Category: authors

Posted in authors

Jackie French: The Australian Children’s Laureate

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
Jackie French (Credit Kelly Sturgiss)
Jackie French (Photo by Kelly Sturgiss)
Jackie French has written more than 140 books — and she’s received over 60 awards in Australia and overseas. Wow! Jackie is also the 2014–2015 Australian Children’s Laureate. As part of her role, she has co-created the Share a Story calendar (you can download it!) and given each month a theme. June’s theme is HEAR A STORY, SEE A STORY, FEEL A STORY.
If you were an Alphabet Soup reader from long ago, you might remember that Jackie French was the very first author we interviewed in our print magazine! Today we’ve invited her back to answer three questions from  members of our Top Readers team.
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How long does it take to write a book? (Celine, 12, WA)
Three months or thirty years, depending what answer you like best! I think about a book for at least three years before I begin to write, and many are based on ideas I have been thinking about since I was your age. The actual writing takes about three months, but then I rewrite and rewrite, and each book  takes a different amount of time to both think about, and write, or rewrite.
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Has your son read every one of your published books? (Joseph, 11, WA)
I don’t think he has read any of them! Except maybe a few he has read to kids as bed time stories.
It’s hard to be a mum and a writer too. There were stories I told my son as his mum when he was small, and those were his stories, and I won’t publish them. But the private ‘mum’ and the public ‘writer’ are two different roles, and his schools were good at making sure he didn’t have to read or study one of my books. It’s a bit like being the son of a teacher — you need to keep the teacher role and the parent role separate. He said that people talk too much in my books, too.
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Which one of your books did you enjoy writing the most? (Matilda, 9, WA)
Diary of a Wombat: I just had to watch her, listen to her, and write it all down — and supply carrots — then work out how to create a wombat voice, in English.  And every time I read the book I remember Mothball.
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Do you live in Perth, WA? Jackie French will be at a public event at St Stephen’s School Library, 100 Doveridge Dr, Duncraig at 5pm on Monday 22 June 2015. (A small donation is requested towards the Laureate program as a door entry fee.)
If you don’t live in Perth (oh dear!) find out more about Jackie French on her website. And check out some great ideas and activities for HEAR A STORY at the Australian Children’s Laureate website.

Hear a Story, See a Story, Feel a Story ©-ACLA. Image used with permission.
 
Posted in authors

The Mapmaker Chronicles: author Q&A

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

A.L Tait is the author of The Mapmaker Chronicles — an exciting new series, full of danger and adventure. The first book — Race to the End of the World — is already out in bookshops. The second book — Prisoner of the Black Hawk — will be published in April 2015. Today we’re talking to A.L. Tait about writing, and what inspired The Mapmaker Chronicles.

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Procrastipuppy -- A.L. Tait's dogCan you tell us a bit about where you live?
I live on the south coast of NSW, with my family, four goldfish and a very cheeky puppy.

Do you prefer to write with a pen and paper, or onto the computer?
I prefer to write on a computer these days because I type very fast — much faster than I can write with pen and paper — and that means I can keep up with my thoughts. I have to also confess that my handwriting is very bad and I can barely read it myself — so typing is probably the safest option.

What do you like to do when you are not writing?
I like to read! I also like to spend time with my two boys, who are 8 and 11, walking, riding our bikes, going to the beach, and watching movies (we love adventure stories!).

What sort of books did you like to read when you were growing up?
I loved mystery stories, like the Trixie Belden series, The Famous Five, and Encyclopedia Brown. When I got a bit older I read The Lord of The Rings over and over. But the books I most remember are those that made me feel deeply — Storm Boy by Colin Thiele, and Callie’s Castle by Ruth Park are two that stand out.

Did you know you would be writing a series when you started writing Race to the End of the World?
I always thought it had to be a series — or one very long book! A race to map the world isn’t something you can cover in one novel.

What led you to write the series — are you good at making maps yourself?
I’m actually not very good at making maps — but I do love them when they’re made by other people. I particularly love the old maps, made when people weren’t really sure where things were. These are the ones that feature mermaids, and sea monsters and angels in the wind. They’re so beautiful and show us so much about what was known — and what wasn’t.

