Charlie Merrick's Misfits and more at Brentwood Children's Literary Festival

Hey folks! If anyone lives near Brentwood and is looking for summer holiday activities for the youngsters, check out what's on at the Brentwood Children's Literary Festival (22-30 July). Full details here.

If you're really stuck for something to do, I'll be at Brentwood Theatre on Thursday 28th, to talk about writing, drawing and how to survive should you meet a bear! 

The event starts at 3pm and tickets are only £3 per person. 

Click here for more info and tickets.

It would be great to see you there!

Cheers

Dave

15 Days Without a Head in bookshops now!

I'm not sure I'll ever get lose the thrill of seeing my book in a bookshop. More than any other part of the process, finding a copy on the shelves makes it finally feel real. 
I was delighted to walk into my local branch of Waterstones and find 15 Days Without a Head at number six in the Kids' Chart!

And number ten in the store paperback chart!

Huge thanks to the staff at Waterstones and to everyone who has been in to buy a copy.

During my recent schools tour, I spent a day with Nigel French from Cole's Books in Bicester. After a great morning with students from years 7 and 8 at The Cooper School, we managed to find time to grab half an hour to browse his fantastic bookshop.

I was extremely chuffed to find myself next to Phil Earle on the display. Cole's are selling signed copies of 15 Days Without a Head through their website, with free postage and packing to UK addresses. (see the link in the sidebar)

It was also a pleasant surprise to walk into my local Empire cinema to find 15 Days postcards on the racks, next to Sky Hawk (a superb book by fellow OUP author, Gill Lewis)

But possibly the best thing about the past few weeks has been going into schools and having the opportunity to meet students, and talk to them about books, writing and wanting to be an astronaut! The response to 15 Days Without a Head has been fantastic. So a big thanks to the staff and students at The Broxbourne School*, St Gregory the Great and King Alfred's Academy in Oxford, The Cooper School in Bicester and Bruern Abbey, Oxfordshire – for their time, enthusiasm and cake!*

Blog Tour #8: Dave's Dozen Wondrous Reads!

For today's stop on the 15 Days Without a Head Blog Tour, I'll be visiting Wondrous Reads to talk about my top twelve books of all time … so far!

Blog Tour #4: The Heights of Sophistication: My Fantasy Dinner Party

What happens when you put a world famous detective, a future-world assassin and a tunnelling dwarf on a roof together, and hand them each a bag of chips? 

Find out at today's stop on the 15 Days Without a Head BLOG TOUR, when we join Sister Spooky for a fantasy dinner party at The Heights.

Publication Day! Wahey!

Huge congratulations to my fellow Edge authors Sara Grant and Katie Dale on the publication of their debut novels. The first two of Katie's Fairy Tale Twists series for younger readers are published today by Orchard, and Sara's excellent dark dystopian YA novel Dark Parties, by Orion. 

Today is also the third date on my 15 Days Without a Head Blog Tour. I'll be returning to chat with Vivienne at Serendipity Reviews as well as dropping in to see Emma at Book Angel Booktopia to choose the Song of the Month.


Oh, and 15 Days Without a Head is now officially out. Wahey!

Kids' Lit Quiz and SCBWI Conference Photo Gallery

On Monday, six-eights of The Edge spent the afternoon at The Broxbourne School for the North London heat of the Kids' Lit Quiz. There were 28 teams from different schools competing for a place in the UK final on Friday. I was part of one of the two author teams, alongside Fiona Dunbar (Kitty Slade Mysteries), Sita Brahmachari (Artichoke Hearts) and Sophia Bennett (Threads). Despite spending much of the time scratching our heads and marvelling at the speed with which the students answered the quick fire questions, we ended the day as the winning team by a single point. Sadly the author teams don't qualify for the final, but it was a great opportunity to meet so many enthusiastic young readers. Check out Candy Gourlay's write up and superb photos here. 

The previous week I was in Winchester for the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators Conference. As promised in the previous post, here are few photos and a video from the Edge panel event.

Spot the baldy! (No prizes I'm afraid) 
I'm in there somewhere, sitting next to my editor, Jasmine Richards.

