From Australia With Love Blog Hop: Interview with Jacqueline Harvey

Australian writers rock. We know it, and we love them. But it’s not always easy to discover the Australian talent that is right under our noses.

From Australia With Love Blog Hop introduces you to 18 Aussie authors across a variety of categories and genres. Each author is hosting three of their fellow blog hop participants between now and Valentine’s Day to let you find out more about them. So follow them on twitter, like their Facebook page and visit their blogs during the blog hop period to discover more great Australian writers.

And to show how much these Aussie authors love their readers, they’ve donated some great prizes for you to win!

Today we have much beloved Aussie MG writer Jacqueline Harvey stopping by.

 What drew you to write Middle Grade?

I studied children’s literature as part of my primary education degree and then when I was working as a teacher I wrote a lot for the children in my classes.  There were poems, stories and lots of plays, which we always enjoyed sharing with the rest of the school.  I thought a lot about writing for children and I talked about it a lot too but it wasn’t until my husband asked me if I was ever going to stop talking about it and do something, that I really thought, ‘well, I’m not going to die wondering!’

What are the key elements to make an entertaining MG?

Interesting characters who you know the writer really feels something for, great adventures with the kids taking charge, settings that the children either can identify with or aspire to visit, fun and mayhem and properly evil baddies who get their come-uppance in the end.

Tell us a bit about your characters and how you came up with them?

I have two series which I’m writing at the moment.  Alice-Miranda is the main character of the first and her adventures began being published in February 2010.  There are now nine books out in the series, with Alice-Miranda in Japan releasing 1 February 2014.

Alice-Miranda is young but seems much older.  She’s incredibly kind and wise beyond her years and has that wonderful ability to be able to make friends with just about everyone, no matter whether they are eight or eighty – despite there being numerous times when her kindnesses are initially rebuked.  She will always look for the reason why people are behaving badly and is very good at solving mysteries.  She lives in a world of extraordinary privilege but never shows off or makes a fuss about it.  She knows she’s fortunate and at the same time she just lives her life.  I have asked lots of children what it is that they like about her and invariably it’s her kindness and courage that seem to shine through. 

Clementine Rose is the heroine of my second series.  She’s younger than Alice-Miranda and is far less worldly wise.  She lives in a tumbledown mansion with her adoptive mother, Lady Clarissa Appleby, the long standing butler, Digby Pertwhistle and Great Aunt Violet – who is revolting and fantastically fun to write at the same time.  Their house is a hotel which offers great scope to have interesting guests and interactions.  Clementine has a pet teacup pig called Lavender.  She loves fashion and learning poems to recite aloud to her long deceased grandparents whose portraits adorn the walls of Penberthy House.  She wants to be helpful but things don’t always work out the way she plans.

I’ve just written books in both series where the two characters meet.  I hope that they can have an adventure together further down the track. 

Which author(s) inspire you?

Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, Robin Klein, Colin Thiele, Andy Griffiths, Markus Zusak and Kate Morton are some of the authors who inspire me but for very different reasons. I admire Enid Blyton’s work ethic and her ability to create stories that children still love today.  Seriously 700 books is amazing and I recently visited the Enid Blyton Archive at Seven Stories in Newcastle Upon Tyne and I’ve seen the clunking great typewriter she bashed them out on – her arms muscles must have been impressive.  Roald Dahl makes me laugh and I love his over the top characters and plots.  Robin Klein wrote about children I knew as I was growing up.  She was one of the first Australian writers I saw kids really fall in love with when I was working as a young teacher. Colin Thiele wrote fabulous imagery and made you feel as if you were there in all those beautiful Australian locations.  Andy Griffiths is quite simply a rock star.  He taps into what kids want.  Markus Zusak gave me some great advice and he’s a superstar whose writing is like poetry and Kate Morton writes stories that completely sweep me up – her endings always make me sigh with satisfaction.

How do you get over writer's block?

It depends at what stage of the process this is happening.  If I’m stuck on something part way through the story, a walk tends to help, if it’s at the beginning when the plot is still forming, I throw myself into research and write lots of handwritten notes in my journal and all over the white board in my office.  I also find that it helps to go back and re-read some earlier books in the series.

