AFTER THE WHIRLWIND Nishani Reed

  

Now that the whirling debut dust has settled, Lui Sit invites Nishani Reed 
to talk about what she's learnt since becoming a published author.


Hello PB writers and enthusiasts! It’s been a year since Nabil Steals a Penguin was published and I’ve been having so much fun exploring the bizarre world of writing picture books for publication.
 

It’s been a bit like being invited to a lovely tea party where everyone is having the best time, but after a while you start to notice that people are pouring tea into each other’s handbags and eating cake out of the teapots. What I mean is that – compared to say, an office job – nothing actually makes any sense.   


Nishani and her debut PB, Nabil steals a Penguin


For example, picture book stories only work for publishers if they feel “fresh” but also “familiar”. Aren’t these opposite things? Yes they are. It doesn’t matter. The job is to find a way to write something completely original but also tried and tested.


No-one wants to be bored, obviously, so originality is key, but don’t try to reinvent the wheel either: picture books are meant to feel timeless rather than trend-led. Except do also be aware of the trends because it’s good to know what everyone’s interested in reading, but mostly so you can avoid any of that because picture books publish two years ahead and what’s trendy now will be old hat by then.


So what do you do? It’s a mystery. Hey, why not try writing a mystery? Who doesn’t love those?


And then there’s the illustrations. These have nothing to do with you because you’re the writer, and if the publisher likes what you’ve written they’ll choose the illustrator themselves. But they won’t buy the story if the illustrations won’t work.


But wait… there are no illustrations yet so how do they know? The answer seems to be that you have to write the words as if the pictures already exist in some parallel universe. Like, you have to really fall in love with your own pretend illustrations whilst also accepting that they’re irrelevant.


That enables (via mystical energies) the acquiring editor to read the words with a different set of imaginary images in mind. And ultimately the illustrator will go in a third direction that everybody will agree brings the story to life in a way that nobody had imagined. But if you hadn’t spent a lot of time imagining the irrelevant illustrations at the outset, the book wouldn’t exist.


What does any of this mean? Who knows?


In a bookshop with Nabil Steals a Penguin


It’s also essential, I’ve learnt, to treat your writing like your most important job even though (unusually for jobs) actual money rarely appears. That might sound off-putting what with the cost of living being on the high side, but don’t let common sense stop you from working really hard at it anyway.


I suggest coping with this by finding a different reason to do it. For example, you might notice the appalling lack of authentic voices in picture books and decide to do something about it. Or maybe you just need to write a story about penguins because you like penguins a lot. Either way, it really is a great job provided that you have another source of income for at least the first ten years.


There are two options here: marry an earl (or equivalent) or have a day job that you frantically juggle but never talk about. Actually, never talk about any of this. It’s not nice at tea parties, and the pig in a beret opposite you would love you to try his scones. So fluffy!



Delivering a school assembly


Once Nabil Steals a Penguin was published, I realised another strange thing: if you write books for children, you will also be expected to have the skillset of an experienced teacher.


Don’t worry about the fact that you only know how to communicate through the written word in the silence of your home office. That’s not important. You’ll soon be standing in front of a school assembly, gearing up to entertain literally hundreds of children for 45 minutes, and wondering how you allowed this to happen.


I have no memories of my first event at all: I blacked out for the entire time I was on stage and only learned afterwards that it had gone well. Then I went to a local café and spent a whole hour sipping tea and trembling. But amazingly, a year on, the fear of public speaking that I’ve had for my entire life has disappeared and now school visits are my favourite part. Curiouser and curiouser!



Inspiring future readers


But here’s the weirdest thing of all. Picture book magic is real! If you push through all the strange and sometimes frustrating stages of publication without losing your sense of humour and/or mind, what follows afterwards is a thing of wonder.


Your story – the one you imagined the pictures for when it was nothing more than typed words – becomes a book, and that book might become a small part of a childhood full of happy classrooms and cosy bedtimes, which might begin a lifelong love of reading.


I’m not a sentimental person and so I wasn’t prepared for how many times this year I would cry happy tears. Little ones enjoy my story, and even know it off by heart, and no office job can offer that kind of deep joy.


So keep going with your publication journey, even though it is a long meander through a confusing world. None of it will make any sense, but magic never does. See you at the tea party!
 

Instagram:@nishanireed

Website: www.nishanireed.com


*Header image: Ell Rose and Tita Berredo
*Photos courtesy of Nishani Reed


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Lui Sit writes MG, non-fiction, adult short stories, and memoirs. Her debut MG – Land of the Last Wildcat – is being published by Macmillan Children's Books in May 2025. She is agented by Becky Bagnell of Lindsay Literary Agency. Find her on her websiteInstagram or Threads
 
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Ell Rose is the Illustration Features Editor of Words & Pictures. Find their work at www.fourfooteleven.com. Follow them on Instagram and X.
Contact them at: illustrators@britishscbwi.org

Tita Berredo is the Illustrator Coordinator of SCBWI British Isles and the Art Director of Words & Pictures. Follow her on Instagram and X or www.titaberredo.com.
Contact her at: illuscoordinator@britishscbwi.org
 
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1 comment:

  1. This is so heart warming. Yes the journey of writing picture books is mysteriously long but the words you used and your joy and contentement gives heart. Thank you!

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