This weeks Dear Unpublished Me post comes to you from my local celebirty James Nicol! James is the author of the best selling MG novel The Apprentice Witch and the muchly anticipated second novel A Witch Alone.
Dear Unpublished Me . . .
First of all, this is not some sort of ‘ghost of Christmas
past’ moment. I’m not about to recount hundreds of things you’ve done wrong
with your life in hope of changing you – it’s all good!
So, I’m hoping this letter finds you through the mists of
time (cue swirly mists and strange music) somewhere at the point where you have
just started to write the first draft
of The Apprentice Witch, which at that point was called The Apprentice Witches
Handbook. (spoiler number one, the title of the book changes – as does quite a
lot of the book itself – you’ll get over it!) But at this point the big
question on your mind is simply, “Can I finish writing a whole novel?”
Well yes you can – so whatever you do don’t give up or based
on my Doctor Who and Star Trek watching that could make things really sticky
for me at this end of things!
It will be tricky fitting it all in with work and everything
else and sometimes you will feel entirely lost but KEEP GOING, you will always
find your way back. There are such exacting times ahead of you that you
wouldn’t ever imagine, new places to visit, new adventures and experiences
awaiting you and all for the story that is slowly forming in your mind. Oh, and
just a quick tip – give up now trying to do that first draft straight onto the
computer it’s like torture. Get a nice notebook and a mechanical pencil and go
for it – it took me half a year of staring helplessly at the laptop screen to
work that out!
You’ll soon meet a bunch of wonderful children’s and YA
writers through the Golden Egg Academy many of whom will become some of your
closest and dearest friends, you don’t have to go on this journey alone and
they will be great support through the years ahead. You’ll also get to work
with some of the very best editors in the country as a result and you don’t
need to worry that you don’t know what you are doing or that people will laugh
or think you are stupid or have no business writing a children’s book! No one
else will doubt you so try not to doubt yourself so much either.
You are going to LOVE the editing process far more than you
can ever imagine, it is a much more creative part of writing a book than how
you are imagining it to be, so stop worrying about that. Editors aren’t scary
and you will work with some really fantastic people over the coming years who
will all care about your story and character as much as you do.
OK – major spoiler alert now. Your story will find a home
with an amazing publisher, one you have long admired since your days as a
children’s bookseller. This will be in a rather unexpected way (I don’t want to
spoil the surprise though!) You’ll be well supported by friends old and new
through all of this and find a wonderful agent, someone you meet through Golden
Egg and who you think highly of and trust implicitly.
There are a thousand and more wonderful experiences waiting
ahead, seeing your book rolling off the conveyor belt at the printers, holding
the finished book in your hands for the first time and getting to give a copy
to Nana on her 95th Birthday.
Seeing the response to the book from bloggers and reviewers
will be great but it will be the experience of readers that will be the best
experience, children presenting well-thumbed copies of your book over to be
signed and talking to you about Arianwyn and Salle and Colin will be the very
best part of the whole thing.
Of all the advice I can offer, I would simply say this,
enjoy every part of it, the hard work will pay off and the people you will meet
along the way will be fantastic, there will be lots of support for you and the
book, there may even be a few (major) prize nominations and perhaps even a
little review in the New York Times. . . but maybe I’ve said too much now.
Well off you go, that book (and the 2nd and 3rd
in the series – whoops – more spoiler!) wont write themselves!
Love from
future you
J
THE APPRENTICE WITCH
by James Nicol
Publisher: Chicken House
Publication Date: 7th July 2016
ISBN13: 9781910655153
Summary
Arianwyn has fluffed her witch’s evaluation test.
Awarded the dull bronze disc and continuing as an apprentice – to the glee of her arch-rival, mean girl Gimma – she’s sent to protect the remote, dreary town of Lull.
But her new life is far from boring. Turns out Gimma is the pompous mayor’s favourite niece – and worse, she opens a magical rift in the nearby Great Wood. As Arianwyn struggles with her spells, a mysterious darkness begins to haunt her – and it’s soon clear there’s much more than her pride at stake …
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