I often say that my work with Mija is the only fiction writing I’ve ever done. After thinking about it, that isn’t the case. When I was 24, I wrote two children’s books – The Cobalt Treasure is one and Prickly Pete is another. I usually forget about these two books because each was my first crack at writing. And let’s just say that the books need help. Lots of it.
At the time, I worked in a safe house for battered women. I wrote the books with the children in the safe house in mind. And I’ll admit that I also wrote the books because I thought that writing for children is easy. Hey, I was young. I quickly realized that isn’t the case.
After I finish with the first draft of Mija, I want to revisit The Cobalt Treasure and Prickly Pete. For a bit of inspiration, I interviewed Adrienne Kress author of Alex and the Ironic Gentleman. In the interview posted below, she provides insight on her journey to authordom (I just made up that word, feel free to use it) and also gives advice to aspiring authors.
For more information on Adrienne Kress, visit her website and her blog. And oh yeah, to purchase Alex and the Ironic Gentleman click here. I purchased two copies for my nephews.
Now, let’s move forward with the interview.
Why did you choose to write for a younger market?
I get this question a lot understandably, why do I write for children - and it wasn’t until people asked me that that I thought, “Hmm I guess I write for children!” I love kids, anyone who knows me knows this, and I love going to schools and doing readings. But I also love this kind of fiction simply as a reader. I love Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Phantom Tollbooth etc and such classics like Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan as well as anything Roald Dahl. I also have quite a nice collection of picture books. I love the writing, the imagination, and the pure adventure of it all. I also love how dark these novels are, though as a kid often you don’t notice. It’s only when you read any Roald Dahl for example, that as an adult you’re like, “Woah, his parents were killed by a charging rhinoceros? That’s actually rather terrible!”
So my point is, I just like the genre. I never set out to write for children, but rather to write the kind of book that I love to read. I have always written many different kinds of fiction because I like many different kinds of fiction. I have a couple of plays that are very much not meant for young people.
Now that isn’t to say that there definitely isn’t the awesome side effect of writing in this genre – that of kids reading your stuff and liking your stuff. I am just thrilled to hear from my audience, because kids don’t pull their punches, if they don’t like something, they’ll tell you. So to get a good review from them is a serious honour.
What events inspired you to write Alex and the Ironic Gentleman?
I was initially inspired to write Alex when I taking weekend break in the town of Bath, England. I’ve always had something on the go writing wise, but I had never considered writing a children’s book before. I’m not sure if it was Bath that made me want to write that kind of book, or just the getting away from the city and having a chance to be alone with my thoughts. But suddenly the decision to write a children’s book just sort of happened while I was there as I was doing a lot of walking and thinking and stuff.
As I already stated, I love children’s literature, have read many great books in the genre. And I suddenly thought to myself, “Well I bet I could write one of these books.” Not because it was easy, but because I knew the genre so well.
Well whatever inspired the initial decision, it was definitely Bath that inspired so many particular details about the book. The doorknob shop was based on a doorknob shop I passed on my walk, the bridge that Alex and her uncle live on is based on the bridge in Bath with all the shops on it (which in turn is based on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence Italy) and so on.
Then, as I thought more about the structure of the novel, I decided that Alex was going to be a love letter, an homage, to all my favourite children’s books. So the first Act, up until Alex leaves on her adventure, I consider very Roald Dahl (to me the Daughters of the Founding Fathers’ Preservation Society totally typify the sort grotesque characters he liked to write). Then Alex’s journey to Port Cullis is Alice in Wonderland, where she meets some interesting characters and has miniature adventures where she needs to solve problems before moving on. Lewis Carroll made fun of the world of his time in Alice, and I try to do something similar with this section. Lord Poppinjay, for example, is a composite of all the bosses I had as a temp - these people who expected you to practically read their minds – well in this case Alex actually has to read his mind. The third Act, Port Cullis and onwards, is Peter Pan, at least the part with the pirates. It also owes a lot to Treasure Island. There are other authors I reference as well throughout the book: the chapters all begin with “In which . . .” which is a reference to A A Milne for example. I just really love these books, they were a huge influence on me growing up, and I kind of wanted to say thank you to them with Alex.
Is there any advice you have for aspiring authors in the children’s market?
Well first of all I would say know your genre. Read what’s out there. Seems obvious, but here’s the thing, a lot of children’s writers read certain books when they were kids, so they are familiar with the works from their childhood, but they don’t necessarily know what’s out there now. I have been asked by many writers if what they are writing is “acceptable” for whatever age they are writing, and those questions could be so easily answered by reading one or two books currently available.
Secondly, respect your audience. Kids are awesome. But they aren’t just “kids”. They are also people. They have opinions and hopes and dreams and fears. Being a kid is very complicated, and not all sugar and spice and everything nice. Try to remember what it was like when you were younger. I can definitely recall one year when all my friends decided they didn’t like me anymore, and so chose to ignore me. The pain of that experience was profound. Remember too that while of course you want your books to appeal to kids who might not normally read, the fact is that the kids who love books tend to be pretty precocious and smart and you can’t trick them into liking what you’ve written. They can tell when you are trying to “teach a lesson” or are being condescending.
Lastly I think the children’s market is one of the biggest ones where people want to write to order. They want to write at a certain reading level, so they submit their work to an online quiz that let’s them know they’ve written something at a certain grade level. And they make sure to include morals, and what teachers like, and what librarians like, and what parents like, and what “kids today” like. They see Harry Potter, “Ah magic is in!” They see Eragon, “Dragons all the way!” They see Spiderwick, “Does anyone know a fantastic artist?” It becomes writing by numbers. And if there is anything that takes away the magic and wonder from a children’s book, it’s writing by numbers.
