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Nicking Time by J Traynor won the Kelpies Prize in 2012
Have you completed a children’s book? Is it set in Scotland, suitable for 8-12 year olds, around 40,000-70,000 words?
Yes?! – then you might be interested to know that the deadline for the annual Kelpies Prize is looming on 28th February.
Take a look at Floris Books’ website and navigate around their very useful submissions page as well as following the link for the Kelpies Prize.
here’s what they say…
From Dumfries to Dundee, Glasgow to Aberdeen and everywhere in between, we are looking for Scottish children’s novels with a difference.
Fantastic fantasies, sensational sci-fi, awesome adventures and satisfying slices of life — the Kelpies range of Scottish children’s novels has them all. But we are still looking for more. Do you have a cracking story, with strong characters and believable dialogue which children won’t be able to put down? Then we want to read it!
The Kelpies Prize was set up in 2004 to encourage and reward new Scottish writing for children. Winning authors receive a £2,000 cash prize and have their novel published in the Kelpies range.
- Remember to follow the submission guide and to format your typescript exactly as required.
good luck!
It’s today!. NaNoWriMo [National Novel Writing Month]
I’ve joined in this wonderful month of free writing for the past two years and highly recommend it
for any writer at any stage in their career. Ian Rankin and Frederick Forsyth spoke about the positive side of Nanowrimo in 2010 - both admitting their first books had come from a quick, sustained burst of creativity. This year, more than ever, the naysayers have been out in force, telling keen nanowriters that there was no point in joining in, that no one can write a ‘good’ book in thirty days and that the nano-project was damaging and gave false hope to bad writers. Don’t listen to them. Listen to writers like Edna O’Brien who said recently that she’d written her first published book, The Country Girls, in three weeks. She said, ‘the words had poured out’ once she’d committed to the act of writing. For her, writing resides in that place between thought and speech, the place where we self-censor and self-edit before going public. Her ‘trick’ is to turn off the self-censor and write her thoughts without paying heed to what friends and family think or judge her by.
This year, I’ll be joining in as usual and fitting in an hour or so of free-writing where I don’t self-edit or censor what I think. My beginning came to me last night. A woman loomed out of the night, sat by my bed and said, ‘My name is Edith Carmichael, here’s my story.’
I’ve re-posted below my ‘non-rules’ for November writing – I hope you join in and find these useful as you begin this exciting adventure.
The first rule of NaNoWriMo is there are no rules
[or should that be ‘there is no rules’?].
Here are my November non-rules:
I will not
- Plan
- Structure
- Re-read
- Edit
- Spell-check
- Re-draft
- Fact check
- ‘google’ and pretend it’s research
- Show it to anyone
- Worry that it seems silly
I will
- Write and keep on writing until I reach 50,000 words.
Writers can spend weeks, or even months, deliberating over a sentence, a phrase, or whether a semi colon should be a full stop or a comma.
It’s liberating not to worry about anything but the mounting word count.
It’s an added benefit if it makes sense but the point is to write. Write quickly and without thinking too deeply about what you’re writing.
Literary purists will ridicule you. Don’t listen to them. Unfollow them or switch them off for this month. You’re not going to write a perfect novel. What you will get is an idea of the kind of studied concentration, diligence and commitment to completing a task that writers face every waking moment.
You may even find that you like writing.
So. The Golden Non-rule is this: don’t think too much about what people think or even what to write. Just write. You probably won’t have a complete, ready-to-submit to an agent or publisher typescript but this month might be the spur to start that writing project that you keep putting off.
Don’t worry about what you write. Don’t ask for instant feedback from family and friends. Don’t worry. If you get stuck simply write ‘I’M STUCK HERE’ and move on to a completely new scene. Once you’ve completed the 50,000 words take time off – a long time; two months or more, and then go back and assess what you’ve written. You might discard half of it. You might hit delete. Writing is a craft honed over many a deleted paragraph and rejection slip.
That’s not the point. The point is to write.
I’m signed up for Nanowrimo as BookRambler and in the group Scotland – Elsewhere – come and say hello if you decide to join in. 
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Whatever you think of J. K. Rowling, it’s fascinating to learn how she writes. I’m waiting for the advertisement from Apple using her admission that “The Mac Book Air changed my life”.
Christine A. Hurd‘s report on Rowling’s talk with Ann Patchett at the Lincoln Centre in New York gives a glimpse into her working methods on The Casual Vacancy (and what imaginative event planning to put them together!).
Rowling said:
“The challenge [with “The Casual Vacancy”] was the structure of the book, and I put a huge amount of work into that … The tricky thing is not showing your workings, for the reader never to realize how difficult it was. And that’s what took me the better part of five year…. I had complicated diagrams, strange little notes…cryptic things…I had to remind myself what the hell I was talking about.”