As for where the ideas for the series came from… my two boys are both fans of the ‘head-hurting’ question. We have long-and-involved conversations about where space ends, how high the stars are, whether there are any places in the world that remain unexplored, which dwarf from The Hobbit I would invite to a dinner party … you get the idea.

Several of those conversations, close together, led to The Mapmaker Chronicles.

“How far does space go?” asked Mr11, one night.

“Nobody knows,” I answered.

Then the next night: “How did they map the world?”

“Well, they had to go out there and find out,” I answered, distractedly.

“They must have been brave,” he answered.

“They were,” I said. “They would have felt exactly as we feel looking out into space, not knowing how far it goes or what’s out there.”

And just like that, in my mind I saw a race to map the world, and a boy who really didn’t want to go.

Do you have any advice for young writers?
My first tip is to read a lot. And not just the things you usually read, but all the books you can get your hands on. The more you read, the more you learn about writing.

My second tip is to write a lot. It takes a long time to learn how to write a book — the sooner you get started, the better!

Are you working on any new projects at the moment?
At the moment, I’m busy finishing the editing process for book three in The Mapmaker Chronicles series. After that, I’m not sure. I have lots and lots of ideas, and I need to work out which one of them to write first. I’ll keep you posted!

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Check out The Mapmaker Chronicles website to read Chapter 1 of Book 1 (for free!), find out about old maps, cartography, and more.

Posted in authors, illustrator

Q&A with Author-Illustrator Frané Lessac

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

Today we welcome Frané Lessac to Alphabet Soup. Frané is an illustrator and author — she’s the illustrator behind Ned Kelly and the Green Sash, Midnight, and The Greatest Liar on Earth (and many, many more books!).

We asked Frané if we could talk to her about A is for Australia: A factastic tour — her latest book. Here it is in all its glory:

 

a is for australia
What is the Fremantle Doctor? Where is Qui Qui? And why are some islands named after days of the week? You’ll uncover these exciting facts when you explore the A to Z of Australia — from Bondi to Kakadu and all the way to Taronga Zoo. Discover why Australia is one of the most amazing countries in the world …

 

 

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FranéLessac
Frané Lessac

Can you tell us a bit about where you live?
I live in the port city of Fremantle in West Australia. From my front porch, I can see a sliver of the Indian Ocean and Rottnest Island. Our house is over 120 years old and we’ve built an art studio in the back garden where I paint.

When you were working on A is for Australia, what came first — the artwork or the text?
Location came first. We had to decide what locations would be depicted for each letter of the alphabet. There were incredible alternatives and that made it hard to choose, but what made it easier was the need to represent all states narrowing down the locations. Next came the text, then art.

How long did it take you to create the book?
I first approached Walker Books with the idea over seven years ago! They were familiar with my other alphabet books based on New York, Washington D.C., Texas and the Caribbean. They knew the format and the market. I wasn’t sure if I was going to write the book myself initially, but with a twist of the arm, I did it!

What do you like to do when you are not illustrating (or writing-after-your-arm-has-been-twisted)?
Over the years I’ve lived in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London and the Caribbean before settling in Australia twenty-five years ago. My closest friends and my family are spread right across the globe and l love to visit them as much as I can. When I’m home in Fremantle, I like to walk along Dog Beach.

What sort of books did you like to read when you were growing up?
My mother was an avid reader and placed an importance on reading and books. She took me to the library at an early age to pick out my own books. I started with Beatrix Potter and moved onto The Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew mysteries.

What led you to create A is for Australia?
A is for Australia is a celebration of Australian people, places and culture. I wanted to create a book for children so they could discover why Australia is one of the most amazing countries in the world. I hope that visitors from overseas also grab a copy and share it back home.

Do you have a preferred medium?
I use gouache paint on watercolour paper. There’s an enormous range of colours and they are also easy to mix. The paint dries fast and I can paint in layers, which allow me to make any changes easily.

Do you have any advice for young artists? 
Believe in your art and don’t compare what you create to anyone else’s. Everyone draws differently. Be confident. If I worried about what other people created, I never would have created one single book. I never went to art school and I was never the best artist in the class, but I always loved to draw and paint.

