We now have two exciting and different speakers booked for 2016. Both appeared at Swanwick in 2015 to great acclaim and are now back as speakers. They are:

Kathryn Aalto
Anyone who was at Swanwick last year will remember when Kathryn stepped in at the last moment to give a fascinating interview on the development of her book The Natural World of Winnie-the-Pooh: A Walk Through the Forest that Inspired the Hundred Acre Wood (2015). In it she described some of the projects and TV programmes that this was leading to. Now she is coming back to tell us how it all worked out!

Michael Jecks
Those of you who missed Michael at last years’ Swanwick will get a chance to find out why those who went to his course found it so rewarding.  He is coming back in 2016 both as a speaker and to run another course on Plots and Strategies.   michael.jecks@gmail.com

As you may be aware, in the early hours of 27th October, Maureen passed peacefully away. She was in her own home, in no pain and with her family close by. One of the last things that she said before she passed was 'Guardian Angel' so we feel comforted that an angel came to guide her onto the next part of her journey.
We have arranged her funeral, a celebration of her life, for Thursday 12th November at 4pm.
The funeral will be held at:
Wilford Hill Crematorium
Loughborough Road
West Bridgford
Nottingham, NG2 7FE
Maureen was a colourful person so we ask that people dress colourfully and comfortably - to match her spirit.
After the funeral, we invite friends and family to join us in a toast to Maureen (and some food) at:
The Samuel Hall
The Old Bus Depot
Mansfield Road
Sherwood
Nottingham, NG5 2JN

Remembering Maureen -
In line with her wishes, we ask for family flowers only. There will be a collection at the Crematorium for Macmillan Cancer Support, whom provided much care to Maureen. There is also an alternative collection online to support a Swanwick bursary for young writers (TopWrite). 

It would be appreciated if you could confirm if you will be able to join us for the funeral (RSVP to terzarima25@hotmail.com or call Tony on 0115 960 4771).
Thank you for all your support and well wishes over the last few days and weeks. It really did help to bring some light to our darkest days.
Melanie and Tony

If you would like to make a donation to TopWrite and the Writers' Summer School in memory of Maureen Jeffs, please pay online to:
 
Bank: CAF Bank Limited
Bank Sort Code: 40 52 40
Account Number: 00026563
Account Name: The Writers' Summer School
Any payments should include payee's name – reference MJ.
 
Or by cheque to the Treasurer. Please write “MJ” on the reverse of your cheque.

News has arrived from the Deborah Rogers Foundation, which has been established in memory of literary agent and founder of Rogers, Coleridge & White, Deborah Rogers. The foundation is delighted to announce its first project, the DRF Writers’ Award, a £10,000 prize for a first-time writer. Please share this exciting announcement with aspiring authors.
 
Submissions will be open between 1st November 2015 and 31st January 2016. Applicants should submit a 20-30,000 word extract of a work in progress, fiction or non-fiction, which is not under option or contract. The winner will be announced at the 2016 Hay Festival.
 
Full details of the prize (including entry criteria) can be found on this website:  www.deborahrogersfoundation.org 
Any queries can be directed to info@deborahrogersfoundation.org.
 

In our last twitter chat before this year's Summer School, we had two specialists in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror filling us in on the secrets of their trade, John Jarrold (@johnjarrold) and Alex Davis (@AlexDavis1981), answering questions from the points of view of an agent and of a writer/publisher.

John Jarrold has taught, taken part in panels and spoken at Swanwick before. He runs the John Jarrold Literary Agency, which specialises entirely in SF, Fantasy and Horror. He has around forty clients – and has turned down over 9,000 submissions to the agency. Alex Davis is author, editor, publisher, creative writing tutor and event organiser based in Derby. Alex, too, has taught at Swanwick before. He's also a short course leader at this year's Summer School.
Among the highlights of the discussion were:

What makes a successful Sci-fi book for young adults?
JJ (John Jarrold): It's impossible to give one valid answer – it's a strong, wide market
AD (Alex Davis): Hard to give a set answer. I'd suggest a young protagonist for sure, and dystopian work seems to be popular. It only takes one book to start a trend in publishing. Think about what you want to do and why. YA is a very popular and fairly new genre, so I'm sure there are many evolutions to come in time.
JJ: In some ways it's a good area. Less hidebound than the adult side can be.

