Helen Chamberlin Archives · Neridah McMullin

Interview with Nadine Cranenburgh, Children’s Writer

Posted on February 27, 2014April 16, 2019 by Neridah

Nadine and I first met last year as mentees of the 2013 Maurice Saxby Mentorship. We had a ball together and are now firm writing buddies.

Nadine is a versatile and talented author, writing picture books, middle fiction and Junior Fiction through to YA and her current, awesome project: a hybrid Graphic Novel. She has been widely published in the Herald Sun, Magpies Magazine, Comet Magazine, Alphabet Soup and Ladybug Magazine in the U.S. Nadine’s work is clever and funny and sometimes downright scary! She also lectures in Children’s and Adult Writing at the University of Ballarat.

When Nadine’s not writing, she’s often seen out and about with her trusty camera, gathering stories in a different way. She takes the most beautiful and intriguing images. She didn’t take this one below though, her friend Ambrose took it while she was taking a picture through a water glass. I told you she was creative!

Thanks for coming on to my blog today, Nadine. How are things in sunny Ballarat?

Beautiful today! A little chilly, but I’m never complaining about the cold again after this blazing summer.

I agree, it was far too hot.

Now, I’ve got a few questions for you…just hang on a tick and I’ll get myself organised. Okay, Nadine tell me…

When did you first know you wanted to be an author?

I grew up in a house full of books, and my Mum was an English teacher, so I guess I’ve always been making up stories and dreaming about seeing them in print. I entered my first writing competition when I was five and scored runner up. I still have the prize (but not the story). It was good though, lots of small animals, mess and all kinds of trouble!

That’s so cool.

Do you have a writing background?

I got a bit sidetracked after leaving school. I applied for a journalism course but spent too long on the question about why I wanted to be a journalist and didn’t leave time to do the test! My second choice was Engineering (I was a big fan of McGyver) so I went with that. After uni I joined the Navy and did lots of other exciting things involving sailing and mountains before settling down to have a family. That’s when I decided to buckle down and make writing my career. I enrolled in the Professional Writing and Editing course at RMIT and haven’t looked back.

I loved McGyver too, he was very resourceful (and good looking)

Could you tell us about some of your publications?

It’s funny, but although I’ve always written and entered competitions, I only really thought about sending my work out to publishers when I started studying at RMIT. The first thing I sent out was a short story about dating (which was a bit of an anti-romance, really) and it was published online for the princely sum of $45.

I’ve also had a couple of short stories for kids published in Alphabet Soup and Comet magazines and articles in the Herald Sun, Magpies and Victorian Writer. I’m also very excited to have a poem and short story in the new Charms trilogy which is a joint venture project pulled together by the lovely Sally Odgers. Charms draws together work by many writers into a three part fantasy novel about a magical story-telling crock that a group of five children discover in a house their parents are trying to turn into a boutique hotel. The best part is that each book in the trilogy is aimed at a different age groups: the first is for lower to middle primary, the second middle to upper primary, and the third young teens (it’s a bit darker).

I’ve been lucky enough to have proof read Nadine’s ‘Charm story’ and awesomely spine tingling…

Where do your ideas come from?

That’s a good question… I daydream whenever I can (and sometimes when I shouldn’t, like when I should be making tea, or working) and things kind of mush together in my brain and make interesting questions. Like ‘what if a barbeque was REALLY carried away by flies’ or ‘what happened to poor Puff the magic dragon after Jackie Paper grew up?’. I think we all have amazing ideas, and the trick is catching them and turning them into stories before they escape. I always carry a notebook.

Me too. It’s a good idea.

What do you like to read?

I have two little kids, and really enjoy reading picture books with them (and by myself). When Sally Rippin was my teacher, she really opened my eyes to what an incredible medium they are, and that it is fine to be ‘grown up’ and still love them. I’m also a big fan of young adult books, I’m proud to say I enjoy them more than most adult fiction (although I loved The Rosie Project). At the moment, I’m half way through Randa Abdel-Fattah’s Where the Streets had a Name. It’s awesome. Also the kind of graphic novels that don’t have super heroes in them (there are lots!)

