I am super-excited to share with you the first How To Draw feature I've had here on POP - and by no other than the lovely Emma Yarlett, too. Yep, that's right - these few simple steps are all that lie between you and a perfectly-drawn, festively fabulous robin. So, are you ready to get drawing? Yeah you are!
So there you have it! And isn't he just the best Christmas robin ever? Now, if you draw a robin of your very own then be sure to show us a pic of it. And, hey, a pic of your concentration face and festive hat wouldn't go amiss either.
Thank you for sprinkling some of your Christmas magic on this little blog, Emma, you're ace!
Now more than ever, I hear about writers looking to get that elusive first book deal. I also hear about what a tough industry publishing is. And that is true. On so many levels. BUT. There are still a number of things that any person can do to considerably increase their chances of getting an agent and, ultimately, a publisher.
So, I am ELATED to welcome Non Pratt to POP for this week's excitingly informative guest post. As I'm sure you all know, Non is the author of the absolutely brilliant Trouble (Walker Books). But, Non is also a rather unique author, because she used to be an editor. This happy mix is exactly why I feel Non's advice is so useful and so insightful.
Big thanks for taking the time to share that advice with us, Non. And, without further ado, over to you . . .
THIS IS NOT A LIST OF WRITING TIPS. Mostly I only ever give these under duress – the only way to write is however works for you. Getting published, however is something else entirely . . .
Writing is an art; publishing is a business.
Don’t confuse the two. Disassociate the writing process from the publishing process – words should spring from your heart without the reader in mind. Right now, as yet-to-be-published author, no one cares about what you’re writing except you – you have to care about it enough for the lack of readership to be completely irrelevant. Focus on that and finish the first draft before you read any more of these tips.
Finished you first draft? CELEBRATE! Put it away for as long as you can bear. Read a book. Have a holiday. Go to the cinema.
Anything to stop you attaching that first draft to an email to your preferred agent/editor.
Gemma Cooper of the Bent Agency once said, “I can only read something for the first time once.” This is a ONE TIME DEAL don’t waste it on your first draft.
Now’s the time to switch from heart to head. Editing is part of the writing process, but it is also firmly a profession and it’s up to you to try and employ those skills yourself.
Be as ruthless with your own words as if they mean no more to you than someone else’s.
This is tough. I have a workshop on editorial bad-assery that doesn’t even begin to cover it, but here are some condensed tips:
a) Find the heart of your book. What was it that made you sit down to write the idea in the first place? What thing did you want to show that only these words could invoke? Write it down. Keep it in mind with every page you edit.
b) Plot/character/world/language – chances are you’re really good at one of these (hint: it’s the one you find easiest/enjoy the most). Work out which is your strength, then work on the others until they match up.
c) Cut out the boring. If you’re tempted to skip over a passage to get to the good bit, cut that passage. If you can’t be bothered to read your words, why will anyone else?
d) Too much stuff. Cut superfluous words, characters, dialogue, descriptions . . . Meg Rosof once said to only tell the reader something once. This seems like good advice.
Get agented. Sure they take 15% of whatever you earn, but that still leaves you with 85% of something rather than 100% of nothing.
The right agent will place the right book in the hands of the right editor at the right time.
Because this is their job. And their job depends on making you as successful as possible. But how do you find one. Here’s another subset of mini tips:
a) The Children’s Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook. Get an up to date edition.
b) Check the acknowledgements of your favourite authors – and, indeed, the dedications and their websites. Make a tally chart of names that crop up.
c) Submit to small and large agencies alike. The difference between the two is usually in volume of staff and real estate, neither of which matter when it comes to making a deal.
d) If you’re on twitter, look for them – the #askagent hashtag is a good place to start.
e) Submit to more than one agency at a time, but make sure you mention this is in your submission letter. It’s only polite.
f) Don’t automatically accept the first offer of representation you get. Too many writers snatch the dream before it’s materialised. In the case of agents, if one person sees potential, so will another. Meet with the agent, talk to them, see if you click. This is a business relationship that should last for life. See it as a choice and choose wisely.
Remember tip number one? Good. Never forget it.
Publishing is a business so be professional.
Think of submitting to agents as applying for the job of being an author. Like any application, read the guidelines, meet their criteria and write an entirely professional letter, one that’s honest, respectful and reflects your personality and what you’ve written. Friendly is fine, over-friendly is not. And like every piece of applying-for-a-job advice ever: tailor your letter to each agent you approach. Get their name right and say why you’re interested in them if you’ve seen them talk at a conference/be funny on twitter/you like someone they represent.
Honestly, I’d say that once you’ve got an agent, these tips become largely redundant. Agents are remarkably good at giving you the kind of tailored professional guidance that a blogpost from a stranger can’t.
