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Sally Murphy, Australian author

Guest Article; Write What You Love, by Robyn Opie

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Write What You Love
by Robyn Opie

I recently answered a question from a student on my writing for children course. I’d like to share my advice to her because I think it’s important to all writers.

My student told me that she’d wanted to write a story for a long time. She gave me a brief outline of it, which sounded good.

Her question had to do with her writing experience – or lack of it. So far, she’s written a handful of short, simple stories for children up to eight. She wanted to know if, as a novice, she was out of her depth writing a longer novel for older children on a difficult subject. She wondered if she should forget the idea for the time being and try something less challenging.

There’s only one way to find out, I told her – by writing it.

I was encouraged by my student’s enthusiasm and passion. She wanted to write the story. That was obvious. Therefore, I think she should do it.

As I explained in my response to this student, I believe that passion is most important to a writer, of any genre. I believe that you have to feel passionate about a story to write it.

Writing is hard work. It takes time, dedication and commitment. It means sacrifices. It’s also a lot of fun, if you’re passionate about it.

I write for my own pleasure. I write because I love writing for children. I love doing it more than anything else. I write a children’s book because I want to – have to. I feel passionate about it. I write for my own fun first. Getting it published is a bonus.

I believe that, if I write something for my own enjoyment, then others will enjoy it too. If I laugh, others will laugh too. If I cry, others will cry too.

Not all of my manuscripts are published. Some are rejected. But writing for me in the first instance seems to work most of the time.

I recommended to my student to write her story, do the best job she can with limited experience and have fun.

There are no guarantees that her story will be published. There are simply no guarantees in life. But she’ll have fun writing it and she’ll also gain valuable experience in writing for children.

If you want to be a writer you have to write. The more you write, the better you get. Every story is valuable experience.

Let’s consider the following scenario: you’ve written a story and made many attempts to get it published. Some say that J K Rowling’s first Harry Potter story was rejected about 30 times. If you’ve received 30 rejections for your manuscript then it’s probably time to think about rewriting it. Is there anything you can do to improve it? Or maybe it’s time to call the story a step in your writing career – good practice – and move on. We all need experience. It makes us better at what we do.

I often say that persistence is a key to success. You haven’t given up. You’re still trying. Obviously, you’re in with a chance. The practice of continuing to write improves your skills. And passion keeps you going.

Thousands of stories have been written. Many of these books have the same basic idea. They are different because different personalities wrote them.

The Quest? I can’t imagine how many books contain this underlying theme. Boy meets girl? The number is even greater here, I’m sure. Catching a serial killer? I think you get the point.

Everything has been done. Every idea has been used. Your job as a writer is to make your idea seem new and fresh. You do this with passion. The way you tell the story. Your excitement. Your connection with the characters. You!

Last year, I wrote a story based on a true historical event which intrigued me. To get into the mood – inspire my passion – I read books about the time, place and incident. It wasn’t long before I was so excited that I had to start writing. I couldn’t help it. My research also gave me the plot, as if handed to me on a platter. As I read about the real people and the period, individual words inspired my imagination. Soon, ideas were swirling around in my mind, forming a story.

There are plenty of things you can do to inspire passion when writing for children:

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Read books on a particular subject, time or location. Look for facts that excite you. Think about them and their possibilities.
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Read the latest children’s books. This relaxing activity is work for a children’s author. You’re learning about the market, getting your brain used to thinking about children’s stories and plots, and stirring the imagination.
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Read books on writing for children. Immerse yourself in the subject. You’ll gain valuable knowledge and skills. You’ll also get your brain used to thinking about children’s books and how to write them.
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Take courses and learn everything you can about writing for children. Learning more about a favourite subject (and doing homework) is great inspiration and motivation.
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Join writers’ groups and find other people interested in writing children’s books. Make friends with these writers and talk often, in person, on the phone or via email.
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Act like a writer. People often say that if you want something then pretend that it’s already happened. It’s a form of visualisation. So pretend that you’re a professional writer and act accordingly.

