This post was added by Rebecca Newman. Rebecca is a children's writer and poet, and the editor of the Australian children's literary blog, Alphabet Soup.
For more about Rebecca visit: rebeccanewman.net.au.
Entries close 12 April 2013 1 May 2013(deadline extended)
Write a story about your mum’s secret superpower. It might be an imaginary superpower, like flying. Perhaps her secret superpower is that she can grow the biggest tomatoes, can kick a football further than anyone in the world or always knows the time without looking at a clock. What’s YOURmum’s secret superpower? Word limit: 500 words. (It’s OK if your story is shorter than this but don’t go over the word limit!)
Download an entry formfrom the magazine’s website (and you can read the terms and conditions there, too).
[update: Please note that this competition is still running, even though the print magazine has closed]
Tania McCartney writes children’s and adults’ books and was an ACT Ambassador for the National Year of Reading 2012. Her latest children’s book is Australian Story: An Illustrated Timeline. Tania is our featured author in the autumn 2013 issue of Alphabet Soup magazine. We can only include part of the Q&A in the magazine, so we’re sharing the full version with you here.
Read on!
— Can you tell us about where you live?
I live in Canberra with my husband and two kids (Ella, 12 and Riley, 9) in a paper house at the base of a book mountain. That’s what it feels like, anyway! There is so much paper and so many books, I could open a bookstore or run an origami festival. I’ve lived in lots of different places through my life, and my little family unit and I have so far lived in Melbourne, Adelaide, Beijing and Canberra—so we do feel like wanderers. Canberra is fun—we have so many cool things to see and do here, and of course, my favourite place of all is the National Library of Australia on Lake Burley Griffin.
How did you come to be a writer?
It chose me. My favourite possession is my grade three English book with the doggy sticker on the front—filled to brimming with creative stories. I’ve always loved to write and had my first poem published in a Tasmanian newspaper when I was 8. Since then, I’ve never stopped writing but it wasn’t until I was about 38 that I took it up full time. I feel very chuffed to finally say that my full time job is an author. It took a long time to get there (which is really why you absolutely must stick with your dreams—they do happen).
Is writing a nonfiction book very different from writing fiction?
Writing nonfiction is a little different because you may have to do lots of research (Australian Story involved around 8 months of research) but you still have lots of creative licence when you write the words. I actually find nonfiction easier to write because the bones of your work—the structure—is already there, and you can just pad it out with your research finds and all the fun bits. With fiction, you need to create everything—and that can be both thrilling and scary. The great thing about fiction though, is that you have full use of your imagination—and that basically means you can do and create whatever you want. I love that about writing.
Was it easy to get your first book published?
My publishing journey has been kind of odd and very untraditional. I sent an adult novel to a publisher when I was about 20 and they liked it so much, they sent it to an ‘outside reader’ which is basically a good sign. Because I was still so new to writing, they thought I needed more time to develop my work, so I wasn’t offered a contract. I remember being devastated and although I kept writing, I didn’t submit to any other publishers for a very long time. Then in my late 20s, I had the opportunity to take 8 months off to write my first nonfiction book—You Name It. I sent it off to about 8 publishers and had TWO acceptances (I chose the first publisher—Hodder and Stoughton), which was a real thrill. So, having my first book published was not too hard. Since then I’ve been published by four other publishers, but each acceptance was after building a relationship with the publisher. I send manuscripts to publishers all the time and still receive as many rejection letters as everyone else! but I’ll never, ever give up.
Where do you find your ideas/inspiration?
From everyday life—those little moments you experience on any given day. I also find lots of inspiration in children, particularly my own—the things they say, the things they do. My other big inspirations are travel and photography. I created my Riley the Little Aviator books from a love of travel and I also use photographs in the series. I’m a very visual person, so beautiful pictures and photos inspire me to create stories. I LOVE picture books—yes, even as a grown up—and have thousands of them in my house.
How do you do your research for a nonfiction book?
It really depends what the book is about. For Australian Story, I researched Australian history, so I scoured websites (mainly government and educational sites, because they are much more accurate) and read books and watched documentaries and talked to people. I also used Trove, which is the National Library’s online search engine for a mass of historical information. As I gathered the information, I kept it in a Word document on my computer. I collected as much info as I could, then when I was done, I began editing the information down into bite-size pieces. That’s the way I work best.
