Your first book is due to be published in February 2010. Want to tell us about it?
It’s called
Castle of Shadows, and is the first of a quartet of adventures for readers aged 9+. In a previous incarnation, it won the Cornerstones/Writer’s News 2007 Wow Factor competition. It also won a place in the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) first anthology, Undiscovered Voices. But I became agented between submitting to the anthology and winning, and my agent asked me to withdraw. So I did.
The books are set in a country similar to Victorian England. Five years before the first book starts, the queen goes missing. The reason behind her disappearance is the plot engine for the series.
Her daughter, Charlie, the princess, is eleven when the first book starts. The queen’s disappearance unbalanced her father, and the king has locked himself away in his apartments and spends all his time building enormous castles out of playing cards.
Charlie is a wild, ragamuffin princess whose only playground is the castle roofs. Her one friend is the former butler, Mr Moleglass who, for a reason he keeps secret, has moved to the cellars. The bane of her life is the evil housekeeper, Mrs O’Dair.
Charlie uncovers a clue to her mother’s disappearance and sets out to find her, with the help of Tobias, the gardener’s boy. She learns that no one in the castle is what they seem, and that she is a pawn in a sinister game where her own life is at stake. Incidentally, she has to save her father and the kingdom as well. Oh, and there’s the prime minister, Alistair Windlass, one of my very favourite characters. But I’m not giving anything away about him.
The second book, City of Thieves, is finished and scheduled to come out six months after Castle.
How long have you been writing? (And how long have you been working on this particular project?)
Like many writers, I’ve been writing since I could hold a pencil. Before that I told myself stories in my head. I did a writing degree as an undergraduate and set out to write ‘literature’. Most of that has been burned, thank goodness.
I’ve been working on Castle since 2007. But I took six months off last year when we were on sabbatical. I’d accepted the offer from Orchard in early 2008. The book’s slot in the publication schedule was at least a year and a half away, and it was going to be a while before they could get editorial notes to me. So I just enjoyed New Zealand! The book’s had about four rewrites since it won the Wow Factor. I’m pleased with it now.
How did it feel to sign on the dotted line?
This whole thing has been odd from the beginning. Although I’d rewritten the beginning several times, I entered a first draft in the Cornerstones competition, not expecting to make even the long list. And it won. The most excited I’ve ever been was when I got the email about the long list and my name was on it. I embarrassed myself by screaming.
It was the first validation I’d had that I was beginning to write to a professional standard. I had no further expectations. But things kept happening. The scariest moment of all was when Helen Corner told me Rosemary Canter wanted to read the book, and I hadn’t done a rewrite at that point! I couldn’t bear the idea of her reading my first draft. But Helen is a pro, so I left it to her. Rosemary offered to represent me on the basis of that first draft. Incredible! If someone had asked me, who is your dream agent, it would have been Rosemary. So it all just snowballed very quickly, and by the time Orchard offered me a contract, I was in shock. I still am. I wonder if I’ll believe it when I see the book in a shop …
What did you read as a teenager?
Almost anything, from literary classics to mythology and folk tales to science fiction and fantasy. I just read everything I could get my hands on. But not ‘teen’ fiction. No Judy Blume. I’ve always been drawn to adventure or quality fantasy. Diana Wynne Jones is my favourite children’s author.
One of the great regrets of my reading life is that I didn’t discover the Moomins until I was nearly forty! But I did grow up with Dr Seuss. The Fox in Socks was my very first book. I can still see it and remember what it was like to hold it. Pure magic. I bless my parents daily for loving books and giving them to us.
What are the easiest traps to fall into as a children's writer?
I suppose the greatest danger for any writer at any stage of their career is not to be able to seek out criticism, or to be able to distinguish between good and bad criticism. Also, not enjoying rewriting. Writing for publication is about rewriting. If you haven’t got the stamina, keep it as a hobby.
The words you write are not precious. I’m amazed at how protective some people can be about their words. They’re only words. There are probably better ones out there if you’re determined enough to find them. The same goes for ideas. Just because you thought of it doesn’t mean you can’t improve on it. Being a good writer is like being a good gardener: you have to be ruthless with your own work. If it isn’t doing the job well enough, get rid of it. Just because you’re fond of it is no excuse. And if it isn’t doing a job of work in the book – if it’s only there because you thought of it – definitely get rid of it!
I distrust the idea of trying to write for the market. The best writers write for themselves, for the child within. Good writers set out to tell themselves the best story they can. They write from the heart about things that they care about.
It’s vital to enjoy the process; engage in creative play; that’s when you do your best work. Allow yourself to make mistakes.
What makes for good writing?