You need the skills of a writer and experience goes a long way, as it does in any profession. But don’t forget passion. Don’t under-estimate it.

© Copyright Robyn Opie. All Rights Reserved.

Guest Article: Writing Easy Readers, by Robyn Opie

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Writing Easy Readers
by Robyn Opie

Easy readers are children’s books that fall between picture books and early chapter books. They vary in length depending on the publisher but as a guide work on 1,000 to 2,500 words. This limited word length means these books have fewer pages than early chapter books. Easy readers are aimed at children who are beginning to read, aged from 6 to 8.

Easy readers are always soft cover and highly illustrated. The illustrations can be colour or black and white. These books have a grown-up look to them, making a child feel like they are reading books like their parents. They often have chapters.

A picture book story doesn’t work without the illustrations – the illustrations are as important as the words. The two work together to tell the story. What appears in the illustration is usually left out of the text.

Easy readers work without illustrations. The story stands alone. The illustrations are included because of the age of the reader, to make the book appear more attractive and less daunting to the emergent reader.

Due to the age of your reader, easy readers are grammatically simple. Sentences are short and the language is familiar to this age group. It is appropriate to use a few difficult, unfamiliar words to challenge your reader. But, for the most part, the words you use should be easy to read and understand for ages 6 to 8.

The characters, settings, themes and conflicts of easy readers must be relevant to your readers. Think of the experiences a child this age has and what they care about. Here are some ideas to consider: family, friends, pets, animals, school, holidays, sports, losing something, finding something, being left out, being different etc.

Easy readers have simple plots. It is best to stick to one idea or conflict. There is no room for subplots due to the word length and age of your audience.

There is also no room for unnecessary words, going off on tangents or waffling. Every word should be necessary to the plot. These books are fast-paced and action-packed. It is important that you hook your child reader or adult publisher in the first few lines. It is important that you keep them hooked with tight writing, fresh ideas and page-turning action.

Keep description to a minimum. Only include character or setting description if it is necessary to the plot. Otherwise you slow your story down and risk losing your reader. Remember your settings should be familiar to your reader. You don’t need to describe a house or school etc.

It is preferable to keep your characters and settings to a minimum or you risk confusing these very young readers. Avoid character names that are too similar. For example, Mick and Nick. It is also wise to avoid names that begin with the same letter. For example, John and Jim.

I’ve heard it said that easy readers should have predictable storylines, so that your reader feels a sense of importance and maturity by being able to anticipate what is coming next. Your story line should definitely be logical, so that what happens next seems like the only possible outcome.

I always write stories that the child in me would enjoy reading. I love humour and surprise endings. The most important thing to remember is that the surprise ending makes sense and seems totally plausible given all that has come before it.

Visiting a good book store or library is invaluable. You need to see what is being published and by whom. You need to familiarize yourself with the language and structure of easy readers. The more you learn, the more you write, the better you become as a writer and thereby improve your chances of being published.

Publishers are looking for original, fun stories that will appeal to this age group. I’m sure that’s what you want to write. So go for it!

© Copyright Robyn Opie. All Rights Reserved.

Guest Article: Creating Believable Characters in Children’s Books, by Robyn Opies

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Creating Believable Characters in Children’s Books
by Robyn Opie

If you’ve read my previous articles on writing for children you’ll be aware that I’ve defined children’s books as books that feature a child as the main character and the target audience is children.

So, let’s take a look at children as characters.

In picture books, no description of the characters is necessary. Picture books are highly visual and therefore all characters are obvious from the illustrations. When writing picture books, you have a limited number of words to work with (less than 1,000) and you can’t afford to waste words on unnecessary description.

The same can be said of easy readers and chapter books. These books still contain plenty of illustrations and a limited word count. Description should be restricted to what is essential to the plot.

For example, if you’re writing about a child who is bothered by their appearance – wearing glasses or being too small – then a limited amount of description is necessary.

