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Read…
- An exclusive interview with Leah Johnson, award-winning author of ‘You Should See Me in a Crown’ and ‘Rise to the Sun’.
- Advice from author Maisie Chan on writing East and South East Asian book characters.
- Picture Book author Hannah Lee’s reflections on the power of school visits.
- Author Melissa Welliver’s explanation on why dystopian is still a popular genre (even when it feels like the world is ending).
- Writing success stories from Michael Mann and Jeff de León.
- Information about the Jericho Prize that celebrates Black-British new writing for children.
- Witticisms from our Honest Writer.
- Winning stories from our flash fiction & short story competitions.
- And our celebration corner, showcasing your achievements!
Buy your copy here.
Buy an annual subscription here (4 issues including the current one).
Our complete back-catalogue is here.
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“I’ve just had my first ‘oh wow, it’s a real book’ moment: revealing the cover”
Debut author Melissa Welliver shares her publication journey – starting with the cover reveal of her Young Adult novel.
So you finished your book, hooked an agent, landed a publishing deal, edited your book baby over weeks and months…and now what?
Now, you hand over your baby.
Maybe that’s a little dramatic, but it’s not entirely wrong. At every stage of the submitting process, those of us aiming for publication hand over a little bit of our books to someone else. When you’re writing that first, messy, shiny, fun, and sometimes awful first draft, the book belongs entirely to you.
The world is in your head, inhabited by characters only you have ever spoken to. Then when you get your critique group or partner involved, they become a part of that creative process too. Throw in your agent, editor, proofreader, copyeditor, early beta readers…and before you know it, a whole village has gathered round to help raise your book baby. Amazing!
Now what?
Read more here.
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S1: E7: Naomi Gibson
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Where Melissa and Florianne chat all about her writing and new book Every Line Of You - an edge-of-your-seat thriller which will keep you gripped to the last page…
Listen here.
And you can listen to all our episodes here, including chats with Clare Helen Welsh, Emma Read, Louise Gooding, Dave Rudden and Maisie Chan.
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Coming up for Hub members:
- Clare Helen Welsh Picture Book workshop: Wednesday 25th August 6.30pm-7.30pm | TOPIC: PB Endings
- Vashti Hardy Novel workshop: Thursday 26th August 8pm-9pm | TOPIC: Character description
- Webinars for August are on Editing (Vashti) and Non-Fic PBs (Clare).
- September's Beyond the Agent guest is Sim Kaur Sandhu, Editor for Fiction, Non-Fiction and Picture Books at Macmillan Children's Books on Monday 13th September at 8pm!
- Our book club read for this month is young adult novel HEART-SHAPED BRUISE by Tanya Byrne.
We are offering so, so much and are very proud of our Hub and the people in it, but we always welcome new writers to sign-up at any time!
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Come join us; writing can be lonely, but it doesn't need to be.
More information on the hub here.
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Natalie Denny describes her experience of WriteMentor’s 12-week Young Adult mentoring course with author Lauren James here.
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Daisy Jervis describes her experience of WriteMentor’s 5-week writing fundamentals course with author Lindsay Galvin here.
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Emily McGuire describes her experience of WriteMentor’s 5-week WriteStart course with author Jenny Pearson here.
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Emma Bradley describes her experience of WriteMentor’s 6-week WriteMaster course with author Alexandra Sheppard here.
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Rachel Rivers Porter describes her experience of WriteMentor’s 5-week WriteCharacter course with author Emma Read here.
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Ian Johnson describes his experience of WriteMentor’s 6-week Preparing for Submission course with Aisha Bushby here.
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Complete at your own pace, and with an optional critique on your PB at the end, our new untutored courses provide you with videos, notes, advice, examples and homework exercises that are similar to the tutored courses, but can be assessed whenever and wherever you like.
Both courses have an optional critique option at the end, which can be booked any time, and Clare will give you a report on your text.
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Untutored Picture Book course with Clare Helen Welsh
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£60.00
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Untutored (Non-Fiction) Picture Book course with Clare
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£48.00
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You can view the conference line-up here.