Having said that…
Random subset of things people worry about but don’t need to:
a) Social media. If you like twitter/tumblr/whatever, go for it. If you don’t, don’t. It’s better to have no online profile than a bad one. And if you are active on twitter, watch your tone. Snark is funny, but no one’s looking to work with someone who seems bitter.
b) Belonging to things. There are some great organisations out there – I’m a member of SCBWI, which arranges events at which writers can meet and learn from industry professionals like agents and editors. These can provide great resources and help a lot of members who like this sort of set-up, but you don’t have to be a part of it to get published.
c) Not having a clue. In the internet age it seems like there’s no excuse for not knowing the answer to everything, but no one will be offended if you are naïve, so long as you’re polite.
d) Having a brand. You don’t need to have a brand, you just need to have a good book.
e) Making it perfect. There’s no such thing. Make it as good as it can be and then send off. No one will offer for a book they never get to read.
f) People changing your words. Get over this, it will happen and these changes will make your words better.
Today I am very excited to be posting a guest blog from the lovely Caroline Carpenter, Editorial Assistant at The Bookseller. I couldn't go to YALC, and so I've loved hearing about it - in conversation, over Twitter, anywhere - and that was my motivation when it came to asking a few people to tell me their YALC tales. Big, big thanks to Caroline for being the first!
The first ever YALC
As I entered the London Film and Comic Convention in Earls Court, passing several Mothers of Dragons and light sabres on the way, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the UK’s first ever Young Adult Literature Convention.
In the Book Zone at the back of the hall, I found publishers selling books, a chill-out area with a wall of hanging books and lots of keen YA fans already milling about. The panel area was a small stage with chairs set out in front. Though there were no walls separating us from the rest of the attendees, surprisingly it was easy to hear what all the speakers said.
How to get published
The first panel of the day was ‘How to get published’ with authors Phil Earle and Sally Green, chaired by Puffin Books’ editorial director Ben Horslen. It was interesting to hear how both of the authors came to writing, considering neither of them planned to. For Earle, working as a bookseller and being handed a copy of Louis Sachar’s Holes “turned a light on” and he eventually began writing himself, while Green discovered a love of writing while studying with the Open University.
Considering the shake-up going on in the industry at the moment, I was intrigued by Green’s statement that she didn’t even consider self-publishing as she doesn’t feel tech savvy enough and instead went down a very traditional route. She was also vocal about how sharing her work with others and getting and giving feedback during her Creative Writing course really helped her writing.
It was great to have Earle speaking as both a writer and a publishing insider (children’s sales and marketing director at David Fickling Books). He spoke openly of his worry approaching publishers having been on the other side of things and not wanting to embarrass himself or feel that anyone was doing him a favour.
Both writers were honest about the fact that part of their reason for choosing their publisher, Puffin, was down to vanity and wanting to have a brand with such a legacy on their books. They also gave out plenty of golden nuggets of advice, telling aspiring writers not to chase the market and instead “write the book that you want to read”.
I'm too sexy for this book!
Next, the newly-crowned Queen of Teen James Dawson chaired a panel consisting of fellow authors Cat Clarke, Non Pratt and Beth Reekles on the subject of sex in YA. I was impressed by how specific he was with his questions in relation to the other writers’ work and found this a really lively, fun panel with lots coming out of it.
All the authors on the panel were clear that, though their approaches ranged from Pratt’s graphic sex scene in Trouble to Reekles’ more tame fade-to-black scene for her younger readers in The Kissing Booth, they felt a duty to write about sex in YA as it reflects the reality of life for teenagers.
Pondering why sex in YA is still a taboo, Clarke raised some good points, highlighting the “ridiculous” discrepancy between this attitude and parents letting their children watch highly sexualised television shows such as Game of Thrones or reading violent books such as The Hunger Games. She suggested this is because there is an attitude that books should be “good for you”, which she called “crazy, because books are for entertainment!” Dawson made another good point - that it’s better for curious teenagers to find answers about sex in novels than the internet.
The panel seemed to be in agreement on most of the issues raised. All of the authors were opposed to the idea of age ratings on books and they all acknowledged the “trickle down effect” of 50 Shades of Grey on sex in books becoming more acceptable, though Clarke noted that most sex in YA is “doing something very different” to 50 Shades, with less focus on titillation. They all dismissed the label New Adult, with Pratt calling it “a marketing tool” and Reekles saying it merely “labels books for gatekeepers”.
Crossover: not just for kids
I also listened to a panel on the crossover appeal of YA, consisting of authors Matt Haig, Meg Rosoff, Anthony McGowan, Nick Lake, with David Maybury chairing. Out of all the panels I saw, I felt like this was the least engaging as not many questions were posed to the authors, which meant the conversation had a lack of focus and direction.
A few of the things discussed stood out for me, such as McGowan saying that the “intensity” of being a teen is what attracts him to writing YA, and Lake noting that YA readers seem to be “more willing to read across genres” than adult readers. They also talked about the distinction between YA books and an adult book about teenagers, with Lake saying that YA is told from the perspective of a teen looking out whereas an adult book is like looking in at a teenager’s life.
Controversially, during this discussion McGowan said that he doesn’t like fantasy or escapist books as he thinks books should make people question the world we live in and want to change their lives. He also said that he thinks teenagers should be reading books such as War and Peace rather than obsessively reading Twilight.