Are you working on any new projects at the moment?
I recently received a folktale from my UK publisher that’s set in India. It’s called Pattan’s Pumpkins and it’s right up my alley. Jungles and animals and bright pumpkins!  Exciting to work with this publisher again — I met the editor over thirty years ago and we created three folktales together set in West Africa, Papua New Guinea and Polynesia.

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For a peek inside the pages of A is for Australia, visit Frané’s blog. And you can hear Frané talking about making the book on the book trailer:

 You can find out even more about Frané Lessac and her books by visiting her website: www.franelessac.com.

(And teachers will be interested in these A is For Australia Classroom Ideas.)

 

 

 

 

Posted in authors

Meet Geoffrey McSkimming

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
Geoffrey McSkimming
Geoffrey McSkimming

Geoffrey McSkimming is the author of Ogre in a Toga and Other Perverse Verses, the Cairo Jim chronicles, and the Phyllis Wong books. Today  he is visiting to talk about writing and his new book Phyllis Wong and the Return of the Conjuror. Welcome!

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Can you tell us a bit about where you live?

I divide my time between two places: Sydney, where I live in an old apartment by the water, only a short ferry ride to the Sydney Opera House and the city, and the second place is Cawdor in Scotland.

I write the Phyllis Wong books in both places (in Scotland we light the fire in the old stone cottage we stay in, and it’s the perfect place to lock myself away and travel into Phyllis’s world).

This is your second Phyllis Wong book. Is writing the second book of a series very different from writing the first book?

Yes and no. In Phyllis Wong and the Return of the Conjuror, Phyllis’s world opens up in huge new ways that she has never encountered before. She discovers magic far greater than the magic she has known. So that meant that because of what happens in the second book (and also in the third mystery, which I’m finishing at the moment), the story is very different from the first, even though many of the characters from Phyllis Wong and the Forgotten Secrets of Mr Okyto reappear in the second story.

But the overall atmosphere of Phyllis’s world from the first book is still there — the friends and neighbours, the places she visits in the city, the humour and the suspense. And the unexpected.

What gave you the idea for the Phyllis Wong books?

My publisher at Allen & Unwin, Anna McFarlane, got in touch with my agent and asked whether I’d like to write a novel for A&U. I hadn’t written a novel for a while, after having completed the 19 volume Cairo Jim chronicles; I’d been writing other things — character-based tours for the Art Gallery of NSW and a performance piece based on Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.

At about this time I’d come into contact with Australia’s leading female magician, Sue-Anne Webster, and I was publishing, in a magazine, a regular series of magic tricks she’d written. I’d also been using stage magic in the Hamlet presentation, which I performed for a while. Anna McFarlane became aware of all of this and when she asked whether I’d like to write a novel, the idea of a young girl magician came slowly to mind. The character of Phyllis has developed (and is developing) with the more I learn about magic from Sue-Anne (I don’t know the secrets behind the tricks; I don’t want to!) … it’s so true that magicians think in ways very different to most other folk, and I’ve learnt that from knowing Sue-Anne as well. It’s this way of thinking that propels Phyllis through the amazing mysteries she encounters.

Do you prefer to write with pen and paper, or using a computer/laptop?

Both. I make lots and lots of notes by hand in my notebooks, but I write the stories onto the laptop, simply because when I’m in the full force of the story I can write faster on the keyboard than with a pen.

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

Reading. I read lots, mainly old crime and detective novels. I never watch TV. I like to go for long walks (that’s great for sorting out story problems often), and we go to the pictures usually once a week — there’s a glorious art deco cinema nearby and it’s the perfect place to escape!

Did you have a favourite author when you were growing up?

I’m still trying to work out what growing up involves, but when I was younger I liked Ray Bradbury’s stories and Roald Dahl’s and Tolkien’s. Later on I read Shakespeare (and acted in some of his plays when I worked, long ago, as a professional actor), Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Agatha Christie and a swag of Golden Age detective novel writers.

Do you have any advice for young writers?

  1. Read lots.
  2. Always carry a notebook around with you and jot every idea down, no matter how silly or little it might seem at the time. You never know when one of those little ideas will become a gem!
  3. Listen and watch and soak up the atmosphere around you all the time.
  4. Try to write a little bit every day (or a lot if you can manage it).
  5. Enjoy the wonderful craft of scribbling. Have fun!

