Category Archives: Conventions, workshops & seminars

May 5, 2013

Hanging out and talking about publishing

By Ellen Gregory

One more, short (okay it’s not so short) post coming out of Conflux… which would hardly have been a writers convention without discussions surrounding the latest publishing trends.

The centrepiece of this was the so-called “Smackdown — Small press versus mainstream publishers”. In this panel, Russell B Farr of indie Ticonderoga Publishing, literary agent and publishing consultant Alex Adsett, and Angry Robot’s Marc Gascoigne discussed the relative merits of indie presses, medium-sized publishers (such as Angry Robot) and the “big six”, er five.

The main interesting points to come out of this discussion were:

  • Indie presses tend to offer superior speed of response to authors and speed to market, particularly when delivering in electronic formats (as most are).
  • Even though most indie presses and new e-imprints of large publishers are not offering author advances (or else relatively modest ones), the gap is diminishing for new authors as major publishers have dropped the size of advances substantially.
  • Prolific authors are likely to benefit from an indie press’s willingness to publish more than one title a year.
  • Indie presses are more likely to focus on the long-term marketing of titles — and less likely to drop authors whose sales are not “performing”.

In all this Gascoigne positioned Angry Robot as somewhere in the middle. He acknowledged their association with larger publishers tended to impact agility, but I got the impression they embraced the more caring attitude towards authors. The discussion was on the whole favourable towards the smaller scale end of things…

It would have been good to have a large publisher represented on the panel to get a more balanced perspective on aspects such as distribution and the benefit of a big publisher’s reputation with readers — I still believe these carry weight with much of the general public. There is a significant percentage of people who buy books from browsing in bookshops, or who expect a book they’ve heard about to be available in hard copy from the local shopping centre.

Nonetheless, it’s good to see so many positive attitudes towards indie presses and even self-publishing. Because all authors know how hard it is to get picked up by a major publisher, and, even if that would be our first choice, it’s encouraging to know there are serious alternatives.

***

Alex Adsett also presented a separate talk about contracts and copyright for authors — all very informative, particularly the aspects dealing with e-publishing.

Among other things, she explained the difference in royalty agreements. Whereas standard print royalties are 10% of the RRP, e-book royalties are typically a percentage of net receipts (the amount actually received by the publisher in sales). The e-book royalty will typically be 25% of net receipts for trad publishers and 40-50% for digital-first publishers and imprints. If you self-publish it’s somewhere around 70%, although it’s evidently 85% at smashwords. (This is all very interesting from the perspective of a buyer as well.)

Alex also emphasised the importance of having a reversion clause for e-books as well as print. Because e-books don’t ever technically go “out of print”, the reversion clause should relate to sales volumes. For example, she suggested the reversion clause might state the rights revert to the author if the book is downloaded less than 100 times in 12 months.

***

As far as the speculative fiction genre goes, Marc Gascoigne said several times that SFF books are automatically “mid-list” from a large publisher’s perspective. With the exception of George RR Martin, JK Rowling and Tolkien, SFF rarely hits the overall best-seller list. This, then, is a starting disadvantage for new SFF authors with the major publishers.

Nonetheless, Martin in particular has done wonders for the fantasy genre of late, with a current resurgence in publication of new epic fantasy series. Some would say a glut, in fact, as a new audience has discovered the genre. The first wave of these (bought post-season-one of Game of Thrones) are hitting the shelves around now. It remains to be seen how long this trend will last — although Gascoigne posited that fantasy is still here to stay for the long term.

This seems to me a very good thing.

This ends my Conflux 9 round-up posts. (The first on a worldbuilding workshop is here, the second on the importance of having a pitch ready is here.)

I had a fabulous time at the convention, even if I spent most of it lounging and chatting over coffee or in the bar having drinks. The main reason I went was to hang out with other writers, industry pros and readers, to participate in stimulating conversations, and meet new people. All achieved!

Sometimes we just need to be with our people. Don’t you agree?

10 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Conventions, workshops & seminars, Publishing

May 3, 2013

On novel pitching: an insight and an epiphany

By Ellen Gregory

The recent Conflux Science Fiction convention in Canberra was the first conference I’ve attended where formal pitching sessions were available to authors. It’s probably not surprising therefore that the art of pitching was the subject of much general conversation.