Nadine storytelling at Literature Alive last year as part of the Maurice Saxby Mentorship. That’s Kevin Burgemeestre holding her story up. Good on you Kev!

When and where are you most inspired to write?

Not enough! It’s really hard to find the time between kids and all the other distractions in my life. I find I get really inspired after being around other writers and talking about their stories and ideas, so I try to get out to book launches and festivals when I can.

I wholeheartedly agree.

As to where – somewhere far away from my very distracting house, and near a window. Don’t ask me why!

What are you working on at the moment?

I’ve been working on a project that is part graphic novel, part novel, and part carwash with all the trimmings (that last bit isn’t true). I’ve been at it for a few years (in between poetry and picture book manuscripts) and have just finished a very rough first draft, which is exciting. I’m calling it a hybrid graphic novel, because that sounds cool.

It sure does.

It’s called ‘Dark Room: Do Not Enter’, and is the story of 15-year-old artist Matti Maguire, who goes to her mother’s abandoned photographic dark room to draw and remember. When she realises remembering isn’t enough, she sets out to solve the mystery of the accident that sent her mother to a nursing home nine years ago.

Wow. I want to read this…

If that sounds too deep, it also has a Star Wars re-enactment involving paper planes and a dance inspired by Cocoa Pops. And a really enigmatic black cat.

Now I’m sold.

I’m not illustrating (although I may do some photo collage for part of it), so the graphic bits are written like film scripts.

It sounds thoroughly original and unique. Congratulations.

What is it about the graphic novel genre that fascinates you so much?

Like picture books, graphic novels have infinite scope for telling stories, and I love their filmic qualities. Bruce Mutard has said that he makes films on paper and Nicki Greenberg’s version of Hamlet was ‘staged on the page.’

Unlike film, you can include things that would be extremely expensive or impractical to shoot, you can ponder over the frames and pick up the fine detail, and you can carry them on the train with you and flick through their pages (and go back to check the things you’ve missed).

I love the breadth of graphic novels coming from Australian creators – from the very personal and Melbourne-centred work of Mandy Orr, to Shaun Tan’s amazing The Arrival. They can take years to create, and I guess that’s why I’m looking at a hybrid format. To make things easier for my illustrator!

Do you think that Graphic Novels are a medium in which ‘darker’ stories can be told?

That’s a really interesting question. I guess you can tell dark stories in any medium, but (thinking on my feet here) I guess the pictorial story-telling in graphic novels can allow you to imply darker elements of a story without explicitly stating them and let the reader’s imagination enhance the mood. Or you can represent darker themes in a way that is visually easier for readers to deal with. The famous graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman is a good example of this: Jews are mice and Nazis are cats. I’m not sure if that was his intention, but I found the grim subject matter easier to deal with because the victims were not human. It was also handy for working out who was who.

I also loved ‘Jane, the Fox and Me’ written by Fanny Britt and illustrated by Isabel Arsenault . I’m a tragic Jane Eyre fan. This story revolves around a school bullying incident; it’s refreshingly wonderful.

What was your 2013 Maurice Saxby Mentorship experience like?

Unforgettable. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who is trying to get a foothold in the kids or young adult writing industry. Or looking for some inspiration and a reality check! (I’m sure you would too).

Absolutely. It’s been invaluable.

When I got the email letting me know I had been accepted, I had to read it a few times before it sank in. I’d followed Jackie Hosking’s mentorship through her blog and was really excited (and honoured) to be selected.

It came at a time when I was a bit despondent about my chances of making it in such a competitive industry, but spending time with the wonderful creators involved (Elizabeth Honey, Kevin Burgemeestre and Mark Wilson) and watching them in action made me realise that enjoying the process of writing and sharing your work was really important, and something I had control over. So I’m focusing on that!

Me too.

