Dee White's Tuesday Writing Tips Blog Tour

Welcome to Writing Children's Books with Robyn Opie. We have a special guest today. Oooh, I love special guests! Dee White is visiting on her Tuesday Writing Tips Blog Tour. She's here to talk to me about my book, Black Baron - and how to write bigger stories.

Robyn: Thanks, Dee.

Dee: Hi Robyn, I loved your book, Black Baron and my boys did too. We are so pleased to be here today to find out how you wrote it. Could you start by giving us a brief summary of what the book is about?

Robyn: Hi Dee. Thank you for including me in your Tuesday Writing Tips blog tour. I'm pleased to have you here. And thank you for your kind words about Black Baron. I'm glad you and your boys loved it. I decided I wouldn't re-invent the wheel and create a new summary. So here is the blurb from the Walker Books Australia website: "Black Baron, Jake's champion racing cockroach, hasn't lost a race and Jake is on top of the world. But then his mum decides to clean up his bedroom and discovers Black Baron in a shoebox under Jake’s bed. Mum is aghast -- how could Jake keep such a filthy pest? But Black Baron escapes and Jake's Mum calls the pest exterminator and a humorous slapstick tale ensues."

Dee: I understand that Black Baron was longer than any previous book you had written. Did you find that daunting when you started writing it – knowing it had to be a lot longer?

Robyn: I'd been writing short texts for school readers. When I started Black Baron, the longest story I'd written in recent years was probably around 1,200 words. I didn't think about it at the time. I knew Black Baron was going to be a novel and that the manuscript had to be longer than my recent works. I hadn't written a novel greater than 4,500 words at this point and not for several years. I can't say that I was daunted because I didn't know that I was going to find the task difficult or challenging. But when I started writing Black Baron, I discovered that years of writing short texts for school readers had taught me to write concisely. That is good, of course. But one can write too concisely. I realised that I left out a lot of information, like action and setting. In a way, I wrote skeletons and this skeleton, Black Baron, needed fleshing out.

Dee: Why did Black Baron have to be longer?

Robyn: The simple answer is to fit the market, so I had a chance of Black Baron being published by a trade publisher. There is a limited market for stories less than 1,200 words, which I was used to writing. Black Baron had to be novel-length, or at least somewhere in the vicinity. Several publishers had told me that they didn't publish children's books under 15,000 words - 15,000 was their minimum, though they preferred upwards of 20,000. These publishers publish shorter books now but that was what I was told several years ago. I guess I was ready for the challenge, too, to write a longer work and broaden my horizons.

Dee: Did you plot it all out and the book came out to be the ‘right’ length or did you have to add things along the way?

Robyn: I did a plot outline for Black Baron. I don't like to start writing unless I know the ending to a story. I feel as if I need something to aim for, or else I might get lost on the way and never reach the end. I hated cockroaches and thought of them as "stinking, rotten cockroaches", rather like Jake's parents feel in the book. As far as I was concerned Black Baron was going to die. But as I wrote the story, I fell in love with Black Baron. He's my character, after all, and I brought him to life, and pretty soon he had a place in my heart. Needless to say, I decided on a new ending to my story. Long live the champ! The story was too short, nowhere near the right length. As I mentioned above, I realised that I wrote too concisely and left information out, about the characters, the action and the setting. I had to keep going back and inserting that extra information. I needed to add muscles and flesh to the skeleton's bones. I probably ended up going through the manuscript four or five times (at least!), adding more and more layers. That's the way I feel about Black Baron, as if I wrote it in layers. All of my previous books, the school readers, were illustrated so the pictures told a lot of the story and they were also limited in terms of characterisation, action and setting. Black Baron needed more to be explained or experienced through the text.

Dee: When you added layers to your story, did this involve developing characters, adding more description or creating more action? Or a combination of all three? Can you tell us how you did it?

