Dogs and their Writers - Part 2

By Olivia Levez

Welcome to Part 2 of my Dogs and their Writers post, featuring Diesel and his debut author Kathryn Evans, Mitzi and her writer, Amanda George, and Stanley Chester’s author Camilla Chester.

 First, a picture of Basil, who inspired Dog in my debut book The Island. 

I wrote my book over a teacher holiday one summer, and hid away from all internet and mobile reception in my caravan in West Wales. My only companion was my Jack Russell dog, so little by little I suppose it was only natural that he crept his way into my book as well as onto the bed. My teenage castaway Fran has Dog as her only companion on a desert island in the middle of the Indian Ocean...

If you look closely, he has even found his way onto the spine of my book!

Now to this week's dogs and their writers:

Diesel, and his writer, Kathryn Evans...

Diesel and Kathy among the strawberries

1.       Have you ever featured your pet dog in a book? Which and how? Not as a dog but his personality has definitely been hijacked – loyal, loving and a bit dim.

2.       Is your dog an essential part of your daily writing routine? In so many ways! How? He is always by my side when I’m writing. My office is also where I work for the farm so when people come in unannounced, and I’m acting out a scene from a book, I just pretend I’m talking to the dog! It’s a bit strange if I happen to be crying at the time. Also, when I have plot problems, we go for a walk to unstick them.  Never fails – though sometimes we have to go for very long walks… 

      Where does your dog like to be when you’re writing? In his stinky bed, by my feet. Unless one of the cats beat him to it and then I have to move the cat or Diesel makes his sad face.

3.       How does your dog help/inspire you in your life as a writer? I think it’s just having a companion, someone to talk to who just listens! You don’t need answers to work things out, you just need to go through the process of discussing them. Dogs are perfect for that. My cats just look at me as if I’m stupid then through all my papers on the floor. Diesel looks at me as if I’m brilliant, the best thing in the world.  It helps when you are convinced you can’t write for toffee!

4.       What does your dog think of your current WIP? How would s/he describe it?  There’s a cat in my bed. Is it walk time? Is it dinner time? Is it walk time? There’s a cat in my bed. Sorry, to be honest, he isn’t the brightest…

     I am sure that Diesel would like everyone to know that his writer has her debut book coming out in February, and that his writer is very brilliant indeed! I was lucky enough to critique the opening, and can't wait to read it.

Follow Kathy @mrsbung

Mitzi and her SCBWI writer, Amanda George

1.       Have you ever featured your pet dog in a book? Which and how?

One of my WIPs is based on Mitzi and she is going to donate the payments from that book straight to the Dogs Trust when a publisher takes it on… needs to be edited first though!

2.       Is your dog an essential part of your daily writing routine? How? Where does your dog like to be when you’re writing?

Mitzi is a vital part of my creativity!  She’s never far away whenever I’m writing and she just needs to look at me with her soft, brown eyes that somehow wakes my muse up!

This is me giving Amanda my 'you cannot be serious' look

3.       How does your dog help/inspire you in your life as a writer?

I can bounce ideas off her without her putting me down or telling me that I’m writing crud until it’s editing time when she sits on my right foot and yawns if it’s boring

4.       What does your dog think of your current WIP? 

Amanda writes terrible stuff during her first drafts so I just stay in my bed and dream of the editing times when she really takes my comments to heart and usually makes the changes I say about.  She sometimes reads her first drafts to me but I don’t take much notice until it’s finished and editing it… I can’t wait for her to edit my book!

Mitzi and her writer, Amanda

Stanley, and his writer, Camilla Chester

1.      Have you ever featured your pet dog in a book? Which and how?

My dog Stanley Chester is not featured as himself but I sneak in his name. He wheedles his way into every aspect of my life!

In my first book, which I am due to publish in the spring (JarredDreams) the creepy town where the book is set is named Stanbridge and one of the dreams is his (Stanley Chester’s dippity do dog circus with matching hats for all)

2.       Is your dog an essential part of your daily writing routine? How? Where does your dog like to be when you’re writing?