I attended a panel about pitching on the second day of the con, featuring panellists Tara Wynn, literary agent with Curtis Brown; Alex Adsett, literary agent and publishing industry consultant; and Marc Gascoigne, publisher at Angry Robot. They discussed the following pitching scenarios:

  • “elevator pitching” — the art of describing your novel in one or two sentences to any interested party (and, let’s face it, the question “what’s your novel about?” comes up quite often in a room full of authors). It’s also useful for describing your novel to friends, family and work colleagues…
  • formal pitching to agents or publishers — the art of convincing said industry professional that your novel is something they really need to read for consideration, usually in five or ten minutes (or thereabouts).

From the title of the panel, I thought it was going to focus more on the former — which is what I desperately need help with — but it actually focused more on the latter. No matter — that proved most interesting and informative too.

I’ll quickly summarise a few of the insights provided by the three panellists:

  • The elevator pitch is essential. Even once your book is requested, the one-sentence pitch is used to describe your book quickly to sales and marketing teams and all manner of other people involved in the publishing process.
  • In the pitch, you need to be able to describe what your story is about, PLUS what it’s “like” (ie a recent similar genre novel). This can sometimes be considered the second half of the elevator pitch.
  • In the pitch, you need to highlight the kernel that makes it original, the hook that’s going to make your book stand out from all the others. Especially if it’s a fantastical world. (AA)
  • MG said several times that he considers a formal pitch like a job interview. He wants to see a professional individual who can potentially deliver a manuscript every 8 months (yikes) for a few years. He wants a clear indication that you have more books in you.
  • TW said she also wants to gain insight into the person behind the pitch — she wants to see evidence of passion and another well of ideas.

The most interesting insight I gained from this panel, however, is that every one of these agents/publishers want to hear about your story.

Yep. That’s right. Despite all the horror stories about drunken pitches in bars and manuscripts being shoved under toilet doors, these guys will still listen to you and/or take a look at that first page if it’s put before them.

They’re so eager to find something great, they won’t rule anything out without at least a glance. In fact, it’s highly likely they’ll request at least a partial after a pitch, simply because there’s still a chance the writing will be fantastic. (Of course, it could get scrapped very quickly after that!)

The moral of this story is: Make sure you’re ready for that moment when opportunity strikes.

NOTE: I am not advocating acting unprofessionally, ever… But if you do happen to be chatting in the bar, and the question comes up… BE READY and at all times professional.

The importance of this was borne upon me during the convention as I actively avoided one-on-one situations that could get sticky if the “what’s your novel about?” question was asked… And when I found myself getting tangled and defensive when trying to tell one or two others about it.

You see, I haven’t really practised the best way of describing my current novel WIP, and it matters. Because there’s nothing worse than launching into a description and making it sound dreadfully dull, so much less interesting than it really is. (You hope.) I certainly don’t want to come across all glib and rehearsed, but I’d rather like to sound coherent, and as though I have some idea about what it is I’m doing.

I learnt I definitely need to lift my game in this department. I need to practise telling people about my work, discussing it, not being defensive when they ask perfectly natural questions with the best possible intentions. It’s something for me to work on — and is probably my major take-away from this convention.

Does anyone else have any pitching (or not pitching) horror stories they’d care to share? Or success stories? Any tips for developing pitches and becoming comfortable talking about our work? I’d love to hear from you.

***

ADDENDUM 4 May: As luck would have it, Marcy Kennedy has a guest post on Kristen Lamb’s blog about how to develop the perfect pitch. It breaks it down wonderfully well. Go and check it out!

21 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in Conventions, workshops & seminars, Craft, Publishing

May 1, 2013

More on building fantastical worlds

By Ellen Gregory

I recently attended the Australian National Science Fiction Convention – Conflux 9 — a fabulous four days of hanging out with other writers, industry professionals and speculative fiction fans.

The convention offered many valuable panel discussions and workshops (among other things); I attended a worldbuilding session with Glenda Larke, an Australian epic fantasy author whose innovative and multi-dimensional worlds regularly garner much acclaim. As regular readers of this blog will know, worldbuilding is important to me and I thought perhaps Glenda might reveal some of her secrets.

She did! And I’m going to share some of the key points here today.

To start with, the following two points were emphasised. A successful fantasy world is dependent on two quite separate factors:

  • Building the world
  • Introducing the world to readers

Building the fantastical world

When creating a fantastical world, it’s essential to make it solid and believable — and give it some pizzazz. The author must know more than is revealed to the reader to give it that multi-dimensional quality, that sense the world extends beyond the immediate story.