Robyn: It involved all three. In the school readers, I'd been writing in recent years, I didn't need any characterisation at all. No details about the characters or their relationships. So I had to focus on the extra bits that would make Jake, his parents and Black Baron seem real. I also had to add more thoughts and feelings from Jake, my point of view main character. I had to work on adding more description and action, but only what seemed necessary. Each time I went through the manuscript, at least four or five times (maybe more), I added more to make the story seem realistic and believable. I thought about the descriptions, settings and action. Initially, I'd left a lot out and could expand on these areas. And I should also mention that I initially wrote Black Baron in third person point of view. I changed the manuscript to first person, to see what would happen. I managed to connect with Jake, as if I was him. In fact, I probably became Jake because I was writing from the "I" point of view. Black Baron helped me learn how to "show, don't tell". I often suggest to people who are having trouble with "show, don't tell" to write from the "I" point of view and pretend that they are the main character. You're not a writer, you're the main character. That way, it's easier to "show" everything from the main character's point of view by imagining you're that character and including what you can see, hear, think and feel.

Dee: Did you have to go back and re-plot parts of the story to make it longer?

Robyn: As I mentioned above, I went back and re-plotted the ending, after falling in love with my character Black Baron. I also had to add extra scenes or events to the story. I guess it's a bit like going straight from A to E. I can go straight there, A to E, or I can include B, C, and D on the way. I hope that makes sense. My first draft of Black Baron involved the plot I wanted to write. Start to finish, getting there as easily and as simply - or concisely - as possible. But the manuscript was too short, around 4,000 to 5,000 words. Knowing I needed to make it longer, I returned to the manuscript and thought about the existing scenes. Then I thought about what these existing scenes meant in regards to cause and effect. You know the idea of cause and effect - one event causes something to happen which causes something to happen and so forth. What else could happen? I realised that there were more opportunities with the story. I didn't have to get to the end so quickly. I could enjoy the journey on the way, draw it out, as long as everything seemed to be in the story because of cause and effect. Plus, I was now Jake, the main character, and not a writer. I could imagine what "I" did and how "I" reacted, thus making it easier to create new cause and effort scenes.

Dee: So, Robyn, can you give us a tip for fellow writers who are trying to increase their word count to meet a publisher or competition requirement?

Robyn: Please visit Dee White's blog - http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com - for my final answer and tip of the day.


For more information about Black Baron, please check out:
http://www.walkerbooks.com.au/Books/Lightning-Strikes-Black-Baron-9781921150586

http://www.walker.co.uk/Black-Baron-9781406322163.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Baron-Robyn-Opie/dp/1406322164

And for more of Dee White's Tuesday Writing Tips Blog Tour, here are the dates:

2nd February 2010
Claire Saxby’s blog
http://letshavewords.blogspot.com
Writing Picture Books - Leaving room for the illustrator.

9th February 2010
Dee White’s blog
http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com
Reviewing ‘There Was an Old Sailor’ - Reviewing vs Editing skills.

16th February 2010
Sandy Fussell’s blog
http://www.sandyfussell.blogspot.com
Writers Need to be avid free range readers

23rd February 2010
Robyn Opie’s blog
http://www.robynopie.blogspot.com
How to make your story longer – adding layers

2nd March 2010
Angela Sunde’s blog
http://www.angelasunde.blogspot.com
More about Point of View – head hopping

An Interview with Me, Robyn Opie

Welcome to Writing Children's Books with Robyn Opie. Today, I feature a recent interview I did for Trish Puddle's Molly Gumnut blog, at http://trish-mollygumnut.blogspot.com. I hope you enjoy reading the interview. Please email me if you have any questions. And thanks again for visiting.


Welcome to my blog Robyn. It’s wonderful that you’ve taken time out from your busy schedule. Could you tell us how old you were when you started writing, and what inspired you to write?