Read the full article at The Harvard Crimson
From the same team who organised the hugely informative day-conference – ‘How to Get Published’ [reported over on bookrambler] is this another one day conference- this time the focus is on self-publishing.
Speakers include Alison Baverstock [Sen. Publishing Lecturer & author of The Naked Author] and Sophie Rochester [Literary Platform]in a very full programme covering topical issues from where to start to choosing a digital platform and how to work with Amazon’s listings. What stands out for me, though, is the prominence given to editing. Where other digital conferences and talks focus on getting to that #1 spot, here, rightly, the focus is on quality.
I’d urge you to go along, if you can, published and beginning writers, as they really do think of everything and are warm, engaging and make sure everyone feels welcome. Good networking opportunities too [and the cakes are delicious!].
Date- 3 November 2012 – 9:30am-5:30pm
Place: Wellcome Centre, London [across the road from Euston Station]
Booking Website & full info. - Writers’ and Artists’ Year Book
Cross-posted from BookRambler because Lari’s answers are really helpful for writers thinking about how to structure their stories and writing books for older readers.
BookRambler’s Q&A with Lari Don
Lari Don is an award-winning children’s author of ten books and a further four books out this year. Maze Running and other Magical Missions is published by Floris Books this month and the last in the popular ‘First Aid for Fairies’ series for older children. Lari also writes picture books for younger readers.
Lari graciously agreed to a Q&A by email before the launch of her latest title – Maze Running …, which I devoured in one sitting. It’s pacy and exciting – a really good traditional story for children and a fitting climax to the series:
One of Helen’s friends is dying, stabbed in the heart by the Master, and this life-threatening injury needs a magical remedy. Helen and her fabled-beast friends unite, with the help of the dragons, to find a magical token with the power to cure. But they only have until tomorrow night…
[from the publisher’s tempting blurb]
Lari regularly updates her blog with information for writers looking for tips and inspiration and with reflective posts that examine the writing life. And in her email responses she gives thoughtful answers that let us into some of the decisions and strategies she adopts when writing for children.
Q1. In Maze Running, as in all your books, you create a real page turner. From the first page the pace flies along and doesn’t flag. New writers often struggle with their openings –either they begin too dramatically and then fizzle out or build to the drama but fizzle out quickly. You keep the pace moving forwards. How do you work it out? Do you write individual scenes and connect them together or work out the cliff-hangers at the end of each chapter and write up to it?
LD: I’m glad you thought the story kept on moving! I like to keep the pace up, so I try to put any description or necessary information amongst the action, rather than stopping the action. And I don’t plan the plot carefully beforehand; I just let the story carry me along. I tend to write chronologically, rather than writing individual scenes then moving them around, and I use cliff-hangers as signposts to aim for, but really, I just sprint ahead with the characters and record what happens! However I do edit very carefully afterwards, to cut out all the bits I needed to work out the story, but which the reader doesn’t want to slog through. I hope that’s why it’s pacy!
Q2. You don’t shy away from writing about dark things that happen. Do you worry that this might be too frightening for your readers? How do you know when you’ve got it right?
LD:I don’t ever know if I’ve got it right.
I did once read a draft chapter of Rocking Horse War to my own kids, and as I got to the dark distressing bit, I thought “Oh dear, this might make them upset.” Then I thought, “If this makes them cry, then I’ve written it right.” It made them cry. And I was very pleased. Which probably makes me a conscientious writer, and a terrible mother!
When I write picture books for wee ones, they are not dark or scary. There will be a problem, but it will be solved in daylight, with adults in the background.
But Rocking Horse War and the First Aid for Fairies books are for older kids. I wouldn’t be able to sustain their interest over 20plus chapters if there wasn’t some danger, and as a writer I wouldn’t want to live in that world for a year if there weren’t some difficult decisions and dark characters to challenge me. It’s what makes the story worth writing, and reading. But these are books for primary kids, mainly, and I do always want to end on a positive note. So there will be a bit of worry and fear (and tears, sorry…) as well as a few painful injuries on the way, but I can usually promise, if not a totally happy ending, then at least a hopeful one.
And maybe I can tell if I get it right. If kids want to read the next one…
Q3: Do you have an ideal reader you write for?
LD: Me, when I was 10. I write for the girl who loved horses and climbing trees and getting wet in rivers, but who also loved reading Diana Wynne Jones and CS Lewis books. I really do wish a centaur had turned up on my doorstep!
Q4: The names of your fantastical and fabled creatures seem to fit them so well: Yann, Lavender, Sapphire, Lee, Helen, Catesby, Rona… How do you know when you’ve got the right name? Do you ever change a character’s name at the draft stage?