If I am on my own in the house then I always write at the table with Stanley next to me in his basket. Occasionally he will come and put his head on my knee. So gorgeous.

I walk dogs for a living so all my dogs help really as I use the time to think things through and might make voice notes into my phone as thoughts come to me.

3.       How does your dog help/inspire you in your life as a writer?

He believes in me and I love him. He is patient, non judgemental and loves it when I read my work out loud.

“Being the wise king was ok, but the crown didn’t taste as good as gravy bones.”

4.       What does your dog think of your current WIP? How would s/he describe it? 

Well, that Mummy HB is always click clacking away into the shiny thing. She’s telling stories. This one is about a boy called Lucas Larks who likes cooking (he can come and cook for me anytime – although he only makes veggie stuff which is not as good as sausages). Anyway, he goes to a big house and then tries to get out of it again. It all sounds a bit pointless if you ask me, but then all HBs are mad, so carry on.

You can read Stan’s blog here: http://thestanleydiaries.blogspot.co.uk

6. 

Dogs and their Writers: Molly and Stephen King; Chester and Nick Mackie; Mickey and Jo Franklin

By Olivia Levez
Stephen King has one. So does Neil Gaiman, and so did Kurt Vonnegurt and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and John Steinbeck.
 I know I couldn’t do without mine.  He’s there now, jumping onto the bed as I write.
Basil. Rescue Jack Russell. A little bit bite-y. Breath warm as sewers. But my constant writing companion when writing The Island.

As he realises it’s one of Mummy’s writing days, and snuggles under the duvet with a contented little huff, it makes me wonder about the bond dogs have with their writers.

Basil, aka Dog

He's even inveigled his way into my book, and plays a starring role as Dog, a castaway canine companion to survivor Fran.

But how many other dogs influence their writers in this way?

Molly and her writer, Stephen King

Molly the corgi appears in several of her writer's novels, and luckily for her corgis do not seem to suffer the horrible fate of King's most famous canine creation, Cujo.

"It might be that the biggest division in the world isn't men and women but folks who like cats and folks who like dogs."

Chester and Nick Mackie

Chester asleep

1 Have you ever featured your pet dog in a book? Which and how?

Chester is my 7 yr old border terrier. He is a constant companion as I predominantly work from home. I titled my recent children's picture book 'Chester and the Eggie Boo'. The train's dog conductor is styled on Chester.

1  Is your dog an essential part of your daily writing routine? How? Where does your dog like to be when you’re writing?

I walk Chester twice a day - often when I need inspiration, to clear my head, or simply to let off steam. Some of my better ideas have come during a long walk.
Chester will either sit upstairs in the attic (my studio) with me or at the bottom of the stairs - whichever is warmer at the time!

  How does your dog help/inspire you in your life as a writer?

He makes me go for walks - which I probably wouldn't do as much of if I didn't have him. He is also a calming & entertaining influence.

I'm fortunate to live near the coast and we both enjoy some lovely beach walks. (Weston super Mare, Somerset, UK)

What Nick gets up to when he's not walking Chester...

So what does Chester think of your current WIP?

Well, I'll let him tell you himself...

I'm slightly miffed as my walking companion has been very busy lately illustrating a new book. This means I'm not getting as many long adventures as I would like. It's boring watching him tap away all day at the computer when all I want to do is go out and have a run on the sand. 

Chester with his writer, Nick

For some reason Nick likes tweeting better than barking, so find him @nickmackiebook

Mickey and Jo Franklin

At last Mum is off the computer. Time to write my next blog post.

    Have you ever featured your pet dog in a book? Which and how?

I’m working on it! It’s taken me a while to get the right story and the right voice. 

    Is your dog an essential part of your daily writing routine? How? Where does your dog like to be when you’re writing?

We go out for our morning walk before I start work. Either to Peckham Rye Park or to Nunhead Cemetery. I use this time to get my thoughts together and I have started doing a workout app while we are out. But Mickey likes to go off on his own and as soon as he gets a whiff of fox scent he turns his ears off and won’t come back. I have been known to be wandering the cemetery for 2 hours looking for him which is very bad for my writing day. When the weather is better I can sit and make notes on my phone until he decides to come back to me.

