SLUSH PILE CHALLENGE Winner, Marnie Forbes Eldridge

Marnie Forbes Eldridge

Marnie Forbes Eldridge, winner of the January 2024 Slush Pile Challenge, tells us 

why she entered the competition and about her experience of discussing her submission 

with Katie Blagden of The Bright Agency.

 

The January brief was:

 

“I’d love to see submissions from traditionally underrepresented groups, including BIPOC, queer, neurodiverse, disabled and working-class authors and author-illustrators. I’m looking for entries from chapter books right up to YA, including fiction and graphic novels.

 

Please submit in ONE DOCUMENT:

• A logline

 

• A short synopsis

 

• About you

 

• First three chapters

 

Please only submit it your manuscript is complete – not WIP I’m afraid!”

 

 

Katie stated: "The winner is CODE IN THE CASTLE by Marjorie (Marnie) Forbes Eldridge. I found the premise and set up for this one instantly compelling and the writing really drew me into the mystery. The settings were really well drawn and the characters felt fully fleshed out and intriguing. I also really loved the code-breaking elements in the story as I think this will really appeal to kids who like interactive elements in stories."

 

 

Marnie:

 

2023 was a strange and painful year. My father died in early January and then my daughter’s school started the process for assessment into ADHD. The more I read about the condition the more I realised I was what was termed ‘neurodivergent’ – it explained so many challenges I had incurred over the years but also my abundant creative way of thinking and making, also how I work incredibly well with neurodiverse young people. It was hard and confusing adding to the grief and turmoil I was in. 

Then the slush pile challenge came around for January and I thought I might as well go for it and see what happens. I might as well admit what I was, (most people always knew this). I might as well try to change the pain of 2023.

 

I decided to pitch and put forward the first three chapters of a manuscript I had put away, Code in the Castle. I dusted it down and looked again at the story and I realised that Mikey – the main character – was very like me as a child and neurodivergent. 

It’s a bit Famous Five meets Enola Holmes and perfect for fans of the Adventures on Trains series. I made a few tweaks and thought 'go for it'. I was over the moon to win the challenge and utterly surprised. It was as if there was a light in a very difficult dark cave giving me hope. I clung to it and didn’t let on that 2023 had been pants – she still doesn’t know.

 

Katie was wonderful from the first time she reached out to me. We set up a meeting and I sent her the full manuscript. There was LBF and I was going on holiday so it wasn’t going to be straight away. We were to meet on the Monday after I returned from castles, moor and sea. The holiday finished with my family and we drove home with an impromptu stop off at Castle Drogo on Dartmoor – it was one of the inspirations for Code in the Castle – and a perfect way to end the holiday and prepare for my 1 to 1.

 

Isn’t it funny how you end up getting all worked up about something and excited and then for bad things to happen the night before? Well, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but my youngest daughter was rushed to hospital the night before my 1 to 1. My husband took her, as he knew I wanted desperately to meet Katie and I needed to look after our other daughter. 

I couldn’t sleep, I was worried about my daughter, got messages throughout the night. The next day, after checking on the patient and doing the school run, I was a bit more floppy than normal. But Katie was BRILLIANT. She was honest, open and transparent – she even offered to postpone our meeting due to what had happened.

 

We talked about the book, the fact it was ready, that I had other ideas, other WIPs, different age groups and different genres. Katie wanted to know about them. She was honest with me and said she had an author like me on her books so wasn’t convinced she was the best agent for me but she would see what else I was working on and the other ideas. Katie suggested another link for my book, other agents and said I should ‘get it out there’. 

It was the encouragement I needed. It was the support and kindness I had been hoping for. I then put most of my ideas down on paper and wrote a few lines about them and I realised I did have lots of creations sparking and I am ready for the ‘right’ agent.

 

I think in different ways when I process the world and it settles with me in a neurodivergent capacity. I don’t know what that is. I have always been hard on myself, (those of you who know me will attest to that), and 2023 was horrid. But thank you SCBWI for the chance to try and change things. Thank you Katie Blagden for the opportunity to chat and see that there are loads of kind and caring routes through this crazy world of writing. I tried and now will keep trying and writing and playing.

 

A special thanks to Katie Blagden of The Bright Literary Agency for setting the competition, judging it and providing such valuable feedback to Marnie. 

 

*Header image: Ell Rose and Tita Berredo

Photo: Marnie Forbes Eldridge

 

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Elaine Cline has been a SCBWI member for over eight years and loves to write picture books, middle-grade and teen books. She lives by the sea and has one dog. Elaine is a member of the Words & Pictures editorial team, managing The Slush Pile Challenge.

Her X (formerly twitter) handle: elaineccline