A general guideline when writing these shorter books for young children is to only include what is essential for the story to make sense.

To make your character seem real to the reader you must think of him or her as a real person. People are around us every day. It’s useful to take bits and pieces from the people we know to create our characters. Be careful to always mix and match. Never use an entire person in a novel. That person may not appreciate it.

When writing for children – or any type of fiction – it’s best to avoid stereotypes. They are boring and unimaginative. They are an example of lazy writing. Be creative.

A character comes alive through their actions and dialogue. Actions, in particular, will show a character’s personality. What they do and how they react largely depends on their personality, background and experience.

For example, a child who has been bitten by a dog will react differently when confronted by a strange dog than a child who has never experienced this trauma.

Believable characters always act consistently.

For example, in my book Working Like a Dog, Lucia wants new rollerblades. Her parents won’t buy them for her. She must save the money herself or go without. So Lucia decides to start a dog-walking service to earn money for new rollerblades. Later in the story Lucia loses two of the dogs. She worries about the dogs and spends a lot of time searching for them.

The action in this story shows Lucia’s character. She’s a likeable responsible young lady. She is prepared to earn the money to buy new rollerblades. She could have stolen the money or rollerblades. She could have bullied other children for their lunch money. She could have nagged her grandmother into giving her money or rollerblades.

When she loses the dogs, she could have left them to find their own way home. She could have lied to the owners about losing them.

Lucia is responsible when she decides to earn money to buy her own rollerblades. When she loses the dogs she is responsible and searches for them until she finds them.

Lucia acts consistently and her behaviour is believable.

Imagine if Lucia decided to lie to the dog owners about knowing what happened to their precious pooches. She could say that the dogs were missing when she went to walk them. This element of the plot would probably be hard to swallow considering what we already know about Lucia. She would suddenly seem unbelievable.

It is essential to know what your character wants – their motivation. And why they want it. Your character’s goal must be something that readers can relate to and care about.

Your readers must care about your character and be interested in their plight. Otherwise there is a good chance they’ll put your book down and never return to it.

You, the writer, must care about your character. If you don’t care about him or her then you can’t expect your readers to care either. To care about your character you need to know him or her well.

Sometimes writers use a habit or habits in an attempt to make a character appear real. Habits can take the form of action and dialogue. Maybe a character chews their nails or adds the word “like” to the beginning of too many sentences or wears a particular type of clothing.

Be careful when giving your characters habits. Too many habits can distract the reader from your story and become an annoyance.

When writing for children, characters should be kept to a minimum. Too many characters can confuse our young readers.

As children’s books become longer and your audience older, there is more room for character development. But it is important to remember that every word in your children’s book should be essential to the plot.

© Copyright Robyn Opie. All Rights Reserved.

Guest Article: Creating Ideas for Children’s Books, by Robyn Opie

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Creating Ideas for Children’s Books
by Robyn Opie

Ideas are everywhere. All of the time. It’s our job, as authors writing for children, to find some ideas and turn them into entertaining stories.

The most common sources of inspiration include: our experiences and personalities, children, family, pets, friends, conversations, television, newspapers, books etc.

I’ve never had any trouble finding ideas for children’s stories. My problem is finding time to write all of the stories.

I believe that the reason I come up with so many ideas for children’s books is simple; I’m looking or them. I want them. I need them. I’m actively seeking them. I’m open to the possibilities. I’m thinking and behaving as a writer.

During conversations with friends, I sometimes find myself saying, “I like that. I might use it in a children’s story one day.” When I see something that appeals to me I often wonder how I can turn it into a children’s story.

I look at ordinary things and ask questions. Sometimes my questions become a little bizarre. I often look for the funny side of situations or objects.

There have been times when I’ve chosen a popular subject, such as dinosaurs, then asked myself for a story on that subject. And other occasions when I’ve taken an old idea and given it a new and different life.