We take a shorter walk towards the end of the day which is useful if I have a problem to work out. Mickey has a chair in my study or he sits on the sofa watching GardenHD out the window.

A bit of tasty inspiration

   How does your dog help/inspire you in your life as a writer?

He is good company and forces me to go outside even in bad weather. It’s also lovely to have a big hug when I’m feeling fed up with my paltry word count or the latest rejection. Dog walking is very sociable. Most days the only people I speak to outside of my family are fellow dog walkers.

Jo Franklin writes for 8-10 year olds. Her first book Help I’m an Alien is published by Troika Books 

And Mickey, what do you think of your writer's current WIP?

It’s about time you started writing a story about a dog, but why did you have made your dog character so naughty? I thought you were going to write about me. 

Btw did you know I have my own blog page and twitter?

www.jofranklinauthor.co.uk/mickeys-dog-blog

@Mickeydogsblog

And here's my writer's one: www.jofranklinauthor.co.uk

@jofranklin2

What to Wear at the SCBWI Party (And No Pirates in Sight!)

By Olivia Levez




The Sea. Just go as the sea. Here is version 1 = very classy.

And here is version 2 = not so classy (but does have a modesty scallop.)

Or you could go all elegant and understated, maybe as a pineapple...

And, if you're feeling that little bit more crafty, here are three different palm tree costumes. 

Here's a more, um, ridged version.

Damn it, why not go as the entire island?

Not really pirates, but here's Wilson from Castaway.

Still a little lost? There's always a Lost Boy.

If you're feeling the after-effects of Hallowe'en, perhaps a shark and its mangled pirate victim might float your boat?

Still on creatures of the sea, here's the perfect outfit for another daring duo.

Or grab that spare brolly and become a little jellyfish!

Make like Marie Antoinette, and cunningly craft a ship to your tresses.

Finally, forget the pirates, and become a parrot instead. Here are four to get you started...

Why have a babysitter when you can accessorise?

Get all creative with hair chalks (easy to make from old chalk pastels, but might mess up that B&B washbasin...)

So obviously I'm going as this one. Easy. Nothing to it.

Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway

By Olivia Levez
So my school’s due an Ofsted.

Any minute now, any day, any unit, the door of my classroom will creak slowly open, and there’ll be that drymouthheartbeatfeelsick moment when An Inspector Calls.

A middle-aged man, or possibly a woman, will nod once, then sit in the chair which I will have made available to them, right behind the boy or girl who is most likely to be on task and hopefully has the neatest book.

And The Inspector will scrutinise every aspect of my lesson, every flaw, every missed learning opportunity, every doodled penis on every dictionary spine, every moment of mediocrity in between the crammed garbled quest for outstandingness.

So, um, Ofsted’s pretty scary.

It’s got me thinking about the fears in being a writer.

When I first made the decision to actually do something about becoming an author, I definitely had my Yellow Thinking Hat on. For any non teachers out there, this means that I was using the part of my brain that thinks in terms of optimism and positivity and hopefulness. Except thinking hats are a bit old hat now.

I took a sabbatical from school and made the decision that, after fifteen years of teaching, I was going to be:

a)     A writer

b)    An artist

Either would do. I wanted to swap my desk of marking for a lovely battered table filled with pots of paintbrushes and found objects and mood boards. I wanted to leave the busy, shovey, clamour-and-din of school corridors for a Room of One’s Own.

I imagined floating around, looking nicely arty, and a tiny bit scatty, clutching my iMac Air and wandering off to my Roald Dahlesque writing shed, complete with dog blanket on my knees and a giant rubber band ball for when I needed to Find My Muse.

I’d dash off a novel, send in a couple of chapters, get a book deal, and then live off my earnings, happily pottering/writing.

Never again would I have to Feel the Fear.

Never again would I have that feeling of someone looking over your shoulder and judging you.

