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In Anne Cassidy's recent blog It takes a lot more than one person to write a book  she mentioned a lot of different people who contribute is so many ways when you are writing a novel. But if what you are writing is not a novel but a picture book there is one person whose contribution is as important as the author, and that is the illustrator.

Picture book images are not merely drawings that help the story along, they are an integral part of the story, often carrying a storyline of their own. If you drop by picturebookden.blogspot.co.uk  you will find some interesting and amusing blogs about writing/illustrating picture books, including one by Malachy Doyle on how NOT to write a picture book- see especially points 6 & 7 about illustrators!

Sally J. Collins

People are often surprised when they discover that the author and illustrator of picture books frequently do not meet, or even speak to each other during the process.  The publisher will decide to publish a picture book text and then commission an illustrator to work on it.  The editor is then often the go-between during any discussions about the illustrations.

This has been my experience except in one case and that is the Hamish McHaggis series, 10 books that I have written over the last 10 years which were illustrated by my dear friend Sally J. Collins, a talented illustrator. 
Sadly Sally passed away recently as some of you will know, but as well as being friends we had a wonderful working relationship as author and illustrator working closely together from the very start of the project.

When I was approached to write the Hamish McHaggis books, I suggested that Sally would be a great illustrator for them and luckily the publisher agreed.  Once I had outlined the personalities and characteristics of the four main characters, Sally started working up the drawings until we were both happy with the way they looked.
Hamish, a cuddly Haggis, went through various versions before we were happy with him and Sally as had no wish to draw Hamish or the woodland creatures who were his friends, wearing clothes, we compromised with accessories. Sot Hamish had a hat, Jeannie the osprey had pink beads and painted claws, Rupert the English hedgehog sports a bow-tie and often wears  his glasses, and the cheeky wee pine marten, Angus, wears his red cap back to front.
Because we had a very tight deadline for the first 4 books, Sally and I fell into a kind of routine where I would come up with the basic storyline and she would do thumbnail drawings of all 12 double page spreads.  

One of Sally's thumbnail drawings  © Sally J Collins

We would meet up, luckily we lived close to each other, and discuss how it would look and make some changes before I even finalised the text.  This meant that Sally was able to get started on full size rough drawings of the first few pages that we were happy with, while I was writing and editing the text of the story.

One of the things we both enjoyed was the collaboration. I would suggest things that she might want to incorporate in her images and she would come up with ideas for the storyline. This happened more and more the longer we worked together, and made it all the more fun each time we got started on a new book. 

Hamish & the Whirry Bang at the Falkirk Wheel book launch

There was, for a while, a real car made up to look like Hamish's Whirry Bang vehicle and there is also a full size Hamish costume. 
Both of these had a lot of input from Sally and I to make sure they resembled her drawings as closely as possible, and painting up the car was a real labour of love!
Sally and I also went out on the road with Hamish.  
As the books are set in a variety of wonderful locations, Sally and I went on research trips so that we really knew about the places where the books were set.  Sally  would make sketches and take notes so that she could faithfully replicate things like the pattern on the pale blue carpet in Glamis Castle and one of the chairs in the Queen Mother's room, which was incorporated into the story.  She also had to draw so many of the  places in the books, even the front of Edinburgh's parliament building, which was a bit of a challenge!  

The Falkirk Wheel, the world's largest boat-lift, was the setting for another Hamish adventure and when we launched that book we took a boatload of children and parents up on the wheel as we told the story and Sally showed them the pictures from the book. Afterwards they had a drawing class with Sally.  
We had research trips and also book launches in Balmoral, Stirling and Edinburgh Castles and  the most recent was the Kelvingrove and the Transport museum in Glasgow. Sally even managed to sneak in small images of  both of us into one of the pictures at the Transport museum in Hamish McHaggis and the Great Glasgow Treasure Hunt. 
She had a great sense of fun.

The Hamish books are used  in a lot of schools as the focus for anything from a week to a term's work and although I have always done a lot of school visits on my own, it was fun when Sally and I went to do events together.  I never tired of watching Sally drawing Hamish with a class of children. 
I love writing the stories and it was a joy to watch them come to life on the page with Sally's illustrations.

Hamish McHaggis and his friends have gone out all over the world and he is well loved, as are Sally's humorous and delightful illustrations.


Last year after a lot of fine tuning we were both finally happy with the little cuddly Hamish toy, which is faithful to Sally's drawings of Hamish.