When you are working on a book like Australian Story, do you have to find your own photographs and images?
Most children’s books published by the National Library require the use of pictures from their very impressive image collection. I was tasked with wading through almost 130 000 online images—photos, maps, paintings, drawings, diagrams—in search of the perfect pictures to go with my text. It was a lot of work but I loved it! I found some really cool images—some really funny ones, too. Some of the illustrations in the book were done by the book’s designer, Peter Shaw. Of course, there are no existing photos of dinosaurs! so he added illustrations whenever we needed them. [Check out this earlier post for a peek inside some of the pages!]
Would you like to have lived in another point in history?
I would have loved to live between the 1920s and 1960s. Excluding the World Wars, I think this was a fascinating and creative period of time, when mankind made so many leaps and bounds across all areas—from film and culture to human rights. Ancient civilisations also fascinate me. How cool would it be to spend a day in Ancient Rome or Machu Pichu with the Incas or outback Australia with the Aborigines or Ancient Egypt … although I would have liked to take rose-petal milk baths and not have to build those pyramids!
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
I like to read. No—I LOVE to read. Being an ACT Ambassador for the National Year of Reading 2012 was a huge thrill as I’m passionate about books—and will seriously read wherever I can, whenever I can. I even read on the treadmill. I also love to travel, take photos of anything and everything, and bake delicious things with my children.
What was your favourite book as a child?
I really loved the Amelia Jane books by Enid Blyton but my favourite series of all time is the Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis.
Do you have any advice for young writers?
Write what you know and love. Just like reading, you need to focus on something that makes you smile—something you enjoy. Reading really, really, really helps you become a better writer. It expands your vocabulary and your understanding of word placement. It also helps you create really cool sentences. Writing what you see in your head rather than what you ‘hear’ or think you should write, is also vital. Write as though you were talking to a friend—use your own voice, invent your own words, don’t be afraid to be a little kooky. And when you’ve finished writing, be sure to re-draft. No one writes the perfect story first time. Write your story, let it sit awhile, then go back and make it even better. I think three or four drafts should do it.
Are you working on a book at the moment?
I’ve just finished writing my first junior fiction historical novel for New Frontier. It’s on Caroline Chisholm and I loved writing it, so I’d like to do more in that style. I’m also finishing up two more books for the National Library. One of them features the really beautiful botanical paintings from their image collection and the style of this book is unique and fun. I photographed my son and some other kids, and I’ve cut and pasted them into the pages of the book so they are adventuring through the paintings. It looks amazing! The second one is also a picture book about the evolution of the Aussie child. It’s being illustrated by one of my fave Aussie artists—Andrew Joyner, so that’s super exciting. I’m about half way through the next Riley book—about a jumpy kangaroo in Canberra (you can see her in my photo!)—and I’m spending the rest of the year working on my first junior fiction series—in fact, two series … one is a really kooky style of book showing kids how to act their age, and the other is for my very patient daughter, Ella, about a girl who loves animals. My Riley series is about my son Riley, so now it’s Ella’s turn!
—
Find out more about Tania and her books on these websites:
Thank you to all the writers who sent us an intriguing first line for a mystery story. Some of you sent a whole list of first lines! With such great openings, we really hope you go on to write the rest of the story …
Here are the winning first lines:
Under 12s—Ethan, WA
There was a blinding light followed by a bang, then silence.
Under 9s—Julia, QLD
Ni … Nor … Ni … Nor … Ni … Nor … screeched the police car as it sped around the corner, at top speed.
Under 7s—Jordyne, NSW
I was watering the flowers when I saw something glowing in the soil.
Since today was a SPECIAL day for book giving, I donated a book to my daughter’s classroom this morning. (I also bought a book to give away to another young friend but I’m leaving it for her secretly, so I can’t talk about it here. Don’t tell her, OK?)
