Lincoln Inspired!

by Addy Farmer

Writing is an act of faith in yourself, in the others you count on to support you and in the publisher who'll eventually provide you with a happy ending. Sometimes it's hard to maintain that faith and doubts slink in - my story is wafflingbadly/toomanywords/toofewwords/notenoughdragons - that sort of thing. It gets tough.

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. Ernest Hemingway

Cheery stuff but sometimes it might feel that way. So on this midweek morning I'm reminding you, dear slushpiler, that you are not alone and that you can become perky again just by getting out once in a while - meeting those publishers, having fun with your writing and communing with those all-important writing pals. This weekend Lincoln Inspired did all these things. It was a community crowd-funded festival and wonderfully inspiring.

Cheer up, sausage and go to a festival!

Sometimes you have to work at inspiration, sweat a bit even. Sometimes you have to find the right place at the right time with the right people. Then again sometimes it's easy because all of those things come together.
I kicked off the day doing 1-2-1s with pre-published children's writers. We chatted through their writing dilemmas and I think it fair to say that I was in some sort of near-heaven where the only thing I had to think about was writing, writing and more writing. Okay, it wasn't my own writing which would be actual heaven but we'll get to that later.

Big head at The Drill Hall in Lincoln - one of the venues for Lincoln Inspired.

Then, because I was late through too much talking, I had to walk very fast up Steep Hill in Lincoln (yes, the name is apt) to get to the next event, Inspiration through Artefacts. This was at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life and led by SCBWI member and museum curator, Debbie Holt.

Debbie and Alan ready to inspire

There were so many stories to be told. We looked and we touched (yes, we were allowed to touch - Debbie said so) and we thought and we wrote as the moo took us.

Children can make playthings out of just about anything...

It just takes a bit of imagination.

 A tea-trainer sparked a memory of drinking tea on holiday picnics at the seaside and how good it tasted and how it just wasn't the same at home.

From imagining stories to having them published. Emily Thomas, publisher at Hot Key Books came with those all-important insider insights.

You can't see their faces but all these people are smiling as they soak up Hot Key's zinging fresh list

The lovely Emily Thomas brings Hot Key Books to Lincoln

I'll return to Hot Key with a further blog soon ...

There was more and more inspiration with the Sunday Scrawl Crawl. It was led by SCBWI member and illustrator, Katherine Lynas. I cannot draw for toffee but I took my camera and found death and battle and honour and light and dark - all stories for the taking.

Debz, Katherine and Hazel getting ready to scrawl at The Collection in Lincoln

Don't listen to the doubters ...

and don't look so worried ...

You can do it ...

With a little help and inspiration from your friends. So, happy Wednesday after a wonderful weekend and here's to finding your story.

A truly awful photo of some truly inspirational people

Guest Blogger Nicola Morgan on Teenage Non-fiction – What? Where? Who? HOW?

Nicola Morgan’s book on the teenage brain, Blame My Brain – The Amazing Teenage Brain Revealed, has been popular and praised ever since first publication in 2005. It’s been translated into several languages and reprinted many times. Now there’s a revised edition, updated with new research and with a new cover.  Nicola is an award-winning teenage novelist as well as a non-fiction writer for all ages and here she is to talk about that elusive category that is YA non-fiction.

The challenge of writing non-fiction for teenagers isn’t writing it but selling it. After all, when did you see a section in a bookshop called “YA non-fiction”? So, when the first edition of Blame My Brain was published in 2005, one of two things happened.

Either, booksellers put it amongst the children’s non-fiction. The trouble with this is that children’s non-fiction books are usually HUUUGE – sometimes thick, but almost always TALL and WIDE and BRIGHT and often SPARKLY. So my sensible paperback was invisible – despite the unsubtle first cover.

Or, booksellers put it somewhere else. Parenting, for example. Or Psychology. Or Science. Or Self-help. Or – trust me, this happened – Sport.

I learnt to play “Where’s My Book?” each time I went into a shop. And booksellers’ eyes would light up and they’d say, “Ooh, Blame My Brain, yes - we’ve definitely got it somewhere…

Notes from an Editor: How (NOT) to Get Published

By Bella Pearson
Guest Blogger

Bella Pearson spent twelve years working for David Fickling Books editing many award winning books such as The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne, Before I Die by Jenny Downham and Tall Story by you know who. She won the Branford Boase for co-editing A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd. Bella recently set up as a freelance children’s book editor and consultant while continuing to work with both publishers and individuals.  She has an MA in Children’s Literature from the University of Surrey and lives in Oxford with three boisterous boys and a husband. www.bellapearson.com

For all aspiring authors, a list of seven things to do in order not to get published, listed in no particular order.

1 PREVARICATE.

If you don’t write anything, you won’t get published. I know it sounds obvious, but you wouldn’t believe the number of writers whose book is still in their head – my mother’s memoirs being one of them; a friend’s picture books another. The words need to come out of your imagination and onto some paper – if you have a good story to tell there are people waiting to read it. As Groucho Marx said: ‘Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read.’

Image by Kerry Madison

2 IGNORE THE WRITERS’ AND ARTISTS’ HANDBOOK

Ignore at your peril - it is invaluable. The bible for aspiring writers – this tells you everything you need to know and more. It will point you in the right direction of publisher for your submission, the most suitable agents to try, the right organization for anything word-related.

3 SEND GIFTS

As an editorial assistant many moons ago, I was thrilled to receive a £10 book token along with an unsolicited manuscript. The following day my knuckles were rapped for accepting bribes and the said manuscript was returned forthwith, as was the token. Cupcakes, flowers and chocolate are not permitted either. (Which is a shame, because editorial assistants aren’t paid much and could do with a boost.)

4 DOUBT THE IMPORTANCE OF AGENTS.

An author and I were having lunch a few weeks ago, when she mentioned her agent. A chill wind blew through the restaurant and my soup froze – we struggled on but the mood had been broken.

But seriously, agents are lovely, and by far the best way to break free of the slush pile. We all know that it is notoriously difficult to stand out from the enormous number of m/ss that publishers receive – and pink paper, glitter and confetti just don’t work. There is no better way of getting your book noticed than if it is at the end of an agent’s arm, being proffered with enthusiasm.

5 DISREGARD THE CRAFT OF WRITING.

The two main things that I look for in a writer are a voice that stands out, and a story that makes me want to read on. Harder than it sounds - but there are ways of learning the craft of writing, the things that make some manuscripts stand out from others: by reading, taking classes, listening to others in writing groups. There are such supportive networks around, and instructive ones too.

6 USE SWEARWORDS IN PICTURE BOOKS

Using graphic words in books for children of pre-school age is a big no-no. (Oh, hang on, I’m mistaken – you CAN get a book deal if you swear. Ignore this point.)

Read about Go the F**k to Sleep

6b GIVE UP

Don’t give up! Please don’t give up. As an editor, nothing beats the feeling you have when reading something that is original, exciting, moving, more than a sum of its parts – and most excitingly of all, by someone yet to be published. If at first you don’t succeed, remember that success for most authors has not been overnight; in most cases it has been years.

From Zazzle

7 TAKE ANY OF THESE POINTS TO HEART

There are always exceptions to the rule.

From Fork Party

Harry Potter was too long, no one wanted to read books about the war, vampires were passé. (I made that last one up.) It’s easy being an editor/publisher. If you hang around in the right place, sooner or later something fantastic is going to turn up which has been the result of someone else’s hard slog.

There is no new ‘Harry Potter’ – only the next great writer or great story.

So keep writing, keep believing, and bravo to all aspiring writers – we salute you!