The Writer's Journey - How Long!?!

by Em Lynas

Last year was weird. I signed with agent Amber Caraveo of Skylark Literary and landed a 3 book deal with Kate Wilson of Nosy Crow.

Next year is set to be weirder as I write two more books in the Toadspit Towers series and promote the first.

It feels weird because it’s led me to do a bit of thinking and wondering about time: how it’s passed and how and why I kept writing over...

EIGHTEEN YEARS!

Eighteen years from ‘I think I’ll become a writer!’ to ‘I have a book coming out in August!’

Why did it take me so long? What were my steps? What led me to here? What led me to Toadspit Towers, School for Witches and the deal with Nosy Crow. If I'd known it would take so long would I have even started?

Let’s go back to 1999. Yes, the last century! Before the millennium! I was a teacher. A reception teacher who needed to get out.

I had A PLAN! Become a picture book writer and never suffer an OFSTED ever again!

I was obviously an expert in picture books (reception teacher remember) so, I wrote lots of picture books. They were bad picture books. They all lacked something. But not always the same something. They were amateurish.

Some of these books had:

No lead character, tick; no conflict, tick; no plot, tick; no theme, tick.

Comedy? Tick. Yes. They all had comedy.

I kept writing because:

I had great feedback from agents and editors. I even had a near miss from a big publisher. They kept Maybe the Baby for a year and then said no. That was a bad ending. The book’s ending was bad too.

What next? Stick to picture books and learn my craft? Of course not. Picture books were obviously far too hard (everyone said so) and I needed to try something different, something easier.

Aha! PLAN 2 Become a comedy sketch writer.

Link provided to
Lily's Tassels
 on request.

I signed up for a comedy class. It turned out to be less a class and more a boozy gang of very sweary comics (think VIZ but actual live people) led by a not-very-funny outspoken woman with a not-very-funny act that involved extreme piercing and tassel twirling. 

I kept writing because:

This group led to my friend and I meeting with a local comedian who had an idea for a comedy drama script.

Aha! PLAN 3 – Become a script writer.

We wrote the script for From Fags to Riches. Six episode outlines and one full script of episode one. That script is waiting to be discovered. It’s good. One day it may find a home.

This script has:

An interesting premise, tick; a well-structured plot, tick; believable characters, tick; loads of peril, tick; comedy and pathos, tick; well-known actors and actresses interested in taking parts, tick.

No production company deals, tick; it’s not my voice, tick.

I kept writing because:

I was getting a sense of my voice. I had my own ideas. They wouldn’t go away. I’d learned a lot about structure while we wrote the script. But what next? Stick to scriptwriting? Nope. I love books. I love comedy. Mmm. Comedy.

Aha! PLAN 4 Write a book. A comedy for adults.

Mother on the Mantelpiece. I still like this book. Brenda, school secretary, is a middle-aged woman being haunted by her mother who still ‘knows best’ and is ruling her life from the grave.

This book has:

an interesting premise, tick; an unrequited romance with the bloke downstairs, tick; believable characters, tick; comedy and pathos, tick; a beginning, tick.

No plot, tick; no ending; tick.

By now I’d been to a few scriptwriting courses and creative writing courses, and had begun to engage with other writers. I joined the online critique group You Write On and Harper Collins critique site Authonomy.

What a great procrastination! What an emotional rollercoaster. What a waste of writing time. BUT I did learn lessons. It was an introduction to objectivity versus subjectivity. ‘Your characters are so believable!’ ‘Your characters aren’t believable.’ ‘Love your premise.’ ‘Hate your premise.’ ‘Your plot is so well paced.’ ‘Your plot is too frantic.’

I kept writing because:

People at courses and online laughed. They found my writing funny. That was amazing.

Aha! PLAN 5 Write a different book. A really silly book for kids. The daftest book I can write.

I loved Tony Ross’s book Don’t Do That! About a kid who gets their finger stuck up their nose and it reminded me of the saying – If The Wind Changes You’ll Stay Like That! A warning not to pull faces.

And so Gurner Gobbit and the Bloodcurdling Bug-Eyed Jawbreaker was born. This was the first novel that I actually completed. I loved it. I loved Gurner and his recklessness, and his best friend Pete who was obsessed with reporting Gurner’s antics. It was whacky – set in an alternative Lancashire where extreme face pulling was the norm. But certain faces were BANNED as too dangerous. Pulling the BANNED faces had consequences.

This book has:

A ridiculous premise, tick; bonkers characters, tick; crazy events, tick; comedy conflict, tick; logical plot, tick.

