Upcoming! Workshops and lots of talking

July 31, 2014 by 
Before I go on holiday, here's a quick heads up about some forthcoming appearances.

18, 19, 20 August 2014. I'm doing a three-day writing workshop for South Friern Library in Barnet for 11 to 15 year olds. Stories, characters, plot! We're gonna have fun! They have only a couple of places left and the booking form has been closed but you can ring the youth team on 020 8359 3100 to see if you can still bag a place. Details

13 September 2014 (tbc). I'll be speaking to writers and illustrators of SCBWI Hong Kong. I AM SO EXCITED!

18 September 2014. I'll be appearing at the Manila International Book Festival. I'll announce timings and locations later.

20 September 2014. Shine - the Philippine edition - launches at the Manila International Book Festival! Woo hoo! Remind me to contact all my old classmates so we can turn it into a grand reunion.

22 to 25 September 2014. Touring schools in the Metro Manila area.

27 September 2014. I will be the guest author of Where the Write Things Are's Write Away class at the Canadian American School in Manila.

8 October 2014. I will be speaking at Warblington School as part of the Havant Literary Festival programme.

There's more but I need to pack now. See you when I get back!

P.S. I've been blogging over on Notes from the Slushpile: What Writers Can Learn from Illustrators

Awesome Art by Children

July 20, 2014 by 

Awe is just a little word - but it captures how I feel about the art made by children.

I'm not much for decorations and bric-a-brac but I do cover the walls of my house with art made by my children (and their friends) over the years. To me, these are more precious than anything I could buy in the shops. There's an incomparable energy to them -- and life is magic when seen through the eyes of children. Here are a few examples from my walls:

My two sons playing ping pong. The artist is disputed. Both sons claim they drew it.

Wonderful 3D art by my neighbour, Hugo, when he was four.

Batman! 

Spiderman!

Recently, I visited Grafton Primary School near Holloway.

The minute I saw the giant snake winding its way along the length of the ceiling, I knew I was in for a treat. A lovely enthusiastic teacher showed me around (so sorry, I couldn't find the piece of paper where I scribbled down her name). I could tell from the members of staff I met and the children that there was a real passion for art at Grafton. Apparently the school even holds after school art sessions for parents and children.

Giant snake in Reception

More of the giant snake.


In one classroom, the ceiling was hung with sailing ships.

Art by the photocopier
I would love to have some of this art on my wall!


Art is such a feature of the school that one of the teachers
made this to introduce a new lesson

I think this might have been for RE




A map of London
One room was a rainforest of strange creatures

Is that a bird combined with a squirrel?
What about this Reindeer-Giraffe-Bird?
An Ostrich Zebra and an Eagle Lizard

A Tiger Snake and Giraffe Butterfly!
A Cat Fish.

There was even a Green Man in the corner of one corridor.

I love these framed self portraits. 

It reminded me of FRAMED by Frank Cottrell Boyce, in which during a flood, precious works from the National Gallery are temporarily moved to safety in a grey, grey Welsh town. When the townspeople inveigle the National Gallery to allow them to see the art, it has a magical effect on the whole town.

I felt privileged to have had a peek at the treasure trove on the walls of the school. I walk past Grafton almost everyday. Who knew?

Afternote:

Knowing my love for children's art, my son recently sent me this link to paintings by the artist Telmo Piper recreating his childhood drawings.

Mind blowing!

What Telmo's childhood rendition of a snail would look like in real life. See more
Afternote 2:

And it was really, really nice to meet such happy teachers. Like these guys:

Happy Maureen Day!

July 17, 2014 by 
Today is a big birthday for my friend Maureen Lynas, founder of the Funeverse, the silly poetry site for children and author of the practically perfect Florence and the Meanies. We thought we'd surprise her with a #happymaureenday on social media!

Maureen is turning sixty
SIXTY???? No way!
Someone's gotta warn the others
She's heading out their way!

 Is she gonna be a nuisance?
Refuse to mash her food?
Take off the compression tights?
Giggle when jokes are rude?