The simplest way to explain what I mean by the above statements is to share my personal experience with writing for children. The following are the ideas behind some of my stories:

But first . . . I’m sitting in my study, writing this article. I look around the room and see the fireplace. What if the fireplace was a door to another place or world? What if I heard noises coming from the fireplace? And, when I investigate, I find Santa Claus trapped in my chimney. There are ideas everywhere. Just look for them – and ask questions.

My easy reader Sam’s Dinosaur Bone originated from word association. I wanted to write a story about dinosaurs. My experience with dinosaurs was limited to museums. Mmmm . . . dinosaurs, museums, a child going on an excursion to a museum, being told that dinosaur fossils are found in the ground. Are there dinosaur fossils in his backyard?

I recently took an old idea, which I love, Henny Penny’s The Sky Is Falling, and made it my own in my easy reader Down the Well. The hen hears a noise coming from the well. She yells down the well and a voice yells back. Someone must have fallen down the well!

I remember times, as a child, when I wanted to play with someone but no one was available. My friends and family were doing chores, playing sport, visiting friends, on holidays etc. My easy reader Will You Play? was inspired by this memory. The farm animals are too busy to play with the dog. Will he find someone to play with?

Do you have fears? I do. My novel Backstage Betrayal deals with my fear of being locked in a public toilet. (I won’t say any more as it’s rather embarrassing.)

I have a definite dislike of spiders. I don’t fear them. I don’t hate them. I just prefer to not be in the same vicinity as a spider. This preference inspired my easy reader Jo and the Spider. Jo sees a spider in her bedroom. When she returns with her dad, the spider is gone. Where is it?

One night I went to the cupboard for a snack and saw a jar of honey. I wondered what it would be like to be honey – sticky, moist, gooey, sloppy, warm, sweet etc. But there was one big problem: you’d get eaten. From those thoughts came my book Mrs Twitch and the Small Black Box. Jess uses Mrs Twitch’s invention, the small black box, to become honey. She’s in danger of being eaten by her father.

A publisher asked me to write a number of non-fiction books for children. I sat at the kitchen table, wondering what subjects I could tackle, when I thought about milk. Then I decided that milk was too boring. It had been done to death etc. Green milk would be interesting, though. But wouldn’t green milk be Martian milk? This idea was the beginning of my novel Martian Milk. Paul doesn’t want to try Martian Milk because he’s afraid it will turn him into a Martian.

The Mad Mower came from my desire to have a twin to do all the boring things in life like housework, paying bills and walking my dogs, while I did all the fun things like going out with friends, watching football and reading. Tony creates a computer double and asks him to do various chores. Ah, if only life was that easy . . .

Have you ever had trouble sleeping and wished that you had someone to pass the time with, but everyone is asleep? In my easy-reader Chick Catches Dinner, the little chick can’t sleep and goes searching for company. She finds Hoot, a little owl, and has a fun but tiring night.

I was reading a children’s book one afternoon. The child in the story had a teddy bear. After reading the words teddy bear, I thought to myself that I’d like to write a story about a teddy bear. My next story was called Old Teddy and was followed by Teddy’s Sticky Mess.

I was watching the television news one evening and saw a story on a seagull problem in a nearby town. The greedy seagulls had become a nuisance to residents and tourists. My story The Greedy Seagulls is nearing completion.

So, you see, ideas are all around us. It’s your job as an author writing for children to interpret the information you see around you and turn it into your own creation!

© Copyright Robyn Opie. All Rights Reserved.

Guest Article: Begin With a Bang! by Robyn Opie

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Begin with a Bang!
by Robyn Opie

It is a fact of life that publishers will only read one or two pages of your manuscript. They receive far too many submissions to give each one their undivided attention from beginning to end. And, sadly, some of these submissions don’t deserve more than a minute or two of an editor’s time.

As a reader, I have given up on books that haven’t grabbed me in the first chapter. Children, I’m sure, are less patient than I am.

