7 Days Without a Book! Countdown to Publication #9: 15 Days in Pictures

15 Days Without a Head will be in bookshops in 7 days time. By way of celebration, I will be publishing a new post here every day, leading up to publication on January 5th. The idea is to provide a few bonus items, such as you'd expect to find on the extras disc of a DVD – except these will be available before the main feature of course. 

It's over three years since I started writing 15 Days Without a Head. Here's a diary of sorts – in pictures …

This is a 'cover' treatment I produced as a promo postcard to hand out at a SCBWI Agents Party I attended at the end of 2009. Dylan and Ptol agreed to pose as Jay and Laurence, but I had to mess about with the scaling to make Ptol look taller. The high-key treatment gave the photo a desolate feel that I thought suited the story. It was well received by the agents who saw it, but in hindsight focused far too much on the darker elements of the book. Even the strap line is menacing … not to mention the dead cockroach! 

Dylan drew this one for me. I like it a lot, especially Nosy Nelly with the hooked nose peeking out from her flat.

Then he did another version and made it into a mug. Naturally this became my lucky writing mug and had to be used during each evening's writing session. Which reminds me, I must ask him to do one for the book I'm working on now!

My wife sketched this on a napkin in a café. In the book, Mina draws a picture of Laurence and Jay, and I always imagined it would have looked something like this.

The first published extract of 15 Days Without a Head appeared in the SCBWI Undiscovered Voices Anthology in 2010. I'm very fond of this book; it changed my life as an author!

The Sherbet Lemon Special Edition Bound Proofs for 15 Days. The first time I saw the story as a book; a special moment. Nick Cross said you could see them from space.

The final cover for 15 Days Without a Head. The team at Oxford University Press went to a lot of effort to get this right, and I think they did a great job.

My favourite bit of the cover though is the quote from Keith Gray, one of my all time writing heroes.

Only two days left to enter the draw to win a signed copy of 15 Days Without a Head. Click here for details.

Tomorrow: What every writer needs …

The Truth about Paula Rawsthorne …

I first met Paula Rawsthorne at Foyles bookshop in February of last year, at the launch party for the SCBWI Undiscovered Voices Anthology. At the time, neither of us had a publisher and were somewhat nervous and bemused at finding ourselves in a room full of agents, editors and book industry people.

It's now eighteen months later and Paula's debut novel The Truth about Celia Frost hits the shelves on Monday. Already the response to the book has been fantastic with a real buzz in the industry and great reviews from readers. 


But these 15 minute interviews are all about the writing – attempting to peek around the other side of the typewriter and maybe steal a few secrets of how the magic on the page is conjured in the first place.

So, Paula – what's your secret? 
Lots of luck and an over active imagination! I was the kind of kid who had imaginary friends when I started school and I pretended I had a limp (but that's a different story).

A limp! In an attempt to get sympathy? Or something more sinister?
Attention seeking drama queen is probably the diagnosis! 

Ha! It sounds like you were always focused on medical issues, even as a child. So what was the spark for Celia Frost? Was it your first novel?
Yes, Celia Frost was my first go at writing a novel. Before I'd written short stories for adults. The spark was really the firm idea in my head of what KIND of story I wanted to write. I knew it had to be for YA and I wanted it to be gripping, entertaining, twisting and hopefully thought provoking. From there the image of Celia and Janice Frost came to me.

So, did you make it up as you went along? Or plan the whole thing out? 

Once I had the images of Celia and Janice in my head, I suddenly knew that there was something about Celia that Janice wasn't telling her. From that point the plot emerged and evolved. As it's a very twisting tale I worked out crucial plot points along the way and knew the end but, as you know, with writing things can take unplanned turns and that's always exciting. 

How long did it take to write? Did you write a few dead ends along the way and have to retrace and try a different route?

I certainly had a few Eureka moments when I suddenly realised what should happen or what a certain character would do, but it never felt like dead ends, it felt more like excavating. I worked when the kids were at school and in the end it took a school year to write.

That's fast! It doesn't sound like you suffer writer's block or have that point, about a third of the way through, where you lose faith – like many writers seem to. 

I was fortunate not to get writer's block but at times I suffered badly from lazy, faffingitis!! Eventually, I conned myself that periods watching Home Under the Hammer was time well spent as something was bound to be fermenting in the depths of my mind (hopefully to do with the story)

Yes, allowing your subconscious to mull the story over without interference. That's work. 

With Celia about to hit the shelves, I know you've been working on your next book for Usborne. How's it going? How did you decide what to write next? Did you have a few ideas to choose from? 

I'm glad you agree, Dave! I was lucky to get a two book deal with Usborne and they have been wonderful to me. The only thing they asked of me was to write another thriller, so I went away and had a very big think and put in a synopsis that they really seemed to like. Then they said – off you go and write it (and gave me a delivery date!)

Paula signing books at the recent launch for Celia Frost

I've now written half of it but need to quicken my pace. All the lovely publicity and work to do around Celia Frost has been great but it's taken me away from Book 2. I got to a point were I just had to put Book 2 to one side for a while to make the best job of the book tour, events, writing articles etc. I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it again, very soon.

