Tuesday 5 January 2021

Mixing it Up - Challenging My Unconscious Biases to Add Diversity to My Writing

By Nick Cross

Photo by Mike Petrucci on Unsplash

I’ve spent the last year adapting a YA novel (that I originally wrote in 2012) into a graphic novel. In retrospect this was a big project to take on, especially during a pandemic, and there were many points during 2020 where I ground to a complete halt, questioning what I was trying to do. But at the end of November last year, after an almost complete rewrite of the original novel, the first draft was done. Phew. I had a short break and then dived into the much easier task of editing the manuscript.

As part of the editing process, I wrote out a list of all my characters: their name, age, gender and function in the story. But, as a way of challenging my own unconscious biases, I also wanted to add their ethnicity. So many times recently, I’ve heard or read about White* authors assuming that theirs is the default identity and not commenting on it, but then specifically calling out characters of colour.

As I read down my list, I started to get a sinking feeling: fifteen-year-old White British boy, forty-eight-year-old White British man, fifty-two-year-old White British woman, etc. Whitewash would be a pretty appropriate term. And it’s a problem that would be compounded in the graphic novel version of the book. In a novel, you can perhaps get away with fudging the ethnicity of a character, or relying on outdated tropes like describing someone’s “coffee-coloured skin” or “almond-shaped eyes.” But in a graphic novel, as with a film or TV show, the casting is visible in every frame.

Perhaps it was borderline acceptable eight years ago, when I first created the characters, for them to be so overwhelmingly White. But this is 2021, and I wanted to shake things up a bit and add more diversity to the mix. Except I then hit a different problem – how could I do that but also stay in my lane as a straight, White man?

A few years ago I wrote, and had published, short stories with a wide variety of first-person perspectives. These included a story about immigration from the perspective of a Black British teenager, and structural racism from the perspective of a Black girl from the deep south of America. But I didn’t have lived experience of any of this! I can't imagine sitting down today to write something like that without at least questioning my right to do it.

Of course, as a creative person in the UK, I have the undeniable freedom to write about whatever the hell I want. (White privilege alert!) But, I also have the responsibility to deliver a sellable manuscript to my agent, especially for the hypersensitive US market. And that’s not to forget my social responsibility to use my privilege in a positive and constructive way.

Director Armando Iannucci took an interesting approach with his recent film The Personal History of David Copperfield, turning the typical period drama on its head by employing colour-blind casting. It was a method I found inspiring in terms of the freedom to cast the best actor for the role, but also sometimes confusing. For instance, I fully bought into the idea that the titular character could be of Indian descent. But as a viewer, I found that my suspension of disbelief was affected by decisions such as giving a White character a Black parent without any explanation. Instead of being able to accept it, I found myself distracted from the narrative by questions about their heritage and whether they were adopted.

Aneurin Barnard as James Steerforth and Nikki Amuka-Bird as his mother Mrs. Steerforth in The Personal History of David Copperfield

Now, perhaps this is just my own prejudice talking, and other people were able to watch the film without worrying about this at all. But as a comparison, I found the heritage of Will in the TV adaptation of His Dark Materials to be much more believable. For my own novel , which is highly dependent on parent and child pairings, I don’t want to do anything that would make my readers think I’d simply made a weird mistake!

Ultimately, I’ve decided to keep my protagonist as a straight, White British boy to reflect my own heritage. But even eight years ago, I’d thought it was a good idea to have a girl of Korean descent as his co-protagonist and romantic foil, which has allowed me to expand her role in this draft and tie her heritage more tightly into the story. I ummed and ahed about changing the ethnicity of my baddie, but so far I’ve left her as a White woman, because I don’t feel comfortable with the stereotype of a Black antagonist. But what about the protagonist’s White best friend? One of his parents needed (for story reasons) to be White, but what about the other? Could they be a person of colour?

As well as adding some more ethnically diverse background characters, I’ve been able to make both the best friend and another teenage character mixed-race, without upsetting the story or (I hope) engaging in tokenism. That's not to suggest that having a mixed-race character is a shortcut, though - everyone has their own unique experience, and mixed-race people may find fitting in to be even more of a challenge than someone from a single ethnic group. But, just as nobody tells us who we can love nowadays, so the opportunities for diverse and interesting mixed-race characters have widened. No longer does mixed-race automatically mean one White and one Black parent – just look at the success of Spider-Man Miles Morales, who is of both Black and Puerto Rican heritage.


