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Sally Murphy, Australian author

An Interview with Robyn Opie, Children’s Author

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Last week I reviewed Black Baron, by Robyn Opie for Aussiereviews. You can read my review here.
Today, Robyn drops by for a chat about Black Baron and about writing for children in general.

Thanks for taking the time to drop in, Robyn

What led you to write Black Baron? What inspired a story about a cockroach?

I wanted to write a funny story for boys. I thought about things boys liked and came up with the idea of bugs. I wanted my story to be different and original, so I ignored the more common creepy crawlies such as spiders and ants. After further thought, I decided on cockroaches and then cockroach racing. The idea appealed to me and I hoped that, if it appealed to me, it would appeal to others. As I wrote the story, I became very fond of Black Baron. He’s a champion racing cockroach! When I do author visits to schools, it’s funny to see the children’s reaction to my love of a cockroach. I’m sure they think I’m mad. But Black Baron is so cute!

Black Baron is part of Walker Books’ new Lightning Strikes series. Can you tell us about the series?

Lightning Strikes are books for 9 to 14 year olds, though readers of any age will enjoy them. The stories are funny, fast-paced and full of action. The presentation is great too. The covers are wonderful – bright and eye-catching. Booksellers and reviewers are saying great things about the series. Just the other day, a bookseller was commenting on Black Baron, saying that it’s the sort of book children, boys in particular, will be happy to carry around and be seen reading. With peer pressure, that’s an important consideration. I know the team at Walker Books put a lot of time and effort into creating the series and they’ve done a marvellous job. The series is doing well. Black Baron sold out a first print run in less than five months and has been reprinted. It’s also being published by Walker Books UK in May 2009. Go Black Baron!

Did you write Black Baron especially for the series? Does tailoring to a series affect the way you approach a story?

No, I wrote Black Baron before the series existed. I sent it to Walker Books and it was rejected because it was too short. At the time, they didn’t publish books of that length, around 10,000 words. A few months later, I received an email from Walker Books, telling me that they were doing market research in regards to producing a new series of books approximately 10,000 words in length and asking if I’d be interested in resubmitting Black Baron. I did, of course, and it was one of the first books published in the new Lightning Strikes series. I had to wait for Walker Books to do all the market research, design and whatever else goes into deciding on a new series. But it was worth the wait because now Black Baron is racing away.
Yes, I think tailoring to a series can affect the way you approach a story. For starters, you know the book needs to fit in a certain framework governed by word length, age of reader, language and style. I’m conscious of it as I’m writing but I try to prevent it affecting the story. I think it’s best to write your story first, to let it come out without any constraints in regards to market and/or series. The character and his/her story are the most important thing and should be the emphasis of your writing. Black Baron worked well because I wrote the story I wanted to write and did the best job I could do. Then, once your story is written, you can do any tailoring for the market or a series during the editing stage. This way, you can save several versions of a manuscript too. You never know, you might want to come back to the original draft one day. I didn’t need to do any tailoring or rewriting with Black Baron. The story seemed to be a perfect match for the Lightning Strikes series. All of the other authors I’ve spoken to with books in the series mentioned rewriting their stories before Walker Books accepted them for publication. This is quite common. I feel very lucky with Black Baron. Then again, he is a champ!

Most published writers know that one of the hardest bits about having a book published is the promotion. What have you done to promote Black Baron?

To be honest, I haven’t done a lot. I’ve been rather busy. I hope to do more promotion or should I say – continuing promotion. I’ve uploaded the cover and blurb to my website and blog, with a link to Black Baron‘s page on the Walker Books Australia website. I’ve promoted it through my online newsletter, available through my website, and through the Australian Writing Academy. I conduct a Writing for Children course through the Academy. I’m involved with the SA Writers’ Centre and always put my name down for author participation in their great event called Young Writers’ Night, which is conducted three times a year at different venues, City, North and South. A bookseller sells authors’ books at each event and Black Baron is one of my books available for sale. I’m registered with a booking agent for Book Week and any other event. During my author visits, I always promote Black Baron. I volunteer for all author events and recently did an online author visit to schools through the Dept of Education. Again, I talked about Black Baron.

Having any book published is a big achievement, and you can be proud of this book. What, for you, is the best part of having a book published?