What projects are you working on that you're excited about?

I’m currently working on Alice-Miranda’s tenth adventure which is really just starting to take shape.  I’ve also written a short story for an anthology and have been putting together ideas for the next Alice-Miranda Diary and a Clementine Rose activity book for which we’re still coming up with a good name.  I’ll be writing another Clementine Rose story a little later in the year.  This year there are seven books coming out altogether.  Two Alice-Miranda’s, three Clementine Rose’s, the diary and the activity book.  I’ve just signed another two Alice-Miranda books taking that total to 14 and another two Clementine Rose’s taking them to ten over the next few years.  It’s great to know what I’m doing a way into the future.

I’m also planning lots of touring in Australia throughout the year and an extended trip to Singapore and the UK starting in October.   I’m hoping to include a trip to the US on the way home early 2015.

Jacqueline Harvey is a born storyteller.  A highly experienced former teacher and Deputy Head of Junior School, she is the author of 16 novels for younger readers and a CBCA award winning picture book. Her bestselling Alice-Miranda and Clementine Rose series’ are published internationally and have garnered various short listings and awards.  Jacqueline travels widely, speaking and teaching in Australia and overseas. She is a passionate advocate for literacy with a particular love of reading aloud.  Her latest titles are Alice-Miranda in Japan, Alice-Miranda Shines Bright and Clementine Rose and the Farm Fiasco.  You can find out more at www.jacquelineharvey.com.au

Find her on her website, blog and Alice-Miranda blog.

Alice-Miranda in Japan

When Alice-Miranda, Millie and Jacinta travel to Japan during the school holidays they are in for a fascinating treat.  Dolly Oliver, the family cook, has been invited to speak at a conference in Tokyo on her Just Add Water food creation – but she is even more interested in her newest invention and vows to try it out while overseas.

Alice-Miranda becomes embroiled in an elaborate missing persons hunt when a gift from her father confuses the authorities.  Things come to a head when Alice-Miranda and her friends are invited to dinner at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, and the plans of a jealous sister begin to unravel, with startling consequences.

Read a excerpt here!

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Agentopia: Daniel Lazar

Welcome to the first 2014 Agentopia! For more information and to see other Agentopia posts, click here.

This month Daniel Lazar from Writers House is in the spotlight.

About Daniel:

Writers House is one of the largest literary agencies in the industry. As a company, we represent a wide range of adult and children's fiction and non-fiction.

I'm always on the lookout for distinct fiction and great, lively non-fiction. I represent adult and children's books (and for children's books, I focus mainly on middle grade and YA). For fiction, I love stories that introduce me to new worlds -- or even better, recreate the ones I may already know. I also especially love historical fiction of all kinds. For non-fiction, I enjoy memoirs, narrative non-fiction, all stripes and studies of pop-culture, and even small gifty books that strike my fancy and make me smile. I'm a huge fan of graphic novels and memoirs. And as the oldest child of six who has changed many, many diapers in his life, I'm equally intrigued by any book with unique views on parenting and family life.

If you think your pages can make me hold my breath or miss my subway stop or even laugh out loud, please read my submission guidelines and check out some of my clients' books listed below. I'd love to hear from you.

How to Submit:

I am actively seeking new clients. ** Query letter by email or regular mail with SASE. (Email is usually faster, but either is fine.) ** Please include the first 5 pages of your manuscript with your query letter. ** If you email, NO attachments please, unless requested. ** If you mail, no need to send materials double sealed in bubble wrap. ** We respond to every query -- you'll hear from me or my assistant. And our response time is 1 minute to several weeks. Daniel's query email: dlazar[at]WritersHouse[dot]com Daniel was kind enough to answer a few of our questions which should help querying authors get to know him and what he's looking for a little better...