I also met the lovely Helen Chamberlin, ‘the best children’s book publisher in Australia’ and have really enjoyed her support and words of wisdom (which she gives so generously).

Yep, Helen is an amazing person.

The most important thing I got out of the experience was my fellow mentees (including you!) who have been amazing new writing friends. Slaving over a hot computer can be lonely sometimes.

It sure can be.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today, Nadine. Keep up the good work, I can’t wait to see what happens next with the ‘Dark Room: Do Not Enter’. It sounds amazing…

You can check Nadine out at her website and follow her blog too.

Day 10 Evening Panel Discussion: ‘READING PICTURES’ at Toorak/South Yarra Library

Posted on May 27, 2013April 16, 2019 by Neridah

This event was a new edition to the Literature Alive Program and was an eagerly anticipated panel discussion.

Mandy Cooper, the curator of GALLERY FOR A DAY, was the M.C for the evening and she spoke briefly about what picture books mean to her, that the narrative is in the artwork and that it’s a unique skill it is to make this relationship work. She quoted Children’s Writer and Illustrator Ann James:

“The illustrator must not merely echo the words, they must illustrate between the lines. So the story is like a song -lyrics and music. Each has it’s own voice and part to play. But they must be in tune with one another. They can be discordant but discordant on purpose.”

Mandy then introduced Kevin Burgemeestre to talk about his thoughts on this topic.

Kevin thinks he has the best job in the world. He can’t believe he’s paid to play, that he does all the things he once got into trouble for at school. Kevin tells us how the reader always brings something to the work, whether that is based on their own experiences or their imaginations.

Text gives impetus for drama. It creates sequence. You establish a shot, a scene and you have action and reaction. And it has to be dynamic on the page. There are a number of points of view that create the reaction.

Kevin likes to use metaphor. Through gesture and body language, his character is telling us something symbolic and he reminds us of how religion always used over-wrought alter pieces to get the message through.

Composition is important. For example, how you divide the paper? This connects the art to the narrative particularly well if there is conflict. A fence maybe…

In Kevin’s book, ‘Thunder Mountain’ he deliberately drew his illustrations increasing in size across the page to relate to a counting narrative.

In ‘B for Bravo’ Kevin’s dioramas create drama through shadow and depth and shape and in the mountains scene, the emptiness creates possibility for the plane to fly through.

In regards to point of view, Kevin quite rightly states, the mouse has a different view to the eagle.

In Kevin’s new book, (it’s YA fiction) called ‘Kate’, Kate is protected by ‘Spirit’ the dog and the artwork has deliberate elements of tribal spirit symbolism that relates to the text. Very cool stuff from Kevin.

Elizabeth Honey was introduced next and she spoke about using less words and letting the picture do the talking. We were honoured to see the roughs for a new book. She was in a dilemma and asked us our opinion on the medium she should use. Wow!

It’s a picture book about all the things parents say to children. Families have a way of communicating, they use words that deal with situations or ‘wrangling’ as Elizabeth put it. It was a delightful story.

“Hop up, wriggle over, snuggle in.”

Elizabeth wanted to use the right medium to covey the mood of the book: soft, fluffy and how big should the book be? These were all valid questions.

Elizabeth also showed us how she wrote and re-wrote ‘Not a Nibble’. When you work with water, double spreads are the order for the day.

Elizabeth writes and paints at the same time when she’s creating a book as this allows an economy of words. It also allows her to make pictures intriguing and to not give it all away too early, such as in her book ‘That’s not a Daffodil’

Elizabeth chose to work in gouache on rough watercolour paper that has a deep tooth so she could then layer with oil crayon. There were some difficult perspectives to deal with as the Turkish man next door was huge and trying to fit him in the artwork with the little boy took some time. It’s all about angles…

Mark Wilson works completely different to Kevin and Elizabeth. Yay!

Mark uses dual narratives in historical based stories. By this, I mean he used his illustration and the text to tell the story, all adding a different perspective.

