Undiscovered Voices: What a Discovery!
So how did the concept come into existence? And what does the new selection of writers think about their success?
Here is the lowdown from Sara O’Connor of Working Partners and one of the brains behind Undiscovered Voices:
Who came up with the idea?
It was the genius Sara Grant’s idea with a bit of input from me.
Does every submission to the competition make it in front of the professional panel? If not how do you decide which ones do?
Every submission is given careful consideration and read by at least two industry professionals. The long list is read by the entire panel.
How do you pick the panel?
We have lots of editors and agents keen to be on the panel and prefer to work with people who have signed up previous Undiscovered Voices authors.
What kind of feedback have you had from other Publishers and Agents on Undiscovered Voices?
Everyone is incredibly impressed at the standard set by the 2008 anthology and really excited about the quality of 2010. The energy at the launch party, with over 40 agents and editors in attendance was quite a buzz!
When will the next competition be launched?
There is nothing official yet for a third anthology, except that at the launch party the MD of Working Partners, the project’s sponsor, said he was looking forward to the next book. If it does all go ahead, we’ll be opening for submissions in 2011 with the book coming out in 2012. Copies of the new Undiscovered Voices anthology can be purchased at http.www.undiscoveredvoices. com/home via Paypal. A copy costs £5 with postage included.
Let’s meet some of the winners of 2010!
Abbie Todd
How long have you been writing?
A long time! My first piece of work was published when I was 9.
What encouraged you to start writing in the first place?
I enjoyed it and found that I was good at it. I had a wonderful teacher at primary school who really encouraged me to pursue my writing.
What made you write for children?
When I was 16 I (grudgingly) took a job in a children’s bookshop – I’d applied to work in the grown-up bookshop, but they saw on my CV that I’d worked with children so I ended up there. I can remember absolutely falling in love with children’s books all over again – we could borrow what we wanted, so the whole shop was available for me to read. Before then, my short stories had been aimed at adults (even though I was barely an adult myself). Afterwards there was never any question who I would write for.
How did you feel when you were told that you had won Undiscovered Voices?
Ecstatic, but if I’m honest, also a little scared. When I won I had 4000 words of polished writing and 66,000 words of very rough stuff. I couldn’t have predicted the interest that would follow, but knew I’d have to do something to get it into shape.
Tell us a little bit about your entry?
Blinding Darkness is a futuristic fantasy for teenagers. Amber lives in a world dominated by an elitist race called the Alaimsir, who are obsessed with beauty. They kidnap those perfect enough to join them, and try to eliminate everyone else. Amber’s people are divided: living on an island until it is destroyed, then moving to the next. When Amber’s home is attacked, she loses her father and sister in the chaos of the escape. Travelling with another family she evades Alaimsir’s attacks and hopes to become reunited with her family.
What happens next?
I’ve signed with an Agent now and we’re working on a re-write. The second draft is overdue at the moment so I’ve beavering away at it on weekends and lunch breaks, trying to incorporate all the comments. After that, she’ll be sending it out into the wide world, and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed very tightly!
Claire O’Brien
How long have you been writing? Always. As a child I copied from books, mostly my animal encyclopaedia; for hours and hours, but I didn’t start creating my own stories until about 20 years ago when I began working with children. What encouraged you to start writing in the first place? Miss Fox in class six at Primary School regularly sat me at a desk in the corner on my own. She thought she was punishing me for various behaviours but I discovered that I loved the solitude and the movement of my pencil on paper. Thank you Miss Fox! What made you write for children? I used to be an infant teacher. Reading and rereading picture books and seeing the uninhibited delight children had in them must have been part of it. The characters who come to me when I am dreaming up a story are usually young; sometimes very young and sometimes teens. My voice just sits more happily there. How did you feel when you were told that you had won Undiscovered Voices? A bit numb, a bit giddy and I knew that 20 years of hard work and getting good at my craft was finally starting to bear fruit. I will be eternally grateful to the Saras for their energy and the opportunity they gave me. They will be forever in my prayers.
Tell us a little bit about your entry?
My main character, Cordelia Codd, has plenty of issues. She’s twelve years old and her dad has just run off with another woman. Her mum is having a bit of a breakdown and school is the usual dramatic pre-teen muddle. Cordelia is fiery, ambitious, and not always nice but has the capacity to self-reflect and take responsibility for her situations. She develops the ability, with encouragement from friends, to live bravely. Most of my writing is about how when we live bravely we can take control of our destiny.
What happens next?
I now have a fantastic agent, Alice Williams at David Higham and a 2 book deal with Orchard. Not Just the Blues is scheduled for publication in early Summer 2011 and Cordelia’s second adventure, which is well underway, will be out early 2012.