Hi Trish. Thanks for having me here. It's a pleasure to visit your blog. I was fifteen when I wrote my first novel. It's my English teacher's fault. He used to give me top marks every time I wrote an essay or a story. You have to love this wise man! One day, he handed me back an assignment and told me, "You should be a writer." I love books and have always been an avid reader but up until this point I hadn't thought about people writing books. My English teacher made me think about it and I went home to write my first novel.

Wow! I wish I had a teacher like that, Robyn. I’m sure the readers would love to know about your first published book? And who published it?

I had 3 books published at the same time - Jen Stays Inside, People Need Trucks and My Bike. They were published by Barrie Publishing in 1999. I heard about the call for submissions from a writers' group I attend. I already had 30 short children's books written, so I sent them all off. I got 3 accepted, which I thought was a great result.

All of my books can be viewed on my website:
http://www.robynopie.com.au/books.html

That’s fantastic, Robyn. Tell me, what type of children’s book do you prefer to write?

Good ones. LOL. I write for my own pleasure, so I explore subjects that interest me. I enjoy seeing how characters react to situations. Sometimes I put characters into situations I don't want to be in, which gives me a chance to experience the situation from the safety of my laptop. For example, in my book Caught in a Cyclone, I wrote about Cyclone Tracy, which devastated Darwin on Christmas Day in 1974. My book Backstage Betrayal is about a girl who gets locked in an old dark theater overnight. Our Secret Place is based on a true story of a group of boys accidentally burning down an abandoned house. I got to experience these things, as if it was me, as if I was there. But none of these things happened to me. I also love humor in stories. Even my serious books have some humor in them. I believe if I write for myself, for my own fun, then readers will enjoy the books too. I guess it's about being authentic and writing with passion - what you're passionate about.

I think it’s amazing that you’ve written and published more than seventy-five books, Robyn. How many hours a day do you write?

I usually work on my own stories from about 9am to 1pm every day. Then I take some time out to meditate, relax and visualize my goals. Next, I answer emails and respond to homework from my students. I run a writing for children's course through my website and mentor new writers. The latter part of the day is usually for business type stuff, like submissions, interviews, website maintenance etc.

For more information on my writing for children course:
http://www.robynopie.com.au/writingforchildrencourse.html

That’s a busy schedule, Robyn. How long does it take you to complete a children’s book?

There's no easy answer to this question, Trish. It depends on the length of the book, for starters. I usually write anywhere from 1000 to 2000 words a day. I can write a book of 1000 to 2000 words in a day. Editing will likely take another day or two. Recently, I wrote a non-fiction book of 27,000 words in 14 days. I spent the next 14 days editing it. A novel of around the same length can take me 3 months to write. It depends whether I need to rewrite too. Sometimes I'll return to a novel, after a break to distance myself, and rewrite then edit again. I've been published for 10 years and obviously writing much longer than that. Practice and experience means I can write fairly quickly nowadays. Rewriting and editing is the unknown quantity. But my stories tend to need less editing nowadays too because of all those years of practice and experience.

Gosh, that’s a heck of a speed. No wonder you’ve written so many. Are you planning many more books?

Hundreds. I'm planning to still be writing when I'm in my eighties. I've submitted a manuscript to 2 publishers. I'm hoping it's the first book in a series. I have another manuscript ready to be submitted. Again, I'm hoping this is the first in a series. Fingers crossed! I have an idea for a book. It's my biggest project to date because it will take some research and education on my behalf to make it convincing and believable. At this stage, I haven't had time to start working on it because my partner and I wrote a screenplay. We've been working with an Australian producer and he managed to get another producer and director interested in making our movie. Right now, we're rewriting to incorporate the director's vision and the actors the director wants for the main roles. It's an interesting learning experience and we're grateful for the opportunity. It's one thing to write about what's in your own head and another to try to write about what's in another person's head.

Now that’s something I would love to do, screenplays. That sounds so exciting. Well, I can dream can’t I? Do you have a favorite book that you’ve written?