It was a real privilege to listen to Frank Cottrell Boyce.

I even managed to pluck up the courage to say "hello".

Anthony McGowan's Human Powerpoint of Freitag's Pyramid. 

This year's cake did not disappoint.

Candy Gourlay, deserved winner of the Crystal Kite Award 
for her superb debut, Tall Story.

The Edge Graffiti Wall with Paula Rawsthorne, Sara Grant and I.

Not quite sure what to say about this one …

The Edge panelists get ready for action. 
And below a video clip of our body-swapping introduction.

Thanks to Candy Gourlay, Miriam Halahmy and Sara Grant for letting me use their photos.

Five Get Edgy in Winchester

This weekend five-eighths of The Edge will be appearing at the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Conference in Winchester. I’ll be joining Bryony Pearce, Miriam Halahmy, Paula Rawsthorne and Sara Grant on an Edge panel discussing current trends in YA and looking at the benefits and pitfalls of writing edgy fiction, as well as answering questions from the audience. The weekend will also see the first unveiling of the Edge Graffiti Wall. Delegates will be invited to write questions, comments, slogans and even draw pictures on the wall, which the panellists will then discuss during the session. Should be fun … and edgy, of course.

For me, the highlight of last year's conference were the edible books …

 

Books made of cake. It doesn't get much better than this.

How do you top that? Well, Chris Riddell and Frank Cottrell Boyce as keynote speakers is a good start. Mr Cottrell Boyce in particular, is held in high esteem in our house, so I’ll be taking our much-read copy of Framed along with me, in case I find the courage to go up to the great man and ask him to sign it.

Pictures, and possibly video evidence to follow on my return …

Serendipity Review & Big Break Interview

Earlier this week, I was delighted to receive this great review for 15 Days Without a Head from Serendipity Reviews – not to mention a little bit of extra pressure for the next book!

On finishing this book, the first question that came to mind was - where the hell has Dave Cousins been hiding? 

This book is fantastic. I loved it from the first word until the last. In fact this book really took me by surprise, because when I first heard about it, I really wasn't sure it would be one for me. How wrong was I? This book made me feel so comfortable and right at home as soon as I entered the Roach household. The story was refreshing and original and kept me entranced all the way through. I found that the author's writing just sucked me into the story until I felt like an invisible member of the Roach family. 

Read more …

I was also lucky enough to be featured in Serendipity Reviews, Big Break interview:

Where did you get the idea for the book? 

An incident I witnessed in a pub one afternoon. A really drunk woman arguing with the people at the next table, much to the embarrassment of her sons. It made me wonder what life was like for those two boys, what would happen when they got home. All my stories grow from a spark like that – a character or situation that affects me in some way and makes me care enough to start writing to find out what happens next. 

Read more …

Huge thanks to Vivienne at Serendipity Reviews for her support. 

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

Fifteen minutes with Bryony Pearce, author of Angel's Fury

Available from Monday 4th July

Cassie has suffered from nightmares her whole life. After a terrifying school trip to Germany, she discovers that she has lived before and that all of her past lives are being manipulated by a fallen angel who is bent on destroying mankind ...

Bryony Pearce, author of Angel's Fury, was waiting by the derelict church at the end of the lane. I wondered why she had chosen this place for our fifteen minute interview, until I followed her into the churchyard and saw the granite angel perched on a tomb. I switched on my tape recorder and began the interview, but as we walked, I could feel those stone eyes watching …

Hi, Bryony, thanks for sparing us fifteen minutes of your time. 
Angel's Fury comes out on Monday –  are you excited? It must seem a long time ago that you sat down to write the book? 

I started writing Angel’s Fury at the beginning of 2008, the first draft took me about seven months. So I can’t believe it’s now the end of June 2011 already. I'm really excited, but mainly nervous. I guess because I've had the book for a while, the big thing about the launch for me, is that other people can now get hold of it. I'm worried about opening up my Amazon page one day and finding a bunch of reviews! I guess it would be worse if there weren’t any ... 

Yes, anything is better than being ignored – I think. Once the book is on the shelves I suppose we have to take a step back, leave it to make its own way in the big bad world!