Some authors spend a great deal of time developing a fully realised world up front, and allow the story to unfold within it. (As I have done to-date.) Glenda, on the other hand, develops her world in parallel with the story.

She said several times that one of her starting questions is “Who has the power?” and then “What do they do with it?”. Everything derives from here. She continuously adjusts the world to fit the plot, and sometimes even the map is changing right up to the final draft. The world exists to fit the story.

This doesn’t mean she skimps on the worldbuilding. But she says she doesn’t need to know everything at the beginning of the story — so long as by the end she has a comprehensive understanding.

Moreover, it’s important to identify at least one thing to make your world original, different from all the others…

As for the details, there are any number of questionnaires and worldbuilding templates available online to assist authors these days. It’s not usually necessary to fill out every single item on each list, but it can be helpful to have an idea, however roughly formed, about aspects such as economics, geography, climate, social structure and so on.

This is all assuming the fantastical world is not based directly on a particular period of our own. If that is the case, then comprehensive research from original sources is recommended.

Introducing the world to readers

Here, the key is achieving the perfect balance between what the author knows and what the reader needs to know. There’s no sense revealing irrelevant details — they’ll only bore the reader and create false expectation.

Moreover, (we all know this, but I’ll reiterate it anyway), authors must avoid the info-dump. The secret to introducing the world to readers is inserting threads of detail gradually, so the reader builds up a picture one tiny element at a time.

Some of Glenda’s tips for subtle inclusion of world detail are:

  • Creating small incidents, which also convey important characterisation, plot information, etc
  • Creating curse words to reflect culture
  • Using calendars of festivals, religious celebrations etc
  • Using unique similes and metaphors in the narrative and dialogue to convey culture and world detail
  • Referring to historical and cultural events

Finally, Glenda says don’t get hung up with getting it right the first time round! She says layering and texturing of the world can take place in subsequent drafts and revisions.

And I agree — my favourite part!

Does anyone else have any worldbuilding tips? I’d love to hear thoughts on fantastical worlds. Let me know your favourite fantasy worlds and their authors too. I’m always on the lookout for great new fantasy reading experiences.

***

Coming up soon will be a post exploring something else I learnt at Conflux — how important it is to be prepared to talk about your work! We’ll be talking pitching and dealing with that innocent question: “What’s your novel about?”

 

25 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Conventions, workshops & seminars, Craft

June 17, 2012

Donning my resolved-and-determined hat (at Continuum)

By Ellen Gregory

Last weekend I attended the Continuum 8 convention, which this year was the Australian national science fiction (and fantasy and horror) convention, held in Melbourne. It’s an event where writers and fans of the speculative fiction genre come together and pow-wow. We’re not a large community, so our natcon is always a fabulous opportunity to catch up with friends, talk shop and envelop ourselves in inspiration.

I’ve been attending Continuum just about every year since it began, and always have a fabulous time. I love listening to other writers talk about their process, about trends and industry issues, about their general publication experiences. It’s essentially a weekend spent hanging out with ‘my kind of people’, and this year’s con was no different. Aside from listening to a couple of panels here and there, I spent most of my time in the hotel/con bar and/or in cafes and restaurants in nearby Lygon Street.

But the more cons I attend, the more people I know. And this means more writers… writers with published stories, collections, novels. Or contracts for novels. While it still gives me rather a thrill to hang out with all these accomplished authors, it does also leave me feeling a little inadequate. OK, a lot inadequate. It’s hard to accept that I’m still grafting my way up the learning curve… that I’m not there yet…

In fact, last week (before Continuum) I decided (again) that I was giving it all up, that I’ve been fooling myself that I can do this, that I think I’ll just sit back and read all the glorious books that other people write and stop stop stop all this fruitless effort. By the time the con rolled around, I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to go at all, because I would just be confronted with my own failure.

Needless to say, I turned up, but I was in rather a weird place. It seemed almost a relief to announce during casual conversation, when asked about my progress, that “This week, I’m giving it all up”… only to have them answer, one after the other, “Oh, you’re having one of those weeks.”

Yes, I had indeed been having one of those weeks.

I haven’t completely resurrected my “I can do this” state of mind, but I do feel better after talking to people during the convention. Everyone understood where I was at and no-one judged — no matter where they are in their careers right now, they’ve all been at the point of deepest doubt, they’ve all struggled with some mountain or other.