Working with young writers, what advice would you give them to encourage them to look beyond simple gore when writing horror?
JJ: You need to be involved and not just write for the market.
AD:  It's vital to have strong characters and believability in horror as much as any genre. Psychology is also key. Gore in itself isn't scary – well developed and built up situations will always be more effective.
JJ: Also be aware that a book one agent or editor loves won't necessarily suit another. Love your story and characters. I've done major deals for books that other publishers hated, there isn't only one way.
AD:  Absolutely - as you said, there's a lot comes down to personal opinion from agents and publishers.

From the foggy streets of Victorian London where dancing girls mysteriously disappear, novelist Kate Griffin, author of the Kitty Peck mysteries, joined us on Friday, 10th July 2015, to talk about her first break into writing fiction and the journey that lead her there.

Kate had written for a living, first as a ‘journo’ and then as a press officer. However, she felt that novel writing was “something I thought others did, until I tried entering a writing competition which was the spur I needed. I like a deadline!” It was the Faber & Stylist Magazine that provided her first big break, but she had also entered the Times/Chicken House competition the year before and, amazingly, was shortlisted which encouraged her to keep trying.

Being a journalist helped Kate as a novelist. “Writing is like a muscle,” she told us. “If you do it - in some way every day, it gets stronger. The worst thing is procrastination. Never put it off - if you feel you have something to write, do it!” She writes in the basement of her house (during the twitter chat there was “a tempting smell of curry wafting from the kitchen”), although she confesses “oddly, now I've started writing in a particular place it's very hard to work anywhere else. I’ve become a creature of habit.”

• On the perfect crime novel: “For me a great crime novel has two elements, one, characters you care about and, two, careful, meticulous plotting.” 
• On dealing the less savoury aspects of Victoriana - eg. Opium: “Research is key! Dickens is fabulous on this #EdwinDrood.”
• On savoury elements when writing for children: “My Victorian books are for adults. When I write for children, I am more careful, but kids are quite 'hard core'. Obviously there are some places you NEVER go when writing for kids, but they can smell a 'message' and being patronised a mile off! As a child, I hated the thought someone didn't think I was sophisticated enough to think for myself.”
• On tricks to create atmosphere and setting: “I try to visit the places I write about if they still exist (i.e. Wiltons Music hall, Whitechapel). I've changed elements of my books after visiting places like Limehouse. Walking is always good. I always try to go where I take my characters. I also think you have to use your imagination: 'my' Victorian world is probably unique to me.”
• On editing: “To be honest, it's always a mad dash to deadline. I try to edit as I go along. If I have time at the end I tweak. I can only get motivated when I'm scared. It's a legacy of writing against the clock. I need a deadline.”
• On planning and characters: “I'm a total 'pantser' (good word!). As I write the story tells itself to me. My characters sort of walk into my head fully formed. I really love writing the minor ones.”
• On Procrastination: “Procrastination can be as much a part of the process - like the 'over the yard arm' G&T which is part of my writing process (but it's not essential). Procrastination can also be very creative, until you realise you've procrastinated your writing time away.”
  

Towards the end of the chat, Kate Griffin offered some words of advice to fellow writers: “My top tip is be true to yourself. Don't try to be someone you're not.” And, for those working to the early hours or against a tight deadline, “never underestimate the creative kick of a packet of Haribo Starmix.”