Lisa Smith
How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing all my life, ever since I can remember. I just did it, it seemed impossible not to.
What made you write for children?
Writing for children crept up on me because my main characters always seemed to be children and eventually I just gave up trying to write for adults.
How did you feel when you were told that you had won Undiscovered Voices?
When I won a place in Undiscovered Voices it felt like fate had given me a big sloppy kiss.
Tell us a little bit about your entry?
My entry, Slugs in the Toilet, is supposed to be good fun – it’s a school story with a difference because the hero, Alvin, is the only human in a school of aliens.
What happens next?
At the moment I’m waiting for a decision from three editors, and I have the next book in the series ready, all about troublesome space-nits, just in case anyone wants it!
Yona Wiseman
How long have you been writing? As I grew up I had nearly every typical ambition going – vet, policewoman, teacher, doctor, ambulance driver, spy, astronaut, traveller, architect… Eventually I realised there were only two ways I could do them all – write or act. No decision to make. I was already a writer.
What encouraged you to start writing in the first place?
I have always written – stories, little books, newspapers, magazines, websites… I never grew out of reading books for children because I never grew out of delighting in seeing the world through a child’s eyes. Likewise I never ‘matured’ into writing books for grown ups.
What made you write for children?
The first book I tried to get published took me eight years to complete and didn’t make the cut in the first Undiscovered Voices competition. I began my second, Becoming Invisible, almost immediately – inspired by the two years I had just spent living and teaching in Peru. Lima is a city of contrasts; I worked with some of its most privileged children in the school and some of its most disadvantaged in a street clinic on the other side of the city. Striking in their similarities more than their differences, all of them were characters who left a lasting impression.
How did you feel when you were told that you had won Undiscovered Voices?
Winning the competition was like being given permission to write. As if the judges – real live agents and editors – were saying “Yep you really can do it, you’re not kidding yourself, keep at it!”
Tell us a little bit about your entry?
I now knew my next book would be about a boy who has to leave his life of privilege and ends up on the streets. Once the characters had their theme and setting they were off – scrapping on the streets, stealing dune buggies, tip boarding, negotiating labyrinths, battling larger than life villains, creating legends, seeking heroes and rescuing damsels (and children) in distress. The book is written in the form of journal entries from the main character, the old friends who try to find him and the new friends he makes on the way. Becoming Invisible was ready within two years, in time for the second Undiscovered Voices competition. Blur’s ‘The Universal’ (well here’s your lucky day…) was my theme song for last summer and my lucky day came on my nephew’s 5th birthday. The wonderful SCBWI Saras called with the good news that I had been selected for the 2010 anthology and as I tried to respond calmly, my whole family waited and wondered why I was dancing about the room.
What happens next?
So I am keeping at it. Becoming Invisible is currently sitting on the desks of two editors and the threads of my next young adult book are coming together. Destiny is at this very moment preparing to steal free will from all of humanity. Whether or not she succeeds depends entirely on six teenagers and who they fall in love with…
Dave Cousins
How long have you been writing?
I’ve always found that if anything really captured my imagination, I would want to have a go at it myself. I was obsessed with space travel as a kid, so I wrote to NASA asking how I could become an astronaut. To my delight they wrote back – even if they didn’t offer me a job! When I saw the Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night, I decided that being in a band looked like fun, which was how I ended up spending ten years touring and recording and was nearly famous! It was the same with writing – I loved stories, plays and films – so it seemed natural to try and write my own.
What encouraged you to start writing in the first place?
The first thing I remember attempting aged ten, was a script for an episode of Fawlty Towers. I didn’t get past the first few pages, but that didn’t matter. I wrote off and on for years, purely for the joy of making up stories. When I was in the band, I would often spend the long hours on the motorway in the back of the van, scribbling. Later, I made picture books for my children, then eventually decided to see if I could write anything as good as the books I loved to read. It took many years before I was happy enough to send something out, by which time I had three completed novels and half a dozen abandoned manuscripts in boxes under the bed. My first real success was The Floodlight Man, a short story broadcast on BBC Radio Five Live, read by me!
What made you write for children?
Those are the stories that arrive on the page – though I suspect I’m still thirteen in my head! I remember certain books being really important to me when I was growing up. It’s a time when books, music and films can have a huge impact on the way you see the world and start to discover your place in it. I read all the Robert Westall I could get my hands on, and I was a big fan of Jan Mark, Susan Cooper and Robert Cormier. I think some of the best books on the shelves today are those written for teenagers. Authors like Siobhan Dowd, Mal Peet, Kevin Brooks, Catherine Forde and Patrick Ness to name just a few – have produced some superbly written, captivating and thought provoking novels. It’s a tough crowd – kids won’t stand for self-indulgent ramblings about one-dimensional characters with no story to tell!