Really poor set up of the events and ending, tick; a protagonist who can’t speak because his face is distorted, tick.

I kept writing because:

I joined SCBWI. Gurner won an honorary mention in The 2010 Undiscovered Voices. An editor saw the book on Authonomy and expressed interest. People thought it was funny.

Next plan. PLAN 6. 6! Get a book ready for the next Undiscovered Voices competition. Maybe twist a traditional tale?

To Destiny or Death! Prince Bob is turned into a frog by the evil Hagatha and it’s all King Fred’s fault!  I love King Fred and his food related idiolect. Another completed book! And it’s in my voice.

This book has:

A big heart, tick; strong characters, tick; a structured plot, tick; conflict and peril, tick; logical set up and motivations, tick; funny dialogue, tick.

A protagonist who can’t speak because he’s a frog, tick. There is now a pattern of non-speaking protagonists. If 2 makes a pattern.

I kept writing because:

To Destiny or Death! won a place in the 2012 Undiscovered Voices competition. I signed with an agent. I had publishers interested. It failed to get past sales and marketing.

Note the date. 2012

We’re now thirteen years into the journey to publication. I haven’t mentioned the other picture books I’ve written, the two teen books planned and not written, volunteering for SCBWI, setting up the poetry website the funeverse with SCBWI friends, joining the blog Notes from the Slushpile with even more SCBWI friends. I'd become very busy at being a writer.

Back to the timeline.

This was a dip time. A bit of a depressing time. I considered not writing. I felt I knew what I was doing now. I understood structure, set up, characterisation etc etc etc but I was failing at the last hurdle – being published. It was very difficult to maintain any enthusiasm for submitting and sharing my work with the publishing industry.

I kept writing because:

I still loved writing and I had another story. A story that still makes me smile. Florence and the Meanies – Cupcake Catastrophe! I also wrote book 2 Canine Calamity!

Based on the Cinderella dynamic, Florence and her two fairy godmothers must save the princes from the evil Meanies. Florence was a lot of fun to write, especially because the two fairy godmothers Hatty and Dotty are such contrasts of good and naughty. But having parted company with my agent I wasn’t sure I wanted to put Florence (and me) through the submission process. So I worked with my daughter Katherine Lynas to produce an illustrated version for the kindle and we did the layout for a createspace book too. I’ve since withdrawn the book because ... I have a plan for Florence.

These books have:

Everything I want them to have especially warmth, heart, my voice and my daughter's fabulous illustrations.

I kept writing because:

A new character popped up with a very personal and unique story. Daisy knew what she didn’t want. She definitely didn’t want to go to witch school. I wrote her story. I re-wrote it. I wrote it again. That was in 2015.

Then, in 2016 Prince Bob won a SCBWI BI slushpile challenge with Amber Caraveo and she said the magic words – what else have you got? And I answered – I have Daisy! She’s an actress who’s been dumped at Toadspit Towers, School for Witches, by her granny. Amber fell for Daisy. She fell for the voice.

Pg 93 in the catalogue! Click here!

You can read about Daisy on the Nosy Crow website. In August 2017 she will have her book birthday and I will be a published author.

So, EIGHTEEN LONG YEARS! Could I have done it sooner? Was there a short cut I missed? What if I’d done a creative writing degree? What if I’d done an MA? Would I have climbed the learning curve faster? Would I have been published faster? I don’t think so. No. Not me. There was so much to discover and learn. Not just about the techniques of writing but I had to discover my voice, discover what I cared about and discover what motivated me.

I thought comedy was the motivation, I thought I just wanted to make children laugh. But comedy is just the genre I use to write about the things I care about. It just took me a while to discover what those things were. 

What was the main thing that gave me the confidence to keep writing? SCBWI BI. Winning Undiscovered Voices and the Slushpile Challenge was incredibly motivating. I had to be doing something right if I'd won those. And you should never underestimate the power of SCBWI friendships. They just won't let you give up!

If you're writing for children and are a member of SCBWI BI (or Europe) you can enter these amazing competitions for free. Do it.

Em Lynas

Feel free to follow me on twitter and facebook if you are at all interested in books and writing for children. You can nip over to my website emlynas but I'm not often in.

How to Eliminate Your Writer's Tics by Kathryn Evans

Kathryn Evans, tics? You betcha.

So...You have a writer's tic?
So...have I.

And they are HORRIBLY, HIDEOUSLY noticeable when I am editing...and editing...and editing.