Are you working on any new projects at the moment and if so, are you able to tell us a bit about them?

I’m finishing the third Phyllis Wong mystery and I’ve just started on the fourth. I’m having a ball finding the things that Phyllis discovers … with the new magic she finds in Phyllis Wong and the Return of the Conjuror, it enables her to try to solve crimes and mysteries that have started at various times way back in history and which have consequences for us today. I love the fun and the intrigue and I really enjoy uncovering things from the past that are, to use a robust cliché, stranger than fiction …

Is there is anything you would like to add?

The only thing I can add is to always remember: there is no such thing as a wicked gherkin.

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Check out Geoffrey McSkimming’s website to find out more about him and stop by phylliswong.com for more about the Phyllis Wong books! Phyllis Wong and the Return of the Conjuror is published by Allen & Unwin and is now available at all good bookshops and online.

 

Posted in authors, illustrator

Writing and illustrating a junior novel – Gabrielle Wang

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

Gabrielle WangToday we are thrilled to have Gabrielle Wang visiting Alphabet Soup again — we’ve talked to her before about her Poppy books (in the ‘Our Australian Girl’ series). Her latest ‘Our Australian Girl’ series is about a girl called Pearlie who lives in Darwin in the 1940s.

Our editor Rebecca was enchanted by one of Gabrielle’s books published in 2013 — The Wishbird. And Gabrielle was kind enough to take time away from her writing to talk to Rebecca about writing and illustrating the book.

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The Wishbird is woven like a fairytale or folktale. As a child did you have any favourite fairytales, folktales or fables? 

My favourite fairytale was The Little Green Road to Fairyland by the Australian sisters, Annie R Rentoul and Ida Rentoul Outhwaite. They were born in the late 1800s. I loved and still do love Ida Rentoul Outhwaite’s illustrations. As a child I was forever copying them.

The pen-and-ink illustrations in The Wishbird are intricate — how long would it take you to do one of these drawings for the book?    

The Wishbird cover

At first I didn’t know what style to use. But then I saw some Indian folk art and I loved it.

I did many roughs in pencil on layout paper.

When I was happy with a drawing I traced it onto lunchwrap. This is much cheaper than buying tracing paper.

lunchwrap

For the final illustration I used water colour paper, a rapidograph, which is a pen with a fine nib, and a lightbox.

The lightbox has a light inside it.

lightbox

Mine is very old. I had it made when I lived in Taiwan many years ago.

I placed a sheet of water colour paper on top of the traced drawing and used a rapidograph to make the linework.

Because The Wishbird illustrations are so fine I had to look through a sewing magnifying glass.

Some illustrations took longer than others because when I made a mistake, I’d have to start all over again. Probably on an average, from concept to finished product, each one took about a week to complete.

the domed room
© Gabrielle Wang

Was it your own idea to include illustrations in The Wishbird or did the publisher suggest it?

I wanted to include illustrations not only because I like to draw, but also because these were the types of books I used to love reading as a child, especially books like The Magic Faraway Tree.

Do you sing or play an instrument yourself? What led you to write a book where music features so strongly?

I learnt the piano and took piano exams up to Grade 5. I began to love classical music then especially the works of JS Bach. In high school I took classical guitar lessons. I still play the guitar and used to compose my own pieces. When I was living in China, I also learnt the Chinese bamboo flute but I’m not very good at it.

Imagine if all the singers and musicians disappeared, never to be seen again. Music is outlawed. Even birds are killed because they sing. And because birds live in forests then the forests all around are burnt to stumps.

Music is an integral part of human existence. Every culture in the world makes music. Without it, the soul dies. This is at the heart of The Wishbird.

Did you write a plan before you began writing The Wishbird, or did you just start writing and see where it led you?

I hardly ever write plans for my novels. I like my story to grow organically. The only books I have written plans for were the Our Australian Girl books. Because they are historical fiction and in a series of four books I had to know where each story was going and how it fed into the next before I even sat down to write them.

Can you tell us a little about what you are working on now?

I’ve just finished the final edit for Pearlie’s Ghost, which is the fourth and final book in the Pearlie series.