My favorite published book is Black Baron published by Walker Books Australia in May 2008 and Walker Books UK in May 2009. I like this book because it was the first longer novel I wrote. Up until this point, I'd been writing short books for Era Publications. Writing a longer book was a great challenge. I also fell in love with Black Baron. For anyone who doesn't know, Black Baron is a champion racing cockroach. When I started writing the book, Black Baron was going to die. After all, he's a stinking rotten cockroach. As I wrote, I got to know all the characters, including Black Baron. He came alive for me and I fell in love with him. It might seem weird loving a cockroach. I think this is a good example of how writers care about their characters as if they are real. Black Baron is very real to me and I haven't been able to kill a cockroach since I started writing the book. Long live the champ!

Black Baron can be purchased from:
http://www.walkerbooks.com.au/Books/Lightning-Strikes-Black-Baron-9781921150586
http://www.walker.co.uk/Black-Baron-9781406322163.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Baron-Robyn-Opie/dp/1406322164/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245297385&sr=1-1

Yes, as you know, I loved Black Baron too Robyn. I didn’t put it down until I’d finished it. Are there any authors that have inspired your writing?

I love reading children's books and most books and writers inspire me. I don't like saying specific names because I know many writers and I don't want to pick favorites and offend anyone. Besides, there are a lot of good books and good writers. It would be a long list and I'd hate to forget any wonderful authors.

I can understand that. Do you think you will ever write an adult novel?

I started an adult novel once. I spent a day on it. The next day I received an email from Era Publications asking me to write more fiction and non-fiction children's books. By the end of the week, I'd received an email from Walker Books about Black Baron. I got the hint. I decided the Universe was telling me to stop the adult novel and continue with my children's books. I don't think I'll write an adult novel but it's likely I'll write film screenplays for adults.

That’s good. More books for kids. Do you prefer writing or teaching? Or both the same?

I prefer writing, though teaching is rewarding too. I have to write. I don't know how to do anything else. Writing has become a big part of who I am. I don't think I could teach if I wasn't writing. I need to be creative and I can't let my students have all the fun. I think I'd get jealous if they were writing and I wasn't. I'm not sure I'd be such a good teacher if I wasn't writing. It's my passion for writing that makes me a good teacher.

I know what you mean. Writing can be so addictive. I know it gives me a buzz. How do you manage to fit in all the courses, traveling, lectures, school visits and author signings?

Sometimes it is hard to fit everything in. Every now and then, I have to take a day off of writing my own stories to catch up on emails and students' homework. I prefer to not do this, of course. I prefer to write every day from 9am to 1pm. But there are times when I get overwhelmed. I use a "Things to Do" list and prioritize what I need to do. This helps. I think you need a clear plan of action when you're busy. During Book Week, when I spend the week doing school visits, I don't have the time or energy to write. I'm glad it's only a week. Naturally, it's hard to write when you're traveling. I do try to answer important emails, though.

Wow! What a schedule. Do you ever burn out and need a rest?

Yes, I most definitely burn out. I've learned to listen to my body. I used to get sick when I overdid it. I also used to work 7 days a week. Now, I try to rest when I feel the exhaustion hitting. I do my meditation, relaxation and visualization every day. I also take time out on the weekends to do other things and spend time with nature. I've noticed the difference. The good thing about being a writer is that you can read and you're still working. As a screenwriter, I can read screenplays or watch movies and I'm still working. It's brilliant!

I know what you mean. It’s a real luxury to sit and read if you're a writer. It’s just finding the time and reading is all part of the learning. It must make you feel good though when you receive great feedback from writers who’ve completed one of your courses, or bought one of your eBooks.