Today’s giving-away book was from the magazine’s review pile. We’ll be posting a review up soon! It was Stories for 6 Year Olds—a collection of short stories by fabulous writers, and illustrated by Tom Jellet. (There is a series published by Random House Australia. So, you can also read Stories for 5 Year Olds, Stories for 7 Year Olds, and Stories for 8 year Olds. If you click on the titles I just listed, you can read a free sample on the publisher’s website. Excellent! *)
Here is the book on my kitchen table, just before it was released into the wild:
You can take part in International Book Giving Day, too! Check out the International Book Giving Day site for lots of info about the day, or quietly give a book (new or second hand) to someone who could do with a good read. Maybe you could just recommend a school library book for your friend to borrow if you don’t have a book to give away.
Tell us the titles of books you give! Unless you give it secretly. Sometimes it’s more fun to do it secretly …
* Oh, and don’t forget you can still read Stories for 6 Year Olds if you are 7. Or Stories for 5 Year Olds if you are 8. Just because you had a few extra birthdays doesn’t mean the stories stop being fabulous! Look at me, I’m waaaaaaay older than 6 now, but I still enjoyed reading all the books in the series. (If you’re still too embarrassed to read a book with the ‘wrong’ number on the cover, find a young friend that age and read it to them. Then you both get to read it. Everyone wins!)
This is about Maxx’s cricket days—it’s all 8 of the cricket books in one book. Maxx has to captain the team to victory against some teams that cheat.
My favourite book in the collection is Tricked. It’s a lot different from the other stories. (Maxx and Rexx find a way to stop The Outhouse Rodents team from cheating at all.)
The illustrations definitely go well with the stories. They make me laugh and I already like Terry Denton’s illustrations from The 13-Storey Treehouse so I knew I would like them here, too.
I think 5 to 9 year olds would like this book because they sometimes have quite big words but in short chapters.
Show Day by Penny Matthews, ill. Andrew McLean, ISBN 9781862916890, Scholastic Australia
Reviewed by Jin Xiang Wilson, 7, VIC*
This story is about Lil and her family going to a show. Dad was in the wood-chopping contest and entered his orange marmalade in the Craft and Cookery contest. Mum entered her pumpkin, jam, cheese scones and an iced birthday cake in the show. Henry, Lil’s brother, entered his guinea pig in the Best Pet contest. Lil has a special entry for the Most Unusual Pet but it’s a secret.
Eric Vale Epic Fail by Michael Gerard Bauer, illustrated by Joe Bauer, ISBN 9781862919221, Scholastic Australia
Reviewed by Dalong Xing, 9, NSW*
This book is a comedy fiction book. It is about a boy called Eric Vale who got a nickname—Eric Vale Epic Fail. He got it because he was always doing things wrong. Then one day a new girl named Aasha Alsufi from Africa came to Eric’s class. But the new girl wouldn’t talk to people, so the whole class tried to make her talk or laugh. The class was so excited about the new girl that they all forgot about Eric’s nickname.
–
Then one day they had a swimming carnival and Eric wanted to beat Martin Fassbender so he could get a nickname called Eric Vale Epic Win but instead he made it worse. At last someone made the new girl speak and guess who that is?
–
I liked the whole book because it was funny and long. There wasn’t anything I didn’t like about the book. My favourite part was when Eric got a nickname. I liked all the pictures because they were very interesting. I think the book would suit mostly boys because there might be some rude parts. It will suit ages 7 to 12 and my friends will like it.
A Pterodactyl Stole my Homework by Nick Falk, ill. Tony Flowers, ISBN 9781742756561, Random House Australia
A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.
Sam and his older brother, Nathan, are Team Dinosaur. Nathan is the Captain and he knows everything about dinosaurs. Sam is Second-in-Charge.
But Team Dinosaur might be broken up—Sam’s mum is so mad when his fifth lot of homework goes missing (stolen by a pterodactyl, but she doesn’t believe that) that she threatens to send Sam to a school for naughty boys instead.
Sam and Nathan have to find a way to get that homework back. They have to find a way to get up Saurus Hill to find the homework-stealing pterodactyl.
This is a funny chapter book for younger readers who love dinosaurs—and who doesn’t love dinosaurs? There are also cool black and white illustrations on almost every page and the adventures are chock-a-block full of pterosaur facts.
You can download the first few pages of the book for free on the Random House Australia website. And best of all, this is book two in the Saurus Street series—there are more Saurus Street adventures to read. Excellent!
alphabetsoup.net.au 