Tackling your own biases and revisiting your old work can lead to some uncomfortable realisations. For instance, I discovered that I’d given my antagonist a disfigurement in the form of a large facial birthmark. This was only mentioned once in the novel, but would be constantly visible in a graphic novel as a hamfisted and hurtful signifier of "evil." I also found that I’d given the Korean mother of my co-protagonist some questionable speech patterns. Both of these things were easily fixed, but they led me to reflect that there are almost certainly things in my manuscript of today that I will look back on in another eight years and wish I’d done differently. As with anything to do with writing outside your lane, nothing beats talking to an actual person from the ethnic/cultural group you're trying to represent. At later stages in the process, agents or publishers may bring in sensitivity readers, and it's a good idea to try to head off any issues they might report.

Society, as well as its norms and preconceptions, is constantly on the move. Just this morning, I had a fascinating discussion with my daughter about trans rights and identity politics – for her generation, gender fluidity is the norm, not the exception. And an increased awareness of intersectionality will doubtless lead to both new categorisations and new quandaries for those of us stuck in our conformist ways. As writers and artists creating work for modern readers, it’s our responsibility to stay alert, ask difficult questions of ourselves and be open to admitting when we get it wrong.

If all of this sounds like an uncomfortable process, full of unwritten rules just waiting to trip you up, take heart. Opening yourself to different cultures and different opinions is hugely enriching, as long as you're willing to listen as much as you talk. You can become a better writer and a better person too, and at the end of the day, isn't that why we're all here?

Nick.

* Author’s Note: I’ve chosen to capitalise both White and Black in this article, as signifiers of racial identity. There is much debate on this topic, see here for an example.



Nick Cross is a children's writer/illustrator and Undiscovered Voices winner. He received a SCBWI Magazine Merit Award, for his short story The Last Typewriter.
Nick is also the Blog Network Editor for SCBWI Words & Pictures magazine. His Blog Break column appears fortnightly on W&P.

Monday 7 December 2020

How to be a Hybrid Children's Author by Addy Farmer

How to be a Hybrid Children's Author by Addy Farmer

Before I begin, I'd like to introduce you to Milly and her mum and dad. They are characters in a chapter book I've been working on with Child Bereavement UK called, I Love You, Sunshine. It is a sad story about how dad takes his own life and the effect it has on Milly and her family. But it is also a story about love. Please read to the bottom of my blog to find out how you can help support this project

I Love You, Sunshine - ©Darren Gate's illustration
of Milly and her mum and dad


BUT DO READ THE BLOG FIRST! LET'S BEGIN WITH A DEFINITION


What is a hybrid author? Let's begin with a definition (warning: may stray from any number of dictionaries). For me, being a “hybrid author’’ is to be a writer prepared to seek out her creative opportunities wherever she may; she wants to be published traditionally but is also prepared to think widely about other routes to being published. 


LET ME EXPAND A LITTLE


I am published by two traditional publishers. Grandad's Bench is a chapter book illustrated by Ruth Rivers and published by Walker. My picture book, Siddarth and Rinki, illustrated by Karin Littlewood, came out with Verna Wilkin’s magnificent publishing house, Tamarind (which was subsequently absorbed into the Penguin Random House group). My next picture book, Worlds Apart was signed to one publisher but, after an agonising length of time; one foreign rights deal, one publishing house change and THREE illustrators later; it was dropped when it failed to gain interest at Frankfurt. Harsh but true. It taught me a few things:

  • Never wait around for a book to be published. Always be at work on the next one. Time is precious

  • Keep up with your reader and what they like - I didn’t want to get stuck in the past with my imagined reader. The children’s market is shifting and dynamic. Keeping up with what children and their carers are reading. This does NOT interfere with artistic integrity - it is a way of informing your creativity.

  • Get organised! I went on a pre-pandemic writing retreat back in January with my excellent pals, Juliet Clare Bell and Rebecca Colby. There, I got to grips with being organised with laser-like purpose. Wahay! I set flexible goals and objectives for 2021 and it has framed my approach to this writing year! I work hard and I work smart.

  • Think creatively about who you can write for.


Okay, thinking creatively is the biggy. Yes, of course I would like to be published in a traditional way again. I love being part of a professional team; I love being edited; I love the to and fro of illustrations and edits. I also love knowing that a big publishing company has endorsed my writing. That is partly what gave me the confidence to broaden my thinking and branch out into writing for non-traditional routes.


Christmas Island - here we come!