 Can she sit still at tea time?
Or will she stand on her head?
Will she be the noisy one 
When it comes time for bed?

 Maureen is turning sixty.
But does she know how to be old?
Will she give up silly stories?
Get her kicks from leaf mould? 

 Maureen is turning SIXTY
Be still my beating heart.
Someone better tell the others
THE FUN'S ABOUT TO START!

 Happy Maureen Day!


An Affair to Sort of Remember: my comic about how I met my husband

July 12, 2014 by 
A frame from my comic. Do
You recognise one of the
characters?
I've been attending a graphic novel course taught by Emily Haworth Booth, winner of the 2013 Observer/Cape/Comica graphic short story prize (you can view her hilarious winning entry here).

When I was a child, a cartoonist was one of the things I wanted to become. In fact, I did have a weekly comic strip in a Philippine women's magazine for a while. But real life intervened and I became a writer.

I especially love Marjane Sartrapi's
simple black and white vibe. Tried
to copy it and realised it's harder
than it looks!
Today comics are having a resurgence with exciting publishers like Nobrow and beautifully produced graphic novels of all genres.

I have become addicted to the autobiographical work of artists such as Craig Thompson (Habibi), Alison Bechdel (Fun Home), Guy deLisle (Pyongyang), Art Spiegelman (Maus) and Marjane Sartrapi (Persepolis). I signed up for the course to see if I could do something similar.

Here is my final project. Click on the view full screen icon on the bottom right corner to see it in full view.



If you look closely, you can see that I'm learning as I go along. At first I tried to draw and lay it out directly on the page. But I discovered I couldn't do straight lines so I had to admit defeat and lay it out on Photoshop.

I tried doing a technique of pencilling then copying the images on a lightbox but I found the second time I drew an image, it lost all its energy. So these are a combination of pencilling things in and drawing straight on the page, then erasing my mistakes on Photoshop.

A lot of the techniques of developing a story are similar to building a novel. If I had the time, I could add a couple more pages to this story. I left out some interesting bits!

It was so liberating to get out of the writer's cave every Thursday night and do something other than writing a novel. And it was fun meeting other people with a love for comics. My classmates were such accomplished artists. And young.

I'm looking for another graphic novel class to attend in the autumn.

SHINE is on the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize longlist

June 28, 2014 by 
I am speechless. So happy. Thank you to The Guardian and to judging panel Gillian Cross, Frank Cottrell Boyce and Katherine Rundell (who happen to be some of my favourite authors).



I got an email the other day that I'd made it to the longlist of eight but to keep my mouth shut until Saturday when the Guardian planned to go public.

On Friday though, Philip 'the Beard' Ardagh tweeted this:


Such an act of unmitigated niceness! Hmm, I thought. Does he know something about the Guardian prize.

But the next day, Philip swore he had no idea!
When I saw the synopsis for Shine in the Guardian, I thought, wow, somebody really read the book. Here's a screenshot from the Guardian gallery of longlisters.

The medical condition which scars Rosa and leaves her without speech at birth is viewed with deep mistrust by the superstitious community in which she lives. To avoid their taunts she remains largely hidden at home from a world full of secrets and fears, with her head filled with half-remembered dreams. But, like any other 13-year-old, Rosa needs an independent life. Daringly beginning an online friend­ship, Rosa brings dangerous attention to herself, unleashing dark family secrets as she does so - but also setting herself joyfully free. Contemporary life and the spirit world are seamlessly interwoven in this skilful and poignant story about friendship, family and self-belief.


On the Saturday morning, I woke to my smartphone buzzing like a crazy bee on the bedside table.
And for the rest of the day, the phone didn't stop buzzing. Life really does happen on social media.

I've embedded some tweets below to give a taste of what my day has been like.

Now, people, take note that it's just the LONGlist. And also take note that the other long-listed books are absolutely fabulous, I'm just happy to be one of them.

Thank you for all the warmth and love you've pinged my way.


If you're a young person who likes writing book reviews, you MUST enter the Guardian Young Critic's Competition. Good luck!