Thanks, Sally. The best part is seeing and holding my new book. You’ve probably guessed by now that Black Baron is one of my favourites so I’m extra thrilled to be holding and showing off this baby. It was great going through the process of publication with Walker Books. They’re great to work with. It was fun seeing the minor edits Walker Books made to my original manuscript, then to create text types (images) for the book, then to see the cover, then to see the proofs. It was all very exciting and I appreciate the fact that Walker Books included me in every stage. In some ways, it can be a let down when the book is finally published. Getting the book ready was an ongoing wonderful experience, now it’s over. But all this work is for one thing – to produce a published book. Actually holding Black Baron in my hands is the best experience.

And is there a worst part about being an author?

Yes, most definitely. It’s all those rejections from publishers. I bet you expected me to say that! People are often surprised to learn that I have stories rejected considering I’m the published author of more than 70 books. But believe me I have stories rejected all the time. It’s difficult when we spend so much time writing a story to have it rejected by a publisher or publishers. Naturally, I think my stories are great and publishable when I submit them to publishers or else I wouldn’t submit them. It’s disappointing when the stories are rejected for one reason or another. Nowadays, it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with my stories or writing but more to do with sales and marketing. Dollars! It seems that every writer has tales of rejection. The fact that they become published writers with published books has a lot to do with persistence – never giving up. Sorry publishers but I’m not giving up either. We have to learn from these rejections, though it’s common for publishers to give absolutely no reason for a rejection. I believe that being rejected pushes us to become better writers and forces us to look for ways of improving those rejected stories. It’s not all bad. My book The Pony Game was rejected several times before Lothian Books published it. Black Baron was also rejected. Heaven forbid!

Finally, what next for Robyn Opie?

At the moment, I’m finishing three rewrites for Era Publications. Then I’d like to do more work on some of my rejected manuscripts. But my writing has taken a different and somewhat unexpected direction into film and TV. Last year, my partner Rob Parnell and I wrote a screenplay for an Australian feature film based on one of my books. We sent it out to seven Australian producers and four wanted to produce it. Were we surprised? You bet! So now we have a producer for our movie and we’ve applied to SA Film Corp for development finance to write a second draft. During a telephone conversation with the producer, he mentioned having a horror screenplay that needed rewriting and not being able to find a writer to do it. Well, it just happens that Rob’s specialty is horror. So we offered to read the screenplay. It’s a great idea but we had to agree with the producer, the screenplay didn’t work and couldn’t be made into a movie. We reworked the entire story and characters to come up with a workable scenario. To cut a long story short, we now have two screenplays in development. We’re also discussing proposals with two other producers, in the hope of getting one or more new children’s TV programs into development. I’m not sure how much time I’ll find for those rejected manuscripts but writing children’s books is still very important to me.

Thanks so much for sharing with us, Robyn. You can visit Robyn online at www.robynopie.com

An Interview With Sally Odgers, Children’s Author

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I recently had the pleasure of reading Cranky Paws, by Darrel and Sally Odgers, and reviewing it for Aussiereviews. You can read that review here. Today we are lucky enough to have Sally Odgers, co author of the book, drop by for a chat.

Welcome, Sally.

Cranky Paws is the first in your new Pet Vet series. How many books are planned, and where did the idea for the series come from?

We have a contract for four Pet Vet stories. If these are successful, there might be more. (Jack Russell #10 is about to be published.)
The idea came when Scholastic approached us to write a series set in a vet clinic. The details were left up to us, so the set-up is entirely ours. At first we were a bit worried about keeping the series happy enough for children, as vet visits often mean bills and illness. After some discussion, we hit on the idea of using a dog for our protagonist. That way, we could avoid the details of drugs, procedures and bills, and concentrate on the characters and their stories.

For our narrator, we chose one of Jack Russell’s daughters. Trump was born to Jack and his friend Jill Russell, so we decided she should have elements of character from both parents. Like Jack, she is curious and loyal. Like Jill, she is sensible and loving. She doesn’t use puns as Jack does, as we wanted to differentiate the voices of the two series narrators. However, she does have the same passion for sharing information. Jack has his Facts (tips on dog behaviour from a canine perspective), and Trump has her Diagnosis (tips on general animal behaviour, patients’ needs and animal care). She works hard at being an excellent A.L.O., but her terrier nature is sometimes in conflict with her duty.

We set up the core characters with an eye to future stories. Dr Jeanie is a young vet who took over the vet clinic after her grandfather, Dr Max, retired. Dr Max, a hale but arthritic person, lives in a cottage close by with his elderly cockatoo. The cockatoo was his A.L.O. (Animal Liaison Officer), and that’s the post Trump holds with Dr Jeanie. Completing the main characters are Major Higgins, the secretive cat, a master of misdirection, and the teenaged Saturday helper.

The stories all centre on a single main case, but other patients and characters come and go.