For example, in ‘Angel of Kokoda’ Mark used the illustration of Kari and certain birds, lifelike and carved, that were important to his tribal belief systems as well as the text that was telling the story and a letter from command that described the state of the battle. This layering is really effective storytelling, allowing the reader to put all the pieces together. And there’s so much information here.

‘Vietnam Diary’ used two narratives through illustration. On a double page spread, there are two brothers on opposing sides. On one side of the page, one brother is protesting against the war in Vietnam and Mark has painted this in a dropout, tonal effect. It’s very 60’s in style, representing that era. On the side, the other brother is painted very life-like, clean cut; almost like a photo. This young man (which just happens to be Mark himself) has had his name drawn out of a tattslotto type of machine ordering him to do National Service and join the Army. The illustration is ‘realist’, reflecting his situation at the time. Very cool Mark.

In the book ‘My Mother’s Eyes’ Mark used colour to represent the horror of war, rather than draw that detail for children. He is allowing the reader to use their imagination and through the emotive use of colour: red for fire, anger, blood.

Several people in the audience then had an opportunity to ask our panelists questions and one absolute beauty, which was directed to Mark was: “What artists have influenced your careers, obviously Turner has?”

Mark nearly fell off his chair, he was flattered Turner could be seen in his work. I can see it too now, in the way he uses light to illuminate certain illustrations. Mark rattled off a few other admired artists such as Tom Roberts, whom he has written a book about, ‘Ben & Gracie’s Art Adventure’ & ‘Inside the world of Tom Roberts.’

Kevin loves the artwork of Max Meldrum and Ken Avery (of Bugs Bunny fame), Rembrandt for humanity, Goya, Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, Joy Hester, Fred Williams. Quite a list, but I will have Google Max Meldrum and Ken Avery.

When Elizabeth Honey was asked about admired artists she immediately answered Matisse, and that he strongly influenced her in ‘I’m still awake, Still’. You can see this this in Elizabeth use of long lines and flowing movement. How cool is that!

Overall, the READING PICTURES discussion panel evening was deemed a success and will remain on the agenda for the festival next year. What a great night!

Day 12 ‘Live art in the Mart’ – LITERATURE ALIVE at Prahran Market

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Neridah

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny and it was a beautiful day at Prahran Market.

There were children doing drawing and doing writing workshops on long white trestle tables with the assistance of Kevin Burgemeestre and Mandy Cooper. There were more little children getting their faces painted. It was a very festive atmosphere.

Proceedings kicked off with a little girl called Natasha reading out aloud her story. She took that microphone and went for it. A natural talent, I believe.

Kevin then showed the children some of his illustrations and artwork and how he goes about writing a children’s picture book. Kevin had two dioramas on display from his book ‘B for Bravo.’

Heather Gallagher read her story ‘The Plug Hole’ which the children just loved.

I then read my latest book ‘Kick it to Me!’

‘Kick it to Me!’ is published by One Day Hill www.onedayhill.com.au

They publish culturally significant Australian stories. An awesome independent publisher.

Nadine recited her picture book ‘Roar’ and there were plenty of roars in response (this is us roaring!)

Nadine also read to us her delightful story ‘Nan’s Umbrella’. She had a few tricky questions for the children afterwards, which they were able to answer with no problems at all (they were definitely listening).

Kevin and Mandy launched into their chosen story time books and the kids rolled around on the hay bales and beanbags, having a ball. Both Kevin and Mandy are master storytellers; excited little people invaded their personal space on more than one occasion. Kevin and Mandy were a big hit. Mandy also has the most beautiful singing voice; she’s missed her vocation!

Heather read a chapter from her new book ‘Ferret on the Loose’ just recently published by New Frontier. It was hilarious.

‘Ferret on the Loose’ by Heather Gallagher is a Little Rocket from New Frontier publishing. It’s for 7+ readers and is available at any good bookstore. There’s a rocket to make in the back of the book. That’s pretty cool!

All in all, it was a perfect day at Prahran Market.