Can you tell us what it's called, or any other sneak previews?

I only have a working title at the moment. It's like having a baby – with some, you know what you want to call it even before it makes an appearance (Celia Frost) but with this one I'm going to have to wait and see what suits it once it's delivered! The only thing I can tell you about it at the moment is that it has a shocking opener and events unfold from that. Plus I was getting far too involved with all the characters so it's probably best i've had a break from them.

I take it then, that this time you're working to more of an outline than you did with Celia. How are you finding that?

Yes, definitely. In fact, this time I went and got a corkboard and note cards and basically made a storyboard. This felt quite comforting but events and plot lines are still emerging and taking on a life of their own – which I love.

What's your daily writer's routine now you're published and have all the other things, besides writing, to take care of? 

Paula's guilty secret? Coffee and cake to summon the muse!

It's not ideal, but as I'm giving up full-time work at the end of this month, I'm hoping my day will be a bit more like yours, especially regarding the cake!

Is there any advice you would give to the Paula who sat down to write The Truth About Celia Frost ?

I've just consulted my kids on this and they've said "Don't eat some many cakes!" I'd say "Paula, this is a bloody long shot but you only live once so keep the faith sister and get that book written!"

Ah, you can never eat too much cake! Good advice. Keeping the faith as a writer is half the battle! You did and look at you now!

Finally, what question do you wish I'd asked you? And what would your answer have been? You can consult with the kids again if you like. Or how about – what question do you wish I'd asked and also what question do they think I should have asked?

Kids would have asked how much T.V I watched when I was meant to be working. 

Mine is- how do you manage to write having to share a laptop with three kids trying to get on the internet all the time!?

Good questions! And what would your answers be?

HA, HA- The kids will never know! 

And- it's a miracle I get anything done because as soon as I leave my chair (even to go to the loo) one of them jumps on it!! 

Maybe it's time you pestered Usborne to buy you your own!

Thanks for sharing 15 minutes of your time with us Paula, and thanks also to your guys for their input.

The Truth about Celia Frost is published on Monday, 1st Aug, available from all good book shops and online here.

To find out more about Paula and Celia check out:

www.celiafrost.co.uk

http://edgeauthors.blogspot.com

Follow Paula and Celia on Twitter

The Truth About Celia Frost on Facebook

Undiscovered Voices 2012 open for submissions

Nearly two years ago I received an email from Cornerstones Literary Consultancy about a competition organised by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI or Scooby to its members). I didn't often enter competitions, but this one looked good. The prize was inclusion in a published anthology that would be sent to agents and editors in the UK and United States. The honorary chair was Melvin Burgess and the judges an impressive panel of agents and editors. I was an unpublished writer at the time and had just completed a revised draft of my novel Fifteen Days without a Head – it couldn't hurt to send it in. I wasn't expecting to win … but I did. Within six months of entering the competition I had an agent – six months later, a publisher. So in some ways you could say Undiscovered Voices changed my life. 

13 of the 24 authors have books out already

Last Tuesday night, SCBWI announced that the 2012 Undiscovered Voices competition was now open for submissions. This edition will be the third anthology in a series that is proving to be highly regarded by the industry as a showcase for talented, but as yet undiscovered, children's writers. The facts speak for themselves: at the time of writing, 13 of the 24 featured authors have publishing contracts or books already out, many more have signed with an agent. So far, Undiscovered Voices winners have been nominated for and won a number of literary prizes, including the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize, Branford Boase, Blue Peter Book Award, not to mention inclusion on the prestigious Carnegie Medal long-list.


Once again this year's list of judges makes impressive reading, and the honorary chair is the highly respected, award winning author Malorie Blackman. So, if you're reading this as a children's writer yet to be published or acquire an agent, but you've got a great story ready and waiting to be discovered, it might be worth submitting it to Undiscovered Voices 2012. You won't win a cash prize, or a book token, or even a year's supply of chocolate, but it might just change your life.


For more information and full details on how to enter please visit www.undiscoveredvoices.com  Also check out the Undiscovered Voices Facebook page and keep up to date with all the latest news and announcements via Twitter @UndiscVoice2012


Finally, here's a sneak preview of The Truth about Celia Frost by Paula Rawsthorne, which  will be the first of my fellow 2010 winners onto the bookshelves. It was fantastic to see the cover already on Amazon for pre-order and the trailer below.



Here's to discovery!

Illustrated Voices

An historic day, watching the Chilean miners being brought to the surface one by one, like something from an episode of Thunderbirds – amazing stuff.

On a more mundane, but personally gratifying level – I found out earlier that the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) are holding a competition to illustrate  the stories featured in the 2010 Undiscovered Voices anthology. Hopefully a couple of artists will choose Fifteen Days without a Head – it would be fascinating to see someone else's interpretation of the story.

The artwork will be displayed and judged at this year's SCBWI Conference and the deadline for submissions is November 6th, with a place on the Illustrator Masterclass as the prize. Full details here. I'll post some of the illustrations next month, if I can get the artist's permission. In the meantime, my gang here have had a go.