A BAGFUL OF STARS


My first commissioned picture book was, A Bagful of Stars with the brilliant Bridget Marzo illustrating. The story of A Bagful of Stars was one of hard work and absolute joy. The queues for signing were looooooooong! Bridget and I had a ball!


Any chance to wear a pair of deely boppers


This book came about through luck and making connections and then quite frankly just asking for the job. Someone I knew from The Rotary Club of Scunthorpe approached me in my capacity of ‘the only children’s writer in town’, to help her find a children’s author who could come up with a Christmas picture book for them. I said, ‘I’ll do it!’ even before the flat fee was mentioned. Oops. So, think for a mo before you agree to anything. For me, I had a track record as a published writer and there was no reason to accept a relatively small fee. But what swayed me to accept the project was my heart. What came out of the project was definitely not a personal financial success and this is something you must think about on a personal level but also, perhaps, to ensure that we, as a body of picture book writers, are given the professional recognition we deserve. 


Working on a A Bagful of Stars gave me a few insights into undertaking and running your own picture book project


  • Understand your worth - you are a professional writer and you are not doing anything for ‘the exposure’

  • Have a fantastic designer - we did with the brilliant Simona Sideri

  • Maximise the income with workshops

  • Create educational resources/CPD in school training

  • Maximise the book’s reach through schools by approaching relevant council education peeps

  • Use the project leading experience to sell the next project

  • Make links and collaborate with creative partners e.g children’s theatre, animation, add music and songs. 


The book went on to be reprinted and is still being bought today for Christmas. And yes, I will be investigating selling through this fantastic sounding bookshop.org. 



HOW DID I GET MORE WORK FROM THERE?


I used that experience of working with creative partners in theatre and music (all found via my local council), to suggest another more ambitious project - a picture book which could be adapted as a piece of musical children’s theatre. A Place called Home, illustrated by the wonderful Louise Gardner, was conceived and developed with the North Lincs Music Hub and Rhubarb theatre in Lincoln. This project, from 2017, was properly funded by the Arts Council and is still used by North Lincs primary schools and has been performed by Rhubarb Theatre  in different theatres to big audiences. It was one of the highlights of my writing career to be one of my own characters and have 500 school kids scream at me (you know what I mean).


Rhubarb Theatre let me play a Pirate from Mars
at the Trinity Arts Centre in Gainsborough.
There was A LOT of screaming  

I WAS ALREADY THINKING ABOUT FURTHER OPPORTUNITIES ...

I examined my own hobbies and interests. Was there anything in those extra-curricular activities which might transfer into ideas for a picture book? 

I made a list!




Clouds

Space

Family

Cake!

Flying

Medieval history

Peat and the environment

The great Outdoors


I might expand the list like so …


  • Clouds. I’m a member of the Cloud Appreciation Society and I am thoroughly absorbed in the ‘inventor of clouds’ - Luke Howard. I’ve found a gap in the usual narrative and I am writing with a view to pitching to a traditional publisher 

  • Interested in space and space travel - always fascinating to me, especially now with the developments on the moon. Look for the next anniversary or big anniversary.  

  • Family history - who might become a subject for a narrative non-fiction book? I am fascinated by my own grandmother’s involvement in the war time Air Transport Auxiliary. In researching this and the history of aviators, I have found some other fascinating female aviators - this needs careful thinking about because the market already has some great aviation picture book titles. 

  • I find the depiction of cats in medieval illuminated manuscripts thoroughly absorbing  (It really is). I could try approaching an organisation like the National Trust or English Heritage. But frankly, this is too niche and would have to be broadened to attract interest

  • Being a community builder for a replica Neolithic Trackway (this girl knows how to have fun) -  a lot of my income came through physical workshops but now I’m going virtual and creating a series of school workshops (with a picture book element) for the Isle of Axholme and Hatfield Chase Landscape Partnership (what a mouthful).  

  • Being a member of our local Crowle and Peatland Railway - I am writing a narrative non-fiction picture book story called Little Peat. This has been commissioned (at my suggestion) by this local charity in order to inform the local community about the history on their doorstep as well as engaging people in the environmental issues surrounding peat. Where the funding will most likely succeed is with the environmental thrust. 