(Thank you to my biggest fan, the wonderful Toby)

I felt quite sad when it was time to say goodbye to Nadine, Heather and Helen, and Kevin and Mandy. As Maurice Saxby Mentees, we have had the most amazing two weeks. But as Helen kindly reminded us, it’s not the end; it’s just the beginning of our friendship.

Nadine, Heather and I (and Laura who is overseas) are already planning our next catch up!

A big thank you must go to Helen Chamberlin for looking after us and guiding us through our work and to Pam Horsey from C.L.A.N who has done a wonderful job planning and organising everything. A big thank you must also go to N.E.E.F and to Stonnington Council.

Day 7 Visit to the Children’s Collection, State Library of Victoria

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Neridah

Juliet O’Conor manages the Children’s Collection at the State Library of Victoria. She is a Research Librarian and an author of the famed ‘Bottersnikes and other lost things: a celebration of Australian children’s books’.

The collection has children’s books published between the 16th and 21st century, reflecting patterns of childhood reading over five hundred years.

The collection is divided into three areas: Rare Books, the Ken Pound Collection (about 25,000 books donated by Ken Pound), and the Children’s Literature Research Collection (which has about 70,000 books).

The earliest children’s book in the collection is The Scholemaster by Roger Ascham, written by the tutor of a young Queen Elizabeth I, and we got to look at it and turn the pages!

The text is inaccessible, an ‘s’ looks like an ‘f’ and ‘u’ looks like ‘v’. It was quite hard to read. However, the quality of paper and beautiful font was wonderful to look at. Juliet explained how the upper classes had beautiful leather bound books with embossed golf family crests on them and the lower classes had much more simpler versions. These were priced accordingly.

We also had a look at the Horn Books. Wow! These were fascinating. Hornbooks were used in the 17^th Century to teach children how to read. They were small, thin pieces of wood with a handle. On a piece of vellum or paper were printed letters of the alphabet, and maybe a syllabus and vowels. Usually, the Lords Prayer was on it too, as so often in these times education was part of religion. Then the piece of paper was covered by a thin layer of transparent horn to protect it. Like plastic. Cool, eh!

Depending on class some Hornbooks were embossed and engraved.

Check this one out…

Ken Pound is an interesting character. He fascinated Heather! His collection was a privately amassed, put together by himself through buying books at markets and fairs from 1970 to 1994. The collection is solely Australian and New Zealand books, and Ken purely collected what he liked. His collection has certain books that are rarely found anywhere else in Australia. These include these funny little advertising booklets, which humorously reflect aspects of social history. Some were illustrated by the wonderful Ida Rentoul Oustwaithe. My favourite illustration was of two children playing cards with two quite adult looking Koala’s who were smoking and having a drink!

Others treasures in Ken’s collection are several editions of ‘Dot and the Kangaroo’ and ‘John Mystery Books’ which were published from the 1930’s – 1950. Growing up in an orphanage, we found Ken’s collection touching. He just loved books! His one requirement when he parted with his collection was that they remain ‘together’; quite a legacy we thought.

We also got to look at two more very special and rare books. We looked at an Earnest Lister pop-up book from the 1890’s. The artwork was beautiful, and the diorama had been delicately hand-cut. They called it paper engineering.

At this time (1890’s) pop-up books or lift the flap books were also popular for teaching surgery. Scary!

My absolute favourite was a Beatrix Potter book from 1906. It was a concertina book of ‘Miss Moppet’. It was tiny, in a wallet format and it was absolutely divine. I believe it wasn’t so popular though. Apparently, children would read them and leave them lying around ‘undone’. Doesn’t sound too dissimilar to today, I’d say. Although I do admit, it was rather difficult to fold back up. I’m not good with maps either.

The Children’s Collection also currently holds a wide collection of Lewis Carroll’s Alice books, some of which are on display in the Cowen Gallery. Juliet says: “The Alice books marked a shift away from didacticism to imaginative irreverence in children’s fiction, and continue to inspire literal, radical and subversive interpretation.”