And that’s the best thing about attending conventions — the sense of community. The knowledge that these are my people.

Happily, more often than not during the weekend I found myself donning my resolved-and-determined hat: all that’s needed is for me to pull my finger out and keep going. Just keep going. One day, perhaps one day in the not too distant future, I want to attend a convention with my own sense of accomplishment — whether that’s a completed novel manuscript, a published short story — or something better.

 

23 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Conventions, workshops & seminars, Reflection, SF Community

November 23, 2011

An evening of writerly conversation

By Ellen Gregory

Last night I hopped along to Melbourne’s The Wheeler Centre (‘Books, Writing, Ideas’) for the last in its series of free panels featuring writers in conversation. (The series had a name, but I’ve forgotten.) This particular session involved ‘the two Alisons’ — Alison Goodman and Alison Croggon — both of whom are Australian fantasy authors with a tendency to write for young adults (YA).

I have both read and hung out with Alison G (most recently at World Fantasy), adding to my incentive to attend. But mostly it was the opportunity to listen to writers discussing craft, ideas, process etc. It’s always interesting to hear how others approach novel-writing, how they deal with the pressures, highs and lows, and hopefully I come away feeling motivated and inspired.

It was lovely to sit back and listen — for once I had no pen (what sort of writer has no pen?) so I couldn’t take notes and, since my memory for such things is shocking, I have no gold dust to sprinkle and share. But I can relate that they discussed topics such as world building and research, pantsing v plotting, the lure of language (Alison G coming from a literary short story background and Alison C from poetry and theatre) and other such writerly topics.

I did enjoy my first visit to The Wheeler Centre, attached to the State Library, which I’ve heard much about. The Moat bar and cafe had opened in the basement the previous day, and this proved a good spot to while away half an hour or so while I waited for the session to start. I perched at the bar and sipped pinot noir amid a crowd of people, many of whom had the aura of writers. I felt rather at home. It’s a very nice inviting bar/cafe, with lots of tables and corners to set up your computer. . .

After the hour-long panel, I joined the two Alisons and some of the ClanDestine writers for dumplings, where we continued talking shop (and ate a helluva lot). It was fabulous to meet some more Melbourne specfic authors (they keep popping up everywhere). On the whole, it was an immensely enjoyable and chilled out evening.

 

2 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Conventions, workshops & seminars, SF Community

November 16, 2011

World Fantasy highlights: Connie Willis (with Neil Gaiman)

By Ellen Gregory

I’m still in World Fantasy wind-down mode, and today bring you the highlights provided by Toastmaster, Connie Willis.

If you read this blog regularly, you’ll know that I was recently blown away by her novel Doomsday Book, so was particularly keen to hear what she had to say in person. And what a delight! I attended her Friday Toastmaster Speech and Q&A, her Saturday conversation with GOH Neil Gaiman (who yesterday tweeted the following: “Probably the best panel I’ve ever been on, in 28 years of con panels. Just Connie Willis & me talking craft for an hour“), and then there was her witty Toastmaster’s speech at the banquet on the final day.

Here are the key nuggets I took away.

From her Toastmaster Q&A

It takes Connie 1 to 1.5 years to plot each novel. She talked a little about her next project, which she described as part alien abduction, part Romantic comedy, set in the US town of Roswell.

She outlined her three levels of research:
- 1st level is general, top-level research that is largely situational
- 2nd level concerns specific detail
- 3rd level  involves ‘the secret nerves of the book’; the piece of information that adds more than colour, that becomes critical to the story. (She usually doesn’t know what it is until she finds it.)

The secret nerves of the book! Oh, how I love this. It was worth my entire trip to San Diego to hear this piece of wisdom from such a master storyteller. She went on to illustrate what she meant, using (fortunately for me!) Doomsday Book… In which the key fact, the secret nerve of the book, was that every English village back in the Middle Ages had its own unique-sounding bell, and that you could hear the plague coming closer and closer from the bells tolling death over and over… and then silence. It gives me shudders now to think of it — and I remain in awe of this book.

She also raved about a UK TV series called Primeval.

From the conversation with Neil Gaiman

First off, it’s worth spending the hour to watch the You Tube video below. Seriously. But otherwise here is just a sprinkling of gold dust from both of them (from my hastily scrawled notes).