1. What are you looking for in YA submissions right now? 

I’m not looking for anything too specific. I will say that I’m probably not the best agent for something overtly dystopian or paranormal, but hey—you never know! My client Cat Patrick’s books cross a terrific line between paranormal and contemporary thrillers—you can’t put them down. I do love well-crafted, classic-feeling fantasy; my client Rachel Hartman’s SERAPHINA is an exquisitely perfect example. And I’m loving that funny, contemporary fiction is having a renaissance in YA right now, thanks largely to authors like John Green and Rainbow Rowell. My clients Karen Finneyfrock (the upcoming STARBIRD MURHY AND THE WORLD OUTSIDE) and David Arnold (the upcoming—and brilliantly uproarious—MOSQUITOLAND) are great examples of authors whose voices grabbed me and would not let go. And I am always on the lookout for graphic novels and memoirs; my client Laura Lee Gulledge’s work (most recently, WILL & WHIT) is a great example.

2. What's an immediate turn-off in a query, something guaranteed to get the author rejected?

Readers of your blog probably know all the usual melodramatic red-flags. Basically, an author who is clearly spamming every email in the industry and doesn’t appear to have even done a modicum of research about what they’re writing and who they’re contacting.

3. What's the story got to have to make you want to represent it?

Nutella. It must have Nutella. No… Kidding…!  A story has to have a wonderful voice, a real sense of place (whether it’s the moon or next door)—the details, the specificity, the writer’s instinct of showing, never telegraphing, those are the hallmarks of great writers. Don’t say “Samantha was quirky,” say “Samantha loved Nutella on everything; toast, fruit, even pickles.” Don’t say “John was bored,” say “John couldn’t believe the clock was still ticking 3:46.” Or, you know, some more eloquent versions of these; I’m a much better agent than I am writer.

American Horror Story: Coven & Lessons on Plot and Characterization

If you’ve watched the latest installment of American Horror Story: Coven, you may have noticed some short-fallings of the season. I’ll keep out spoilers as much as I can, but here’s what AHS: Coven has taught me about plotting, characterization, and pacing.

1. When you start with a BANG, follow up.

Coven started out SO promising. We’ve got badass teenage witches in New Orleans, a school for witches, voodoo, a witch war, powers. I mean, what is not to like about all of this?

The problem is, when you have so many elements in your story, you need to make sure each is properly invested in. If you have ten characters who intertwine, leaving one or two out of the loop for a while can cause readers to lose their interest.

This is where plotting and planning come in. A big story needs big payoff, so it’s important to pay attention to who your characters are, and to make sure that everything comes off as clear and not rushed. If you notice that a few plotlines are being missed or it’s too much, it may be time to cut some of it for the sake of the overall story.

2. Subplots are awesome, but too many is exhausting.

Coven is the reigning Queen of subplots. Here are just a few:

• ·        Fiona (Supreme Witch) and her dying power
• ·        Fiona and aging
• ·        Fiona and her love affair
• ·        Fiona and the Voodo Queen
• ·        Fiona and the Coven
• ·        Cordelia and her fertility
• ·        Cordelia and her mother (Fiona)
• ·        Cordelia and the Coven
• ·        Delphine Lalaurie and the Voodoo Queen
• ·        Delphine Lalaurie and the Coven
• ·        Delphine Lalaurie and her past
• ·        Marie Leveau and the Voodoo fight against the witches
• ·        Marie Leveau and the Witch Hunters

… I could go on. There must be at least thirty subplots in this series. Unfortunately, a lot gets lightly touched upon or thrown away because there is simply not enough time or room to cover all of these subplots (I didn’t even get to at least seven characters.)

Subplots are an amazing tool for your book. They aid in characterization and the overall atmosphere of the story, but too many can result in chaos, confusion, and pieces left behind. Ensure that you can cover everything you have planned with your characters. If you don’t want to cut, then consider multiple books or a series. Give your readers what they deserve: a well-written, well-rounded narrative with characters you can sink into.

3. Characterization

With Coven having SO many main characters (Fiona, Cordelia, Madison, Zoe, Queenie, Nan, Marie Leveau, Delphine Lalaurie, Misty Day, Myrtle, and more), fitting all of their storylines in one narrative is exhausting. I wanted to know so much about each of these characters, but there just wasn’t enough time. Especially when we hit the romance of Zoe and Kyle, it just seems like it’s started, ignored for a while, then all of a sudden BOOM! Love.

So make sure you give each character their time to shine, and give the reader a chance to get to know their stories well. It’s not fun for a reader to be interested in a certain character only to have their stories brushed upon or cut short.