Therefore it is vital for a writer to grab the reader in the first page or two, especially when writing for children. We can even narrow this done to the first sentence or paragraph. Your beginning should intrigue the reader and inspire him/her to read further.

Dialogue and action are a great way to start a novel. Imagine the beginning of your children’s book as dropping your readers into the middle of things, when everything is starting to change or get interesting. Using dialogue or action to plant questions in your readers’ minds will hopefully make them want to read on.

Of course, sometimes it’s necessary to set the scene. Background information about the character, their family, home, friends etc – that is essential to the plot – should be interspersed in such a way that it never slows the story down. Certainly it should never fill the first few pages of your manuscript at the expense of the story.

Let’s look at some examples from my own children’s books:

Beginning with dialogue –
(From my easy reader Chick Catches Dinner)

“I can’t sleep,” said the chick. “I’m not tired.”

In the above example, I’ve introduced the main character and her problem.

A few lines later:

“I wonder if anyone else is awake,” said the chick. She went for a walk.

Thus begins chick’s night-time adventure.

Beginning with action –
(From my junior novel The Mad Mower)

Tony felt nervous, as though his stomach was a food processor mixing a chocolate cake.

In the above example, I want the reader to wonder why Tony is feeling nervous. What is so important to him? And who is Tony anyway?

A few lines later:

Now he was ready to test his computer programme. If it worked it would be unbelievable. It would change his life forever.

The above paragraph is meant to keep the reader turning the pages. What computer programme? Why would it be unbelievable and change his life forever?

Beginning with action and dialogue –
(From my easy reader Down the Well)

The hen heard a splash in the well, so she went to have a look.

“Hello,” yelled the hen.

“Hello,” yelled a voice.

Again, in the above example, I want the reader to keep turning those pages to find out the answers to a few questions. Has someone fallen down the well? Is the voice simply the hen’s echo?

Beginning with setting –
(From my junior novel Martian Milk)

The carpark at Shopper’s Dream was busy. It was Thursday, the day when shoppers from Planet Nub and Planet Teg came to visit, looking for bargains. Paul’s mother, Mrs Taylor, flew the space-car around and around, looking for a place to park.

In the above example, I’m setting the scene of a futuristic Earth. The idea is still to keep the reader turning those pages.

By now, you should be seeing a pattern with beginnings. They are all about hooking the reader and making them want to read more until they have all the answers.

The conflict should be evident as soon as possible, preferably within the first few paragraphs of your children’s book. Your reader needs to know who the story is about (main character) and why there is a story (the main character’s problem/conflict) as early in the novel as possible. You want your readers identifying with the character and their problem before they have a chance to lose interest. This is even more important when writing for children. Children have shorter attention spans and a lot of distractions around them, such as TV, computer games and sport.

Writers often start their story at a point then later, in the rewriting/ editing process, change the beginning. It can take numerous attempts to get the beginning right. Whole opening chapters can sometimes be discarded to improve a story. I’ve done this myself.

It isn’t enough to captivate the publisher or reader with a brilliant beginning. You need to keep the standard. The middle and ending of your children’s book should be equally as satisfying. However, it is the beginning of your novel that will keep the publisher reading or make them move onto the next submission.

© Copyright Robyn Opie. All Rights Reserved.

Guest Article: Plotting and Developing a Story – by Robyn Opie

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Plotting and Developing a Story: Cyclone Santa
By Robyn Opie

In 2001, my then publisher, Barrie Publishing, produced an Australian fiction series. They were looking for stories with an Australian historical background for a second series. It was at this time I wrote Caught in a Cyclone, set at Christmas 1974 during Cyclone Tracy.

Before I could submit my manuscript, Barrie Publishing decided not to pursue a second series.

Years later, I submitted Caught in a Cyclone to Era Publications. The editors’ reactions surprised me. I thought it was a good story but I wasn’t expecting seasoned editors to become so enthusiastic and emotional over it. Caught in a Cyclone was accepted and published in 2007.