 

I’m glad to have finished the series because they are hard work. But I’m also sad to leave Pearlie. Now she will have a life of her own out in bookshops and libraries.

I have started a new novel with another author. This is a new experience for me. It’s a very exciting way to write and we’re having lots of fun together. I can’t reveal much about it yet except to say that the working title is The Map of Tiny Coincidences and it will be filled with maps and drawings.

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Find out more about Gabrielle Wang and her books at her website and her blog.

And LOOK! LOOK! You can even LISTEN to Gabrielle Wang reading the first two chapters of The Wishbird here. 

Posted in authors

Meet the author: Catherine Carvell

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

Catherine CarvellToday we are thrilled to have Catherine Carvell visiting us to talk about her brand new book Darcy Moon and the Deep-Fried Frogs. (If you live in WA you might have already had a peek inside Darcy Moon when it appeared in the West Australian lift out.)

Can you tell us something about where you live?

I live in a very small country called Singapore, which is a five-hour plane ride north of Perth.

Singapore is very close to the equator so it’s tropical and hot all year round. It doesn’t even cool down at night. Also, it rains every day and has super impressive thunderstorms.

My family and I live in a four-bedroom apartment in a high-rise apartment in the city. We don’t have our own garden, but we do have a big pool and a playground downstairs, which we share with all the other people in our apartment block.

The best things about living in Singapore include:

  • swimming every day
  • never, ever having to wear long sleeves and
  • a really excellent zoo where you can feed elephants, giraffes and rhinos!

Where do you get your ideas?

Wow! I get inspiration from all over. A memory or a dream or something I read in a book.

For example, I decided to write for children when I was reading a story to my daughter. We were both so happy curled up together and I realized something amazing. I was nearly forty years old and had travelled the world, but my most exciting adventures had all happened inside a children’s book.

Soon after that, I saw my son eat a snail.

We were both in the garden but I was too far away to stop him. It made me feel sick, but it also gave me a really good idea for a story.

So for me, inspiration is as simple as that.

I was inspired to become a children’s author because my daughter and I enjoyed reading a book together.

And Skippity Chips (which feature in Darcy Moon and the Deep-fried Frogs) were inspired when my baby ate a snail.

Darcy Moon (cover)

How did you come to be a writer?

I’ve always loved writing.  I wanted to be an author when I was seven years old, but as I grew older, I got busy with other things and stopped writing.

When I was all grown up, I still wanted to be an author, but kept it a secret until I had my own children. I wanted them to know it’s important to chase your dreams, no matter how old you are. So even though I was afraid I would be no good, I decided to follow my childhood dream.

Writing is my favourite thing in the world, and I enjoyed every minute of writing Darcy Moon and the Deep-fried Frogs. It was particularly fun getting to know my characters, especially Darcy’s parents. Every time they were in a scene, I would giggle and laugh out loud at my desk.

Having imaginary friends that make you smile is one of the best things about being an author.

Was it easy to get your first book published?

I was very lucky.

Fremantle Press was the first publisher I sent Darcy Moon and the Deep-fried Frogs to and they liked it.

When I got the email saying they wanted to publish it, I screamed and danced around like a lunatic.

Are you working on a new book now?

I’ve been working on another children’s book for over a year now. It’s the story of two friends who discover a strange and wounded creature trapped in the mangroves. I’m about halfway through and can’t wait to find out what happens to my two main characters.

I’m also working on a picture book and of course, there’s always the next Darcy Moon adventure. What animal will Darcy save next do you think?

Apart from that, I’m busy working on my new blog. Having a blog is heaps of fun. I get to write interesting articles about frog slime, endangered animals and how to recycle, as well as post fun stuff like frog jokes and u-tube clips. Check out the blog at darcymoonbooks.com, and leave a comment on your favourite post to let me know you dropped by.

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

I enjoy reading, nature walks, reading, sunshine and reading.

Also, I want to grow my own potatoes. As soon as I get a garden, I will do it.

Is your writing influenced by any writers in particular?

As a writer, I often think of reading as a sort of research, a way of seeing how others have done it. I’ve learned something from every book I’ve ever read, but I particularly admire the work of Morris Gleitzman, Wendy Orr and David Almond. 

