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

Publishing Secrets by Em Lynas

Have you ever noticed how many secrets have to be kept in publishing? 

My children's author friends are forever spilling the beans with a - Don't tell anyone but... Either face to face or in secret groups on facebook. 

For instance:

Prizes

Don't tell anyone I'm on the Undiscovered Voices longlist until the Official Announcement.

Don't tell anyone I'm on the Carnegie shortlist until the Official Announcement.

Don't tell anyone my book has been optioned (film/tv deal) until the Official Announcement.

Don't tell anyone I'm the Children's Laureate until the Official Announcement.

We are Liars. And Editors are Just Readers

By  Candy Gourlay

Here's a report from the AFCC's first retreat for writers and illustrators on Bintan Island in Indonesia, which I attended as a mentor.

'I hope this retreat will help you to get to the truth within the lie,' Sarah Odedina told a roomful of writers and illustrators at a retreat in Indonesia last week. 'I think all good literature has message and meaning. But the message and meaning is hidden in the story.'

Sara speaking at the Retreat. From my comic sketchbook.
View more of my notes on my author site

It was an interesting beginning to her talk on publishing. I don't think I'm making crazy generalisations when I say that, while there are exciting developments in children's publishing in Asia, many educators and parents in the region still regard reading and books as educational tools.

Many educators and parents still regard reading and books as educational tools

It was a constant refrain from publishers, writers, illustrators, and teachers I met last week at the Asian Festival for Children's Content that followed the retreat in Singapore. Far too many educators and parents in this region believe that reading for pleasure -- comics, funny books, books with farts in them, magic, fantasy -- should take a back seat to moral and other lessons.

The job of the editor, Sarah said, is to help authors get the story from inside their heads into books. Never mind the moral lessons. Focus on the story.

'Children are our future. Literature can give them confidence about being part of the world around them,' she said. ' Literacy is not just about being able to read the words on the page but being able to decipher the meaning of a story. The message of a story can be immense but expressed in the lightest way.'

Retreat members and faculty in Singapore before boarding the ferry to Bintan, Indonesia

It was the first retreat ever organised by the Asian Festival of Children's Content. It was as diverse a group as I've ever seen - twenty-six people representing Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Canada, Macau, India, the United States, England, Australia and Portugal, ranging from beginners at the craft of children's books to experienced, multi-published authors.

Held at an Indonesian resort just an hour's ferry ride from Singapore, the retreat was led by mentors that included Sarah, illustrator Catarina Sobral and writer-agent Andrea Pasion-Flores and me. Here's the view from one of the lecture rooms, just to make you jealous:

I remember meeting Sarah Odedina more than five years ago at a talk at the Bologna Children's Book Fair. I'm sure she doesn't remember me as I was one of the cowering unpublished then.

At the time she was editorial director of Bloomsbury Children's Books and famously part of the Harry Potter publishing team.

In those days I had no idea about her Harry Potter connection. What thrilled me was the fact that Sarah had edited Witch Child by Celia Rees. A gazillion writers discover the audience they want to write for through books like How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff and The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness and Witch Child was one of those breakthrough novels. I would count it as one of the books that spurred me to write for young people.

More recently Sarah was editorial director of Hot Key books where she published Carnegie winning Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner before moving to One World, where she's overseeing its Young Adult and children's publishing.

Sarah's retreat presentation ranged from tips for aspiring authors to a thorough explanation of genres in children's books.

SARAH'S TIPS FOR WANNABE AUTHORS

• Complement don't mimic a publisher's list. Don't look at the publisher's list and say they published Harry Potter therefore they will want another magical boarding school book. Research publishers, try to get a real sense of what they publish. "What publisher publishes the kind of work you want to be associated with?"
  
• Smaller publishers vs big publishers? Big publishers have clout in distribution and marketing terms but small publishers will be far more flexible.
  
• Get an Agent. Literary agents have their foot in the door. Publishers will look at submissions from literary agents first on the basis that they have already been filtered from the vast sea of manuscripts.
  
• Be Professional. Follow the stated guidelines. If the publisher's website says send the outline and the first three chapters, that is what you do. Don't say, 'I showed it to my grandchildren and they loved it.' Include any practical information that reveals your seriousness and professionalism (eg. you've been a member of a critique group for several years, you are a paying member of a respected organisation like the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators).
  
• Sorry, reading submissions takes time. Send material ... then be prepared to wait. Don't expect an immediate response. Sometimes it could take many weeks. Don't badger the publisher, don't call every week - wait maybe three months before following up. "We can't cope with feeling that we are keeping people in suspense."
  
• Know your genre. It's not enough to write a story and say that it's for a ten year old. Go into a bookshop and see what is being sold on the shelves, and how they are being categorised. "Read, read, read. Become familiar with publishing in the children's book world ... children of a certain age can take information in a particular way."
  
• Think of how you present yourself to the public. Websites. Social Media. Look at how others do it and note when things are done well. Do you have another persona incompatible with your children's work? Create a strong presence.
  
• Take part in the conversation. The children's book world is very conversation driven. Get involved. It would be a terrible mistake to only go out on social media when you're selling books. "On Twitter I have not chosen for you to sell me something. I am there to talk to you."

"The process of getting published involves different levels of commitment at different points of the journey," Sarah says.

Choosing a book involves a team. Commissioning editors will commit first. Then the sales team must commit, having decided that yes, they can sell this book. "Every step of the way, it's about faith. It's about trust. There's no golden rule."