How did you feel when you were told that you had won Undiscovered Voices?
Surprised and delighted! I was at work when the call came through from Sara at SCBWI, telling me I had been selected for the 2010 Edition of Undiscovered Voices. I hadn’t expected to hear so soon and certainly didn’t think I’d win. It didn’t really sink in until the emails from agents and editors started coming through.
Tell us a little bit about your entry
Fifteen Days without a Head grew out of an incident I witnessed in a pub one afternoon: a very drunk woman arguing with a stranger at the next table – much to the embarrassment of her two young sons. It made me wonder what life was like for those two boys, what would happen when they got home. The story is told by Fifteen-year-old Laurence Roach. He longs for a normal life – but it’s not easy when your mum is a depressed alcoholic, and your six-year-old brother thinks he’s a dog. When Mum fails to come home one night, Laurence tells nobody, terrified the boys will be taken into care if anyone finds out. Instead, he attempts to keep up the pretence that Mum is still around: dressing up in her clothes to trick the neighbours and spinning an increasingly complicated tangle of lies. After two weeks on their own, running out of food and money, and with suspicious adults closing in, Laurence finally discovers what happened to his mother. And that’s when the trouble really starts … A nail-biting thriller, following the brothers through some hilarious, surreal moments during their heartbreaking journey, Fifteen Days without a Head is a tender, honest story about family, forgiveness and hope.
What happens next?
I’m currently working on final revisions for Fifteen Days without a Head prior to sending the manuscript out to editors. It’s almost a year to the day that I sent in my submission for the competition, and my life as a writer has changed dramatically in that time. I now have an agent – probably the best agent in the world! Plus, I have been fortunate enough to meet and talk to many other writers, editors and industry people, all of whom have been very welcoming and helpful. Winning Undiscovered Voices has been a fantastic experience and fingers crossed this is just the beginning. In the meantime I’ll keep writing and making up stories, while I wait to find out what happens next!
Nick Cross
How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing seriously (i.e. children’s novels) for about seven years. But before that, I wrote all sorts of stuff – scripts for the University film society, a comedy fanzine called Cheesecrank, a movie script about a time-travelling Pope and I even had a regular satire column on a home cinema website (now there’s a niche!).
What encouraged you to start writing in the first place?
I was the miserable “smart kid” at school, and it wasn’t until I got into sixth form that I really started to come out of my shell and enjoy myself. I discovered that I could be funny and suddenly I felt like I’d missed years of my true vocation, which was being the “class clown”. I was taking English Literature A Level and the whole experience of reading books and discussing them inspired me in so many ways. My first notable creation was a satirical pamphlet entitled “The Sylvia Plath Guide to Gas Cookers”. That pretty much set the tone for all my future work.
What made you write for children?
Like many people, I started writing for children pretty much by accident. I had an idea for a Young Adult novel and it all spiralled into madness from there! After a while I realised that children’s books and children’s writers were so much less pretentious, so much more “real” than most adult novels and authors. I like the story-driven nature of children’s fiction and the freedom from tight genre restrictions.
How did you feel when you were told that you had won Undiscovered Voices?
Weirdly I wasn’t that surprised. Call it ignorance or arrogance, but I’d had a feeling all along that I was going to be one of the winners. This is not the way it usually works for me at all, as I’m quite a pessimistic person. I think I just had an unbreakable confidence in the book and that obviously carried through into my submission. I will say that I’ve had a devil of a time since, trying to make the rest of the novel match up to the quality of those first three chapters!
Tell us a little bit about your entry
Back from the Dead is a comedy horror novel aimed at 9 – 12 year olds. A thirteen year old boy wakes up to find himself captive in a basement laboratory. He doesn’t remember where or who he is, but it quickly becomes clear that he used to be a zombie. Like all good thirteen year old boys, he knows precisely what a zombie apocalypse looks like so he’s rather disappointed to discover that life is still carrying on as normal. As he comes to terms with this new environment he finds out that the scientist who cured him isn’t exactly sanctioned by the government and that his parents are also zombies – running wild on the Yorkshire Moors and eating sheep. Thrown into the eye of a very English storm, Griff Lawford, has to cope with a family he didn’t want, the search for his real parents and the daily struggle of not turning back into a zombie.
What happens next?
I’m just coming out of a really intense period of working on the book with my fabulous agent (Jenny Savill of Andrew Nurnberg Associates), but we’re not going to submit it to editors until it’s absolutely ready. I’ve had a fantastic response from the industry to the extract in the anthology, so I’m cautiously hopeful of placing the book with a publisher. At the end of the day it isn’t just about contacts or blogging or the buzz that you create – the book has to be as close to perfect as you can get it. You can read all about my journey towards publication on my blog – www.whoatemybrain.com
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