Did you have a favourite author when you were growing up?

I read a great deal when I was young, but a few stories stick in my mind even now.

I loved the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton as well as The Secret Garden and The Little Princess, both by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

I’m not sure why these books resonated with me so deeply, but I still remember the thrill I felt each night crawling under the covers to read a little bit more.

Darcy Moon and the Deep-Fried Frogs has an environmental theme. Is this because you are interested in environmental issues?

Yes! I’ve always been interested in nature, especially the slimy bits. When I was small, I used to love snails and earthworms and tadpoles. I also remember collecting dead flies from windowsills and peering at them through the school microscope. I was fascinated by their alien eyes and strange, hairy legs. I drew them in a sketchbook and labelled all their body parts.

As I grew older I completed a Bachelor of Science at the University of Western Australia. I even worked at Greenpeace for a while, raising money by running a stall at the Fremantle Markets.

Humans depend on the earth for food, fuel, medicine and other things we can’t live without. And yet we continue to take more from the earth than it is capable of replacing.

We catch fish faster than they can reproduce.

We cut down trees faster than they can re-grow.

We are not living sustainably, and if we don’t address these issues now the impact for the next few generations and beyond could be catastrophic.

Nature is much more than an unspoiled view. It is the finely balanced machine, the science and the magic, that keeps our planet alive.

And it’s up to all of us to make a change.

Do you have any advice for young writers?

Read, write, and enter competitions.

Also, don’t let life get in the way of your dreams.

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Visit Catherine Carvell’s website for more about her and her writing. And if you just can’t get enough Darcy Moon, make sure you check out the Darcy Moon Frog Blog.

Posted in authors, illustrator

Stephen Axelsen and The Nelly Gang

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

Stephen AxelsenToday we welcome Stephen Axelsen to the blog. Stephen is here as part of a blog tour to celebrate the launch of his new graphic novel The Nelly Gang — you can read a review of the book here. We asked him some questions about how he goes about creating a graphic novel.

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The Nelly Gang (cover)How is creating a graphic novel different from writing and illustrating a picture book?
The biggest difference is that a graphic novel has a lot more pictures in it than a regular picture book, so they take much, MUCH, longer to illustrate. The writing takes a bit longer too. The Nelly Gang took more than a year to make. Also in graphic novels the story is mostly told in speech balloons. These balloons have to be designed and positioned so that they are nice and clear and don’t interfere with the pictures.

Why did you choose to tell this story as a graphic novel rather than a picture book or otherwise?
The story would not fit into a picture book, unless it was a very, very thick one. (There are up to 25 pictures on some double pages.) The Nelly Gang could have been a novel, I suppose, but I love drawing the old costumes and wagons and things too much just to use words.

How did you go about creating The Nelly Gang?
The story plan was the first thing put down on paper, but the very, very first ideas were pictures in my head; vague images of things I wanted to draw. Then I wrote the first story plan or plot, after which I began the rough drawings. The drawings would suggest new story ideas, and while rewriting the story NEW picture ideas would pop up, so I’d change the story again. The writing and drawing kept changing each other in an endless loop until I nearly went mad (or maybe I did go mad) and it was time to STOP and call the story finished.

What sort of tools do you use?
I used a mixture of ‘traditional’ and ‘digital’ media, which means that I did the drawing outlines with old fashioned pen and ink on paper, then scanned these into my computer where I tidied things up, added the colour then the speech balloons and text.


The Nelly Gang is set in 1860. How did you go about researching for the book?
A lot of my research was done online, but I also travelled to old goldfields, visited Sovereign Hill at Ballarat (which was excellent for picture reference) and even had a paddle steamer ride at Echuca. I had to have a paddle steamer in the story because they are such wonderful things to draw!

Now that The Nelly Gang is out, are you working on something new?
I am working on two big books at once now – a picture book for an American publisher about Joe Dumpty, P.I. (Humpty Dumpty’s brother, who is a Private Investigator.)

AND the sequel to The Nelly Gang, called Nelly and the Dark Circus. As the title suggests it is set mostly in a circus, and Nelly is in it. So is her goat, Queen Victoria, of course. 