I was quite shocked to hear his comments in the setting of this convention, when everyone attending was there to celebrate YA despite the snobbery that often comes with it. That said, it did seem like he was playing devil’s advocate somewhat and hearing a different point of view did provide some debate. The other authors were quick to disagree with him, with Rosoff reminding him to “know your audience!” and Haig saying that “a book doesn’t have to be long and complex to be interesting or profound”.
Sisters doing it for themselves
The final panel I attended that day was about heroines in YA with writers Julie Mayhew, Tanya Byrne, Holly Smale and Sara Manning. It was really refreshing to get their perspective on both YA books about girls and what it’s like to be a female writing YA.
They talked about the pressure for YA heroines to be “strong” and “perfect”. Mayhew said that writing perfect teen heroines was “unrealistic” and unhelpful as teenage girls are already “under a lot of pressure to be perfect”. The example of The Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen was brought up and Smale admitted that Katniss is a strong heroine that she doesn’t identify with, so in her own Geek Girl series she wanted to create a heroine “who’s brave in a different, more vulnerable and relatable, way”. There was general agreement with Byrne’s statement that “there is more than one type of teenage girl to represent in YA”.
When they were asked by an audience member if they felt they were taken less seriously by the publishing industry as female authors, Byrne said that she feels the covers given to books by female authors makes a “huge difference” to how they are perceived and who reads them, suggesting that less specific covers would encourage more diverse readerships. Manning said that she definitely felt taken less seriously as a woman, but Harrop disagreed, saying that YA is “one of the best places to be a woman in the media”, thanks to the high proportion of women writing and publishing YA.
After wondering around the Film and Comic Convention for a bit (and getting some snaps of Hodor from Game of Thrones!), I headed back to the Book Zone for a workshop on fan fiction and communities with Eva Caiden from Movellas and Elizabeth Minkel, a freelance journalist and expert on fan culture. As it was the end of the day and most people were queuing to pick up some free books, this was a much more intimate affair than the panels. I don’t know if I learned much that was new to me here but it was a good environment to ask questions and discuss ideas in and I got to see the passion of some teenagers that attended the session too, which is what it’s all about after all!
Leaving YALC, I felt like I had experienced something really positive and informative. Huge congratulations are due to everyone who helped make it happen for a job well done. I hope that it becomes a regular event and is even bigger and better next year!
Since Charlotte Eyre started as Children's Editor at The Bookseller, she's read a hellova lotta books. I mean, just imagine! So when I asked her to write a guest post for POP, (and she very kindly agreed - thank you, Charlotte!), it did seem very fitting for her to talk about the books that have really left a mark on her. So here are her top five picks from the first six months in the job . . .
Terror Kid by Benjamin Zephaniah (Hot Key Books, September 2014)
This book is amazing. It rips along at such a roaring pace I only realised how dazzled I’d been once I closed the last page. Set against a backdrop of the 2011 riots, the story is about a boy called Rico who falls unwittingly into taking part in a major cyber crime, changing his life irrevocably in the process.
I wouldn’t say anything as patronising as ‘all teenagers should read this’ because they will anyway, it’s that brilliant, but I will say all adults should. This may be one of the defining books about 21st century adolescence.
Ironheart by Allan Boroughs (Macmillan Children’s Books, January 2014)
I hoovered up adventure books as a kid so it’s not a surprise I loved Ironheart, set in a post-apocalyptic future where young India Bentley sets out to find her missing father. The father in question went missing looking for a secret fortress containing the secrets of the old world, and India is soon dragged into a journey that takes right her into the heart of Siberia. It’s is a proper, old-school adventure story with goodies (including Verity, a tech hunter, and Calculus, a loyal android) and baddies (evil oil baron Lucifer Stone).
The Queen’s Hat by Steve Antony (Hodder Children’s Books, May 2014)
There are so many amazing picture books out there but I had a coup de coeur, as the French would say, for this book, which is about what happens when the Queen’s hat blows off. The story is gorgeous, as the queen and her soldiers scramble all over London’s landmarks trying to get the hat back, and I’d quite happily have any of the illustrations, amazing blue, red, black and white drawings, on my wall (just in case you have any lying around, Steve).
Goose by Dawn O’Porter (Hot Key Books, March 2014)
Dawn O’Porter must be one of the best authors out there in terms of writing about adolescence. You can feel her love and affection for teenage girls dripping off the pages of Goose, which is a follow-up to Paper Aeroplanes, and picks up the story of the same two characters, Flo and Reneè, a year and a half later. The girls are stretching their wings, separately discovering boys and the church, experiencing all the strains and stresses of teenage life that feel so real for every reader.
Someone told me Dawn wants to write a whole series of books following the girls into their thirties. I really hope this is true.
Stay Where You Are and Then Leave by John Boyne (Doubleday Children’s, September 2013)
This wasn’t published while I was working at the Bookseller but I did get to read it for a Read For My School panel, so it counts. Stay Where You Are and Then Leave is my favourite of all the World War One books for children that are around at the moment. It’s a beautifully told, innocent but knowing tale about a boy who is determined to find his missing father.