The series is being co written with husband Darrel. Is it hard to work creatively with your spouse? How do you divide the writing?

It’s fun! We’ve been co-writing off and on since the 1990s, and before that I used to discuss plots with Darrel. He has a good mind for plots and logic, and he comes up with ideas and approaches I wouldn’t have thought of.

We come up with a new situation first of all; the main case for the Jack books or the main patient for Trump’s stories. We block out a logical plot based on that idea, usually through talking it over when we walk with the dogs. We also take into account on-going situations, and decide which secondary characters will appear. In Jack’s stories we often have to concentrate on a handful of the characters, because of the large cast that’s developed over ten books. In Book 1 – Dog Den Mystery – we began with Jack Russell and Sarge, his human, along with Auntie Tidge (Sarge’s aunt) and Foxie, a street dog who became Jack’s sidekick. Also in Book 1, Caterina Smith and her dog Lord Red played a large part. Jill Russell soon became an important small role, and later Preacher, son of Jack and Jill, moved in with Jack and Sarge. The stories can be read independently, but if Jack makes a new local friend, then s/he must be remembered in the next book, even if only as a brief mention.

Trump’s stories are a little different, as a patient might not need to reappear in the next book once it has recovered. However, continuity is still important. If Trump learns a new skill in one book, she must remember and possibly use it in the next. All these things impinge on each new plot.

Once we have the main plot and the elements of the ongoing series arc, we make notes. Then I write a rough draft on the computer. Darrel goes through it and makes changes. He is an expert at spotting over-complicated passages and paragraphs that need pruning. We go through the ms page by page and incorporate his changes, then I do another draft and he goes through it again. It sounds complicated, but it works!

What do you see as the best part of being an author for children?

I just love telling stories, and I like to entertain readers. Inventing new characters is always fun. Coming up with JUST that phrase or bit of description is satisfying. I don’t set out to teach anything in fiction form, but I believe young readers who see poor old Paris the Dalmatian (from Pet Vet 2) fretting over his increasing infirmity will henceforth remember old dogs need extra love, warm bedding and must have their water bowls close by for easy access. Children who see a dog waving just the tip of its tail may remember Jack telling them in Jack 11 that this is not always a sign of a friendly greeting. Children who see Jack’s son Preacher react in terror when a young child dives at him may think again before they let their small siblings swoop on a hapless animal.

And the worst?

The shifting sands and the tick-the-box thing. I know we should write for the mid-range mainstream readership, and of course I WANT my books to sell lots of copies, but I also want to please the minority group of young readers who want something new and original. I would rather not have to have everything pigeon-holed, or mind my step with PC concerns. My favourite writers never pander to mass mentality. They write the best books in the world, and if the reader has to follow on tiptoe and with a craned neck and up-stretched arms, then the rewards are that much better. Such books never fade into a homogenised mass of generic characters and situations.

As well as writing the Pet Vet and Jack Russell series, you work in a wide range of genres and for adults as well as children. Is there one genre you prefer?

I like to write a variety of things. I do enjoy stories at the Jack/Pet Vet level, because the books are so short (usually under 10 K) that every paragraph has to add to the story, and the whole thing can be held in mind. I also love writing long complex fantasies and sf books for the YA market.

Do you find it easy to change between genres and target audiences?

Yes, on the whole. It’s like changing gear in a vehicle, and also like the automatic change we make when conversing with children rather than adults. The parent/child or teacher/child relationship is often necessarily about practical learning and direction, but I have always enjoyed stepping out of the boundaries and talking to children about ideas, concepts and philosophies. When my son was a young teenager he was one of my favourite conversationalists. I still love to talk to him, because his mind set is very unlike mine, though we share some interests and concerns. When writing for different age groups, I simply switch tracks, like a train.

What things are you doing to promote Cranky Paws?

We had advertising tee-shirts and cards made, and have made over a section of Jack Russell’s official web site to Pet Vet. We talk about the books to anyone who appears interested. Our car has large door magnets that advertise our site, and we hand out cards to anyone who stops to read the magnets. We visit schools, and use blogging to promote, and have put some of our material in a couple of real vet clinics.

What next for Sally Odgers? What is your next project?

We have just finished writing Jack #11 and are about to embark on Pet Vet #4. Meanwhile, I have a picture book contract just signed and two YA fantasies half written. One of them is nagging me for attention, but I need to do deadlined work first. Affordable Manuscript Assessments is also busy.

Thanks for dropping in, Sally. You can visit Sally Odgers online at
www.jackrusselldogdetective.com OR www.sallyodgers.com

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