A lovely, talented artist but also a kind and gentle person, Sally will be sadly missed, but wee Hamish and his friends will hopefully delight children for a long time to come as they discover and enjoy his adventures.


It has been a very special relationship that I feel privileged to have been part of and which has left a host of happy memories.







 

Despite the almost continuous rain earlier in the summer last Saturday when the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2012 opened its doors  the sun shone and it was glorious.  People were sitting all around the lovely square in Charlotte Gardens chatting reading books,eating ice cream, enjoying the atmosphere and people watching - trying to spot their favourite author.

On the walkways there was a buzz as people rushed to join the queue for an event or strolled by to browse in the bookshops or cafes.

It is my favourite time of the year.  A chance to catch up with lots of friends, writers from all parts of the country, to meet new people and to go to listen, laugh and be fascinated by the skill and imagination of the speakers.

In the famous authors' yurt, (green room) the great and the good,  famous, not so famous and the first time authors gather before or after events. As the festival lasts for over two weeks and has something like 800 authors from all over the world, there are always new people to meet.  This year sees the festival holding the 2012-2013 Edinburgh World Writers Conference, with special events looking at the role of literature around the world today.

On Saturday I caught up with other authors many of them SASsies - Nicola Morgan, Cathy MacPhail, Eleanor Updale, Elizabeth Laird, Julia Donaldson and Moira Munro, Keith Charters and crime writer Alex Gray.  it is a place for families and  I also met the Bookwitch and her daughter, and Mary and Gerry (the Mole) from Ourbookreviews and their lovely daughter.

I went into listen to the brothers Scarrow, Simon and Alex, both highly successful authors who decided that they might share some characters!  So Alex was able to bring two of his brother's well loved Roman characters into his own book set in Rome.
The event was great fun with teams of three chosen from the young audience brought up to compete in a history quiz.  Lots of fun and cheering ensued.


Monday the sun was still shining and I met up with Barry Hutchison and I went into the event on his new book the 13th Horseman, which made me realise just how much fun you can have with your characters!





 Barry, along with Sally Gardner and Steven Butler were understandably nervous about an event called Story Consequences.  Vivian French was the excellent chair person (and had control of the bell!) in an event where the three other writers were invited to start a story (character, place and emotion suggested by the audience) and keep it going for 30 seconds until the bell rang signalling that they had to pass it on to the next person, and so on.
Despite their reservations it was a riotous success and by the end of the event three very different, if slightly strange, stories had come to life.  The audience got behind the authors cheering them on, and everyone had a great time.
It occurred to me that this might be an interesting challenge to try in the future, for writers, aspiring writers and in creative writing sessions with young people, too.

Story Consequences event

This week also saw the Society of Authors in Scotland (SOAiS) AGM and lunch when we welcomed some new committee members Cathy MacPhail, Gillian Philip and Michael Malone and our new Scottish (SOAiS) chair  Lin Anderson.  It was also a pleasure get the chance to chat to the new Chair of the Society of Authors who had travelled up from London - Lindsey Davis.

I had a lovely surprise when dropping in to the yurt to find Keren David there, who introduced me to Amy Plum, a YA author who is American  living in Paris and will be speaking at the book festival  next week.

I will be appearing in the book festival this Sunday when I will be reading as part of the Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series on Freedom of Speech when  I read  Nasrin Sotoudeh.'s poignant letter to her daughter. 


On Friday 24th I am looking forward to delivering my workshop 'So you want to write for Children?'.

On the following Tuesday, after the main bookfest closes there is the School Gala Day when Charlotte Square is closed to the general public and bus loads of school children fill the square to attend events with their favourite authors.

Sally J Collins

 I will be there with Sally J. Collins the illustrator of the Hamish McHaggis books and we will be joined by Hamish himself as we tell the story of the Great Glasgow Treasure Hunt



I love the opportunity to go and listen to all sorts of writers talking with passion about the books they have written and living close enough to Edinburgh I enjoy dipping in and out of the festival to see a wide range of events.

A couple I am particularly looking forward to are events with Jasper Fforde and Eoin Colfer.

So if you get the chance to come to Edinburgh in August come along to the book festival - go to some events and soak up the atmosphere.  And keep your eyes open, you never know who you might bump into. 


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Linda Strachan is an award winning author of over 60 books for children of all ages from picture books to teenage novels and a  writing handbook  Writing for Children