Also, having a REALLY AWESOME character always helps :) (Misty Day)

Overall, there is always a lot to learn from everything we watch or read or see. If you notice something in a book or a show that you don’t like or that could have been done better in your mind, keep note of it. These are tools that may help you create the best work when writing your own book.

And if you haven't had a chance to check out AHS: Coven, it's a pretty awesome show despite its issues.

Lindsay Leggett

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From Australia With Love Blog Hop: My Writing Habits with Laura Catherine

Australian writers rock. We know it, and we love them. But it’s not always easy to discover the Australian talent that is right under our noses.

From Australia With Love Blog Hop introduces you to 18 Aussie authors across a variety of categories and genres. Each author is hosting three of their fellow blog hop participants between now and Valentine’s Day to let you find out more about them. So follow them on twitter, like their Facebook page and visit their blogs during the blog hop period to discover more great Australian writers.

And to show how much these Aussie authors love their readers, they’ve donated some great prizes for you to win!

Today we have Aussie writer Laura Catherine stopping by.

My Writing Habits

I suppose this post should be called My Dream Writing Habits because for the last year I’ve had no writing routine what-so-ever. I work full-time and spent most of last year editing my novel Djinn, which was released in December.

The problem I find is what I work in retail, which means erratic hours and late nights. I can’t just pick the same time every day and say, yes, I will write at 6pm every night for an hour because my hours range from 8:30am to 10:30pm. But my dream writing routine is when I either earn enough money from books to quit my day job or get a normal 9-5 job so I can get in the habit.

Writing is all about habits. I suppose life is too, but we’ll stick with writing for now. I think all writers out there strive to have good writing habits and to me writing habits are made up of three things.

The first is Time. Writer’s need time in their routines to write. Their lives are usually busy. A lot of us work part-time or full-time to support ourselves and spend what little time we have writing. The problem is finding time between, work, family, friends, kids, life. This is why you need to get into the habit of writing at the same time every day, repetition is your friend and he will urge you to write.  Writing every day at the same time of day is a great habit for writers to get into and it’s something I hope for too. To be able to sit at your computer, open a file and simply start writing and keep writing without trouble can often seem like an unattainable dream. But keeping up with the same routine will pay off for those willing to try.

Location is part of my habit. I can’t write at home there are way too many distractions with tv, internet, food, laundry. There will always be something at home that I think can take priority over writing. The key is to get out of the house and find somewhere that these distractions can’t affect you. Coffee shops are a favourite of mine. They have warm atmospheres that invite you. They have comfy couches, chai lattes, power-points, and are perfect for people watching. I also love the idea of having a special coffee shop that I go to all the time that they know me, they have my order ready without me having to say a word and I’d ask the owner about their kids, the waitress about her law course. It’s always been a dream of mine.

The third thing my habit needs in order to succeed is Motivation. You can have all the time in the world, be sitting in the best café with your chai latte, but in the end if you don’t have the motivation to write then what’s the point? Motivation for me comes from the love of my story. I have to love what I’m writing about; be excited to start writing and get the words out. If I’m not excited by my book than I don’t want to write it and who would want to read something I’m not motivated to write?

So there you are. My advice for a writing habit is Time, Location and Motivation. These are all things that I used when working on my debut novel, Djinn.

Djinn Blurb:

She's been on the run for as long as she can remember and her father is the only stable thing in her life, but everything changes when the people pursuing them finally catch up.

Kyra is abducted by the handsome and mysterious, Will. He takes her to a secret compound where she is told the truth: She's a Djinn, a genie-like creature with super powers and a love of dogs.

Kyra has to adjust to the Djinn and their rules, but her new life is far from perfect. Everyone is hiding something and the one person Kyra cares about most is forbidden to her.

There are secrets around every corner and more dangers than Kyra could ever imagine as she struggles to find herself and be with the one she loves.

Djinn is available at the following places:

Buy the eBook

|  Amazon Int’l  |  B&N  |  iTunes  |  Kobo  |

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|  Amazon  |   B&N   |  Book Depository  |

About Laura:

Laura Catherine was born in Melbourne, Australia and spent most of her childhood creating fantasy

worlds and talking to her invisible pet cheetah who ran along powerlines.