See the above! Also, taking the time to learn your craft. It takes years to learn to write well. I get a bit irritated with people who write a first or second draft of a first book and expect instant success, or rush off to self-publish instead of getting on with the job of writing the next, better book. No one would take up the violin and a year later expect to get a job with the LSO. We all need to put in the time. We all benefit from strong editorial input. That’s how you learn, from critical feedback. It’s just hard to get hold of it! That’s why an organisation like SCBWI is so valuable.
Good writing is about ideas. But before that, it’s about your characters. For me, the best books are character-led. I don’t enjoy reading books by writers who put ideas first, and use their characters like puppets on a stage, manipulating them to prove their theories or animate plots, but not really giving a damn about them. The most important thing about reading for me is to be able to identify with a main character and live the experience with them. World-building and intellectual concepts enrich a story, but the story should be about the emotional journey of the main character(s). Above all, stories for children or young people should be about potentiality.
From whence has your best help come in learning the craft?
My local writer’s group, Exeter Writers, has proved useful, and certain members have been very helpful with their crits. But mostly I learnt through reading my favourite authors, and by reading good books about writing. SCBWI has been incredibly useful in helping me learn about the industry and expected standards. They hold an annual conference where you can opt in for individual critique sessions with editors and agents who read your chapters and tell you what you’re doing wrong. That is invaluable: feedback from industry professionals. It is sheer gold.
What's it been like working with an agent and editor?
I’ve been very lucky. I was signed by one of the best agents in the business, Rosemary Canter, at United Agents. She’s totally professional. It’s a huge relief to know you’ve got someone looking after the complicated side of things contractual and protecting your interests. As well as selling your book in the first place! But she isn’t an editorial type agent, which she made quite clear from the beginning. She looks after the interests of lots of people and doesn’t have time to hold my hand and help replot my book. That’s my job.
And again, Orchard have been great. I’ve worked with two editors so far: Kirsty Skidmore, who was kind enough to love my books enough to want to publish them, but is now on maternity leave, and my current editor, Sarah Lilly, who is just lovely to work with. We all agreed from the outset on what direction the rewrite should take, and we’re almost at the end of the process now, to everyone’s satisfaction. I got to meet the designer this month, and was shown some cover mock ups and the website of the illustrators who are doing the cover, and I’m thrilled. So again, I’ve been really lucky. I’ve also had some fantastic editorial input from the amazingly clever and generous Lee Weatherly, a highly talented author, editor and creative writing tutor. If this were a fairy tale, I’d definitely have to give Lee my first-born child.
What advice would you give to unpublished writers?
Join SCBWI. Join your local writers’ group. Find a writing mentor. Get critical feedback and learn to be dispassionate about your writing so you can learn. Consider workshops and courses. Read lots of books on writing. Just write. Get the words down. Don’t be timid: don’t settle for safe ideas and easy stories. Challenge yourself to write the biggest story you can. To write something unique and original to you. Let your imagination soar.
Learn to love rewriting, because that’s what writing is. The word is revision: re-vison. Keeping your imagination fresh while rejigging the plot for the fifth time and weaving all those pieces back together is the real challenge.
Enter competitions. Keep trying. And if you only write because you want to see your name on a book, take up sky diving. It’s a lot less stressful. Make sure you want it enough to keep going in the face of lots of rejection. And realise that getting a deal is the beginning of the journey, not the end.
Getting a book deal means agreeing to a collaborative process. It isn’t your book anymore. You will rewrite and rewrite and rewrite. It’s tough out there, and getting one book deal doesn’t mean you’ll ever get another. These days each book has got to sell. You have to write brilliant. You also have to write commercial. It’s not easy. And according to the Society of Authors, most professional writers earn £7,000 pa or less. There, that’s cheered everyone.
Any rants about writing/publishing you'd like to share?
My biggest writing rant:
I get fed up with depressing, nihilistic fiction, especially for young people. It’s a cop out. It’s also a lie. Life is a mixture. Miserable is easy to do. It’s much harder to write tough, gritty fiction that has some hope, some resolution, some forward movement, and yet remains true. Why are we so eager to tell young people life is s**t? Youth is about potential. Don’t steal it from them. Just because we’re old and cynical …
As for ranting about publishing:
Ask me in a year or two. Other than the standard collapse of the net book agreement/huge discounts to Tescos and Amazon rant, I have nothing to complain about. My experience is limited, my knowledge patchy. But Orchard have been splendid, and it’s been a joy working with them.
It would be good, though, if someone in the industry wrote some sort of primer for first time authors. Nobody has time to take you by the hand and tell you all the ins and outs. It’s a fascinating world, and I’d love to learn more about it. Agents and editors probably think you know it all already. But you don’t!
If you could take any fictional character to the top of the Eiffel Tower and shove them off, who would it be?
Cathy and Heathcliff. Or the entire cast of the Mr Men books. Tough choice.
Thanks for chatting, Ellen, and best of luck with Castle of Shadows!
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