Do you have any tips for young graphic novelists?
The best thing to do is look at as many graphic novels as you can find, choose the ones you like best and copy bits of them. Very soon you will start having your own ideas and awaaaay you’ll go!

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You can find out more about Stephen Axelsen (and the books he has illustrated and written) when you visit his website. Check out the other stops on his blog tour for more news and information about The Nelly Gang and graphic novels:

Nelly Gang Logo

THE NELLY GANG Blog Tour Schedule

Saturday September 14th  — Launch at The Story Arts Festival, Woodlands of Marburg.  (Launched by Megan Daley)

Monday September 16th — Children’s Books Daily  

Review and Book Launch update + giveaway

Tuesday 17th September —  DeeScribe Writing

Review + five tips on graphic novel making 

Wednesday 18thSeptember — Kids Book Review

Review + giveaway

Thursday 19thSeptember — Sheryl Gwyther’s Blog

Writing and Illustrating Graphic Novels

Friday 20thSeptember — Soup Blog [You’re here!]

Review + interview

Saturday 21st September —  BuzzWords

The Value of History + review

Interview with Stephen Axelsen © 2013 Stephen Axelsen and Rebecca Newman https://soupblog.wordpress.com

Posted in authors, poetry, Soup Blog Poetry Festival

Visiting poet – Steven Herrick

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
Steven HerrickDo-wrong Ron
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Happy Friday!
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To make your Friday even happier, today we have Steven Herrick stopping by to talk about writing poetry and verse-novels for children. (He writes for young adults and adults, too.) If you visit his website, you’ll see that he loves soccer and in summer he plays on a soccer team called ‘The Marshmallows’ …  It doesn’t look too summery in the photo he sent us above!
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Here he is — performing his poem ‘Lost in the Mist’  (from his book Untangling Spaghetti).
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When did you first start writing poetry? 
I wrote my first poem when I was 18. It was called ‘Love is like a gobstopper’. I sent it to magazine and they published it and sent me $5!!!
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What sort of poetry do you like writing best of all? 
I like writing narrative poems for children and verse-novels for YA and children.
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What sort of poetry do you like reading? 
All types of poetry.
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Where can we find your poetry?
In the following poetry books for children:

… and seven verse novels for young adults.

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Do you prefer to write with a pen and paper or straight onto the computer? 
I used to write with pen and paper, but now it’s nearly always with a computer.
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Your number one tip for budding poets? 
Read lots of poetry. Find what you like and try to understand why you enjoy it.
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Steven’s Poetry Prescription

IF YOU’RE HAVING A FOOD DAY — lots of my poems are about food and family (see my book Untangling Spaghetti).

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Pookie Aleera is not my boyfriendUntangling Spaghetti
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Interview with Steven Herrick © 2013 Steven Herrick & Rebecca Newman https://soupblog.wordpress.com
Posted in authors

Writing a series of picture books – Tania McCartney

Posted on by Alphabet Soup

Riley and the jumpy kangaroo book cover

Tania McCartney
Tania McCartney

Today we have pressed the pause button on our Poetry Festival to take time out for a celebration! We are very happy to have Tania McCartney visiting as part of her Riley and the Jumpy Kangaroo Book Launch Blog Tour — A Very Jumpy Tour. This is the fifth book in the Riley series, so we asked Tania some questions about how she goes about writing picture books in a series.

This is the fifth book in your Riley the Little Aviator series. When you wrote the first book, did you plan to write a series or did Riley and the Sleeping Dragon enter the world as a standalone picture book?

I wrote Riley and the Sleeping Dragon while living in Beijing — and I never dreamed the book idea would become a series. As this book was just a little personal project of mine, I was surprised when the book did well in China and I was even more surprised when the book did well in Australia, when we returned home in 2009. These kinds of surprises are very nice!

Because it did so well, I wondered if another title might work. And it did! so I just kept going. So far Riley has visited Beijing, Hong Kong, Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.

Each book in the series is set in a different part of the world. How do you choose where to send Riley next?

I had originally planned for Riley to travel to Asian cities, but kids in Australia were desperate to have Riley visit their home town, so I quickly changed that concept to Australian cities. Sydney came first because it has the largest population, followed by Melbourne.