We’d like to thank Kate Griffin for giving up her time to share her thoughts with us for the #AskSwanwick Twitter chat. Please do follower her @KateAGriffin on Twitter and follow us @Swanwickwriters. Thank you to Benjamin Scott for moderating the chat.

About Kate Griffin

After studying English at university Kate's first job was as an assistant to an antiques dealer, but she quickly realised that although she liked being surrounded by beautiful objects, she liked being surrounded by people who talked to her much more. Kate never quite shook off her love of old things, however, and historical settings play an important role in her stories. Her first book, Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders (winner of the 2012 Faber and Faber / Stylist Magazine crime fiction writing competition) was published in July 2013. The sequel, Kitty Peck and the Child of Ill Fortune, was published on July 3rd this year. She is currently working on two more books in the series. Under the name Cate Cain, she has also published two books for children, The Jade Boy and The Moon Child (both published by Templar).

 Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders was shortlisted for the CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger in 2014. The Jade Boy was shortlisted for The Booktrust’s ‘Book of the Year’ award for readers aged 9-13. She can be found on Twitter @KateAGriffin.

 

In our last #AskSwanwick before this year's summer school, we're going spooky. Get out your axes, swords and laser pistols for our #AskSwanwick Chat on Tuesday, 4 August at 8pm UK time, when SF, Fantasy and Horror agent John Jarrold and author, editor and publisher of the same genres Alex Davis will be our #AskSwanwick Twitter Chat guests. Grab the chance to ask John and Alex everything you'd like to know about the latest trends in SF, Fantasy and Horror. Both have been speakers and/or tutors at Swanwick, and know the market and quirks of their genres inside out.  So, if you want to know how to tear into the horror market like a werewolf, or want to add rocket boosters to your sci-fi success, this is the Twitter chat to tune into.

John Jarrold has worked in book publishing since January 1988 following fifteen years working in public libraries. As an editor and editorial director specialising in SF and Fantasy with Orbit at Macdonald Futura (the forerunner to Little Brown UK), Random House and Simon & Schuster between 1988 and 2002, he published bestselling novelists including Iain Banks, Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, David Gemmell, Arthur C Clarke and Michael Moorcock.

Since 2004, he has run the John Jarrold Literary Agency, which specialises entirely in SF, Fantasy and Horror. He has around forty clients – and has turned down over 9,000 submissions to the agency. The agency had over 50 books released by major publishers in the UK and US in 2013 alone, many others in translation across the world. It has also clinched multi-book deals for over 20 debut novelists. Four of his clients won major awards in 2013, including the Arthur C Clarke Award and the British SF Association Award for Short Fiction.

Alex Davis is an author, editor, publisher, creative writing tutor and event organiser based in Derby. His debut novel, THE LAST WAR, came out in July from Tickety Boo Press, and is the first in a science-fiction trilogy following the aliens of the Noukari. He is co-ordinator for Derby's annual Edge-Lit event – that ran this year on the 11th July – and part of the management committee for this year's Derby Book Festival. He also runs Boo Books, Derby's independent press, aiming to promote regional talent along internationally known authors. Their latest release is The Electric, available in paperback for the first time. For more information visit http://boobooks.net/.

What better way to prepare for another fabulous Swanwick week than to tune in on Twitter with those Masters of Horror? So prepare your questions, gird your loins and ignore the eerie noises and the screams. If you'd like to participate, just search #AskSwanwick (selection “Live”) on 4 August between 8 and 9pm UK time. Once the chat has started, you can simply ask a question by using the hashtag #AskSwanwick on your tweet. You can find detailed guidelines on our chats here: http://www.swanwickwritersschool.org.uk/twitter-chat.html#.VZOFzunALcs

At last we are able to announce the results of the Win Your Way to Swanwick Competition run by Writing Magazine.