The Strange Voice in the Woods by Candy, Mabel and Kathleen

June 25, 2014 by 
Every year I go camping with a group of friends from my daughter's primary school days.

No, I'm not keen on sneezing in a field, carrying my dishes to a tap to be washed and walking in the dark of night to an outside loo in the middle of a field with scary shadows everywhere. But I am keen on my friends. So I try to go -- though sometimes, I don't sleep over because I'm not camperly like that.

This year, I was just a little bit broken (ankle problems) and I couldn't chase Kathleen and Mabel round and round and round the camp as I normally do. So I persuaded them to make a story with me. Here it is, scanned from my sketchbook, complete with all the smudges.


One day, two girls were walking in the woods when they heard a strange voice.
"HELLO, GIRLS!" the voice said.

The "Hello Girls" part has to be read in a sheep like voice. Mabel did the big writing at the top but the terrible handwriting is mine. Mabel and Kathleen each drew their own girls. At this point, I just wanted to scare them with my sheep voice. 


"What was that?"

Mabel began to draw the trees, and that gave me a sneaky idea. They also drew a river, but we forgot about the river later on. 


Suddenly, big drops of water fell from the sky.
"Oh no!" the girls said.

It began to rain a little bit and so we decided that big drops of water would fall from the sky. At this point our drawing was interrupted by lots of mummies and daddies returning from a walk in the woods.  


And then the trees began to move.
"What's going on?" the girls said.

I don't remember why Mabel and Kathleen disappeared. Maybe they were climbing on a dad or two or eating watermelons. But they were gone for a while so I drew the characters on this page and got the story heading for its conclusion.  


"NOTHING!" the giant sheep said.

Heh heh! I told Mabel and Kathleen to draw the girls from far away. When I added the sheep they were SO surprised!

(But what about the giant drops of water? What were they? Ew.)


THE END


Why I'm just like Doctor Who

May 29, 2014 by 
News Flash (Well, more like a News Glimmer because it happened a few weeks ago): My second novel Shine has won the Crystal Kite Prize given by the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators in the British Isles and Ireland. It's my second Crystal Kite - Tall Story won it in 2012.  You can read about it here. Thank you so much to SCBWI for the honour. 

I wish!
When I go home to the Philippines to visit my family I feel a real affinity with Doctor Who.

I'm just like a time traveller. I visit one year, and a sister might have a new baby, a brother's daughter might have just started high school. I return again and all the young folk have turned into different people. The baby has turned into a walking, talking child and the niece has metamorphosed into a beautiful young woman.

Now ever since I saw Back to the Future back in the eighties, time travel stories have always been a delicious treat. But I'm not as blasé a time traveller as Doctor Who because I don't have the power to return to the intervening years that I've missed in the lives of the people that I love. And that's kind of lonely.

A couple of weeks ago, I received a lovely letter (yes! A real letter, in an envelope, with a stamp!) from a fifth grader in Virginia who wanted to tell me how much she enjoyed reading Tall Story. SD wrote:

I feel I can relate to Andi. I am half Filipino just like Andi. Like all Filipinos, I have a lot of family. Some of them I am really close to, some I haven't met, and also, I have a lot of people that are like my family, that I am not even related to. Sometimes, when I meet family members I get excited, but nervous. That is kind of how Andi was when she met Bernardo.

Thanks for writing, SD! I get such a buzz when I hear from readers. A letter like this reminds me of where I was when I was writing those chapters all those years ago. When I was creating the character of Andi, I was thinking of my own daughter, who is growing up here in London. My husband has a lovely family but there really aren't very many of them. Whenever we go home to the Philippines, my kids are overwhelmed by the number of relations they are suddenly surrounded by. I'll bet they feel exactly like you, excited but nervous.

My children with cousins galore (and that's not even everyone) . Photo: Randy Quimpo

They also feel very, very lucky. How cool is it to have family on both sides of the world!