CW – Can’t remember not wanting to be a writer
NG – You’re not a writer until you finish something.
CW – You’re not a writer until you start writing. The need for validation (sales, success) never stops.
NG – Influences are everything you read before the age of 11. For him huge influences were Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
NG – Aims to write stories that creep into people’s heads; readers get to fill in all the gaps; readers are complicit in all deaths of characters. [I love this in particular!] The Graveyard Book is the only book that turned out better than what was in his head. None of the others came close.

NG – Cited Gene Wolfe quote along the lines of “Never figure out how to write a novel. Only figure out how to write the novel you’re writing now.”
CW – Every novel needs a new skill set (unless you write the same novel over and over again).
NG – Said there’s often a sudden magical moment in a novel, when he realises he knew what he was doing the whole time.
CW – Getting through the bad bits is what proves you have what it takes to be a writer.
NG – He has days when he’s convinced every word is the wrong word, that every sentence is deformed… and later he can’t even tell which sections that was. He compared writing to building a dry stone wall, one stone at a time.
CW – added that then at some point a truck drives through it. [laughter!]

NG(?) – The originality of a story doesn’t lie in one idea, it’s in the combination of ideas and how the writer deals with it.
NG – said sometimes there’s something going on between you and book that no-one else can quite share or see. He cited CW’s story All my darling daughters as his favourite piece of her writing.

Advice!
NG – Quoted Heinlein, something like: “Know when to stop rewriting, then submit, then start the next story.”
CW – Don’t give up. And read inspiring books. She recommended Steve Martin’s Born Standing Up, and All Hallows Eve by Charles Williams.
NG – Recommended reading outside your comfort zone and use primary sources for research.

I didn’t take any notes during Connie’s Toastmaster speech, but it was very funny and smart. And it has got me convinced I need to watch Primeval! It was a real privilege to be present at both her panels and I got a lot out of just listening to her and Neil speak.

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Conventions, workshops & seminars, Craft, Process, Reading

November 9, 2011

World Fantasy GOH: Ruth Sanderson

By Ellen Gregory

One of about six Guests of Honour at the recent World Fantasy Convention was artist Ruth Sanderson, who has illustrated an uncountable number of picture books (and/or book covers), many of them fairytales and other fantasy stories. Her paintings, several of which were on display in the Art Show, were breathtakingly beautiful — had I a spare $4000, I might well have brought one of them home.

I went along to Ruth’s GOH presentation, which comprised a slide show (with commentary) of her art over the years, each painting individually brilliant, especially (in my mind) those which tended towards fantasy themes. Pictured is one of my favourites (one I could have bought… sigh), from a picture book written by Jane Yolen, called Where have the unicorns gone?

I couldn’t resist buying a copy of the unicorn picture book, particularly once I discovered it is now out of print. I also bought a copy of The Enchanted Wood (which Ruth claimed was probably her best book), and The Twelve Dancing Princesses (which Ruth nominated as her favourite). The Twelve Dancing Princesses (and hopefully others) is about to be re-released with a brand new painting for the cover. She has also worked with her daughter to animate an e-book version of her version of Cinderella for the iPad.

Never would I have predicted that the only books I actually purchased in the Dealers Room at this convention would be children’s picture books! But I’ve just realised that fantasy art has always attracted me, usually from the cover of a book, and perhaps I ought not be surprised that paintings of unicorns were the first thing to catch my fancy.

I would dearly love to post examples of all Ruth’s beautiful paintings, but instead, I recommend a visit to her gallery here.

Here’s the link to my first overview post on the convention.

3 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Conventions, workshops & seminars

November 5, 2011

World Fantasy wind-down

By Ellen Gregory

It’s hard to believe that it’s essentially a week since the World Fantasy Convention in San Diego – I’m still recovering from all the people, panels and parties! I had the most amazing time.

This convention was all about socializing and informal networking. Yes, I attended quite a few panels (mainly those featuring the various Guests of Honour), but the best moments took place in the bar, or at one of the abundant parties, or sitting in the sun with a makeshift latte.

I don’t think I have ever before made so many new friends, or spoken to so many interesting and like-minded people. Not only did I make several new friends from Australia, it was great to meet and hang out with so many of the writers from the Manhattan-based Altered Fluid writing group, which sounds a great deal like my writing group, SuperNOVA.