If you could give a piece of advice to the Bryony who started to write Angel's Fury three years ago, what would it be?

There's no rush! I have a tendency to get a bit insane when I'm writing – and reading – and focus on it too much, to the exclusion of other things. I did the initial rewrite when Riley was a baby - I spent the first three months of his life working like mad. I'll never get that time back. Of course, if I'd gone slower, I might not have got that publishing contract.

It’s difficult getting that balance right. I suffer similar guilt at the amount of time I spend writing when I could, possibly should, be doing other things. 

I'm always interested in other writer's processes, so can I ask you a bit about how you write? Are you a discovery writer or a planner?

Planner, definitely! For my first book I only planned out half, then I wrote the second half as I went. My feedback from publishers was that the first half was great, but the second half was a mess. Message received. I planned Angel's Fury from start to finish and it sold.

I like to plan - for me it means I know where I'm going, I know what kind of foreshadowing, motifs etc. need to go in, and at each point I know how far I have left to go – which can be quite motivational. Also I know what needs to happen in each chapter - which is important when you can't sit and write for solid chunks of time - I need to be able to pick up two or three days later and know exactly what needs to happen next.

Did you stick to the plan? Did Angel's Fury end up as the book you set out to write?

Certainly the first draft did. I had to make some fairly big editorial changes, but this final version is the book I would have planned to write if I could have imagined myself writing this well – editors improve your writing so much ... well mine anyway. I had to lose a couple of things along the way – the title and one of my main characters – but I'm really proud of my book.

That's brilliant. After so much work and many days of doubt (if you're anything like me!) to end up with something you are proud of is great. What was the original title, by the way?

The original title was 'Incarnation'. The publisher was concerned that some potential readers wouldn't know what it meant. Also Angels are very ‘in’ right now and they wanted to capitalise on the fact that the book has an angel in it. They're probably right, but it was a bit like someone suddenly saying 'you know, I like the name of your kid, but I'm going to start calling her Emily instead of Maisie, OK?'. It's hard to get your head round. 

Does planning mean you don't ever suffer 'writer's block'? If you do, how do you 'unblock'!?

I don't suffer from writers block often. I do suffer from writers malaise though - which is when I lose my mojo and just can't be bothered to write - but that's not the same thing. With both block and malaise, my solution is to write through it. With a plan in place I can do that. Just keep on going, no matter how rubbish it is, and once I've got my groove back on, I can go back and fix the blah part. I sound like Austin Powers now, don't I?

Yeah, baby!

So, what are you working on now?

I'm actually taking a break. I've written two books since Angel's Fury – The Society and Windrunner's Daughter – and I have another one I'm about five chapters into. Windrunner is with my agent and I'm sure he'll have lots of changes to send to me in a while, but in the meantime, I've decided to chill out for a bit and enjoy my book launch. Well, I say, 'I've decided', my brain switched off when I sent WD to Sam, but at some point it will kick back in again – as it does – and start screaming at me to get going on another story, but until then ... time off. Sad to be dictated to by an organ isn't it?

Quite a vital one though, and possibly the supplier of the magic, so probably best to keep on friendly terms.

On the subject of enjoying the book launch, do you have any plans for Monday – the day Angel’s Fury officially lands on the shelves? Are you going to march into your local book shop and buy a copy? Or will you be having a quiet toast at home with the family and doing the happy dance in the back garden? Or maybe just sleeping off the hangover?

I'm having a party on Sunday, so I had planned to be sleeping off the hangover, however, my editor has invited me down to London for lunch and asked me to sign some books – given that you can now pre-order signed copies on Amazon, I wonder if that is somehow related. Tempted by the offer of decent Thai food, I will be spending two hours on a train (both ways), having lunch with Philippa (my editor), Sam (my agent) and Jo (from my publicity team), then book signing and hanging around London till the off peak trains start to run again. I'd love to find my book in a shop in London and take a picture of myself with it, but I'm not sure that'll happen just yet. Might be a bit early.

Sounds like a good way to spend the day, though I don't envy you that early train journey south!