  • Being outdoors is really important to my mental health. In happier times, I run outdoor creative workshops for families and a picture book based on this seems to be a no-brainer. There are specialist mental health publishers like Jessica Kingsley and Upside Down Press to approach.


taking a marshmallow break during an outdoor poetry session


HARNESS YOUR CREATIVITY TO BE A HYBRID AUTHOR


  • Think fiction and narrative non-fiction and non-fiction

  • Mine your own interests and history 

  • Expand your own knowledge with research

  • DO YOUR HOMEWORK with regards to other and similar books on the market

  • Be bold! Make contact with organisations you might write for. You never know .. 

  • Check out the funding bodies and make your own applications e.g Arts Council

  • Find help with developing funding applications. E.g. our local MP has an assistant who works two days a week sourcing funding for local projects.

  • Look for and create your own writing opportunities with local charities

  • LinkedIn - yeah, I know but I have a presence AND was paid to write a picture book story arc for a startup company. I also found work as a story app writer with an education games company.

  • Work with other creative collaborators - you never know where it will go!

  • Create workshops for education settings and families. 


Watch out for opportunities! (actual Pirates from Mars by Louise Gardner)

Does this sound like hard work? Yep and I’m aware it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Remember to be selective because you’ve got to enjoy it! Work hard but work smart. If you do want to find those opportunities to write differently, they are out there or with a bit of creative thinking, you can make them. As that jobbing writer-hero of mine, Jo Nadin says, “I’ve earned a living doing what I love- which is a rare privilege in itself.”

I LOVE YOU, SUNSHINE

I do, I really do but it's also the title of a chapter book I've been working on for a while together with Child Bereavement UK. I Love You, Sunshine will be an illustrated chapter book for 7 to 10 year olds. It tells the story of how one dad takes his own life and how it affects his eight year old daughter, Milly, and the rest of her family. It is a story of bereavement but it is also a story of love. It is intended as a way for all those families, bereaved by suicide, to know that they are not alone; to build resilience through understanding; and to help take small emotional steps forwards. Child Bereavement UK is supplying the parental guidance notes and the wonderful Darren has begun work on the illustrations. We'd like to publish in Mrarch 2021 and get the book out to CBUK, other bereavement charities and any other organisation which might find it a useful resource. Unfortunately, there is a need for this sort of story. BUT I have to raise the money to pay for it! I've set up a gofundme page to support this project. If you are interested, perhaps you could check it out and share. Thankyou. ❤


Milly and her dad
©Darren Gate


Monday 30 November 2020

In Praise of Writers' Resilience

by Em Lynas

Part 1. Pre-Published

Rejection Requires Resilience

Writers for children, like any writers, encounter rejection at every stage of their career. They need resilience to keep going but what is resilience for a writer? What are the moments in each writer’s journey that require it the most? What does it even mean and – how does a writer get it and keep it?

Resilience:

The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

The ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity.

So, what sort of difficulties is a childrens’ writer likely to encounter? How can you develop resilience? How can you spring back from rejection? Is it possible to spring back?

A host of Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, British Isles members, have allowed me to share their inspirational stories from our facebook group to show that writers are tough and can bounce back from every knock back into who they truly are – writers who need to write.

Kathryn Evans: When we start this journey we often have no idea how long it can take, we look for quick fixes and are frustrated when they seem to come to nothing, but it all adds up, eventually it adds up. 15 years of seriously trying, 5 of those with my agent. I gave up for 6 months and it made me miserable. I needed to remember that I don’t write to get published, I write because I need to and I want to. I started again, writing a weird book that was totally me and mine . It was More of Me.

Rejection can come from many sources:

  • From family and friends
  • From critique groups
  • From agents
  • From editors
  • From publishers
  • From booksellers and bloggers
  • From Award awarders
  • From buyers and readers

In this post I’ll deal with the pre-published rejections and suggestions for how to deal with them. The next post will be all about post publication rejections and ideas on how to deal with those.

Rejection from family and friends

Not all family and friends will understand your compulsion to write. Their rejection of your dream of one day being published may be subtle, passive aggressive, or just downright rude. And hurtful.

They may say:

Isn’t that book finished yet? On repeat.

Are you still writing your book? On repeat.

Don’t you think it’s time to give up? On repeat.

When are you going to give up? On repeat.

Why don’t you write a book about – insert inappropriate suggestion that has nothing to do with children’s books.

So and so (insert name) has just had a book published. She only started writing last year.

I see David Walliams has another book out.

It can’t be that hard to write a story for children, there’s hardly any words.

This is often accompanied by looking at you oddly, as if you’re a different species.

Disclaimer: The above is not representative of my immediate family and closest friends. Most often it was acquaintances.