The community vibe at this convention (my first World Fantasy) was completely different from the SF cons I’ve attended in Australia. For one thing, the membership is largely professional (as opposed to fan), comprising mainly writers, editors, agents, publishers, illustrators etc. And they all know each other, and look forward to hanging out together and talking shop – but only in the most informal and totally cool way.

And there was catering! For three nights in a row, we had our choice of parties (conveniently adjacent), complete with drinks and nibbles and awesome company. Even better, we were able to spill outside into the mild San Diego evening when the ground-floor entertainment suites got too squeezy. The convention organisers put on buffet meals too, if you turned up in the right place at the right time…

I think it was great timing for me to participate in this convention, which was easily the best I have ever attended. It has fuelled my determination to keep going, to keep taking writing seriously. And it has made me want to attend every year! Next year World Fantasy will be held in Toronto, Canada, and after that Brighton, UK. Ve-ry tempting… Well, OK, I might have already bought my membership for Brighton.

Since this has been rather a broad overview of my thoughts on the convention, I’ll probably follow up over the next week or so with subsequent posts on specifics – including a summary of the panels I attended, mainly to share some GOH wisdom (since I attended most of these sessions and took a few notes).

Finally, one important and awesome thing to note: Australian Alisa Krasnostein was awarded a World Fantasy Special Award for Twelfth Planet Press. You could probably hear the two tables of Australians cheering from home!

7 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Conventions, workshops & seminars, SF Community

October 26, 2011

Heading to San Diego

By Ellen Gregory

Today I’m boarding a flight to San Diego USA to attend my first World Fantasy Convention. Exciting!

It feels rather indulgent to be taking a trip halfway around the world simply to hobnob with other genre writers and industry professionals, but I know it will be a worthwhile experience. There will be plenty of people to meet, experts to listen to and learn from, topics to discuss — and I may even get to see a little of San Diego.

Having attended a couple of World Science Fiction Conventions in my hometown of Melbourne (1999 and 2010), I’ve long wanted to experience World Fantasy. This year it all came together because I have friends who are attending, and they happened to mention it early this year right after I’d quit my job, when it seemed like I could do anything and prioritising my writing career was high on the list. So I went home and booked my convention membership (a good thing too, because it sold out a few days later!).

It all looks fabulous — the guests of honour, the schedule, the venue . . . everything. Can’t wait.

 

4 comments   |  tags: , | posted in Conventions, workshops & seminars

August 25, 2011

Writing for kids

By Ellen Gregory

As I watch my young nieces and nephews start to develop an appreciation of books and reading, I find myself wanting to write stories for them. Not picture book stories, but novel-length works of the type I would have adored at age 10 or 11. At that age, I had so much time for reading, and there simply weren’t enough books to satisfy me. These days there seem to be so many more options for kids of that age, and fantasy is a hugely popular genre among ‘tweens’.

Last Friday I spontaneously attended a ‘writing for children’ workshop as part of the Glen Eira storytelling festival. The three-hour session provided a good overview of the different types of books and stories, depending on age. Most importantly, I learnt the difference between ‘chapter books’ and middlegrade novels, which was something that had been stumping me.

What I found particularly useful was learning some of the ‘rules’/guidelines to use when writing for children — such as how many subplots, setbacks, characters, words should be contained within each type of book. This is now how I differentiate between chapter books (3000-10,000 words, one minor subplot, approx one setback) and middlegrade (20,000-40,000 words, multiple subplots, LOTS of setbacks, can start introducing inner conflict).

Okay, I daresay it’s not as cut-and-dried as this, but it’s a really useful starting point!

I’ve decided I’m most interested in attempting to write a middlegrade story, and so have decided to do some experiential research. I’m currently reading the first book in the best-selling Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan to get a feel for story/writing complexity and tone. That’s proving quite educational. It’s classic fantasy with a clever, scalable premise that has ensured a series of eleven books and counting! Who wouldn’t want to read about Will’s adventures as apprentice to Ranger Halt? He gets to be an expert archer, knife thrower and spy, plus has a cool pony called Tug. And he gets caught up in all this big politicking and war stuff. I can definitely see why it’s been so popular, and is ideal for both boys and girls. (God, I would have LOVED it as a kid!)

I have no idea what I’m going to write about in my middlegrade endeavours. I’m still in research mode, trying to get a feel for the age-group requirements. But I’m really looking forward to producing something the ‘next generation’ can read — even if it’s straight from my word processor to their e-reader. Anyway, I’ve still got a few years up my sleeve.

 

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