LD: Getting the right name is really hard, and involves scribbling lots of lists and testing lots of names. Helen was Anne or Anna for a wee while, then Irene, but she didn’t convince me at all until she became Helen. That fitted her immediately. There is a meaning or a reason behind every name (Rona for example is from the Gaelic for seal; Sapphire is a blue dragon who likes jewellery, hence a gem name) but I very rarely explain the name in the book, it’s mostly just for my own satisfaction! Yann however turned up with his own name. I didn’t choose it! I don’t much like arguing with him…
And yes, I have changed names late on, if they haven’t fitted, or if I have realised they are too close to other potentially confusing names. That can be hard, as it takes a while to get to know the character again.
Q5: I love the way you thread well-known traditional folktales into your stories. The Scottish folk-tale of Thomas the Rhymer is an important element in Maze Running, how did this come about? Have you always known this tale or did you research ballads?
LD: I am inspired by a lot of myths and legends. The main injury in Maze Running (but I won’t say what that injury is!) was partly inspired by a Viking god myth for example, and the Borders tale of Tam Linn was a huge influence on the Carterhaugh section of First Aid for Fairies, and on the whole plot of Wolf Notes. I have known of Thomas Rhymer, and the story of his reappearance at the Eildons, for a long long time. My family come from the Borders, and I went to school there for a while! And I once told Thomas Rhymer in a forest, as part of an art exhibition with students putting their visual interpretations of the old legends in the trees, as storytellers told the tales below. It was a lovely night, apart from the midgies…
I love the idea of introducing kids to the old stories in my new books.
Q6: Setting is very important in all of your books. In Maze Running it’s the Eildon Hills. Why here for the last in the series?
LD: The settings are vital. I find the landscape and legends of Scotland very inspiring. Maze Running is set partly in the Borders (Traquair and the Eildons) but also much further north at Cromarty, and further west at Kilmartin. I wanted to go back to the Borders because that’s Helen’s home, so I wanted to tie the story up there.
And the Eildons are very magical hills. I walked up them one day last autumn to research the quest at the Lucken Howe, with a notebook and pen in my hand, as always. I could actually HEAR Helen and Lee arguing in my head as I walked from Melrose up to the reservoir. So that scene almost wrote itself, in a way which would never have happened if I’d been sitting at home looking at pictures of the Eildons online. Walking is a great way of hearing the right words!
Q7: Your books appeal to both male and female readers and you’ve got really strong female characters – I’m thinking of Helen and her vet mother. How important is it to you that you give out a positive message in your books? Or do you just concentrate on writing a good story with universal appeal? Why is “The Master” – the baddie – a male character?
LD:Good question. I’m a girl, and I have two daughters, so I tend to think of girl characters first. But I hope I write strong boy characters too, and I certainly know that boys and girls enjoy my books.
When I was growing up I used to get slightly annoyed at all the excellent books with main characters who were boys who had sidekicks who were girls. And that’s still a tendency in kids’ books. So far I’ve tended to do it the other way round! Helen is the main character, and Yann and Lee are often her sidekicks. And in Rocking Horse War, my other novel, Pearl is the main character, but is accompanied by (and either helped or hindered by) the mysterious Thomas.
However as far as my baddies go I am an equal opportunities employer… The Faery Queen in Wolf Notes is a girl! And I would suggest (without spoiling the plot) that there are several other characters in Maze Running who are definitely female and definitely not goodies!
Q8: If you were magically transformed into a fabled beast, what would it be?
LD: Oh. I don’t know. I’d like to be a centaur because I like to run. But perhaps I’d like to be fully human some of the time. So maybe a selkie? But they are usually a bit wet, and I’m not as much of a fan of swimming as I am of running. So perhaps a wolfgirl like Sylvie, who can be human or wolf, and can chase down deer. But I’m a vegetarian, so I’m not sure that would work. I think I like being that most magical creation – a writer, because then I can be anything I like, every time I write !
Q9: Maze Running is the last in the series of ‘First Aid for Fairies’ – sadly. Did you always plan to write four or did they evolve out of each other? Did the characters demand more stories?
LD: Initially I only planned to write one. There would have been no point in writing more if no-one had published it! But when I was editing First Aid for Fairies for publication, I came up with the idea for Wolf Notes, and when I was editing Wolf Notes, I came up with the idea for Maze Running (which right from the first moment was clearly going to be the last book), and when I got feedback from readers that they missed Rona in Wolf Notes, that cemented the idea for Storm Singing. So each new book came out of the previous books. But four is enough, for now, even though I had lots more ideas when I was editing the last two! I have to stop now, partly because Helen and her friends are getting older – they’ll be wanting Young Adult plot lines next, and I’m not ready to write those! – and partly because I want to explore other ideas, characters and worlds.