I wanted to send Riley to Canberra this year because it’s where I’m currently living, and the Riley books have a bit of a cult following here. I also wanted to help celebrate Canberra’s Centenary Year — 100 years old in 2013!

I choose the place depending on where we’ve visited as a family because all the photos used in the Riley books are taken by me. I have a lot of photos up my sleeve including Tasmania (we spent two weeks touring the island in 2010; it’s SUCH a cool place and I’m actually a Hobart girl), New Zealand, the west coast of the United States, and several Asian and European countries/cities.

I’d actually love to send Riley overseas again. I’ve even had thoughts of sending Riley to the North Pole. Shall have to rug up for that visit!

Is there anything different about each new title, or do you try to keep all the Riley books as much the same as possible (apart from the plot)?

It’s important to tie a book series together and this is usually done with the way the books look, and the same kind of plot structure/theme. I also think it’s important to add extra elements that make new books in a series feel fresh and exciting.

For the Riley series, I changed up the way I did each book — just so I could add that freshness.

In Riley and the Sleeping Dragon, the dragon isn’t seen in any of the photos … until right at the very end. This helps make the ending more of a surprise.

riley and the sleeping dragon (cover)

In Riley and the Dancing Lion, there are lions all through the book, but they’re never the one Riley is looking for. This makes kids wonder what the ‘right’ dragon will look like, and helps build suspense.

riley and the dancing lion

In Riley and the Curious Koala, the koala is hiding on the pages, sometimes in different forms, like a cloud or an umbrella. Kids LOVE to hunt for koalas in every photo (though he doesn’t appear on the page featuring Luna Park — so don’t break your eyes looking for him!).

"Riley and the Curious Koala (cover)"

In Riley and the Grumpy Wombat, the wombat isn’t revealed until the end, but I gave Riley a series of amazing ‘contraptions’ he can use to help find her (because the wombat travels underground and Riley would have found it hard to spot her while flying a plane!).

Riley and the Grumpy Wombat (cover)

In Riley and the Jumpy Kangaroo, I decided to change things up by adding colour to the photographs for the first time. As the story unfolds, more and more colour creeps into the images — and when you see the very last photograph over a double page spread, you’ll understand why!

Riley and the jumpy kangaroo book cover

Is there anything you need to keep in mind each time you start writing a new book in the Riley series?

Yes —Panda I need to make sure we include the animal from the last book! Each time Riley starts a new adventure, a little toy version of the critter from the previous book joins the entire crew. Eventually, Riley will have an entire zoo of creatures accompanying him. Kieron and I have joked about attaching a hot air balloon to Riley’s plane so all the creatures can sit in it.

I also need to ensure I keep the style and ‘voice’ of the book the same as the others. This is what ties it to a series. Sometimes this is difficult to do because as you grow as an author, your voice and style changes and (hopefully!) improves. I would actually love the opportunity to do the Riley books a little differently now but I can’t alter the look of an established series.

Have you decided in advance how many titles will be in the Riley series? How do you decide on the right number of books for a series?

I was hoping to release a Riley book every year, forever! But my work on other books has become so busy, Jumpy Roo took two years to produce. The next one may even be three years away. This is upsetting because I adore the books and I have kids asking for them all the time. I will try to make them more frequent!!

Where to next for Riley?

I’m thinking maybe Tassie or New Zealand. I’d love to visit Tassie again soon, so that may sway me. Or maybe I could ask the kids of Australia to nominate Riley’s next destination. Perhaps I’ll send him to the city where kids make the loudest noise!

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

The Jumpy Roo book launch is being held at Floriade this year! Anyone living in or visiting Canberra on 15 September is invited along, but RSVPs are essential if you want a goodie bag and balloon! You can find out more here.

You can also visit the Riley the Little Aviator website to see updates, learn more about the places Riley visits, and see behind-the-scenes work. There are also some fun activities for kids.

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If you’d like to learn more about Tania, visit her website, the Riley the Little Aviator website or check out some earlier Soup Blog posts featuring Tania here and here!

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Interview with Tania McCartney © 2013 Tania McCartney and Rebecca Newman https://soupblog.wordpress.com

This post is just one stop in the Riley and the Jumpy Kangaroo blog tour. For the full Blog Tour schedule, jump in your little red plane and head right here.