There’s no doubt about that, and looking at these books was an absolute treat. I always feel a connection with Lewis Carol. The poor guy suffered terrible from terrible migraine headaches (I do too) and prior to a migraine, he would get an ‘aura migraine’ (visual eye disturbances) for two to three days before the actual painful headache started. Apparently, during one of his aura migraines, he wrote ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ So, there’s an opportunity I’m obviously not making the most of!

The Children’s Collection at the State Library shows the expansion over time from the didactic beginnings of children’s literature to works for children’s entertainment such as novels, illustrated fiction, picture books, graphic novels, poetry and traditional stories.

The collection grows by approximately 2500 books – antiquarian and contemporary – each year and it’s a place well worth the visit.

Thank you Juliet – what a wonderful way to spend the morning.

And thank you to Trevor McAllister, our very knowledgeable guide.

This is Juliet’s book which I’m going to buy this weekend.

Juliet O’Conor

$59.95
The Miegunyah Press in association with the State Library of Victoria
Hardback 272pp Illustrated ISBN 9780522856514

Day 3 Maurice Saxby Mentorship

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Neridah

Visit to Allen & Unwin

This morning we met with Erica Wagner, Publisher of Books for Children and Teenagers. Erica started off by discussing with us how our reading habits have changed. She loves her iPad and looks forward to reading it every night. ‘It’s iPad time!’

I love, love, love my iPad, although it’s awkward to hold it in bed, it’s just a bit heavy for me. I’ve tried those pillow support thingys but they don’t seem to help. It really gets me in the neck. Time to upgrade to an iPad mini I think.

And why do we love reading from the iPad? It’s just so darn easy. A click of a button and you can read whatever you want. Although, due to the format of children’s picture books, I hear it’s difficult to achieve a satisfying digital format.

One innovation that Allen & Unwin have introduced to their picture books is a direct link via a QR scan (which can be easily found on the half title page of their PB’s) to an Allen & Unwin website that provides an audio reading for the book. One is an actors voice reading the story (for playtime), the other is the writers voice (for bedtime).

These picture books will sell for $24.95 and research in the U.K shows a definite link to increased sales.

Erica then took us through the production of two wonderful books.

The first was ‘Jandamarra’ written by Mark Greenwood and illustrated by Terry Denton. This is a powerful story about Jandamarra, a Bunuba warrior from the Kimberley in Western Australia. Books, plays and movies have been made by about this amazing man and this picture book does his legend credit. Collaboratively written with the permission of the Bunuba Elders, text and illustration weave together an amazing tale. It’s 48 pages long, which is a big deviation from the standard 32 pages normally used in making picture books.

The process of laying it out, fitting in what was just right, revising the artwork and the text on several occasions sounded like an incredible challenge. Erica talked about the Writer/Illustrator relationship and how the Illustrator needs to take ownership of the text to make it work. It was a fascinating process but the result speaks for itself. This book is wonderful. I’m heading out to buy this it tomorrow!

The second book we had a sneak peak at was a graphic novel by the talented Julie Hunt (you can see an Author Interview done on Julie in todays Buzzwords magazine).

Now, this was exciting for Nadine’s as she is writing, amongst many other things, a graphic novel or a hybrid graphic novel that also includes prose.

Wow, the way Julie Hunt’s story ‘Kid Gloves’ is written is so unique I’ve never seen anything like it. It was all dialogue. Erica explained when you writing a graphic novel, you need to convey action as if it’s a film. The artwork for this book is in panel format and it was incredible.

It made me want to read Nikki Greenberg’s books, Hamlet and The Great Gatsby. More books! (Don’t tell my husband. Where are you going to put all these books he asks me as I waltz in with another armful of literary treasure?).

Erica believes graphic novels are a little risky, that perhaps they are ahead of their time. They’re a massive amount of work and they take years to complete. But all in all what I saw was a book that is completely compelling and different that it’s a real experience in itself to read and enjoy such a book.

