In my creative and non-fiction writing classes there are always people who want to write stories about animals. Here’s a contest for you.
The Angel Animals Network 2010 True Story Contest is now accepting submissions of true stories of animals helping children, parents, and families deal with difficult situations and circumstances. Animals featured can be dogs, cats, horses, gerbils, rabbits, ferrets, or any house pet or animal in nature. They can be family pets or therapy, assistance, or service animals.
The stories can be written by parents or guardians of children or by the children or teens themselves. Stories can also be written by adults who recall a special animal from childhood or teen years who helped them through a tough period.
This contest hopes to find real-life stories that demonstrate animals comforting and helping to heal children during everyday ups and downs or traumatic events such as divorce or other losses. The stories can depict how children and teens de-stress with animals while learning valuable life lessons. The deadline is 15 September 2010. For more details visit Angel Animals.
Whether we like it or not, stories in the form of books and broadcast programmes are commercial products. This crossover between art and commerce is perhaps most evident in children’s stories and their subsequent product ‘spin-offs’. As writers we need to be aware of what those spin-offs may be and whether or not we are comfortable being used to flog them to children. The Crafty Writer asked Dr Dan Acuff, a marketing consultant for companies such as Nickelodeon, Disney, Hallmark, Warner Bros., Scholastic and Lucas-Speilberg, what a writer needs to consider.
Continue reading ‘Commercial exploitation of children’s books’
Fantasy is probably the most popular of all children’s genres; however much of it is still read and enjoyed by adult readers. One only has to look at the highly successful Harry Potter series to see how much influence this type of writing has. But as a writer you need to be aware of a few facts and conventions of the genre before trying your hand at writing fantasy.
Image courtesy of ginieland Continue reading ‘Writing Fantasy Fiction’
I’ve just come across a website that features interviews with authors. This one caught my attention immediately as it is an email conversation between Markus Zusak, whose book The Book Thief was recently featured in our Book Club, and non-fiction history writer Susan Campbell Bartoletti, author of Hitler Youth. It makes fascinating reading into the respective processes and world-views of two very different authors: one a middle-aged American woman (sorry Susan!) and the other a young Australian man. Continue reading ‘Writers in conversation’
Now that I’ve wiped the tears from my eyes, I can finally put together a post on this beautiful book: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
For those of you new to the Book Club, we discuss best-selling novels from a writer’s perspective to see what makes them tick. As in the last Book Club discussion, I’ll pose some questions under the following headings:
Continue reading ‘Book Club: The Book Thief’
Children’s books are often the battle ground of religious zealots with many Christians boycotting the likes of JK Rowling and Philip Pulman. In this article, on veitchsmith.com, I contend that spiritual themes can be found in the most unlikely of places.
I’ve just finished reading Clay by David Almond. This is another gem by an award-winning author. (See my article on What Makes A Good Children’s Book for more on Almond’s work). Although it’s aimed at the YA market, it’s one of Almond’s most adult books and, like Pulman’s Dark Materials, is sure to find a crossover market. Continue reading ‘Young Adult vs Adult fiction. Where’s the line?’