Her imagination has carried her through childhood where her mother read stories about fantasy worlds at bedtime. Never one to face reality, Laura spent a lot of time turning boxes into ships and castles.

In her High School years, Laura started to really consider writing as a career. All those notebooks full of story ideas finally had a purpose and in 2006 she started the first novel she would go on to finish 5 years later. The thrill of complete a novel from start to finish only inspired Laura more, soon she became a writing machine working on many novels and honing her craft by completing a Professional Writing and Editing Diploma in 2010.

2011 saw Laura get serious about becoming an author. She started her blog, Quill Wielder, and prepared her novels to be sent off to publishers.

Still writing whenever she has spare time; Laura also participates in NaNoWriMo religiously to get her writing on.

Laura has self-published her first novel, Djinn, a Paranormal Romance, and is working on the second in the trilogy, Blooders.

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Location, Location, Location

So far in this series on novel planning, I’ve discussed the importance of writing exercises, the need for both an inside and outside story, and the key concept of the wound and the want and how it can infuse your characters and your story with life and purpose.

This month, I want to focus on setting. Full disclosure: I’m not a huge setting gal, at least not yet. My writing up until this point has focused on the contemporary world. I haven’t created a new world on a foreign planet, loaded my characters onto a spaceship in the future, or traveled back in time to the 1920s (though I’d love to write a story with flappers).

In all those cases, setting would be an essential component. But just because I’m writing in the contemporary world doesn’t mean I can ignore setting, nor do I want to.

I know from firsthand experience that attention to setting enriches your work, specifically with regard to characterization. I was working through a setting exercise to describe the living room in my main character’s house. I created a beautiful room, but, turns out, it wasn’t anywhere my sixteen-year-old main character would live. Her mother was a world traveler with Middle Eastern roots. She wouldn’t have a stark white couch and glass and steel coffee table. She’d have a plump, pumpkin-colored armchair and a table with thick, reclaimed wood legs and a top decorated with mosaic tile.

The more I thought about where my character would live, the more her personality (or in this case, her mother’s) came alive.

This is one benefit of thinking in detail about your setting. Even if the rooms your inner interior designer creates never actually make it onto the page, I promise your brainstorming will serve a purpose.

But there’s another benefit to paying close attention to setting. It can reinforce the mood or tone you need to make a scene work. Why does almost every funeral scene take place in the rain? It’s the easiest and quickest way to develop a somber, dark feel. Cliché? Perhaps. Does it work? Oh yes.

Take this idea a step further and strip away the cliché nature. Is your character feeling trapped? Should the fight she’s having with her boyfriend happen in a wide, expansive meadow filled with gleaming yellow sunflowers or in a dinged-up Chevy with a broken radio and ripped seats?

And don’t be afraid to let the answer surprise you. Free yourself to mess with expectations. Sure, a kid’s room can be his escape, the place he feels safe. But what if he used to share that room with his twin brother who died? Maybe it’s the last place he wants to be and instead the lake where the family used to camp is the only place that gives him hope.

Especially in young adult and middle grade, it can be easy to rely on the two main settings of home and school. Do those places need to be there? Probably. But add more, add ones that mean something to you. In my case, my love of the beach and the ocean was passed along to my main character, Azra, which allows me to write with more emotion and inhabit a place on the writing page I long to be. But also add ones that challenge you. Does your main character have a part-time job in an auto repair shop but you know nothing about cars? Use it as an opportunity to learn and to deepen your storytelling.

One last item on setting to consider: write to all five senses. Sight is the one that will dominate, but don’t ignore the other ways to enhance your writing. Let your character smell her mother’s lasagna bubbling in the oven when she walks in the door after being bullied at school. Make him fight back tears when he hears Eric Clapton, his father’s favorite, on the radio. Run her fingers along the silk scarf her boyfriend gave her for her birthday. Taste the salt on his face after a long run.

And don't forget to use props. They are a great way to help you show, not tell. You don’t have to say it’s cold if your character is pulling on wool mittens. You don’t have to tell me she’s nervous if her mug shakes in her hand.