My fifteen minutes is just about up, but before we go – what question do you wish I'd asked? And what would your answer have been? 

That's a hard one. Really hard. How about … 

(You) I notice you like Thai food. … Would you like me to order you a takeaway?

(Me) Yes please! 

Ha! What is it about authors and food bribes? Bill Hussey wanted a pint and Miriam Halahmy, dark chocolate.

Cheap dates …

And with that Bryony departed. I looked for the stone angel on the way out, but couldn't find it. I suppose we  must have left by a different gate …

Angel’s Fury is available from Monday 4th July at all good book shops and online here. Signed copies are also available from Amazon.

For more news from Bryony, check out her current blog tour (see left) or visit

www.bryonypearce.co.uk

http://edgeauthors.blogspot.com

Tell me a story

In the past fifteen days I’ve read a total of eight novels, two poetry collections and a short story anthology … or rather, I’ve had them read to me. (I realize some people do actually read that fast, but I’m a slow reader; two novels a month is about average for me.) I’d like to tell you that Anton Lesser himself popped round to read me Geraldine McCaughrean’s brilliant Death Defying Pepper Roux, but hearing him read the audio book was almost as good and great deal more portable.

I can still quote large chunks of these stories off by heart

When I first discovered story tapes they came on cassette and vinyl. As a kid, I spent many happy afternoons in my bedroom, constructing Airfix models while listening to James Herriot read from his series of vet books. Looking back, I realize that the glue and paint fumes probably helped provide a slightly psychedelic Alice in Wonderland twist to my experience of Herriot’s Yorkshire, which the subsequent TV series never quite matched.

By the time I returned to audio books years later, I found they were now unabridged and available on CD – a perfect distraction for the kids on long car journeys and wet holidays. (There is an area around the Llyn Peninsula in Wales that I will always associate with Terry Pratchett’s Wee Free Men.)

Story CDs also provided a less daunting introduction to new books for the kids, particularly the boys. Our copy of Alan Bennet reading Wind in the Willows was passed between all three of them and became a regular – and I mean, regular – feature on the car stereo. When it was eventually retired from active duty, the youngest had graduated to Alex Ryder and Artemis Fowl – first on CD, borrowed from the library, and then the books themselves.

Old Skool Rare Paddington Bear vinyl (B4 he went electric)

For me, audio books mean I can read more than I would otherwise have time to. I will also try things I wouldn’t have picked up in printed form, knowing that my bookcase of unread books is already over-flowing. I can listen on my walk to work, at home in the kitchen, in the car. I still read – there’s nothing quite like holding a book in your hand – but I know I’d have missed out on some great stories if I hadn’t been able to borrow them on CD. This is one of the many reasons I’d be very sad to see my local library close, because audio books are expensive, but you can borrow them from the library for free – which still amazes me. Prices are coming down though and increasingly books are available for download from Amazon and specialist sites like Audible.

My debut novel 15 Days without a Head will be published in January. I can’t wait to be able to walk into a book shop and pick a copy of the shelf. But, without wishing to be greedy, I do fantasize that one day somebody might want to make it into an audio book. I know I shouldn’t admit to this, but I’ve already decided who I’d like to read it!

Writing a Novel (Part Three): Good Days and Full Bin Days

Since handing over 15 Days without a Head to my publisher, I've been sitting down each day to write what I hope will become my next book. Some days the writing flows and I get lost in the story, sailing through a thousand words and barely noticing the time passing. Others are more difficult. When I'm not sure where the story goes, or when the words on the screen feel wrong.

 

Having a Full Bin Day

I call these Full Bin Days – when each page is metaphorically torn from the typewriter, screwed up and tossed in the bin. These are the days when writing anything feels like an act of faith, continuing to type even though your brain and every cell in your body is telling you it's a waste of time. 