Wait.

Judging you?

I was to learn, of course, that being rejected and feeling a failure is an important part of being a writer. Strengthening. Character-building. Growth mindset encouraging. And that critique groups are a gentle way to show you how much you still don’t know.

But nothing comes close to Being On Submission and waiting for your agent’s email. Thinking that maybe it could be a phone call, because probably that means A Six Figure Deal and then…*drifts into reverie of taking The Call at school, maybe in a staff meeting, and having to say “oh, so sorry, my agent, yah, just discussing the ahm deal, please excuse me for one moment…”*

Soon, I worked out that an email with an exclamation mark often meant Exciting News! whereas a straightforward, common-or-garden email came with a thoughtfully edited rejection or two.

Or three.

Or four.

Or five.

So I took to approaching my inbox like a bomb disposal engineer.

And now there are new fears:

NotSellingAnyBooksGettingBadReviewsNoOneAttendingtheLaunchNotKnowingAboutTaxNobodyLikingtheBookNotBeingAbletoWriteAnotherBookNotHaving a latformNobodyComingtoMyBookSigningTwoHundredPairsofTeenageEyes

LookingatYouSardonicallyasYouDoAReadingHavingABadNielsonRating

PeopleThinkingYouAreAPushyVileBoastySelfPromotingTweeterNotHaving

EnoughTwitterFollowersNotHavingEnoughLikesNotBeingAbleToDoEdits…

Borrowing a quote from the brilliant We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, in which the main characters write quotes on their hands, I’ve put one of them up in my classroom:

“Always do what you are afraid to do.”

So, realising that being a writer has equal terrors to being a teacher, I decided to force myself to do hideously scary things in preparation.

Fearful things I’ve made myself do:

Give assemblies about Write For Real, sharing my experiences of trying and failing to get published.

Speak at TeachMeets – horrifically terrifying events where you give micro or nano speeches, watching your name teeter on the fruit machine ‘fun’ random-name-picker.

Make myself go alone to the intriguingly named SCBWI conference that I kept hearing so much about.

Set up a writing critique group, attended by the assistant headteacher and a book group friend who I didn’t know too well.

Give a teacher training session at the Pedigoo for local teachers.

Talk, many times in Staff Briefing – literally hundreds of teachers on a Monday morning, all needing to get their lessons set up – sharing Word of the Week.

Go to my first SCBWI Friday critique session, clutching five amazing scripts that I knew I didn’t have a hope in hell of being as good as.

Skyping Melvin Burgess after my friend won him in a SCBWI raffle and agreed to swap. It was a little awkward when we were setting up, and I could see him but he couldn’t see me and, oh, eek, oh.

Weirdly, having two scary jobs rather than just the one has put them both into perspective. Now, when An Inspector Calls, I shall serenely teach on, and think, why, this is nothing.

Not compared to an email with no exclamation mark.

Blogging 101 and Taking it to the Next Level

The bloggers' workshops at YALC were at the top of my list for tips and of course, to meet the bloggers.
The first workshop had Andrew Hall (The Pewter Wolf), Laura (Sisterspooky) and the always lovely Michelle Toy (Tales of Yesterday) answering thoughtful questions posed by the wondrously coated Andy Robb (@ThatAndyBloke).
Advice included Andrew's "be constructive. Be kind" when reviewing any book, and "the fifty page rule" advocated by Laura, who uses this rule with any book when deciding if she wants to read on.
So, how do these enormously successful bloggers (each of whom have won UKYA Blogger Awards in 2015) make themselves visible online?

Top Tips

• Tweet publishers and authors and link to your blog
• Make your blog unique
• Include some personal posts, so that it's not all about books
• If you really don't like a book you've been asked to review, either link it with a blogger who might enjoy it, or write a topic post instead. (All of the bloggers were firm about not posting negative reviews.)
• Blogger language learnt: "Recs" = recommended reads; "TBR" = to be read. 