You're right, Trish. It's wonderful to be able to help people. I love it. It's rewarding and satisfying. When I receive great feedback, it's a thrill to know I've been able to help and I'm doing a good job. I hope to make a difference for new writers. It's exciting when you get one of your own books accepted by a publisher. It's just as exciting, at least for me, to hear about a new writer getting published and knowing I've helped make it happen. In a way, it's almost more exciting (if that's possible). I received an email from a girl in the 7th grade asking for help on a school project. She didn't know how to start her story, so I sent her a copy of my article on story beginnings - Begin with a Bang - from my website. Yesterday, she emailed me to say thank you, she'd received an A and the teacher was keeping her story as a good example. I was thrilled. If you help people, you never know where it will lead. Anything could happen!

To read my free articles on writing for children:
http://www.robynopie.com.au/freewritingtips.html

To purchase my eBook on "How to Write a Great Children's Book"
http://www.robynopie.com.au/howtowriteagreatchildrensbook.html


Well you certainly helped me with my questions, Robyn. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer all my questions. I feel quite privileged that you've taken time from your busy schedule to visit my blog.

I highly recommend Robyn Opie’s books especially, How to Write a Great Children’s Book and I loved Black Baron and Mr. Fix-It, Not! the best.

Here is a link to Robyn Opie’s webpage: http://www.robynopie.com/

Thanks for interviewing me, Trish.

And thanks for reading.

I wish you all the best,
Robyn Opie
http://www.robynopie.com

Sally Murphy's Blog Tour - The Big Blowie

Welcome to Writing Children's Books with Robyn Opie

Today, we have a special guest, Sally Murphy. Sally is on a blog tour to promote her latest book, The Big Blowie. Thank you, Sally, for including us in your blog tour. We're glad to have you here.

Thanks Robyn. I’m delighted to be here.

1. First things first, Sally. Can you please tell us about Sally Murphy? Who is she? And how did she become an author of children's books?

Moi? I’m a mother, teacher, reviewer of books and, of course, children’s book author. My two passions in life are children and books, so it was a natural progression for me to become a children’s book author. But, more than that, writing for children is what I always wanted to do with my life from when I was a child myself.

When I left school, I did other things before I achieved my dream of being a published author – most notably having my six children, getting married and becoming a teacher, but I never lost sight of the dream and always knew that I would one day be able to devote myself to writing full time. Now that dream is close to a reality, though I still teach part time and, of course, am still a fairly busy mother.

2. The Big Blowie is a wonderful, catchy title. Can you please tell us more about the book? I'm intrigued and I'm sure others are too.

Every afternoon, tourists visit beautiful Lake Blowie. They have afternoon tea at Syd’s place and buy postcards and souvenirs. But the drought has made the lake dry up. A new attraction is needed – and Syd knows just the thing!

The above is the blurb from the back of the book, but as I'm here promoting the book I’ll tell you a bit more.

Syd’s family farm is reliant on income from tourists, who arrive each day with tour guide Dougie. But when Dougie has to stop coming because of the drought draining the lake, Syd decided they need a ‘big thing’ to bring the tourists back – and so The Big Blowie is born. It is made out of farm junk – an old windmill stand holds it up, a car body is the fly’s body, with corrugated iron for wings, old wheels for eyes and so on. But Syd still needs to convince the tourists to come back so needs to convince Dougie to come and see the Big Blowie.

The book is part of the Aussie Aussie Aussie series, published by Aussie School books (owned by Underwoods) and is being distributed by Blake. It can be purchased online directly from Blake at: http://www.blake.com.au/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=9781921255366&Show=TechSpecs

3. I know people are always interested in where writers get their ideas. Can you please give us some background on how you came up with the idea for The Big Blowie and what you did to develop this idea into a story?

The idea came from my brainstorming as many Australian things as I could that I thought would fit into this series. The series guide requested Australian subject matter and Australian issues, so I came up with a ‘Big Thing’ being built in the Outback to draw tourists in during the drought. Australians love ‘Big Things’, and what could be more Australian than a big blowfly – they are everywhere!

