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How to write strong dialogue in children’s books
Thanks again to all who attended our SCBWI British Isles teach-in on 1 February at Edinburgh’s Central Library, looking at how to write strong dialogue in children’s books. Below are the collected...
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Barry Cunningham’s tips on strong beginnings in children’s books
We were delighted at SCBWI Southeast Scotland to welcome Barry Cunningham, head of Chicken House and the original publisher of the Harry Potter books, to a Twitter Q&A on what makes a strong...
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Can 36 primary school children write a story together?
Our local primary school asked me to come in on World Book Day and work with nine classes, from ages 4 through 12, writing a whole-school story. Here’s what happened. I’ve recently blogged about the...
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How to get the best from a critique
Critiquing is never comfortable for a writer. Your ego and your dreams for the manuscript are on the line when you pass your work-in-progress to another person and ask for constructive feedback. But...
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Authors on submission – how to survive the waiting game
Earlier this year I participated in the marvelous BookBound UK retreat, a tutoring scheme for promising, unpublished children’s writers. Many of us from BookBound, and many more of my SCBWI friends...
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Your manuscript: build the world and let it go
I’m girding my loins for something many of my SCBWI friends already know well: the ordeal of submitting a finished manuscript to childrens’ literary agents. I’ve been here before, including with an...
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Pitching a story is a life skill for writers
So here’s something I had no clue how to do a year ago: briefly tell someone about the story I’d written in a way that makes the listener want to read it. But last weekend I won a SCBWI pitching...
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Big Sur Children’s Writing Workshop means a big leap forward
Having re-discovered the astounding wonder of a full night’s sleep, I’m determined to catch a few insights from the Big Sur Children’s Writing Workshop I just attended in California, while they’re...
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My top 2015 contemporary middle grade books
I’ve found that word of mouth is the most reliable way to find books for my kids and myself to read. This is my video roundup of the best contemporary, realistic middle-grade books (for reading age 9...
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How I got my agent and what nearly stopped me
I’ve vacillated about whether to record this journey, as it may be the most personal thing I’ve written yet, but all things considered, I think it’s best to capture the story of how I signed with a...
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Plot, structure, death, death and more death
I’m fixated on plot and structure at the moment – you may be, too, if you’re a writer tackling revisions on a work in progress or a NaNoWriMo draft from last year. This year, for the first time, I’m...
View ArticleSnapchat vlog on manuscript revisions – Week 3
This week! I’m grappling with rewrites on the first five chapters of my new book. I’m hating how hard it is to write exposition, and loving the ‘inside flowers’ website I found that showed a...
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Great middle grade reads: review of PAX by Sara Pennypacker
Although I write for middle grade I’m largely catching up on young adult reading at the moment, and amazing YA it is. That’s why I was extra thrilled to come across a middle grade book that really...
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Your story can make a great story
I shouldn’t be blogging when this is my only clear morning to work on novel revisions, but yesterday’s twitter pitch contest aimed at increasing the diversity in children’s literature has me thinking...
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Review: Martin Stewart’s YA fantasy Riverkeep
I recently joined NetGalley and was thrilled for the chance to read an advance copy of Martin Stewart’s YA fantasy Riverkeep, a river “road trip” tale that put me in mind of so many English literature...
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Review: Emma Shevah’s MG comedy Dara Palmer’s Major Drama
I’m a sucker for theatrical kids, and it was obvious from the start that Dara Palmer, star of Emma Shevah’s DARA PALMER’S MAJOR DRAMA, wouldn’t disappoint. Eleven-year-old Dara is a born star; it’s...
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Unlocking a tough scene with a clean-slate rewrite
Last week’s revisions were the hardest I’ve faced in a while on my work in progress, a middle grade novel that’s my first full-length fantasy. The scene where the very real world meets the magical just...
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Review: Dave Rudden’s MG fantasy Knights of the Borrowed Dark
I first heard of Dave Rudden following his intriguing think piece in the Guardian about how society raises boys, and about his own quiet suffering the face of bullying (Why teenage boys are told not...
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When children don’t see themselves in books
I’m a white author in a largely white Scottish village, trying along with half the writing world to become published in children’s books. The question of ethnic and cultural diversity in both...
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Why kill your darlings?
Few writing tasks are harder for me than rewriting my opening chapter. I end up stuck to my opening lines like a suction cup, afraid to break the book by reimagining how it might open. It’s where I’m...
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