A blast from the past
By SquidgeLast year, I was prompted to search for any remaining copies of the book, assuming that by now, it was out of print. Oh, yes, I could get a copy - for nigh on £100! I wasn't that desperate...I shelved the idea, feeling a bit sad.
Now, at work, I help with some of the not-so-confident readers in Y6, and part of that role is helping them to choose books. Whilst checking out the 'ruby' shelf with one of the pupils, I made a fantastic discovery! I think Kieran thought I'd gone mad; I could hardly speak - there, on the shelf...now in my hand...was the very book I'd been searching for!
King of the Copper Mountain - re-published! It even had pictures - the same ones I remembered; the king with his enormous flowing beard...the bees buzzing round his head as they told their story, the faithful hare. I was, quite frankly, blown away. I toyed with the idea of sneaking it out there and then - I didn't care that it was there for the kids - I wanted to read it. I resisted.
Instead, after explaining why I was so excited and the impact the book had had on me as a child of about his age...Kieran decided to give it a go. Now for someone who's normally into 'BeastQuest' and action stories, I had reservations about how he'd receive this magical story. But getting the kids interested in a book is the first hurdle, and he'd just jumped over that one.
Last week, he told me how much he was enjoying the book.
I am delighted that the book continues to weave its magic to a new generation...and I'm watching the post eagerly so that I can dive into my brand new copy when it arrives.
SecretSpi and Circaidy Gregory proudly present...
By SecretSpiWe dithered around a bit with the cover - it was originally much more comic- booky before we decided on the vintage look. In the end, it's not a graphic novel...
Speaking of which, busying around with covers and the website has made me realise that it's probably only a novel because that's what I can do. The idea was always a world and a story for me that was not medium-specific. It could have been a real-life action film, a graphic novel, a game, a cartoon film, a YouTube series or even a ride in an adventure park, which is how "Pirates of the Caribbean" started life.
Anyway, thought you might like to see it. I've got a launch date of April 11th, so keep watching this space - and tell any young relatives and friends!
Is children's fiction international?
By SecretSpiI know that agents and publishers are on the lookout for fiction - not just for children - that will work internationally. Interestingly enough, my son and his class have just compeleted a project to pick a book for review to the whole class and I thought it might be interesting to see which titles 11-12 year olds in Germany chose.
Interestingly enough, the boys were more likely to choose books originally written in English:
Harry Potter
Enid Blyton Famous Five
Eragon (I think was English originally?)
2 x Magic Tree House
Star Wars
SilverFin (Young Bond - hmm, guess who that was...)
and 4 x Diary of a Wimpy Kid!
3 German original books (one a classic, two others modern adventure)
From the girls:
Harry Potter
Magic Tree House
Twilight
Spiderwick
6 German original books (mostly junior chicklit)
The Magic Tree House is a bit of an odd one - I would have thought that children of this age would have grown out of that but it's obviously a winning formula for both boys and girls.
Now the trick is - how to have universal appeal without being bland?
Metamorphosis
By SecretSpiAlthough I've had a few flurries of activity getting the story itself finished, adding in a new plot twist and generally polishing and pretty-ing up, none of this has felt any different to the various re-writes of the story following a WW report or request from an agent that I've done over the years.
In the last week, though, two threads of activity have started which have moved the story along its metamorphosis into a book. It feels like my move to Germany all those years ago. It hung there, an idea in limbo, for months while I gathered odds and ends of information that "might be useful", rather like a bird might gather sticks for a nest that she'd build one of these days, or a hopeful girl collecting stuff for the "bottom drawer".
The first thing was a serious think about marketing - and the realisation that there's marketing the book and marketing the author. And marketing the book is the fun bit, the bit that I feel most confident about. So I have contacted an ex-colleague from my days in advertising who just happens to be nuts about old planes and 60s cars and the whole ripping yarn adventure thing and we've already got some nifty ideas brewing.
The second thing was meeting my publisher and some of her other authors last Friday for an informal chat as well as to see some initial sketches for a cover illustration .We all gelled instantly and, despite the lack of funds and a big name, I was happily impressed with how much on the ball she is, who she knows and what she knows!
It's got something of the feeling of a snowball now - the momentum is gathering and rolling into territories new for me instead of the cyclical write - submit - reject - critique- rewrite well-trodden path.
And, perhaps inevitably, a new idea flew into my head for a story that's got "best-seller" (I think) written all over it. But that will just have to wait.
Children are still children
By SkylarkShhh! Don't tell anyone I'm here. Just sneaking on to share something. But I'm not really here. Honest.
It's the penultimate afternoon of the summer term and that means DVD afternoon. This morning, my class were given a choice of films to vote for. All the usual suspects: Shrek, Toy Story, High School Musical...and one oldie, The Wizard of Oz. Well, to my surprise, it was a landslide victory for The Wizard of Oz and now my class of 28 6/7 year olds are laughing, gasping and singing along to a film that is older than most of their grannies and grandads.
To be exact (just googled it) the film is 72 years old this year - isn't it great that it still has such appeal for children? And that regardless of what they are now exposed to in terms of technology and communication, they can still be entertained and entranced without the aid of computer generated animation? I don't think I've ever seen them this quiet! Love it!
*Sneaks back off the Cloud before anyone spots her*
By Madison, aged 10
By Guero DavilaHere 'tis.
Chapter 1
The Poster
“Kids its time to go to school, come and get your lunches!” Miss Cotton called.
“But I don’t want to go to school, its BORING!” Harry replied.