You can’t do anything about acquaintance’s rejections of your publishing aspirations but you can educate those who are closest to you to be more sensitive and understanding.

How?

Gather information that it TAKES A LONG TIME! All they hear on the news is about the super deals done with young debut novelists. This is not representative!

·        Research how long your favourite authors took. How big is their slushpile of rejected works, unfinished ideas? My favourite – it took David Almond twenty years before his first book, Skellig, was published. And he’s brilliant!

·       Show them this post if they need convincing.

I found that there was a tipping point, about five years into my writing journey. A sense that rather than thinking I was nuts to keep on flogging a dead horse, family and friends were proud of my determination and resilience in the face of many rejections. They were proud that I continued to learn and grow as a writer and overjoyed when my first book came out.

Sally Poynton: When I started this journey my youngest was a baby, he’s now coming up 15. And I’m still not published. I think it can be so difficult with all the rejection and the fact that success is binary. You are either published or not. The thing that gets me through is support from friends and family and the key thing is CELEBRATING THE SMALL THINGS. Making sure that every small competition long/listing or good feedback is marked, or you’d go mad.

Rejection from critique groups

I am in a SCBWI_BI critique group and I would highly recommend joining SCBWI to meet other children’s authors and gather feedback. Writing for children is a very specific skill, different for each age band, and you need feedback that reflects that.

Most critique groups recommend the Feedback Sandwich (a polite term for the more colloquial Sh*t Sandwich which is often a far more accurate term)

Top slice - Highlight a positive.

Filling - Add in some constructive criticism, preferably not subjective.

Bottom slice: Highlight a positive.

This sounds great, a really kind way of giving feedback, but in reality we’re all dismissing the bread and waiting for the sh*t. We need it. If we’re ever to progress as writers we need to accept it and take it on the chin (sorry, yuck). But even the most constructive criticism, kindly delivered, can be felt as rejection and a knock to your confidence resulting in bad thoughts.

I still can’t get it right. I haven’t done this. I haven’t done that. I’ve failed. They’ve rejected my story. I obviously can’t write. I’ll give up.

It’s important that you distance yourself from the work. This is not a criticism (or shouldn’t be) of YOU, this is all about whether the story works in the way you want it to work, (or should be).

Reality check:

What are you expecting from the critique?

·       Do you want an – I love this, thanks for sharing critique?

·       Do you want an analysis of whether your story is working or not?

I do think initially everyone wants the first and it’s part of your growth as a writer when you accept and appreciate the second.

·       Check that your critique group is right for you – are you getting the best feedback as a children’s writer if your group mainly consists of poets, creative writers, or real crime writers?

This is a ‘Find Your Tribe’ moment. You need a gang of writers who have your back because they will help you bounce back and build the resilience you will need for the next stage. My recommendation is – join SCBWI.

Susan Brownrigg: It took me 20 years to get published and I still don't have an agent. Barbara Henderson was my inspiration for trying a different way, and for approaching an independent publisher - Uclan - who are amazing. My advice would be ... enjoy other people's successes ... think of the books that didn't get picked up as a back catalogue for returning to one day ... and take a break if it all gets too much - if you love writing, a story will eventually whisper in your ear when you are ready and your hurt has healed. Try to accept that you may not get published but you will always be a writer.

 

Rejection from agents

Steel yourself: There are three types of rejection from agents.

Agent Rejection One:

The agent rejects your submission and does not take you on as a client.

I shall hold my hands up at this point and admit that I sent out my stories far too early and received many, many, many rejections. Looking back, they were right to reject me, I hadn’t learned enough about my craft and they were clumsy stories, but it hurt all the same. You would be a very unusual author if an agent had never rejected a submission and acceptance that rejection is part of the journey helps enormously.

Agent Rejection Two:

The agent takes you on and is unable to place your book. They don’t think it’s worth re-working it. They want to move on to something else. What have you got?

This happens more than you think.

Keep learning and writing while you are waiting. So that when/if rejection comes you’ve got something else that you love, ready to go.

Agent Rejection Three:

The agent takes you on as a client and then rejects you.

Having been through the third I can tell you this was the worst rejection of all rejections and stopped me writing for almost a year. My tip for surviving? Acceptance of the natural behavioural pattern. I only discovered this a few years later. Maybe I had to go through it in order to understand it?

Event: A rejection drops into your inbox.