SHORT STORY COMPETITION
First Prize Winner:      Veronica Bright  (Dear Marcus)
Second Prize Winner: Valerie Hoare  (A Regular Life)
Third Prize Winner:     John Drake      (A Heart Full of Love)

Shortlisted:      Sonya Bailey (Rosemary Witchet); Mike Berry (Something to Put My Heart Into); Margaret Burton (The Book Signing); Philip Collins (An Englishwoman in New York); TD Holland (The Miracle of Love); Brenda Joy (All the Signs); Lindsay Littleson (The Baby Genius); Hazel Prior (Friendship Plus); Beverley Thompson (Amazing Grace); Nia Williams (What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?).

WRITING FOR CHILDREN
First Prize Winner:      Pam Keevil (Old Stinky Feet)
Second Prize Winner: Janet Newman (Music Time)
Third Prize Winner:     Hazel Prior (The Voice of Fergus)

Shortlisted:      Heather Allison (The Memory Ring): Carole Hutchens (The Day the Lions Roared); Brian Lux (Fighting for Billy); Ann Palmer (Fiver’s Feat of Understanding); Helen Shay (Rakhi); Trish Rissen (Bertie’s Dream); Nilles Sonnemans (The Tin Boy); Susannah White (Joe’s Marble).

POETRY
First Prize Winner:      Susannah White (I Am Peeling an Onion)
Second Prize Winner: Emma Storr (At the Heart of It)
Third Prize Winner:     Margaret Greenwood (Elizabeth, Little Rock, 1957)

Shortlisted:      Shirley Cook (Heartbeat); Daniel Crowley (Anna); Corinne Lawrence (Stitches); Linda Lewis (At the Heart of It); Ann Palmer (It); Angela Pickering (Entomophagy); Wendy Sutherland (The Middle Ground); Suzanne Tims (No Blame).

Congratulations to all the above and thank you to all those who entered the Competition, good luck for next year!

For our next #AskSwanwick, we’ll be delving into mysterious disappearance of ‘dancing girls’ in the foggy streets of Victorian London and finding out about the tricks of combining crime and history with novelist Kate Griffin, author of the Kitty Peck mysteries. Kate also writes under a second name for the children’s market, Cate Cain, so there will be plenty to talk about and the opportunity to ask how easy it is to write for two different markets. Join us Friday, 10th July 2014, 8pm (British Summer Time).

After studying English at university Kate's first job was as an assistant to an antiques dealer, but she quickly realised that although she liked being surrounded by beautiful objects, she liked being surrounded by people who talked to her much more. Kate never quite shook off her love of old things, however, and historical settings play an important role in her stories. Her first book, Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders (winner of the 2012 Faber and Faber / Stylist Magazine crime fiction writing competition) was published in July 2013. The sequel, Kitty Peck and the Child of Ill Fortune, was published on July 3rd this year. She is currently working on two more books in the series. Under the name Cate Cain, she has also published two books for children, The Jade Boy and The Moon Child (both published by Templar).

Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders was shortlisted for the CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger in 2014. The Jade Boy was shortlisted for The Booktrust’s ‘Book of the Year’ award for readers aged 9-13. 

Don’t miss this exciting twitter chat! Just search for the hashtag #AskSwanwick on Friday, 10th July 2015 at 8pm (UK Time). If you're new to twitter, make sure you follow the 'Live' tab on the Twitter search results. To ask a question, tweet using the #AskSwanwick hashtag followed by your question. You can find an easy guide on how to follow and tweet-etiquette here: http://www.swanwickwritersschool.org.uk/twitter-chat.html.

Selected highlights of each session are available on the Swanwick website a few weeks after each chat – but nothing beats following it in person at the time and asking questions!

Best wishes,

The Swanwick Tweet Team (Benjamin, Karin, Andrew and Mike). 

Professionals at the dark arts of editing, Rosie Best and Catherine Coe joined us for #AskSwanwick on Wednesday, 3rd June 2015. Catherine has edited children’s books for 14 years (including working at Orchard Books) and now works freelance offering editorial advice to authors, agents and publishers; and, Rosie has edited for 9 years at the book packagers Working Partners Ltd. They both write children’s fiction as well.