Keep in mind, especially in Kid Lit, pages and pages of pure description will have your reader dropping your book and picking up a video game controller. Less is more. One great way to sprinkle in setting is during narrative beats (the parts not in quotation):

“There!” Lily said. “That’s a spot, down at the end.”

The only working lamp post was at the opposite end of the potholed parking lot.

My Mini Cooper’s headlights barely made a dent in the dark. “Why not just tape a sign to our backs: Murder Victim 1 and Murder Victim 2?”

Sights, sounds, smells, lighting, temperature, time of day, time of year, what’s inside, what’s outside, props, geography, all these things are part of setting. Use them to make your story come alive.

You don’t have to be writing about an alien colony on the planet of Pluto – sorry, planetoid of Pluto -- for setting to be a character all of its own.

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Attack of the Internal Editor

I can say with relative confidence that my writing skills have steadily improved over the past five years. I can also safely say that I'm a sloppy panster at heart, even when I outline. Seriously. Every time I try to dictate where a story where go ahead of time, I veer off of it in less than a page. I'm not kidding.

Anyway, I've noticed that along with increasing skill comes increasing persnicketiness about what I write. This has benefits and drawbacks. I can admit--despite my previous writer life of rushed seat-of-the-pants-drafting-ways--it's good to slow down and take my time in crafting a novel. It forces me to choose awesome words instead of good ones. BUT, the pressure of picking the RIGHT word the first time often leads me to a stand still. Like literally.

Case in point. My most recent WIP (a young adult contemporary with psychological thriller elements) has been a complete blast to develop. The first six chapters practically wrote themselves. Yet it's gotten to the point that every time I open the document, I freeze. I can't decide what words to put on the page. What order do I want to write them? Who do I want to say what? Where do I want to put the description? What description do I want to include?

I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!!!

A surge of frustration forces--yes, forces!--me to procrastinate. I look at Facebook, Twitter, online forums. I watch an episode of South Park, The Office, or Family Guy.

Two hours later, I return to the MS and fret some more. Why hasn't the word count risen? (Duh. Cuz I didn't write anything. Geez.)

What's happening? Well, in my effort to "prove" I'm a good writer, I have unleashed the Hell beast otherwise known as the Internal Editor (cue horror movie soundtrack here). Any writerly person is very familiar with this monster. When properly fed and cared for, the internal editor can actually be helpful, even friendly. But when little devil runs amok through a first draft, it's akin to a disaster.

So, dear friends, I'd love to hear from you what strategies have helped you tame Internal Editor.

I'll start the dialogue by sharing my strategy:

1. I free write. Screw picking great words. Just get the damn scene on the page.
2. I re-read what I just wrote...and am pleasantly surprised it's not as icky as I'd imagined.
3. I crit someone's work.
4. I read a book and "take notes" from the pros.
5. I take a break. Burn out doesn't do anybody any good. Just sayin'.
6. I try to stop being my own worst enemy and let myself off the hook. It's impossible to be perfect the first go around, so why set such an unrealistic goal? Right? Right.

Alrighty folks, your turn. What strategies have you used to slay the Internal Editor...or at least negotiate a halfway decent working relationship? ;)

******

Laura Diamond is a board certified psychiatrist and author of all things young adult paranormal, dystopian, and horror. Her Young Adult Paranormal Romance novelette NEW PRIDE and novel SHIFTING PRIDE debuted late 2012. A spin off short story based on the lions of Tsavo, TSAVO PRIDE, is now available on Amazon. In 2013, her Young Adult Dystopians, ENDURE and EVOKE, were published by Renegade YA. Her Young Adult Paranormal Adventure, THE ZODIAC COLLECTOR, is coming 2014 by Spencer Hill Press. When she's not writing, she is working at the hospital, blogging at Author Laura Diamond--Lucid Dreamer, and renovating her 225+ year old fixer-upper mansion. 

If you’re interested in reading more about Laura or interacting with her on the web, check out the following links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DiamondLB

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLauraDiamond

Author Laura Diamond: www.authorlauradiamond.com

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5815639.Laura_Diamond

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Laura-Diamond/e/B009Y7L432/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1377733776&sr=8-1

Blog: http://lbdiamond.wordpress.com/