Rathina and Connor

By Allan | Sunday, 26 July 2009 at 18:59
Category: Writing | Tags:

Well, I’ve just started writing book six of the Faerie Path series, so the rest of my Summer is pretty much mapped out now.

Meanwhile, I see plenty of you are getting involved in the discussion about whether Tania should end up with Edric or Connor. A few people have suggested that maybe Connor could get together with Rathina. What do you think about that one? A Faerie Princess and a human boy? Is that a good idea or not? And what about the fact that “Love Never Dies” in Faerie? What do you think that really means? And lastly - does Rathina deserve to be happy after all the things she did? Is she bad or was she just under a bad spell cast over her by Gabriel Drake when she let the Sorcerer King loose?

Over to you.

Meanwhile, I’ll be trying to get Tania out of the terrible mess she got herself into at the end of Book Five! Sorry - you’ll have to wait a few months to find out about that.

bye for the moment

Allan Frewin Jones

Edric v. Connor

By Allan | Tuesday, 14 July 2009 at 12:29
Category: Writing | Tags:

I’ve had quite a few comments and messages from people who have read The Immortal Realm and who are really cut up about the problems Tania and Edric are going through - and begging me to let them know what will happen between them.

Of course, I’m not about to give a chunk of the plot of the next two books away, but I’ve tried to reassure these worried readers that Tania does meet Edric again in The Enchanted Quest…but that he’s dabbling even more in the Dark Arts. In fact, there’s this one scene where…nah! I’m not going to tell you that!

Anyway, my point here is that till now everyone has been hoping things will work out for Tania and Edric - but does everyone wish that?

I had one comment along the lines of: Hey, Tania - dump Edric - Connor rocks! So - anyone got an opinion about that?

By the way, I already know what happens - but you’re going to have to wait to find out. Sorry. Meanwhile - who are you rooting for - Edric or Connor?

Over to you!

Allan

Teach Yourself Writing For Children

By Allan | Saturday, 11 July 2009 at 11:02
Category: Writing | Tags:

I often receive emails and messages from aspiring authors asking me for some advice on how to write, or what to write or how to approach publishers. I try to give useful advice to these people, working on the basis that today’s aspiring author is tomorrow’s best seller, but it’s sometimes difficult for me to find the time to give full answers to often quite complex questions.

Which is why I thought I’d tell you about a book I’m working on at the moment - a book that is all about how to write and how to get your writing published.

It all began back in 1995, when the UK publisher Hodder approached a colleague of mine, Lesley Pollinger, an Author’s Agent based in London, and asked if she would be interested in collaborating with me on a book to form part of their “Teach Yourself” series. Their idea was for us to produce a book on how to write for children and get published.

We thought this would be a great idea and over the next few months we got busy – sending out questionnaires to other authors and publishers and agents in order to hear their views on some basic issues. We organized our thoughts, putting chapters together that followed all the way through from really simple stuff like buying a pen and some paper and finding a flat surface to write on, to what you do in the aftermath of your first book being published and a nice cheque arriving in the mail.

The idea all along was to help writers to get published – meaning that we wanted to give them pointers and tips and plenty of insider knowledge of how to navigate their way through the process not only of presenting publishers with something “good” – but of something “sellable”. This included tips on story construction, dialogue, presentation and how to cope with adverse criticism, plus how to deal with a publisher who wants your work, but only after it has been heavily edited.

The book sold well enough for us to be asked to revise and update it a few years later. And then in 2005 we were asked to take a third swing at it. Between 1995 and 2006 something quite amazing had happened. The home computer had arrived and the Internet had revolutionized the way writers and publishers worked.

Then, when we were asked for yet another revision earlier this year, it was also to include entries on a Website. This new edition is due to be published in January 2010, and we are starting to get to work on it – sending out new questionnaires, adding new sections and entirely rewriting whole chapters because things have changed so much.

There are 12 chapters in the book, and so far we have only managed to work on Chapter One – but we’re confident that by the time we’ve finished, this book is going to be as up-to-date as possible and that it will help a whole new generation of hopeful writers get their ideas into print.

These days getting your writing “out there” is a lot easier than it used to be ten or fifteen years ago – the Internet has made sure of that. But – it’s as hard as it ever was to get people to pay to read your stuff – and that’s what our book is all about.

I’ll do my best to keep you updated on our progress. Meanwhile, if you’d rather not wait for January 2010, you can buy previous editions online - Amazon.com have them for sure, and they can be picked up reasonably cheaply. The most recent edition has the gingerbread man on the cover. Or you might find a copy in your local library or store.