On these occasions, I find it sometimes helps to remind myself that I'm not alone – that better writers than me have suffered days like these. Over the years I've amassed a collection of quotes to help me through such dark hours of doubt. I thought I might share a few, just in case anybody out there might be having a Full Bin Day too …

"Most days feel useless. I don't seem to accomplish anything – just a few pages, most of which don't seem very good. Yet, when I put all those wasted days together, I somehow end up with a book of which I'm very proud. Somehow I've now written eighteen books." Louis Sachar

"If you're going to make a living at this business … you have to realise that a lot of the time, you're going to be writing without inspiration. The trick is to write just as well without it as with. Of course, you write less readily and fluently without it; but the interesting thing is to look at the private journals and letters of great writers and see how much of the time they just had to do without inspiration. Conrad, for example, groaned at the desperate emptiness of the pages he faced; and yet he managed to cover them. Amateurs think that if they were inspired all the time, they could be professionals. Professional know that if they relied on inspiration, they'd be amateurs." Philip Pullman

"There's a lot of hard graft along the way. It feels precarious. I suppose it's like sculpting. You keep working away at a formless blob until some kind of form emerges. What keeps you working is the certainty that there is something in there." Julie Bertagna

"No topic is perfect. You just have to shut up and write." Natalie Goldberg

"She said, 'The way to say something is just to start saying the start of it, then everything will come out.'" From Clay, by David Almond

"It's important to write regularly. Discipline is as important as talent, perhaps even more important – a lot of books don't get written simply because talented people never sit down and actually write." Robert Cormier

"I've listened for years to the reasons why the book is not being published … he wants it to be perfect, so it will never happen. If you look at the first copy of The Big Issue, it is rubbish compared to what it has become. It was done very quickly. I didn't want it to be the best magazine in the world. If I had, I would still be waiting to launch it." John Bird, founder of The Big Issue.

And finally, my favourite, from The King himself:

"Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes you're doing good work when it feels like all you're managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position." Stephen King

Writing a Novel (Part Two): A Place to Write

Welcome to the second part of my series looking at the process of writing a novel. Part One: What to Write? can be read here.

One of the great things about writing is that it doesn’t require a lot of equipment – something to write with and something to write on, and you’re sorted. If you're really stuck, you can breathe on a window and write with your finger! Obviously if you’re going to attempt to be published, eventually you will need to get your words typed-up, but there’s a lot of writing required before getting to that stage.

A common excuse for not writing, along with not having the time (which I’ll look at in a later post) is not having a quiet space. I know that some writers need absolute silence and solitude in order to work. Bill Hussey locks his door, and sometimes even uses ear-plugs; by contrast Frank Cottrell Boyce has talked of finding the clamour of a house full of children inspiring.

Miriam Halahmy wrote much of Hidden in cafés

Most of us are somewhere in-between, and try to write when and where we can. Miriam Halahmy and Candy Gourlay are just two writers I know who are part of a long line of café scribes, following in Ernest Hemingway’s espresso stained footsteps. Some of us write in libraries or on trains – I’m drafting this longhand in my notebook while walking, during my lunch break. Sometimes, in order to write anything at all, we have to adapt and learn to get the words down where we can.

Having said that, I think it is useful to find a more permanent space to write. This doesn’t have to be a beautifully designed bespoke writer’s study, though that would be nice. Stephen King wrote his early novels with a typewriter balanced across his knees in his laundry nook, Roald Dahl famously in his shed, and I read somewhere that Michael Morpurgo writes in bed. What’s important is finding a space you will associate with writing, so that as soon as you enter, your brain recognises it and thinks, ‘Ah, so this is what we’re doing now!’

My corner of the attic

I've written in libraries, on a laptop balanced on a drawing board in the bedroom, but about two years ago I cleared a space for a makeshift desk in the corner of our attic. It’s cold in winter and besieged by wasps in summer, but I love it. And when I climb the ladder each evening, by the time I sit down and switch on my computer, my brain already knows what’s required. It doesn’t always comply, but that’s another post altogether …

The Edge: Cutting edge fiction for teens

A few weeks ago I mentioned the inaugural meeting of the Edge, a group of like minded authors ganging up to talk books and stories in schools, libraries and at literary events across the country. The Edge website is now up and running with an introduction to the gang and some of the books currently available, plus a great kick-off post from Bryony Pearce exploring the question 'What is edgy fiction?' 

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!