Of course some tics are not tics, they are your writing style, or "voice" if you like. A "tic" becomes a "tic" when it happens waaaaaay too often - so much so that it looks like you are  having a laugh at your own expense.  I'm pretty sure you've spotted at least two of mine in this short introduction.

Starting sentences with So..And... But...
And these........
I also do love to use "-" instead of ",".

What I Learned From Writing My Second Novel

Dig the cool cover by David Dean who
also designed the cover of Tall Story

By Candy Gourlay

How do you finish a second novel?

With difficulty.

Especially if the book is has been listed on bloody Amazon for a YEAR and has a cover and your SENSITIVE, HELPFUL friends keep saying, 'Candy, we're going to pre-order your book!'

And life keeps getting in the way, and new ideas for future books keep sneaking into your brain except how are you ever going to write another book this one is taking so LONG, and you've got to market your OTHER book, and you're afraid of saying no to Dylan Calder and to school visits and your other book is published in paperback to a deafening silence in the United States and you know you've got to DO SOMETHING to make the Americans read it but HOW? (for pity's sake, my non-fellow Americans,  buy it on Amazon) And you've got to visit your mother in the Philippines and the children have inadvertently EATEN the fridge (again!) and blah blah blah BLAH.

Tips for a Writer Wrangler: Advice for Family and Friends of Writers

Writer Wrangler (N): someone who has voluntarily, or involuntarily, come into possession of a writer

By Katy Wyton,
Guest Blogger

In the summer of 2005, I was just a poor, unsuspecting 13 year-old. I had two older sisters who doted on me, and spent their 'hard-earned' money on me. Then it happened: my eldest sister became infected with the sickness known as "Writing". Of course, my parents took her straight to the library, where they ran a number of tests, and eventually diagnosed her as a "Novelist". It was the news we had been dreading, but somewhere deep down I'd known this was coming: she buys me a book. Every. Single. Christmas.

Since then, my life has changed. My social life has vanished, as I now spend all my time listening to her telling me stories, other people's stories and eve ideas for new stories.

I now live my life by a series of well-strategised rules. These have taken my six years to perfect. I hope that by sharing them with you, I can save others from the same fate.

Tip #1 Symptoms

It is important to spot your Writer early; this will give you the best chance of controlling the situation. There are several signs to look out for:

• carrying a notebook on their person. At. All. Times.
• phrases such as 'I've had this idea,' and 'I've been thinking'.
• the woman behind the desk in the children's/sci-fi/historical fiction department of the bookstore knows them by name
• phone conversations no longer starting with a query as to your general welfare, but with "Hey, have you had a chance to read it yet?"
• an unhealthy knowledge of publishing trends (you will know this has happened when you no longer recognise any of the authors/books they are talking about)

Should you notice any of these symptoms in a loved one, be warned that their transition into a Writer has most definitely begun, and there is no way for you to stop it. The writer has to want to stop.

Tip #2 Habits

• You may find your Writer sitting in a dark room talking to themselves. Do not be alarmed; this is normal behaviour. They are most likely talking to their characters. In the event that they should notice your presence in the room, retreat slowly, avoiding eye contact. In the event that they should start shouting at the computer, run.
• When intoxicated, Writers may become incoherent. It doesn't matter. You probably wouldn't have a clue what they were talking about anyway.
• You will find that entire walls in the house slowly become inhabited by storyboards, sticky notes and imaginary timelines. It is necessary for your Writer to feel free to decorate thusly. Not doing so can have adverse effects. If you wake up to find that you yourself have also been covered in sticky notes, it is time to call in the professionals.

Tip #3 Caring for your Writer

• Writers are untamed. It is your responsibility to ensure they appear human at all times. They may need to be forcibly pulled away from their computer to sleep, wash, etc. There are various ways of handling this. If, for example, they are reluctant to come to the dinner table, try laying out a trail of synonyms for them to follow.
• Get your Writer into a routine. Encourage frequent naps. This will not necessarily benefit the Writer in any way, but should give you some peace and quiet for a few minutes.
• Convince your Writer that a walk in the fresh air will help them to focus. You may even want to plan their route yourself. Try to keep them away from inhabited areas, where they may infect others, or worse, talk to them.
• Encourage your Writer to go on gatherings known as "retreats". This will give them the room to vent their ideas in an enclosed, safe environment. Warning: they may return.
• Feed your Writer frequently. It may sedate them.

