6th Annual Children's and Young Adult Literary Festival

This Saturday, the 25th of June 2011 is the date frf the 6th Annual  Children's and Young Adult Literary Festival at the NSW Writers' Centre.

This years festival has been given the title New Work, New Directions, New Opportunities. With all the doom-saying about the future of the book industry, a major part of this years festival is being dedicated to opportunities for writers in the digital age. The digital age comes with enormous opportunities for new work and new directions. The blurb for the festival proudly declares "But when a door closes, a window opens."

One of this years panels will address;
Independent Publishing
Independent publishers talk about print books, e-publishing, apps, digital publishing and opportunities now and for the future. With Boomerang Books blogger Joel Blacklock, publisher Debbie Higgs, author Karen Robertson (Treasure Kai series) and Sophia Whitfield from New Frontier Publishing.

A second panel will address;
Beyond the Page
Taking your work to the world through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, websites and video-conferencing. In conversation with Jeni Mawter from Literature Live!, and author and blogger William Kostakis.

I'm looking forward to both.

This will be my third festival and I am hoping to catch up with some of my writing friends.  I am also looking forward to meeting some of my favourite authors for the first time and introducing myself to some of the editors who are attending. I particularly want to meet Sophia Whitfield from New Frontier Publishing. She currently has my Junior Novel 'Paper Magic' under consideration. I'd like to give her a face to go along with the name on my manuscript. I'm sure that has to help in some small way.

If there are any children's writers out there who haven't been to one of the festivals, please do yourself a favour and come along. It is a great day out and you might just catch that break you've been hoping for.

Festival Link

Workshops at the NSW Writers' Centre

Someone once told me that many people don’t realise that people actually live west of the Blue Mountains. He was mainly talking about the publishing industry at the time. Granted, he was a little jaded and being flippant but he isn’t entirely wrong. It is harder for writers living outside the capitol cities. Not because of publishers but mainly that we don’t have regular access to all the facilities of our city cousins.

Take the NSW Writers’ Centre.

If I didn’t live three hours away, I’d be at the Centre every week. I’d join one of their numerous writers’ groups and I would go to a lot more of their wonderful workshops. As it is, I try to attend two workshops each year, plus the annual Festival of Children’s Literature.

Early this month, I attended the “Advanced Picture Book Workshop” with Libby Gleeson. I had high expectations and happily, I wasn’t disappointed. Libby is such a lovely person. She made everyone feel at ease and filled our hungry little minds with insightful and practical information. She also left us with some useful questions to ask ourselves when writing.

Some of these include;

.....• What is it that sets your character apart from other picture book characters?

.....• Why did you explain what the story is about?

.....• Is the orientation too long and complicated?

.....• Is there enough dramatic tension in the middle? (Rule of three)

These questions are just as valid for chapter books and novels.

Libby also left us with some interesting quotes.

.....• “Try and find that perfect – beautiful image.”

.....• “If you are going to do a rhyming text, it MUST be VERY, VERY good.”

.....• “If it doesn’t ADD, it SUBTRACTS.” (My personal favourite).

The best thing I took away from the day was the realisation that I’m actually on the right track with my picture book texts. And I’m confident that with persistence and a little luck, I am going to crack this publishing thing.

What a lovely setting for a workshop.