You can book your tickets, workshops, talks and panels here.
1-2-1s are now on sale, although as always they've been quick to be booked up. Check out those that are still available on the tickets page, and keep an eye out for more being added later.
Also note that the 3 keynotes and 3 panels included this year are fixed and listed on the ticket description.
First Spreads and First Pages panels are not included, but can be booked separately.
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Spark Mentoring
WriteMentor Spark is a monthly, online one-to-one mentoring service. Working with a children’s author, you will receive ongoing developmental editing, writing advice, publishing insights, and direct feedback on your manuscript to help you elevate your writing craft to the next level.
Spark Mentoring is always available if you need extra help or support each month.
CHECK OUT our new page, which we hope is clearer for all those who want to know more.
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The Jericho Prize for children’s writing, open to Black-British writers with great stories to inspire children aged 4 years plus and 7–9.
Open for submissions 2 August 2021.
Submissions
We're looking for manuscripts aimed at young readers and your work must fit into one of these two categories:
1. A picture book for 4 years plus. No more than 800 words OR
2. A short chapter book for the 7–9 age range between 10,000–15,000 words
All manuscripts must feature a Black or mixed-Black main character. (Read our FAQs for more guidance.)
The prize
The winner of each category will receive:
After that, if you manage to publish your book you'll also receive:
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THE BATH CHILDREN’S NOVEL AWARD 2021
Closing date: 30th November 2021 | Prize: £3,000 |
Judge: a children’s literary agent will judge the winning manuscript from a shortlist chosen by Junior Judges aged seven to seventeen
Submissions: First 5,000 words plus one page synopsis of novels for children or teens
Shortlist prize: Manuscript feedback from the Junior Judges plus literary agent introductions
Longlist prize: Edit Your Novel the Professional Way course with Cornerstones Literary Consultancy
Eligibility: Open worldwide to unpublished, self-published and independently published writers. Full terms here
Entry fee: £28 with sponsored places available for writers on low income
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We also have a whole page on our website with links to competitions and mentorship programmes. Click here.
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Are you a writer or a storyteller? Or both?
I often hear people say, 'I can't believe she's not signed yet, she's such a wonderful writer!'
Or, 'That story is so good, how has it not been snapped up!'
Now, on the surface both statements may be saying similar things. But great writing and great storytelling are often not the same thing.
I often read books where the story is so good, it doesn't matter that the writing isn't so hot, and vice versa, a beautifully written piece where there's no story, or not a strong enough one.
When I was chatting to a lovely agent last week, they said that the decisions are initially make on story. They might not even get to your pages to see if you're a great writer if the story isn't there in the pitch or the cover letter.
Story first, great writing second then?
Well, they said, it needs to be a balance of both, but story is certainly king, and always will be.
It's so vital to always remember this as we tell our stories, and it's why it's so important to come up with at least a pitch before you start writing anything. That pitch alone will tell you if it's worth writing the 500, 20k, 50k (or sometimes more words) to find out the thing that you've written beautifully has no story.
How do we know if we have a story? Try out the pitch - don't be afraid to ask a trusted writing friend what they think - does it have a compelling character/situation, does it have clear conflict between the character's wants and do they have an inner need, or a flaw to overcome? Are the odds against them? Does the pitch make your critique partner DEMAND that you write the book now?
If yes, then you're onto something. No guarantees, it's just a pitch after all. But if the pitch isn't working, then that's a major sign that maybe your story isn't there yet, and that needs to be worked upon before you even think about plotting or writing.
You might be a great writer, and you might manage to blag it without great story, but kids don't massively care how well something is written - not really - they just want a great story, where someone has to battle hard against all the odds to get what they want…and in the very best of stories, they don't always get what they want…but they get what they need.
(Sorry for the Rolling Stones reference - for those of you old enough to know who I'm talking about!!!) 😂
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Writing can be lonely, but it doesn't need to be.
May the Force be with you!
Stuart, Florianne and Melissa
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