·       Reactions:

o   Physical reaction: Stomping, stamping, shouting, throwing, walking, running, scowling, slumping, Netflix bingeing etc etc etc

o   Emotional reaction: disappointment, despair, anger, misery, despondency, hopelessness, depression, gloom, crying, sobbing, confusion, self-doubt, retreating etc etc etc This reaction can go on for a long time (months, years) depending on the number of rejections accumulated previously, your personality and the nature (severity) of the rejection. Be kind to yourself!

·       Reflection: Eventually the emotional brain has had its reaction and the logical brain takes over. Evidence is gathered to support continuing to write. Or. Evidence is gathered to support giving up.

·       Decision: A decision is made. You either stop, continue, or take a break.

·      Action: Depending on the decision you either write or you don’t. You start something new or go back through your slushpile.

Understanding your behavioural pattern and the length of time you personally need to spend in each phase can help make the reaction more bearable. You know you have to go through it, there’s no escaping emotion but perhaps you don’t have to experience it quite as intensely and you can move on faster using distraction techniques.

I stopped writing and turned to learning more about writing. I read all the How To books I could get hold of and read blogs on writing. I blogged about writing on Notes From the Slushpile. I began the poetry blog the funeverse with a group of SCBWI_BI authors. This helped to keep me focused on children’s literature but relieved me of the pressure of Must Get Another Agent. I also began knitting so that I could be successful at something and when I’d finished a few jumpers I returned to writing. Sheila Averbuch took up different hobbies.

Sheila M. Averbuch: If you can’t write – as I couldn’t, for months – try at least to protect your writing time and do something else satisfying in it, something creative or mentally stimulating (I practiced my old acting monologues, and tried new recipes, and learned Japanese). That way, if and when you feel you can work with words again, your writing time is ready and waiting for you, and it hasn’t been swamped by life. Even if the world hasn’t yet given you a signal that it needs your writing, you need your writing.

Emma Styles: I started in 2008 & not published yet. I had an agent for just over three years, that book didn’t sell & I found myself back on the slushpile. That all happened very early on & was a bit of a rollercoaster. But I learned a lot & like others have said, writing has just become what I do, how I make sense of things, and I can’t really stop. I have tried a couple of times. I remember telling a writer friend, ‘I could have quite a nice life if I wasn’t writing.’ Which was ridiculous & I knew it! I think I had an idea I’d have all this spare time, but to do what? And yes, it’s the friends that have kept me going, plus that mysterious something to do with ‘making stuff up.’ I would love some of that stuff to be appreciated by others which I guess keeps me going too.

So, let’s now assume you’ve taken the next step and you have an agent. Success has occurred not rejection! And now let’s assume your agent has deemed your work ready to be submitted to their favourite publishers.

Now you’re ready for the next post.

In Praise of Writers’ Resilience.

Part Two – Published

Coming soon

This is where I look at the types of rejection you may experience post book deal. I shall leave you with this inspirational story of writerly resilience from Janet Foxley.

Janet Foxley: I started writing a story for my daughter when she was one and finished it when she was 31. I had no support in the form of a crit group, editorial agency or anything like SCBWI until year 29, when my daughter, by then interested in writing herself, drew my attention to an editorial agency she’d spotted advertising in a magazine. The structural report they gave on it showed that I wrote well but had no idea how to build a novel. I turned it round and the editor loved it but pointed out that a 116,000 word saga by a new writer would never find a publisher. I self-published it (through Matador) before self-publishing was respectable and cheaply available, and threw away most of the unsold copies last year when we moved to a smaller house.

With that knowledge I set about writing something the right length, but it still took 8 years, two edits from an agency (one of which sent it in the wrong direction) a comment from a publisher’s reader that put it back on track, a prize short-listing and several rejections before it won the Times/Chicken House prize and a publishing contract.

During the 35-odd years from starting writing to publication I did several of the courses advertised in writing magazines and finished several books that were nowhere near fit to submit. For me, the only way of making progress was to pay for structural edits from people who not only knew how to structure a novel but also knew the market. So my advice would be, listen to knowledgeable critics, be prepared to rewrite and rewrite, but also be prepared to scrap an unviable project, or one that has become too stale to love any more, and start on something fresh. I wish there had been something like SCBWI when I started - I’m sure I’d have progressed much faster.

What made me keep going? Quite simply the need to write.

Em Lynas is a long time SCBWI member and author of the Witch School series with Nosy Crow. She is represented by Amber Caraveo of the Skylark Literary Agency. You can find out more about her and her books on her website emlynas




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