Every step of the way, it's about faith. It's about trust. There's no golden rule

If you'd like to submit to Sarah. Here's what she says about her acquiring philosophy:

• I am looking at books as a reader.
• I read everything that comes in.
• I am looking for a good relationship with an author. 
• It's about not losing faith, it's about us doing our best for you. Like a close friendship, your relationship with your editor/publisher should be guarded.
• I like plot-driven books
• I acquire really simply. If I like it, I will take it to the sales team.

So there you have it. As authors we must be skilful liars, our essential truths concealed in our fiction. Meanwhile editors are just readers who must like our lies in order to publish them.

---

Candy Gourlay's latest book is Shine, an atmospheric ghost story whose heroine is a hidden away girl who lives her life on the Internet. Nominated for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2015. www.candygourlay.com @candygourlay

We children's authors are a supportive bunch, cheering each other on through gritted teeth

By Candy Gourlay

Hilary Mantel (Photo: Harper Collins)

Go, Hilary!

After winning the Booker Prize a second time (with the second book of her trilogy), Hilary Mantel also grabbed the Costa Prize. £30,000 prize money. Blimey.

Sally Gardner of course won the Children's Costa for Maggot Moon.

Why you have no idea what you're doing

By Candy Gourlay

First, let us all take a moment to gaze upon Harrison Ford in his prime.

Ready to Publish? Are you? Are you really?

 by Maureen Lynas. Illustrations by guest blogger Katherine Lynas 

Are your characters ready to be seen?

Great Expectations - the SCBWI Winchester Conference and Candy Gourlay

by Addy Farmer & all the rest of the Slushpile gang, except one: surprise, Candy!!

Stand up for the outstanding Candy Gourlay!

Thanks to Kathy Evans for the pic!

That's what we did in a packed conference hall - we stood and applauded Candy as she was awarded the Crystal Kite Member Choice Award which is given by the SCBWI to recognise great books from around the world.It is chosen by other children's book writers and illustrators and is a testament to Candy's fizzing creativity, her warm and generous spirit and that great thing she has, stickability.

The London Book Fair Day Two: It's the UK against the world in book cover design

The talk was meant to be about international perspectives on cover design - there were to be two British publishers — Patrick Insole from Walker Books and Jon Lambert from Templar — and Christine Baker from the French publisher, Gallimard Jeunnesse.

But we lost the French publisher due to the transportation chaos - Antonia Pelari, rights director of Scholastic stepped in at the last minute.

Patrick, Antonia and Jon

Despite the exotic sound to her name, Antonia is as British as the other two speakers making the 'international panel' thoroughly UK led. But I thought the resulting event - though not what it said on the tin - was revelatory about the UK market. Illustrator John Shelley blogged very perceptively about it today.

Jon of Templar showed the evolution of this Eragon cover with the author Christopher Paolini very much hands on - changing the key image up to the last minute. But this is an aberration rather than the rule. The author may be consulted but the opinion that counts the most would be "the client". Who's the client? The bookseller.

Patrick of Walker showed the evolution of international covers for The Savage by David Almond and illustrated by Dave McKean. Candlewick, the American arm of Walker, felt that the original cover (on the right) was too "brutal". So McKean came up with the cover on the left which is the US cover.

It just goes to show that violence is in the eye of the beholder.

Here's the French cover - very chic. Said Patrick, "Even though internationally the covers (of The Savage) look different, there’s a family likeness to all the books."

"Sometimes when authors see the covers of their foreign editions, they are a bit taken aback," Antonia said, because the international interpretation may be so far from their own. "What they need to realize is that those international publishers create a cover that will work within their market and nobody knows that market better than they do."

Antonia showed these covers of Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve and illustrated by David Frankland.

On the left is the UK cover by David Frankland and on the right is the Dutch cover. Indeed this Dutch edition didn't do well. The rights have now reverted and been picked up and the cover on the left is now what bookstores are stocking in the Netherlands. "They don't always get it right," Antonia said.

With the British book market contracting slightly in the downturn, overseas sales have become so important to UK publishers that appealing to all markets has become very, very important.

The problem for picture book illustration in the UK of course, as pointed out by Sunday Times critic Nicolette Jones, who hosted the panel, is that we might end up in a "generic place".

She cited as an example picture book illustrations which show cars with the steering wheel in the middle. "We could end up with a generic picture book land where things look a particular way and not at all like real life."

All this talk of covers made me wonder if my own book TALL STORY (out in May ...  pre-order here - I am not ashamed to beg but please don't make me do it too often) could jump through all the hoops mentioned by our panel. So here are some things that were said and how my cover stands up to them.

It is incredibly hard to make children not look sinister and disturbing. 

Hmm. The child on my cover is eight feet tall. But he doesn't look too sinister.

Tall Story Cover

Illustration David Dean. Cover design Alison Godsby

A luxury space like the Barns and Noble in New York (would have room to display your book cover). But the majority of bookstores cram them in – a lead title might be face out but everything else will be spine. 

Tall Story spine:

Yay! I love that the girl with the basketball points toward the cover as if saying, "Check out this book!"

For the sake of the international market, we avoid putting things on the cover that might be too specific - like a big red double decker bus.

Oops.

Tall Story back cover

It's all not necessarily so of course, the panel said. There are really no rules although it might seem like it.

Getting the cover right is - like everything in the book business - all about balancing risk with doing the best you can - Jon Lambert summed it up beautifully:

What we are trying to sell people is a common goal not to exclude anyone from reading a great book. 

An aside about the cover of Tall Story: I LOVE it --  it's so ... 3D! It's so full of story, whether you're looking at the flaps, the spine, the back or the front. And I especially LOVE the big red double decker bus. I'm sure the Philippine Department of Tourism loves it too! Thanks, David and Alison! You rock!