bottom thing can be seen as a cynical ploy. If you want to get children laughing, then “rude words” as Penny implies, are a good way to do it. This wasn’t really on my mind, though. The truth is, having spent the last several years in close contact with young children, I’ve been forcibly reminded how fascinating all things bum and poo –related are to them. I’ve walked behind four year olds whose only obsession is with spotting possible dog poo – and not to avoid standing in it, but out of pure fascination with the subject. “No, that’s only a dead leaf,” I’ve said wearily, more times than I can  remember.

So it’s not surprising the theme cropped up in Wild Thing, which is at heart a realistic, family story. The subject first arises when an inadvertent slip of the tongue by Gran allows five year old Wild Thing to get going on a favourite subject.


“Gran said bottom!” 
“No, she didn’t.” 
“Yes, she did.” Wild Thing grinned. “A butt is a bottom.You’ve got a big butt!” She pointed at me. “And Gran’s got a wrinkly one!” 
Then she danced off across the garden, shouting, “BUTT! BEHIND! BOTTOM! BUM!” at the top of her voice. She almost crashed into a tree. 

Wild Thing waggles her bum (Jamie Littler illustrator)

The incident leads to a wild chase and the invention of the Bite the Bottom game – yet another source of daily embarrassment for poor older sister Kate! When I’ve read the passage aloud in schools, the effect has been electrifying. On the occasion where I had a staff member “signing” the bottom-biting scene (and giving a fine theatrical performance of the bottom-chomping incident) I thought everyone was going to be reduced to a dangerous level of hysteria.

It’s true, folks. Rude bits really do make them laugh.

In school...the arrow fittingly pointing at a certain place!

Grown-ups can be a bit sniffy, I suppose, and feel that the whole bottom thing is crude, overdone, and playing to the crowd. But then children feel much the same about adult interests. Remember The Princess Bride and the little boy recoiling from the sloppy bits – “Yuk kissing!” Anyone who has watched TV with a child will recognize that response. (It’s also beautifully captured in Judith Viorst’s classic picture book, Alexander’s Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day – where the kissing on TV is almost as bad as the lima beans for dinner.)

So let’s allow children their interests, just as adults are allowed theirs. After all, for the average five year old, toilet training and bed wetting are still very immediate issues, and getting oneself to the toilet on time can be a source of pride (or sometimes an embarrassing failure). Adults take all this for granted – although actually, of course, many adults, especially in later life, don’t. Sadly, it often becomes a source of shame and embarrassment again, with many incontinent adults suffering in silence. So if children can openly laugh and celebrate all things rear-end, then let’s embrace that! Humour, as a recent ABBA poster pointed out, is also a way of dealing with things that trouble us.

So Bottoms Up, folks! And why not nominate your own favourite rude title?
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Emma's new book, Wild Thing,  about the naughtiest little sister ever (and her bottom-biting ways), is out now from Scholastic. It is the first of a series for readers 8+.
"Hilarious and heart-warming" The Scotsman
"Charming modern version of My Naughty Little Sister" Armadillo Mag

 Wolfie is published by Strident.   Sometimes a Girl’s Best Friend is…a Wolf. 
"A real cracker of a book" Armadillo 
"Funny, clever and satisfying...thoroughly recommended" Books for Keeps
"This delightful story is an ideal mix of love and loyalty, stirred together with a little magic and fantasy" Carousel 

Emma's Website
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Emma on Twitter - @EmmaBarnesWrite

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Writing is normally a solitary occupation and I rather like that about it.

Tuscany- my shed

There is that feeling of living with and in your characters' heads, so beautifully expressed in Ellen Renner's ABBA post a couple of days ago Visitors From the World Called Imagination    

I like to slope off to Tuscany (my shed), to disappear into another place or time, and live in my head for a while.


I am not sure I know where the ideas and characters come from but I find that nothing will kill off my enthusiasm for a story idea more than  plotting it all out before I begin to write.

I prefer to discover the plot alongside my characters and feel all their uncertainty and excitement.

Without this I lose that tingle in my spine and the sense of wonder and endless possibilities that make writing such a delight and pleasure.  I have to admit that sometimes it can also become incredibly hard if I lose my way, and I imagine that those who plot carefully before they begin at least have signposts to keep them on track.  Unfortunately each time I try to plot a story out chapter by chapter beforehand, it all too soon begins to feel a bit flat.



Some writers have written successful collaborations but I've always wondered how they did it.  What was the mechanism? Were they working together bouncing ideas off each other, throwing around phrases or dialogue while one wrote it all down or working separately, each adding different segments of the story?