First up was a discussion about Book Packaging, which Catherine had experience from a publishing company’s point of view: “I love working with Book Packagers because they're very focused, and very creative. They have SO many ideas, and they are also brilliant planners which helps an editor immensely - not just schedule-wise but with plot holes, etc.”

We asked Rosie to tell us more about Book Packaging. “I've always thought Book Packaging is a funny name for it as the one bit we have almost nothing to do with is the physical publication. It’s about an editor, or a specialist business (like us at Working Partners), creating stories, then hiring writers and selling the result to publishers. I work in a team of around 15 editors to create storylines together (think of a TV writers’ room, but for books). We tend to work on series fiction.”

Anyone interested in this area can check out the Working Partners website and fill in an application form. You’ll be added to the database and different editors will look at the forms when different projects arise. Then, Rosie says, “We ask several writers to do a few chapters from a storyline (unpaid but we give great feedback) and pick the best.”

Book Packaging isn’t the only overlap between Rosie and Catherine. They’re both involved with the Undiscovered Voices project. As Rosie described it, “It’s AMAZING competition for unpublished children’s writers and illustrators.” Submissions open on July 1st, and are open to all unpublished and unagented children’s writers and illustrators in the United Kingdom and Europe! What happens if you get selected? Catherine explained, “The selected finalists have their extracts compiled into an anthology which is distributed to all children's book agents/editors. We have an incredible success rate from previous anthologies.”

One Undiscovered Voices area that’s usually under-represented by good quality submissions is for the youngest (5-8) age group. “We'd loved to see more of those,” Catherine told us. “Funny is often the key - and something obvious, like a timeless theme that works, such as fairies, witches, dragons, beasts, princesses, and animals.”

After talking Book Packaging and Undiscovered Voices, lots of questions focused on editing. Here’s just some of what was discussed:

Feedback: “I’ve read manuscripts that are stunningly good and a joy to read, none are ever 100% perfect. Everyone makes mistakes” (Rosie)

Editing Your Own Work: “Put it away for at least 3 weeks, then take a step back by looking at each element in turn. Start with the big things first - plot, drivers, characters - and then other things flow from that (pacing, style, dialogue)” (Catherine)

Editing Tricks: “Changing font, size and colour helps make the text seem like a different work” (Rosie) and “I always send my MS to my Kindle and it helps surprisingly well - a different screen!” (Catherine).

The Road to Publication: “Authors should definitely expect structural edits, even after they've self-edited their MS, and their agent has given them editorial feedback. In most publishers, the commissioning editor will also edit it with the author. The editing process can be very long (but fun!)” (Catherine)

Working with an Editor: “Editors are there to make books better, we want to help authors - shouldn't be adversarial even though it's sensitive” (Rosie) and “I like to be honest and direct, so yes, I'd tell an author if an MS needed a complete rewrite. Not doing so helps no one” (Catherine)

Final Writing Tip: “My biggest tip would be to read, read, and read some more. And write, write and write. Every day & persevere - there are so many stories of now successful authors getting rejected lots. Dedication and resilience key!” (Catherine)

Final Writing Tip: “Pretend to be an editor! How would you have changed that book, show, or movie? What one line would efficiently fill that plot hole? Also, enter Undiscovered Voices - as a past winner and now helper on the team, it can be a life changer, do it” (Rosie)

These are just some highlights of the discussion – we hope they inspire you to check out book packaging and think about entering Undiscovered Voices (www.undiscoveredvoices.com). We’d like to thank Catherine Coe (Twitter: @catherinecoe) and Rosie Best (Twitter: @rosiejbest) for taking the time to talk to #AskSwanwick. And thank you to Benjamin Scott for moderating the discussion.

Join us next time on Twitter when we’re talking to author Kate Griffin, Friday 10th July at 8pm (BST).