4. I'm curious about how other writers work. Can you please give us a little information on how you work as a writer?

Mostly, my work style is a bit chaotic. I always have several stories at different stages of incubation. Some are just ideas in my head, rolling around waiting for me to tease them out a little further. Others I have roughly planned and am working on writing a first draft (I do try to only do this to one story at a time, but it doesn’t always work that way). Still other stories have been written down as a first or subsequent draft but are waiting for me to come back and edit further before I send them out. Then of course, there is usually one that I’m working on editing right now. And others still have been put into the too hard basket for now, waiting for me to work out just what needs doing next. Lastly, there are the stories which are complete but unplaced, and the cherished few which are finished, accepted and in various stages of the editing process.

For example, at the moment I am working on the first draft of a verse novel, am at the planning stage with a nonfiction book, have several picture books which have been drafted and are waiting for rewrite, a pile of poems in the same stage, and a new story idea ticking around in my head for which I have done a little research. I also have four accepted trade titles in production which are at various stages of editing. So, from time to time I need to drop everything else to work on these.

When I have a new idea, I usually let it roll around my head for a little while, so that by the time I start writing I have a sound idea of where the story is going, though I rarely write a plan. For picture books I write the first draft in a single sitting, but for longer stories it of course takes longer but i try to work on it every day until that draft is done. Then, when it’s finished I put the draft aside for a while (days, weeks, sometimes months) before I start editing, so that I come back to it with a fresh eye. Editing is the hard part because when you bond with what you’ve written it’s hard to see its deficiencies. That’s why I belong to a critique group, and get my crit partners to critique anything I’m not sure about. . When I’m happy with a story (usually after many drafts), I send it off to a publisher. If it is rejected more than a couple of times, I usually take another look and see if the distance of time hallows me to see anything new.

5. I know you have another book coming out soon. Can you tell us about any upcoming releases? Or what's next for Sally Murphy?

Oh yes. I am very excited about my next book. It is called Pearl Verses the World, and will be released by Walker Books Australia in May. This is my first verse novel, aimed at younger readers and beautifully illustrated by Heather Potter.

In November I also have a picture book, Snowy, being released by Random House Australia and illustrated by David Murphy (yes, he is related, being my brother in law).

I also have a picture book being released by Koala Books, called Constantine and Aristotle, and being illustrated by Ben Wood. Unfortunately, I don’t yet have a release date for this one. And in 2010 I have another picture book with New Frontier.

So there’s lots of new things coming and lots of excitement at my end. What’s next is to enjoy each new release (and promote them, of course) and to write more stories.

6. What advice would you give to writers who want to write a children's book and get it published?

Read as many children’s books as you can – new release books, mostly – and write as often as you can. Don’t write one story then try to get it published. You must keep writing and revising and learning. Chances are, the first story you write won’t get published, but if it does, then you’ll want to be already working on the next one.

As well as writing and reading you need to study the market. You need to know who is publishing the kind of book you are writing, and you need to get a feel for what sorts of books appeal to kids. Visit bookstores, publishers’ websites, review sites, writers’ blogs, message forums. Spend lots of time immersing yourself in the world of publishing.

Importantly, if you are easily discouraged, writing is the wrong career for you. You need to be persistent, resilient, determined. The hard knocks can be very hard – but they make it all the more wonderful when you finally hold a published book in your hands.

Thanks for sharing with us, Sally. We wish you great success with The Big Blowie and your blog tour. Thanks for having me, Robyn.

If you’d like to follow Sally’s tour you can visit her at these blogs on these days:
February 8 Dee Scribe Writing Blog - htttp://www.deescribewriting.wordpress.com
February 9 Let’s have Words - http://www.letshavewords.blogspot.com
February 10 Writing Children's Books with Robyn Opie - http://www.robynopie.blogspot.com
February 11 Spinning Pearls - http://www.spinningpearls.blogspot.com
February 12 The Book Chook - http://thebookchook.blogspot.com

Best wishes to all,
Robyn Opie
www.robynopie..com