Always the Bridesmaid?!

Today, The Times/ Chicken House Children’s Fiction shortlist is announced both in the paper and on the Chicken House site [Press Here], and I'm not on it.

So here is a little blog about NOT making the shortlist.

Back in 2011 I submitted my first ever piece of writing to my first ever –ANYTHING – the SCBWI Undiscovered Voice Anthology. To my absolute shock and joy, my entry (an extract from my first novel a YA fantasy Fairy Tale yarn ‘Through Mortal Eyes), was longlisted. Then after an agonising wait I found, not unsurprisingly, that I didn't make the anthology, however I did receive an Honorary Mention, which was great. The Honorary Mention really helped my confidence giving me the assurance I needed to persevere, but also gave me something to put in covering letters having a positive impact in various slush piles.

In 2012 after several re-writes with the input of both my great writer buddies and professionals (you know who you are and a BIG thank you to you if you’re reading this) I submitted the same story to The Times/ Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition, and to my amazement and jubilation it was long-listed for the 2013 competition. Sadly, Through Mortal Eyes, didn't make the shortlist. This got me worrying that maybe I was a 'not quite' one book wonder. A One Horned Unicorn!

However, having fabulous friends and a supportive family, I started writing again, and produced in ten months another YA manuscript, this time a SCI-FI adventure called 'Journey to the Bone Factory', which I sent it off for the 2014 The Times/ Chicken House Children’s Fiction competition.  As the book was written so much quicker than my first book, I wasn't expecting it to do well. Then I received the an unexpected and gleeful news that Journey to the Bone Factory, had made it on to the longlist. Overjoyed, and much relieved, I saw this as a sign that I can stop worrying about being a one horned unicorn, and promptly gave myself that second horn.

So this brings us around to today, and The Times/ Chicken House Children’s Fiction 2014 shortlist announcement, which I’m not in. What does this mean? Well this obviously is disappointing, (anyone who has had a rejection will know just how much of an understatement that is) but it's more than that! Three long-listings; UV 2012, Chicken House 2013 and Chicken House 2014. No improvement?! No escalation?! Stagnation?!

So, what does that make me? A Two horned unicorn, that’s destined to always be the bridesmaid, never the bride? How do I take my craft from the bridesmaid level, to being the bride?

So after sometime licking my wounds, it’ll be back to writing, planning and plotting with a new goal; how I make the jump from bridesmaid to bride? Fortunately I've been accepted into the much praised Golden Egg Academy, so here’s hoping that out of a golden egg, a phoenix-multi-horned-unicorn-bride will be born.

Oh, and one last thing, to everyone who made it on to the shortlist; 

Congratulations and Good Luck!

Living the Fairy Tale - World Building

Living the Fairy Tale - World Building

A few weeks ago I posted about the world building for my WIP, Journey to the Bone Factory. I spoke about the depth of research and about the methods I use to store all this vital information so that my mind is free to be creative and write [Press here to read].  This got me thinking about the differences between the world building between Bone Factory (YA SCI-FI) and my first book Through Mortal Eye's, and so I decided to post about the world building in Through Mortal Eyes.

Through Mortal Eyes, is a very different book; but it is still one that’s heavily reliant on world building for success. Its fantasy told in a duel narrative, but it’s a fantasy based in this reality and time. You’d think it’d make world building easier but that’s not easier it’s just different.

Through Mortal Eyes, is about Fairy tales, but not fluffy one ending with happily ever after, or ones set in different worlds. In the world of Through Mortal eyes, fairy tales are real, the characters moving around in the shadows, and eventually they get entwined with seventeen year old Ruby, who has to bring the all the tales to an end.

Of course I need not have to worry about gravitational pull, and the proximity of planets to their suns, or population density but I did have a whole lot of reading and world building of two different views and times within our world. But instead of the  physics of the world I was looking more at species of the world, and making a normal setting seem dark and fairy tale like.

So for the world building I looked at fairy tales, stacks of them. Then I also had species to work out so research veered in the direction of ghouls, beast and the un-dead from mythology and folklore across the world.  I noted down species profiles, much like character profiles, but with anatomy, and social histories.  I also researched actual history to slip things to make the species history more believable and add depth; researching the dog-headed Saint Christopher and the Hungarian Countess, Elizabeth Bathory who murdered and bathed in young maiden blood.

For places I used the little love town of my youth, using the oldest house in town, and the oldest church with the hollow tree.  Both these places in the right light with the right words look like they belong in a fairy tale. Also In the novel there is an abandoned town, which was burnt to the ground in middle ages, only leaving the church standing. This actually happened to a town about fifteen miles from the  in the novel, but not knowing what it was called I found a great web-site detailing all the lost medieval town of Berkshire Press here.

Of course sometimes a simple object can be enough to set your mind working, dictating to be used in the narrative and that the world is built to include it. This happened with my dad's old dagger that he dug up on a building site years ago.

All these notes were spread out over an array of notepads, ring-binders and stored virtually.  Coming together to build a disturbing yet scarily familiar world. 

Making The Chicken House – The Times Children’s Fiction Competition 2013 Long-List!

Making The Chicken House – The Times Children’s Fiction Competition 2013 Long-List!

What a great way to start the weekend, waking up to find that I've made the Long-List for The Chicken House – The Times Children’s Fiction Competition 2013! I'm utterly thrilled that; ‘Through Mortal Eyes,’ is in the long-list of 21!

I'm even more excited to find that I'm amongst friends. My close writing Buddy Nicki Thornton, is also in the long list with her Tweenies (early teenage) mystery novel, ‘The Sleeping Beauty House’, which is an amazing book, with lashing of both mystery and humour.  

Also, fellow SCBWI writer K M Lockwood (Philippa Francis) has made the long-list with her novel ‘Selkies of Scoresby Nab.’  I'm lucky enough to have read the opening of the book a while back so can truly say that it’s a great read that utilises the much overlooked folklore of Britain. 

So I’d like to thank the reader that pulled ‘Through Mortal Eyes’ off the mountain of entries and submitted it for the long-list – Thank you!

Also to send hearty CONGRATULATIONS to all the Long-listers…

ALL THE SKY - S.A. West

BORN LOSERS- Tom Ellen & Lucy Ivison

ELLIE AND THE GHOSTS - Elaine Murphy

FINDING ALICE - Rosemary Appleyard

FRAMED - Joy McCullough-Carranza

LIKE A BROTHER - Wendy E Constance

MOLLY - Katharine Leat

MOON BOY - D.M. Macphail

MR UNUSUALLY'S CIRCUS OF DREAMS - Sharda Dean

PROMISE NOT TO TELL - Rita Piper

THE BOY WITH THE GOLDEN BALLS - Michael Byrne

THE FLIGHT OF THE GRIFFIN - C.M. Gray

THE HAIRY HAND - Robin Bennett

THE PRINCESS AND THE PEACH - Benedict Brown

THE SELKIES OF SCORESBY NAB - K.M. Lockwood

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY HOUSE - Nicki Thornton

THE WITCH OF EDAINE-Hilly Barmby

THROUGH MORTAL EYES - Sally Poyton

VINCENT - Phillip Rudall

WE STOLE OUR BROTHER - Fiona Motherwell

ZACH IN THE MAKING - Kelly McCaughrain

So I'm off to celebrate…