I once wrote part of a novel with another writer in the form of letters between two characters who knew nothing of each other to start with. Each of us took one character and replied to the previous letter as suited the character and their temperament. It was a lot of fun being really stroppy and fascinating to see how the characters developed and changed as the story progressed and they drew nearer to meeting each other.  It was never finished as other writing commitments got in the way, but it might be interesting to come back to it one day.

from  Hamish McHaggis

  Working closely with an illustrator - as I have for some years with Sally J. Collins on the Hamish McHaggis books -  is again a different way of working.

9 Comments on Collaborating or flying solo? - Linda Strachan, last added: 10/28/2011

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adele said, on 10/27/2011 3:29:00 AM

A bit of friendly collaboration is fun! Ann Turnbull and Linda Newbery and I worked quite closely on the Historical House books but each book was individually written. I would hate input from someone else on a book, I think, unless it were something like you're doing, Linda with the letters. And even then...not sure I'd enjoy it too much. Writing is such a selfish activity...I do like to think of myself as THE BOSS! And I'm a planner. Not a chapter by chapter but a careful working out of most main things in advance. Not that the plan doesn't change as I write because it often does. Very interesting post!

Savita Kalhan said, on 10/27/2011 8:34:00 AM

Very interesting post, Linda. Thanks. I fly solo, well, it's me and the characters so it's not completely solo. I don't plan either, I like to go where the story takes me. The last, and only, time I've collaborated, my friend ducked out and I ended up writing the whole story! But I'd happily try collaborating again...

Linda Strachan said, on 10/27/2011 8:54:00 AM

Yes,I too like to think I am the boss, Adele, that I am in control. But I think my characters snigger about that behind my back!

Savita. The collaboration thing is like any partnership it is difficult to get it right and there has to be commitment from both sides.

Penny Dolan said, on 10/27/2011 10:25:00 AM

Having been trapped for ages by a character that stomped "on stage" and was too good to remove, I've been wishing I was a planner.

But I think I'd need a planning partner to help me qwork it all through. I am definitely a dreamer-upper and a meanderer-about until the pattern suddenly reveals itself. Not the most time effective approach.

Dianne Hofmeyr said, on 10/27/2011 1:33:00 PM

I'm an organic writer as well. But it takes longer to accomplish a great story because there are so many rewrites as you go along. I think it was E. L. Doctorow who compared writing to being in a car at night... 'you only see as far as the headlights go, but you make the journey anyway!' As far as collaboration goes, working with an illustrator has been a great experience as once the images are there I can drop some text! I don't think I'd be a good collaborator on a novel but doing the Bath Fest story was great... it freed me up to write fast with a playful, anything goes approach.

catdownunder said, on 10/27/2011 9:33:00 PM

I definitely fly solo and I am not a plotter. I am still puzzled by the fact that I will write something into the first few pages with no idea at all as to why it is there. Sometime later the reason for it appears and surprises me. Maybe it is because I am not a proper author?

Miriam Halahmy said, on 10/28/2011 1:12:00 AM

I'm definitely a discovery writer but often think I should knuckle down and do a bit more planning. Most of it seems to go on in my head and it doesn't work so well if I write the plans down. I couldn't collaborate on a novel. But I have worked with two different illustrators and loved it. However, I do like working to a commission with guidelines, however brief. Set me on a course and I run with the wind in my hair.

Linda Strachan said, on 10/28/2011 2:47:00 AM

Penny, your approach obviously works, I've just finished Mouse and it was a great read!

Dianne, I love that quote about writing being like driving a car at night. It often feels to me like I can only see a short way ahead.

Hi Cat. I don't think that makes you less of a 'proper' author, being surprised by the story is part of the fun. We all find the best way and I think all the comments show this, although I do know there are some ardent plotters out there who plot the entire thing first - it's just not how I work!

Miriam - I also enjoy sometimes working to a commission with guidelines - it is a bit of a challenge and often having a deadline pushes me to get writing.

It is fascinating to see how people work, isn't it.

Ann Evans said, on 10/28/2011 8:51:00 AM

Solo or collaboration, which is best? At the risk of sounding like Harry Hill in his TV Burp there's only one way to find out... Fight!
Sorry!
With the actual writing of books its solo for me, but I'm not averse to asking people close to me for ideas when I'm stuck. But recently I've been collaborating with a friend on a script which has been great fun.
Linda - I love your Tuscany shed!

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