Q10: If you were paper, what would you fold yourself into? Ian Rankin said ‘a book’ in his Q&A, – so what else?
LD: A boat. There is a boat in Viking mythology which can be folded up and put in a pocket, and I’ve always thought that would be very handy. Especially round Scotland’s wild and wonderful coastline.
And finally…. Thanks Lari, for taking the time to answer my questions – what’s next on the writing front? More fabulous creatures or something different altogether?
LD: Not another fabled beast book yet, if at all. I have a few other totally different ideas racing around in my head, but I’m not sure which one I will go for first. It’s a difficult decision, choosing which characters and story you’ll spend the next few months or years with. I think I will have to choose the questions which I’m most keen to answer, the story which just won’t leave me alone!
When starting out on your path to publication the best way by far to improve your writing is to enter competitions and to submit your work to anthologies. This allows you to experiment with different voices and styles and get used to working towards a deadline.
Enter under a pseudonym. Enter multiple times if the T&C allows it.
Above all, write and write and write until you’ve found a voice and a style with which you’re comfortable.
Here’s a list of just a few of the many upcoming competitions and opportunities available online right now -
Wigtown Poetry Prize - closing date extended to midnight 31 May 2012
Bridport Prize - closing date 31 May 2012
Edwin Morgan Poetry Competition- closing date 9am, 4th June 2012
Mslexia Women’s Poetry Competition closing date 18 June 2012
Shortbread Stories - open to entries submitted between 9 April and 17 June 2012
New Scottish Writing - submissions to next edition accepted between 1 May and 30 September 2012
Mslexia Children’s Novel Comp. – deadline 10 September 2012
Short Sentence Crime - open to entries submitted between February and November 2012
Cinammon Press – multiple competitions – check the website for deadlines
Spilling Ink Review – multiple competitions – check the website for deadlines
- Please remember to check the individual Terms and Conditions and always follow submission rules to the letter
**SWC Great Debate on Speculative Fiction, Thursday 24 May at 7pm in the CCA ClubRoom, Glasgow.
If you’re around Glasgow on the 24th come along to the next SWC Great Debate where Douglas Thompson will chair a panel on Speculative Fiction (Sci Fi, Fantasy, Paranormal etc) . Join Kirsty Logan, Roy Gill, Neil Williamson, Gordon Robertson, and John Birch to discuss this hot topic. Bring your views, your ideas and your voice to the debate.
Come and discuss such questions as:
- Where are the female writers of speculative fiction? Are they all writing YA now?
- Why are there so few reviews of speculative fiction in the mainstream press?
- If a comic is now Graphic Fiction does that make it literature?
- Does Speculative Fiction attract less funding than literary fiction? If so, why?
- Why are so few writers of speculative fiction included in literary festivals – or hidden within the children’s events?
- Where does cross-over literature sit within the literary tradition?
- Why write speculative fiction?
- Is it easier to write science fiction and fantasy than mainstream fiction?
News!
I’ve recently taken up responsibility for co-ordinating events at the Scottish Writers’ Centre – check out the BookRambler Blog for full details.
Singled out for newsworthy potential in today’s Telegraph is Aifric Campbell, sadly not, it seems, for the brilliance of her writing in On the Floor, but for switching jobs from City trader to writer. News copy needs a fresh angle and a simple announcement detailing the Orange Prize long list isn’t deemed interesting of itself. The ‘news’ is that Aifric ‘stopped working’ in the City because of the long hours away from her baby and stayed home and wrote books. Now, I know that this is a dumbed down distillation of the story of the novel but it’s also a negation of the creative process; the sheer, monumental effort of writing.
The message is that writing is an easier option than competing on the City trading floors.
Really? Is it only the male writer who writes with such intensity that it leads to physical exhaustion? Is writing a soft option for a woman?
Surely the article should investigate the process of writing and how it compares to City trading. How, for example, did she find time to write and be a full time mother at the same time – isn’t that juggling? What is the difference between working full time away from home and working full time in the home? And wouldn’t we think differently of Aifric if we also knew that, as well as writing full time, she lectured on creative writing, held a PhD?
Aifric received her PhD in Critical and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia in 2007 where she has also lectured. She’s the recipient of an award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, a Thayer Fellowship at the University of California at Los Angeles and writing residencies at Yaddo in New York.
Aifric has taught creative writing at UEA, University of Sussex and is now teaching at Imperial College, London. - from Aifric’s website -
Here’s a piece from the same newspaper on the writer Colm Tóibín’s day – a piece that doesn’t include any mention of family, babies, or juggling, but which does make much of his university posts…
ironically, it’s written to coincide with publication of New Ways to Kill Your Mother.