Best of all, I finally got to meet Michelle Toy, who I first met very briefly at the UKYA Extravaganza in Birmingham. Always warm and welcoming, she had thoughtfully made us goody bags packed with useful blogging advice, how to write a review, and TWO FREE BOOKS!

Inside I found the beautiful, shimmery SEED by Lisa Heathfield, which I had already read before, but now I can gift it to someone else to enjoy. Published by Egmont, it is the dark intense tale of a girl born in a closed cult community, which I read in one sitting.

And I was delighted to find THE IT GIRL by Katy Birchall, also pub'd by Egmont, which  I've been itching to read.

Chelley Toy and me, taken by Sally AKA The Dark Dictator

Next Level Blogging featured another stellar panel of bloggers, namely:

Jim of YAYeahYeah and Teens on Moon Lane fame

Viv Dacosta from the venerable  Serendipity Reviews which is on the Guardian's Top Ten Book Bloggers list

Lucy Powrie teen blogger and creator of #ukyachat and Queen of Contemporary

Once again, Andy Robb led the questions...

So what defines a good blog?

Jim: "Enthusiasm"

Viv: "Being unique. Being specific to an author."

And how do you think of new content?

Viv gets her ideas first thing in the morning, whereas Jim bounces ideas off the blogger community. Lucy, however, likes lists, which she calls her "ideas bank".

What is your USP as a blogger?

Lucy: "Being personal. Always being yourself."

Viv: "As I writer myself, my posts often focus on the writing process. I'm a SCBWI member, and many of my readers want to know how to write, tips on the writing process..."

Jim: "Author interviews."

Does a blog full of 4 or 5* ratings look false?

Viv: "I detest the Goodreads rating system."

Jim: "I no longer write negative reviews to avoid being snarky."

Extra Tips?

• Tweet pictures
• Buy your own blog space - don't just use Blogspot (Oops!)
• Make guest posts specific - Viv says one of her most visited guest posts was Abi Elphinstone's The Art of Rejection
• Be constructive (this came up again and again)
• Write "mini-recs" - this fab advice came from Jim, if you don't have time to write full reviews
• Tweet at different time zones
• Use social media managers like Hootsuite to schedule your tweets

And finally?

What came across hugely from both workshops was the wonderful sense of community that bloggers enjoy, described as "hugely supportive" and "a second family". Each of the bloggers was so passionate about books, authors, reading, and promotion of all things bookish. As a newbie author I was thrilled to finally meet them in person, and delighted when Viv from Serendipity, Sally The Dark Dictator and Chelley Toy of Tales of Yesterday agreed to review my debut book THE ISLAND!

A Pair of Chillers

Birdy by Jess Vallance, pub’d by HotKey Books

This was the first book I bought at YALC because I’d seen the cover through twitter, and I’m a sucker for swirly ink-blots.

Straight away the narrative voice gripped me, in a slightly disturbing way. There was something out of kilter, something left unsaid – a sense of corner-of-your-eye creepiness, that reminded me of Ishiguro’s harrowing tale, Never Let Me Go. This book also brought to mind another sneakingly unsettling narrator – Engleby by Sebastian Faulks. Oh, and there’s a touch of the crowing The Talented Mr Ripley (Patricia Highsmith) too.

So, now to the story.

This is meticulously well-plotted, with each new reveal at just the right moment, so that when the final scene happens you have to blink and immediately turn back to try to pin-point when exactly things started changing. But you can’t. Because it’s all handled with such subtlety and deftness. As a writer tackling final edits for my debut novel, I’m massively impressed (and just a tad jealous!)

Without giving too much away, Birdy is the story of a friendship between two girls, one lonely and alone, the other bubbly, bold and energetic. It’s a friendship that dramatically changes their lives, but darkens into obsession and possession.

And how it darkens!

Killer line: “I was going to have to break the news to her gently.”

Envy moments: That den. That egg chair.

Once you reach the end, it all comes together; the swirly ink-blots make beautiful sense, and you blink with surprise to see that the sun’s still out.

Because that’s the sort of book it is.

If you like this, you’ll like…

Single White Female Seeks Same, by John Lutz.