Tall Story taught me a lesson. People sometimes judge people by things that don't matter, like the clothes that they wear. Bernardo was very tall and awkward. Everybody thought that he was strange just because he is eight feet tall, but he actually is very nice. I learned that it is really bad to judge people that you don't even know, and you should get to know somebody before you judge.

When I was younger, I was one of those awkward kids and I always felt it keenly when someone was unkind to me or said something uncomplimentary about my hair or my weight or how I dressed like a boy. I learned how to respond by being funny. As an old lady now, I don't seem to get that kind of treatment anymore, even though I'm more odd looking than ever. But I still remember keenly how it felt and relived it through Bernardo.

Thank you to S and to other children who've written me recently. Here's a random video to put a smile on your face (you might have seen it already but here it is anyway):

A Discussion Guide for Shine!!! Plus - Cool Young Bloggers and an Excellent Excellence Evening

May 16, 2014 by 
I made a discussion guide for Shine!



It's really interesting revisiting the story and thinking of the different elements that came together when I was writing the story. I felt a funny twinge in my chest, remembering some of the traumatic things in the story (and why I put them there). Hope you librarians, book groups and readers enjoy this one. Let me know if I can add something more!

COOL YOUNG BLOGGER

A few months ago, Google alerted me to a nice review of Tall Story. Turns out the blogger, Clara, is only 12 years old. I remember when I was 12, and I wasn't cool enough to run my own blog!

Anyway, Clara kindly did a Q&A on me. She was really interested in why I have that picture of myself dressed as Mrs Incredible. Apparently, her little brother actually LOOKS LIKE DASH in the Incredibles. That's just too incredible!

You can read the interview here. Do drop by and say hi to this brilliant young blogger.

EXCELLENT STUDENTS AT CARLTON ACADEMY

Winners of the 'All of School' Awards - left to right: Luke Want, Jed Brandreth, Cameron Richards,  moi, Maliha Falim, Kirsten Seery and Ashleigh Curwood. Photo: Louise Brimble

I spent a day at Carlton Academy in Nottingham last week, doing workshops, talking to kids and hanging out with their cool and very handsome headmaster, Rich Pierpoint.

After a day of presentations, it was wonderful to sit around a table in the library with a group of keen readers. We talked about what they liked to read and then I took them through a workshop where they planned out a story of their own. Their ideas were hilarious, unafraid, comedic and even sharply satirical. It was an inspiring time for me - I hope it was the same for them.

In the evening there was an Excellence evening celebrating the achievements of the students. When the young people marched in to the applause of their parents, I have to say I had a lump in my throat, thinking how proud the parents must have been! How wonderful it was to see these young people rewarded for their brilliant work. The parents positively glowed, and the teachers clearly admired and enjoyed the achievements of their charges -- afterwards it was a joy to mingle and learn their stories. I felt just as proud as everyone else! Every school should do this!​

Till next time!


Happy Mother's Day (but not in England)

May 11, 2014 by 
So today was Mother's Day - but not in England where I live. Still, my Facebook feed from all over the world is scrolling with Mother's Day greetings and celebrations. And one of my sons even texted: 'Happy Filipino Mother's Day, Mummy!' Which was lovely. Meanwhile, my daughter was suddenly in the mood to own a pet. Here's a comic about our conversation:



Happy Mother's Day to anywhere in the world where it's being celebrated!

Can I Keep a Comic Diary?

May 04, 2014 by 

So when my classmates from high school learn that I got a children's book published, they assume that I illustrated it. 

This is because I was the one who couldn't stop drawing in class, as Miss Valdivia, my stenography teacher will attest. Don't get me wrong - I don't think I'm an art for art's sake artist. And I'm not a fine illustrator with all the years of training and art understanding. What I used to draw were comics - just more storytelling, but with drawings! 

But I put my love of comics on hold a long time ago, when I decided to try to make a living. I do sneaky comics now and then, but only for myself. I just don't think I draw enough to be good. I do a lot of wistful comic reading of the blogs of friends who are compulsive comic makers like Sarah McIntyre and Amanda Lillywhite.