Speculative Fiction Workshop

BLOOD, BOGGARTS AND BATTLESTARS: AN INTRODUCTION TO SPECULATIVE FICTION

With Margo Lanagan - at the NSW Writers' Centre.
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I find myself looking forward to Margo Lanagan’s speculative fiction workshop in March. Plenty of hands on exercises.
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As a reader, I have always been a fan of fantasy. (I do use always in a relatively loose fashion. I was a late starter as a reader finishing my first ever novel in Year 11 at school). Tolkien, Steven Donaldson, David Eddings, Susan Cooper, Anne McCaffrey and Raymond E Feist were all favourites once I caught the bug.
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I am also a huge fan of Science Fiction and horror movies but couldn’t really find as much passion for Sci-fi and horror books back then. I have since discovered some brilliant science fiction authors, particularly Elizabeth Moon. And Simon Haynes is great for sci-fi humour.
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I find that I still don’t like horror stories that rely on gratuitous violence and gore to be scary. (Scott Sigler could be the exception to that rule). That goes for books and movies. It just isn’t scary. The stories that give me delicious shivers are the subtle ones that sneak up on you. The ones that could almost be possible. Dean Koontz is the standout there.
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Now as a writer, I find myself drawn to the speculative end of the scale. I’m not really happy unless there is at least a hint of magic in my stories.
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Fantasy and Horror are huge in publishing at present, particularly in young adult and children’s fiction. This is thanks to the Harry Potter and Twilight phenomena. It’s hard to keep up with the new vampire titles. (Thank goodness they are on the way out). On the other hand, Science fiction seems to be dead in the water.

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So knowing that, why did I pick a science fiction story to write during last years NaNoWriMo. Seriously, I’m asking – I have no idea. Now I have the story in the form of a very rough first draft. But what do I do with it now? Are publishers even looking at science fiction? They don’t seem to be. Is it even worth the effort in re-writing and polishing my draft? Or do I write something more commercially viable?
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I’m hoping Margo’s workshop will answer some of my questions.

Kids and Young Adult Literature Festival

Decisions, decisions!

The 2009 Kids and Young Adult Literature Festival is on at the NSW Writers' Centre over two days in July. Saturday the 4th and Sunday the 5th. Unfortunately I can only make it to one day. I'm already in Sydney on Saturday night (taking my son to the wrestling) so it looks like it's going to be Saturday. That's not a problem but the Sunday sessions look a little more personal and, I'd love to hear Libby Gleeson's 'Create Your Picture Book' presentation.

Perhaps, another time.

Now the only problem is picking which Saturday sessions to attend.

Session 1:

Publishers and their authors

How do you get published?


Two of Australia’s most successful authors, James Roy and Deborah Abela, and their award-winning publishers discuss the nitty-gritty of publishing.


Deborah Abela & Zoe Walton, James Roy & Leonie Tyle

Chair: Susan Hayes

or


Publishers reveal the inside story

Publishers from Penguin, New Frontier and Margaret Hamilton Books discuss what they are looking for and the real process towards publication.


Margaret Hamilton, Sophia Whitfield, Laura Harris

Chair: Laurine Croasdale


Session 2


Taking stories into scripts, film and web

Plays, scripts, blogs, novels, animation: open the doors to the power of writing in today’s forms.


Caleb Lewis, William Kostakis, W “Chewie” Chan, Melina Marchetta
Chair: Susanne Gervay

or


How writers can write for awards,
entertainment, education and sales


Three leading crime, romance and history authors reveal their markets, strategies and successes.
Laurine Croasdale, Gabrielle Lord, Chris Cheng Chair: Maire Sheehan




Session 3

X-factor rules for children's writing


Discover the X-factors that get books loved and published – from new idea to inspiring a publisher.

Cathie Tasker, Ursula Dubosarsky, Leonie Tyle, Deborah Abela
Chair: Val Noake

or


Fantasy: creating new worlds to explore our own


Australian fantasy authors expose how they create their stories and capture the imagination of the world.
Garth Nix, Kate Forsyth, Richard Harland, Jenny Hale Chair: Angie Schiavone




Session 4


Stars of picture books reveal their secrets

The inside story to writing and understanding picture books by some of the world’s best.

Tohby Riddle, Ursula Dubosarsky, Libby Gleeson
Chair: Margaret Hamilton


or


Stars of youth literature reveal their secrets

You’re invited to hear the inside story of how some of the world’s best authors create kids and YA literature.

Garth Nix, Gabrielle Lord, James Roy
Chair: Mylee Joseph


(session details obtained from NSW Writer' Centre web site)
http://www.nswwriterscentre.org.au/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?id=643&nav_cat_id=335&nav_top_id=57

So far I'm leaning toward

• Publishers reveal the inside story
• Taking stories into scripts, film and web
• X-factor rules for children's writing
• Stars of picture books reveal their secrets

Those choices may all change on the day. Either way, it should be a great day.