Tip #4 In Case of Difficulty

• If all else fails, there should be no shortage of large books around the house to hit yourself over the head with. Do however note that after spending several exhausting hours offering "plotting advice" to your Writer, hard-back books may be difficult to lift.
• If the urge to kick/slap/strangle your Writer occurs, put your head between your knees and breathe deeply. Ask your Writer to do the same. If you are lucky, it will leave them dazed and confused long enough for you to make your escape.
• Persuade your Writer that procrastination is a good thing. There are plenty of tasks to be done around the house. This will not only distract your Writer, but will mean your housework gets done much faster.

Tip #5 General dos and don'ts

• Some have suggested that Writers should be kept isolated, and should only socialise with other Writers. However, this is cruel, and Writers should be treated as normal people. The RSPCW does not take kindly to Writers being kept alone or in cages. Remember to regularly refill their chocolate supply and wine glass.
• If faced with a demand for a simile/metaphor/character name/variety of garden bird, pull your best 'thinking face' until your Writer comes to their own conclusion. It won't matter. They wouldn't have liked your idea anyway.
• Writers bear striking similarity to small children. You may find that waving small, shiny objects distracts them long enough for you to hide their laptop. You can then keep them occupied for hours with a fun game of Hide and Seek. Or, as I like to call it, Hide.
• Avoid long journeys with your Writer. Once on board a moving vehicle, there is little room for escape.
• Avoid engaging your Writer in conversation about their book. As much as you may feel obligated to do so, do not ask them how their writing is going. You are unlikely to shut them up for at least a week.
• Never show fear. It will only encourage them.

Writing is a disease. It spreads fast. Once somebody you know has been contaminated, watch out for signs and symptoms in others close by. There is no way of preventing the illness, and no known cure. Nobody is safe.

Some people may run when faced with the prospect of a friend or family member becoming a Writer, but I implore you to stay by your Writer's side. They may not know it, but they need you. If your Writer becomes too much for you to handle, refer back to these guidelines. (Please note that actual results may vary. If problems persist, consult a thesaurus.)

I shall now return to my normal life, dreaming of the day when my name is in print (I have been promised a dedication). Always remember: Writers are people too.

Katy Wyton is a student, sister and plot-whisperer extraordinaire. She was forced to write this blog by her big sister, who insists that she is a writer, however much she may say that she isn't. She therefore intends to avoid it as much as possible in the future.

Incompetence - The Series

Previously on Incompetence- The Series:

Episode One


Our very excited Lesser-spotted Red-faced Authors
have hatched from their egg of unconscious incompetence
and discovered a world in which they
don't know what they don't know.



Please Note : If you've just read the first episode
and found no reference to the Lesser-spotted Red-faced Author
blame my incompetence and lack of imagination at the time.


Episode Two
The fledgling authors discover just how enormous their incompetence is
and they now

know what it is that they don't know.

Such a lot to learn!

Such small heads!

Tantrums, feather pulling and flocking are observed until our Lesser-spotted Red-faced Authors reach the third stage in their development –
Episode three- Happy New Competence! Our authors have reached the third stage of learning - Conscious Competence.

I know what I know and don’t I know it! Yippee!

And now for the final episode on Incompetence – Unconscious Competence.

Me? 
Competent? 
Am I? 
Wow! 
Really?

Meet Flapper. She’s been published! She’s flown to the land of the Greater-spotted Authors with her book in her beak, and now she wants to know -

Is she a Greater-spotted Author yet and – drum roll for big question – have the flock of Greater-spotted Authors actually achieved Stage four – unconscious competence. Do they instinctively use and apply their knowledge? Because she’s not certain she’s there yet, even though the book is out and the reviews are egg-crackingly excellent.

Does she get an answer? She does. Yes. Then she gets another and another and another until she’s reeling with the confusion of it all.

Then Clever Cluck comes forward to help with some questions of her own.

‘Can an author ever be unconsciously competent when every book is different? What type of author stands the biggest chance of being unconsciously competent? Do you have to be unconsciously competent in everything to write a good book? Was Margaret Mitchell at stage four when she wrote Gone With the Wind?’

One quick tweet and Flapper had an answer, Yahoo!

According to Contemporary Authors, Mitchell worked steadily on Gone with the Wind from 1926 to 1934, with brief periods of "discouragement" in 1927 and 1934. In April of 1935 she gave the manuscript to Macmillan editor, Harold Latham to read and he sent her a telegram saying that her novel had great potential. It was published in 1936.

Ten years, thinks Flapper. That doesn’t sound very unconsciously competent at all. I think she was wide awake and full of consciousness. In fact, I suspect much crossing out and redrafting.

‘Then of course there’s Harper Lee?’ says Clever Cluck.

More tweeters join in and Wikipedia’s first to answer.