“Yes it is boring, boring, boring!” chanted Lilly.
"I’m sorry but you have no choice! Now have a good day, I’ll see you later, oh Harry, look after your sister on the bus will you? You know what she’s like!”
“Fine, bye!”
This is a normal morning in the Cotton’s house but they are not normal people. Harry is a 10 year old boy who likes football and music. Lilly is a cute little 4 year old girl who will agree to anything and loves pink! But Miss Cotton has a very different personality! She loves fruit – especially bananas, is a very good climber – have you guessed yet? She’s a Gorilla! It’s very hard for her because she can’t go and get a job! I mean wouldn’t you be a little bit shocked if, when you went down to Waitrose to buy your dinner you went to pay and you were being served by a talking Gorilla! So when the kids got home from school with some great news she was delighted!
“Mum, Mum, you will never guess what the poster said out side the burger shop today!” said Harry.
“What? Tell me!”
“It says they are looking for a griller to help them out and that they would be paid and everything!”
“You’re having a laugh!”
“No, no it’s true! You have to go and see if they will give you the job, but you have to ring first at this number,”
As Harry was reading out the number from his hand all Miss Cotton could think about was what she was going to say! The only humans she had ever spoken to were Harry and Lilly.
“Come on ring!” insisted Harry.
“Ok, Ok, I’m doing it!”
As she pressed green and it started to ring she new it was
a bad idea but she just thought about Harry and Lilly, they were
tight on money so she waited and waited and waited and – “Hello,
Mrs. Jones speaking, can I help you?”
“Umm….. yes….. well…. I saw the poster in your shop window
and…..”
“Oh yes, we have been hoping some one would call! Where do you
live?”
“Just next door to you actually!”
“Oh great well can you start now or do you have
plans?”
“Well I don’t have plans exactly but I have to kids with
me.”
“Oh don’t worry they might like to help make the burgers.”
“Yeah I’m sure they’d love that, thank you.”
“No problem can you come round now then, oh you will need to will out a couple of forms when you get here but that’s ok nothing to serious don’t worry.”
“Ok see you in a minute!”
Miss. Cotton put the phone down – “YAY I got the job!”
“Yay yay yay!” Repeated Lilly making everyone laugh!
“That’s great mum! When do you start?” Asked Harry
“Now, put on you shoes and jackets you too!” Answered Miss. Cotton.
“What you want us to come too?!” Questioned Harry.
“Well I can’t leave you to here on your own can I?!
So they walked next door to the burger shop but when the got there there were lots of screams! Miss. Cotton froze, to scared to speak.
“Why are you so shocked?” Asked Harry.
“Well in case you haven’t noticed a Gorilla just walked into my shop!” Yelled Mrs. Jones in fright.
“But you said you wanted a griller for your shop!”
“Yes a griller not a Gorilla a griller to grill the burgers!”
“But if you don’t want a Gorilla then the zoo will take our mum and we will have to leave her forever!” Said Harry Scared.
“Well that’s not my fault!” Said Mrs. Jones, angry now.
“Meanwhile, Miss. Cotton was going red in the face tears pouring from her eyes – scared herself. “What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know mum.”
The Palaver in Publishing
By SecretSpiThe Bother in Burmeon started life back in 2006. I was writing a biography of my dad for friends and family and thought what a shame it was that my young son had never got to meet his grandfather. And that was where the idea for the book came from, along with a James Bond-esque early 1960s world of heroes, villains, exotic locations and derring-do.
I still have the first version of the story that I sent off to the WW in 2007. One of these days, if I have the guts, I'll post the first chapter alongside the final version and then run away to hide my head in shame. All credit to John Dougherty at WW for recognising that somewhere, beneath all the dreary description and social commentary (for 9 year-olds? what was I thinking of?), a good adventure story was lurking and trying to break out.
I'll skim over the various critiques and my attempts to find an agent, only to say that I learned a lot and it was probably only through this often painful process that my story became polished enough to win a competition and a publishing contract from a small press.
I've just got the third (?) version of my ms since April back from my publisher. She is a an absolute delight to work with and loves my story, which means so much to me. From her, via her contacts in loftier echelons of publishing, I've learned what kind of changes I would have had to have made to satisfy a mainstream publisher's commercial needs - and I don't think I could have done it.
The Bother in Burmeon really isn't being a bother at all at the moment, and the title of this blog is tongue-in-cheek. I only wish there were a few more hours in the day to get started on the website, make more contacts, spread the word and get on with the next one!
A book in the hand...
By SecretSpiMaybe, maybe not, but I've bitten the bullet and I'm going be published!
I probably won't be up in the best-seller lists and I'm going to have to roll my sleeves up and do my own marketing but that's my job anyway.
Looking forward to the adventure ahead and I'll keep you updated.
Click here for the latest.
What's hot and what's not in children's publishing
By HarrySo all the more cheering, then, to see that Scholastic is telling us what's hot in children's publishing. Paranormal romance is still in (though moving beyond vampires). Humour's in. Myth is in. So a comedy vampire snogging Hercules should be about right.
Of course, what Scholastic is doing here is telling us what's succeeded in 2010 and what they expect to do well in 2011. Trouble is, if you're starting a novel now, you really need to know what's going to be all the rage in 2012/13 ... and you can be pretty sure that, by then, the hottest fires aflame now will be largely burned out. Which takes us back to where we were.
Darn it. Still: at least Scholastic are trying, so they deserve a mince pie or two for that.
What is the record time for a rejection?
By EmSubscribe
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