My partner, Rob, and I live in a residential three bedroom home with a large games room out the back. In the games room are a pool table and dart board. We like to play pool every night to relax but also to discuss writing and our various projects. We often use this recreational time to brainstorm, plot and plan. And that’s how my book Caught in a Cyclone became the basis of a feature film, now titled Cyclone Santa.

We knew that the book had to be developed and expanded to become a feature film of approximately 120 minutes. We’d already spoken to Bernadette O’Mahony from the Australian Children’s Television Foundation and she’d given us some valuable advice and ideas. We’d met with a local producer and script editor, who had also given us a couple of suggestions.

Advice, suggestions and ideas were helpful. But we still needed a plot or plots for our screen story. We were rather daunted and overwhelmed with the prospect of coming up with the entire contents of a movie. Where, oh, where to start?

Our location was obvious. We headed straight to our sanctuary – the games room. While we played pool, we discussed what we had. My book. That was it. So we had no choice but to start from there.

After speaking to Bernadette, we’d decided to increase the size of the family that, in the book, is at the centre of the drama. We added a young son, Mikey. Our family now consisted of two parents, a daughter and a son.

In the book, the family are home together when they get caught in Cyclone Tracy and experience the worst night of their lives. We decided that the best way to add drama and expand the story was to separate the family – the adults. The obvious choice was to put the father at work and keep the mother at home with the children. So we did the opposite.

Next, we had to think of reasons why the parents would be separated by distance at the time of a cyclone. It seemed unlikely, unless one of them was forced to work. Therefore the mother was at work and the father was at home. We loved the idea of going against the stereotype of the father being at work and the mother at home. But why would a mother be forced to work on Christmas Eve?

There seemed one obvious answer and that answer suited the drama of a cyclone perfectly. We decided that the mother would be a nurse at the Darwin hospital. For fun, we made the father an electrician who wasn’t able to find work due to the holidays, though the family needed his income. Clearly, work would not be an issue after the cyclone.

Once we’d placed the mother, Toni, at the hospital as a nurse, we were able to develop a second story line. We knew now how the two storylines would meet at the end of the screenplay. Again, it seemed an obvious choice – the Darwin hospital.

Enter Ben, Jam and Violet.

Ben is a contractor for Australian Royal Mail, who flies a tiger moth to outback communities to deliver the post. He is based on a real person.

In Outback Australia, Ben is approached by Jam, an Aboriginal boy in need of help. His grandmother, Violet, is seriously ill and needs urgent medical assistance. The point of this second story line was to force Ben to fly his tiger moth into Darwin during Cyclone Tracy.

During my research on Cyclone Tracy, I read a story about a man who flew a light aircraft into Darwin airport before it was closed as a result of the cyclone. We were amazed that someone could fly through a cyclone and imagined the drama of doing so. We had to include this element in our story.

Jam has a special place in our hearts and minds, mainly because he will always remind us of playing pool together. When one of us hits a lucky shot and the ball, no skill involved, ends up in the pocket, Rob sings out, ‘Jam’. We were discussing possible names for our character. After Rob made a fluky shot, I looked at him and said, ‘What about Jam?’

We have a friend who works in Aboriginal Communities. Every time we saw him, he told us stories about Indigenous people and their beliefs. We were able to draw on some of this information as we plotted Cyclone Santa.

The first thing we did, after brainstorming the two stories, was write a treatment – a 20 page synopsis or outline of the film. Our evening in the games room had given us enough information to complete the treatment.

Initially, we were overwhelmed at how to expand my book Caught in a Cyclone into a 120 minute feature film. But we knew that we had to try. So we just did it.

We started with the characters and the event Cyclone Tracy. Developing the characters helped us come up with two intertwining plots. Once we knew more about them, we knew how our stories were going to unfold. After all, the story is about the characters – it’s their journeys, their stories. In a way, we let the characters define their destinies, with a little help from us.

© Copyright Robyn Opie. All Rights Reserved.

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