When I read the acknowledgements (am I the only writer who always does this first?) I was interested to see a mention of James Dawson  (also of Hot Key) as I read this book straight after reading Dawson’s beautifully tattooed Under My Skin.

Again, bought because I couldn’t resist the gorgeous cover, and have managed to get hold of one of the freebie posters at YALC for my classroom wall. And the edges are PINK.

Under My Skin was a treat to read , just because I love Dawson’s teenage girl voice so much. He balances bitchiness, humour and horror in equal measures, and it’s very fresh and lively.

This is about a girl who gets her heart’s desire when she gets a demon tattoo – a sort of tattoo salon Doctor Faustus. I loved the make-over she gets when her tattoo possesses her, and the scenes with the school’s unholy trinity Melanora are very authentic.

This is the third Dawson I’ve read (after Say Her Name and Hollow Pike) and just as much gory fun. After seeing the author’s lively hosting of the Sex panel at YALC – clad in Daenerys Stormborn body suit and “modesty dragon” – Dawson’s writing similarly switches from serious, saucy to outrageous – but is always entertaining.

Fabulous as Daenerys

Killer line: “There was no vegetable on earth her mother couldn’t over-boil.”

Envy moments: Those boots. That Satanville hair-cut.

If you like this, you’ll like…

Needful Things by Stephen King

Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell

  James Dawson: "It's easy to write as a 16 year old teenage girl. Inside I am a 16 year old teenage girl!"

Under My Skin by Zoe Markham

Chlo is a girl with a big problem: she was brought back to life by her scientist father and now lives with a regime of hard-core skincare, stomach injections, and enough foundation to cover the entire cast of TOWIE.

Because Chlo is, well, a zombie. If she doesn’t top herself up with protein every few hours, if she misses an injection, if she lets herself be seen in public, then the secret government department responsible for Project Rise (a sinister scheme to raise soldiers from the dead) will find out she exists. And that will mean the end of her secret life and the death of her father; it will mean her mother died for nothing.

Did I mention that Chlo only has enough life-giving serum for a few months? So whilst she hides away in the attic, surrounded by heaters for her poor cold flesh, and immersed in Jane Eyre (there are lovely nods to Gothic literature in this book) her dad spends day and night in his basement laboratory, working frantically on making more.

This is high concept stuff, and I read “Under My Skin” in a gallop one sunny afternoon in my caravan – although an attic-y book-nook would have been far more suitable (I was very envious of Chlo’s ). The tale is especially good at conveying the claustrophobic atmosphere of Chlo’s world in the first third of the book, before she puts her foot down and demands to be allowed to go to school. It deals with teenage angst very cleverly and equates Chlo’s situation to every young person’s desire to break away from parental control. Only here, of course, the restraints which Chlo’s dad impose on her are a matter of life and death. Or should I say, undeath.

I found the boarding school sections a little stereotypical in parts, although the portrayal of toxic friends like psycho bitch Emily was perhaps fitting in a book about monsters. (Micro-quibble – if they’re that posh, I think they’d play lacrosse, not hockey.) But Daz is a fab Hot Guy for Chlo, who doesn’t seem to mind her stuffing herself with battered sausages every time she sees  him. Those chip-shop scenes made me laugh out loud btw, and were a lovely antidote to all the dark shadowy passages in Chlo and her father’s cottage hide-away.

Some key cinematic moments:

·        That scene when Daz takes his top off

·        That scene where Chlo is caught in the rain *shudders*

·        That scene at the school disco

This is the first book in a series, and I was disappointed when I got to 85% on my Kindle and realised that I wouldn’t get to see the denouement. But I will definitely be getting the sequel. I mean I’ve just got to know what happens to Chlo when…and then she… (cut for spoilers!)

This is less Frankenstein and more In The Flesh – which was one of my favourite TV series in the last two years.

It’s a meaty, angsty, Gothic-y read which teen fans of Day of the Dead, Warm Bodies, and yes, even Twilight, will love to get their teeth into.

Not literally of course.

****