’Having written several long stories, Harper Lee located an agent in November 1956. The following month at the East 50th townhouse of her friends Michael Brown and Joy Williams Brown, she received a gift of a year's wages from them with a note: "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." She quit her job and devoted herself to her craft. Within a year, she had a first draft. Working with J. B. Lippincott & Co. editor Tay Hohoff, she completed To Kill a Mockingbird in the summer of 1959. Published July 11, 1960.’

‘So, only four years,’ says Flapper. ‘Maybe there was a bit more competence, or maybe it was a shorter book?’

‘Have you considered some slightly more prolific authors,’ asks Clever Cluck. ‘How about Austin?’

More mad tweeting and Wikipedia is first again with his answer.

‘Jane Austin’s artistic apprenticeship lasted from her teenage years until she was about 35 years old. During this period, she experimented with various literary forms, including the epistolary novel which she tried then abandoned, and wrote and extensively revised three major novels and began a fourth. From 1811 until 1816, with the release of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816), she achieved success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began a third, which was eventually titled Sanditon.

‘Now!’ Our Flapper is flapping! ‘There’s someone I can relate to! There’s someone who’s been through the stages of learning how to write.’

‘But,’ interrupts Clever Cluck, who’s warming to the theme now. ‘Did the books become more interesting, more engaging, have stronger characters, more complex plots, as she became more experienced? Or did Austen display a tendency towards prolific genre writing.’

‘Aha! Prolific genre writing!’ Flapper feels that she’s getting nearer some sort of answer and her feathers are fluffed. ‘Maybe this is where authors genuinely demonstrate their unconscious competence. What about Agatha Christie? How productive was she!’ This last bit was said as a statement rather than a question.

The whole flock of Greater-spotted Authors is tweeting madly now, Flapper’s still flapping and Clever Cluck is, oh all right – Clever Cluck’s clucking.

And good old Wiki answers with – ‘Agatha Christie wrote 79 novels: 72 under her name, 1 under her second husband's last name and 6 under the name Mary Westmacott.’

Then Jeeves interrupts with a tweet of his own – ‘Christie has written over two billion books worldwide and has been translated into over 45 languages.’

Now that is impressive! thinks Flapper. She must have been unconscious at some point!

Wikipedia’s full of himself as he announces, ‘Barbara Cartland is Queen of the Unconscious Authors! Seven hundred and twenty three books! Her first works seem to have been very different to the books that most readers are familiar with. Cartland published her first novel, Jigsaw in 1923, a risqué society thriller that became a bestseller. She also began writing and producing somewhat racy plays, one of which, Blood Money (1926), was banned by the Lord Chamberlain's Office. But she soon settled down and started to produce novels that proved to be exactly what a lot of people wanted to read he added.

‘So, little Flapper,’ says Clever Cluck. ‘What is it these authors have become so adept at? What part of writing have they embedded in their subconscious so that they can write all of these books?’

At that moment (this is turning into a story!) a Masked Agent flew down and landed on a nearby, very conveniently placed, branch.

‘I have the answer,’ he said wisely. ‘These particular authors are unconsciously competent at the following -

They devise characters that can go from book to book.

Agatha Christie’s Poirot and Inspector Japp
Ian Fleming’s James Bond and M
Alexander McCall Smith’s Precious Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi
Or
They use archetypes repeatedly
Barabara Cartland’s brave and feisty heroine who never the less will require rescuing by the rugged, fearless, yet sensitive, hero.

They keep the structure the same
Bond - the Hero’s Journey.
Poirot – a murder must be solved, there’ll be clues, red herrings, then a revelation.
Precious Ramotswe – a mystery must be solved, there’ll be clues, red herrings, then a revelation.
Cartland – Woman meets man A and doesn’t like him. Woman meets man B and likes him. Woman realises man B is bad news and man A is the one and only love of her life.

The premise is constant
Bond – The world is under threat from a supremely nasty villain and Bond must save humanity.
Poirot – Someone (sometimes lots of someones) is murdered and Poirot will find out who did it.
Precious Ramotswe – Someone commits a crime and Precious will make sure they come to justice.
Cartland – Girl falls in love with the right boy.

The voice is consistent
The author understands how to write, how to use the right tone, relevant motifs, and appropriate dialogue for time, setting and character.

The wise one nods wisely and falls asleep, leaving the flock to wonder – which one am I? And what’s left for my conscious mind to do?

So Flapper is still left with a question - Am I going to be an author who strives to re-invent the wheel with every book, constantly battling away at my incompetence or am I going to take what I am currently unconsciously competent at and work with it?

Where are you?