Children’s literature, in the end, is the same as every other genre of literature. Each genre has its own particular challenges, but in the end, they are always best overcome by writing a fantastic story. Yes you have to keep age range in mind. Swearing in a picture book would be ill advised. But in the end it comes down to: write what you want to write. Don’t try to please everyone. You can’t.
Since many writers visit my blog, they will be interested on how you became published. Please tell us about your journey.
Well I’ve been writing stories and stuff from a young age, and in university I got really into playwrighting. But what happened with Alex was as close to an accident as is possible in the writing world. That is to say, you can’t just walk down the street and suddenly find you have a completed novel in your hands, but still . . .Alex was a total surprise.
As I have already said several times, I am a big fan of children’s literature. I’ve been reading it my whole life, heck even in my last year of highschool I wrote a thesis comparing Alice in Wonderland to Peter Pan. But I had never really considered writing a children’s novel before. I was much more focused on writing plays, and always had some detective mystery in the works on my computer.
I was living in England at the time, working as an actress and a temp in London. Then, as I already said, I went to Bath, had that revelation, and I started writing a children’s novel. I put in everything I like, pirates, art deco party trains caught in time loops, those sorts of things. I had never had any intention of publishing it, but as the months passed I realised that I hadn’t given up on the story yet. I’d never finished a novel before this one you see.
In the end Alex took just under a year to write. But I wasn’t doing it full time. I started it in February of 2005, and then in the summer I was in the middle of doing a play, so I basically just stopped writing for that time period. But for some reason I kept coming back to it. I kept writing, worked through the tough bits, and then one day I was like, “Well I wonder how one goes about getting published.”
As an actress, I am used to the concept of agents, and more importantly, of rejection. And I didn’t consider it would be that much of a risk looking into a literary agent. Worst thing they could do was say no. So I did a fair amount of research, perfected my submission packages (which in the UK consist of a cover letter, synopsis and first three chapters) and in January of 2006, having not yet completed the manuscript but under the impression it would take at least 4 - 6 weeks for the agents to get back to me, I sent them off.
The next day an agent called for the full thing. I was very polite, said I would get it to them by the end of the week. Hung up the phone and started to panic. I still hadn’t finished the book yet! Let this be a lesson to everyone to only submit to agents after you have a completed manuscript!
There was no two ways about it, I sat down at my computer and wrote like a crazy person (well like a crazy person with correct grammar and a story to bring to its logical and natural conclusion). And I finished the last 30 000 words or so in three days. I like to say it took me eleven months and three days to complete the book.
Two months later I heard back from the agent who liked Alex, but wanted me to cut around 10 000 words (at the time it was close to 97 000 words). I gave myself two weeks. I refused to cut scenes, but instead chose to cut words and paragraphs within the existing structure. And I did it. And my book was so much better for it. And you couldn’t really tell what I had cut, I am just that long winded.
The next weekend the agent called again, wanted to meet, so we did. For five hours. In the end she agreed to represent me. Her name is Julia Churchill with the Darley Anderson Literary Agency in London, and she totally rocks.
Four weeks later Scholastic made an offer. Over the summer the book was sold to various countries in Europe, and then in the fall it was fortunate enough to go to auction in the states, where Weinstein Books (formerly Miramax) was the winner.
All this happened very quickly. The time from initially mailing out my submissions to Scholastic’s offer was five months. And I know I am very lucky and still cannot get over how much my life has changed in the last two years. It’s been a wonderful adventure so far, and I look forward to what’s coming down the road.
What’s your take on the perception that children and YA agents and publishers will only sign established authors?
To be honest I didn’t actually know such a perception existed. In fact I would say that if there was any time in the history of writing to write for children, it would be now. Like her or not (and I for one adore her), J K Rowling showed the world that writing for children could be a profitable business. Publishers took note, and now the industry is a formidable one.
The fact is, every author was once unpublished. If new authors didn’t get signed and published then we’d never have any new books. It’s as simple as that. Fact also is, I am a new writer and I got signed. And I have several friends who have also just recently signed with agents/publishers in this market as well. So it obviously must happen.
Some say the children’s market (and I include YA in this) is the hardest market to publish in. I can’t say if it is or isn’t. I have no figures or statistics to look at. I’ll just say that like any other artistic pursuit, it’s not easy. But if you have the drive, the focus, the ability the listen, learn and change, are professional and can take a lot of rejection, you can get there. Have faith in yourself, but respect the business as well. Please do your research and be humble. Know that even the best of authors still have editors correcting their work.
In the end, it isn’t some impossible dream. And you know what? There is really no point in looking at the odds. Yes they’re huge. Yes it’s going to be hard. We get it. Whatever.
You can still do it.
Is there anything else you want to add?
I guess I’ll just add that the sequel to Alex, Timothy and the Dragon’s Gate, will be available in August 2008 with Weinstein Books, and sometime in the fall in Canada with Scholastic. It’s about a boy named Timothy Freshwater who begrudgingly helps out a dragon trapped as a human return to China so that it can become a dragon again. Two thirds of the way through the narrative, Timothy comes across the end of Alex’s story from her book, and they share the rest of his adventure together. If that makes sense. Well it will when you read it. I hope.
Click HERE to buy Alex and the Ironic Gentleman
Click HERE to visit Adrienne’s website
Click HERE to visit her blog
Click HERE for past interviews I’ve conducted.