Erica was so good to talk to, it was thrilling to discuss their publishing list and what their expectations are for writers and illustrators. She talked about Allen & Unwin’s strengths as a publisher. They love good picture books, they are always looking for Middle Grade Fiction 8 – 12 years. They pride themselves on having a varied and interesting publishing list, promoting literary qualities. I believe this to be true.

Erica also talked about the importance of finding your voice as a writer. It’s about having confidence in your voice and developing characters people can recognize and relate to. Strong story telling is always compelling and a fresh and contemporary approach to stories is what they’re looking for. Erica was very encouraging to us all. “Writing is a craft and you can always make it better,” she says.

It was such a treat to chat with Erica. She was so generous in sharing her knowledge and expertise with us, I left feeling very grateful and ready to have a go at my next story.

Visit to Penguin

After a lovely lunch at docklands with Helen Chamberlin, Heather Gallagher, Laura Wilson and Nadine Cranenburgh, we headed off to Penguin Publishing to meet with Senior Editors, Amy Thomas and Katrina Lehmann.

The Penguin offices were pretty amazing, funky and very modern with a huge open layout workspace.

Penguin have a corporate culture with a strong commercial values. They publish about 100 books a year. Of these, only 12 – 14 would be picture books. About 15 books would be submitted by agents and only a random 1 – 2 unsolicited manuscripts (from new writers) would be picked up. Many titles are also what they call buy-ins, as in they buy the rights for picture books from the U.S or U.K and release them here. There’s little opportunity for the new writer.

Amy and Katrina explained to us how their roles as editors has changed with the tightening of Penguin’s belt in that they do their own type setting as well as editing. It certainly gives them more control, but of course, it’s added work. Their editing work involves a great deal of manuscript development. It may begin with structural editing, plot development, changes to the story arc, alterations in chapter length, character re-focusing and then they narrow it down scenes, to linking lines and line-by-line editing.

We bandied about the pros and cons of one getting an agent, which seems just as hard as getting a publisher.

Katrina took us through the production of three new books they have recently launched and what was involved in each of these and the challenges experienced.

Penguin have brought out a middle reader series called, Eerie by S.Carey (Scarey – get it?). This series was written by established writers under the pseudonym of S.Carey as the‘C’ is always stacked in bookstores at eye height. I told you they were commercial!

This book is almost an early reader with loads of ‘break out’ text to make for easy reading, targeted at reluctant readers.

The other series of books looked at was ‘Juliet nearly a Vet’ by Rebecca Johnson, illustrated by Kyla May. This is for 8 – 10 year olds and would compete against books like ‘Billie B. Brown’.

The pros and cons of writing a series was discussed. Penguin won’t put all their eggs into one basket by publishing them all due to diminishing returns if the concept doesn’t take off.

When it comes to manuscript submissions, Amy and Katrina focus on the manuscript first and read the cover letter later. A short and concise cover letter is adequate and if you’re previously published author, pop a book in the mail or email a digital version so they can see your ‘runs on the board’ and get a better feel for who you are.

The importance of having an online presence was seen as an advantage. Websites and Blogs and Teaching Resources were seen as an absolute necessity for any books written.

We also looked at Isobelle Carmody’s new book, The Cloud Road. This is a beautifully designed and crafted book and they all raved about the story so I’m also putting this on my reading list as well. Isobelle is a prolific writer and she did all the illustrations which are absolutely charming.

Amy and Katrina also explained to us the process a manuscript goes through before it might be accepted fro publication. If it’s a great story, it’s selected in an ‘Acquisitions’ meeting. From here they need to get backing from the people ‘upstairs’ (senior management, I assume). Then they need the marketing people to say ‘yes’ we can sell this. A lot of this has to do with timing.

Penguin are currently looking for Young Adult fiction with a slight move away from the paranormal to a more contemporary realisation and good stand alone Middle Readers are always sought after.

Thank you Amy and Katrina for a detailed insight into Penguin Publishing.