Well, some illustrator friends recently told me off. If you want to draw, just do it, said my friend Bridget. So from last Thursday, I've started a class on Drawing the Graphic Novel with Emily Haworth-Booth at the Princes Drawing School in Shoreditch (thanks for the recommendation, Bridget!). 

Attending my first class was so liberating. The main thing I took away was: just draw and stop worrying about getting it wrong. Just DRAW! It is so liberating ... but can I keep it up?

So I think I'm going to have a go at keeping a comic diary. Here's my entry from yesterday, about waking up with a sore ankle. I'll tell you what: it didn't take me very long ... and it made me very happy. And drawing makes my brain think about my writing in a different way. Hey, this might be a good thing.


Click on the image to enlarge it.

How to Get Published in Children's Fiction

April 02, 2014 by 
This is just a heads up about a presentation I'm doing aimed at anyone with the burning desire to get published. I will talk about the lessons I've learned in the journey to becoming a published author and I'll be giving top tips on how to maximise your chances of getting published.


10am to 11am
Friday
11 April 2014
London Metropolitan Archives
Spring Arts Festival


Here's a map to the LMA:



And here's a blurb about my talk!

Written a children’s book but not sure how to get it published?
It took Candy Gourlay nine years of rejection to get published -- but it was worth it. Her first novel Tall Story won the Crystal Kite Prize for Europe, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for 13 prizes including the Waterstones Prize, the Blue Peter and the Branford Boase. Come and find out about Candy's long journey to publication and the many lessons she learned along the way. Candy will give you top tips on how to survive an adventure that is definitely not for the faint hearted. Meanwhile, Nicky Potter, publicist at Frances Lincoln, will give you an insight into the publishers point of view. Take the opportunity ask Candy and Nicky your burning questions.

FREE ENTRY FOR SCBWI MEMBERS

I've negotiated free entry to most of the events for members of SCBWI (Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators). The other sessions include readings, a workshop on writing for the web, authors and sessions for children. Note: Not included in the freebee are the Dragon's Ink Workshop which is £10 and the craft workshop on how to make your own homemade book which costs £15. For £15 you can also book a half hour session with a literary agent. I think there're two slots still available.

I am told the London Metropolitan Archives is an amazing place - it stores more than 100km of historical documents, letters, maps and photographs. The first document archived was written in 1067 just after the Norman invasion, a charter from William the Conqueror outlining how he was going to deal with his new possession. You can watch a video about the archive here. Sounds like it's a must-go for authors!

IMPORTANT: Please do not book on Eventbrite if you plan to take advantage of the Festival deal for SCBWI. Turn up with your SCBWI member's card and you will be welcome to attend an event as long as there are spaces. If you'd like to pre-book your place to make sure, email Maureen Roberts.


Writer's Block? Just Write Rubbish

March 31, 2014 by 

If you can't see the video, view The Writer's Block by KickThePJ here


My charming and beautiful daughter took time off from her GCSE tower to show me this video today.

Kick the PJ is one of those YouTube stars who make fab short films that make me wish I was still young enough to spend more time with YouTube. If you like this, do go forth and subscribe.

The message is: if you're blocked, just write rubbish!

I totally agree.

You don't have to write perfect prose all the time. My friend Jane McLoughlin (who wrote the amazing At Yellow Lake), sometimes jokes that she's writing but she hasn't written the long words yet.

I know exactly what she means. Writing gets done only by writing, but the words you are laying down don't have to be right the first time.

And if you're finding it hard? Just write anything.

Then those voices whispering in your ear ... you know, the ones that say, 'You can't write!' 'Your publisher is BLIND!' 'YOU HAVE NO TALENT!' -- yup, those voices *shudder* ... well, if you just write rubbish, they will eventually get bored and go away.

And when they go away, huzzah!

The words are sure to come.



Read my previous posts:

Readers Who WriteI love LibrariesBeast QuestStory is not colour blind
The Writer is You
Whoever You Are		Dear Candy Gourlay
Letters from
Ellis Guilford School		Multicultural is about
inclusion not
difference		Origami Fan Mail
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