Interview With Samantha-Ellen Bound

Introducing Samantha-Ellen Bound, debut novelist, whose children's book What The Raven Saw has come out this year from the Woolshed Press, Random House Australia!

GR: Tell us a little about yourself - your background, your interests, what you do for fun when you're not writing.

SEB: I grew up in Tasmania and moved to Melbourne straight after I finished school. Reading, writing, and creating stories have been a huge part of my life ever since Kindy. My other big love is performing arts – you can often find me on stage pretending to be someone I’m not, or teaching dance. To chill out I love travelling, the beach and any kind of water sport. 

GR: I see you've done a Diploma in Publishing and Editing - was there any writing involved? What, actually, DID it involve?

SEB: There was lots of writing involved, but none of it was fiction! The Diploma was all about the ‘other’ side of publishing – the editing, proofing, design, marketing, financial side etc. Basically everything that goes into the creation of a book. I did it because I had an interest in the process of book publishing, and also because I wanted to refine my writing skills with the editing component. The Diploma helped me to wise up about getting my own book published – I knew exactly what to do and where to go and what to expect, and I loved all the guest speakers that would come in every week to talk about all the aspects of book publishing.

GR: Do you feel that either this course or your work as a children's bookseller has helped in your writing? If so, in what way?

SEB:  Absolutely; I didn’t want to be a writer who had written a book and then had no idea what to do next – studying publishing meant I had all the tools to make it easy for myself to get my book out there. And by studying editing I now have a far greater knowledge of how to put a book together, and how to improve my writing. My work as a children’s bookseller has been an inspiration and a great source of knowledge. It really ignited the spark that made me want to get my own book on the shelves.

GR: Where did your idea for What The Raven Saw come from?

SEB:  It was actually rather random – I saw a raven sitting next to a weathervane at my local church and around him this story began to emerge. Some parts of What the Raven Saw were short stories before I tweaked them a bit and put them into the novel.

GR: At which age group is this novel aimed - and did you have any beta readers of that age reading it before publication?

SEB: My intent with What the Raven Saw is that readers of all ages can enjoy it – that it has themes, humour and ideas that are universal. All my favourite children’s books have a maturity to them that deepens your appreciation as you get older. But my target audience would be late primary school – the 9-12 age bracket. Yes, my publisher did get primary and teen readers to read it and some schools even did activities based around the story (designing a cover etc), all before Raven came out.

GR: The landscape is very English, with its churchyard and the fields and even a scarecrow (one with an unusual accent!). Where were you imagining when you wrote it?

SEB: I didn’t intend the story to be connected to a particular country or place – it could be anywhere, or any place. You may notice that the characters all have different accents and ways of speaking, and I like this crazy kind of mish-mash. That being said I have spent a lot of time in country Australia, around a lot of lovely old churches, and this probably inspired me a bit. I suppose the setting is rather English but I like that it’s never outright stated where the story is set.

GR: I notice that the chapter names are taken from hymns or other religious songs. What is the thinking behind this? 

SEB: The title of each hymn (and if you listen to the songs, also the content) reflects what happens in that chapter, or the mindset of the raven in that chapter. At the start of the book the Raven can only really express emotion though the gospel songs and how they make him feel, so the chapter names reflect that. I love gospel songs myself, and so I really loved that I could incorporate them into the book.

GR: Actually, there are a lot of references to music in the course of the novel. Were you listening to anything in particular as you wrote?

SEB: I love music and have been singing since I was little (sometimes badly), and I think music is an important, fantastic and creative way to express emotion. I hope that comes across in What the Raven Saw. I would listen to the gospel songs or hymns as I wrote the novel (only very quietly though, otherwise I find it too distracting, because I start paying attention to the song rather than what I’m writing!).

GR: There seems to be a solid background to the relationship between the raven and the priest, as if there has been something written about them before, in your short stories, perhaps. Have you ever written about these characters before? If not, would you consider doing it?

SEB: The scenes between the raven and the scarecrow, and the scene with the man in the tree, were both short stories before they were in Raven. The raven and the pigeon also made an appearance in dialogue-writing classes at uni. Obviously I loved the raven character and kept using him! I had never written anything about the priest and the raven before – but I did want them to feel like they were old friends (actually the priest is the raven’s only friend for a very long time!).

GR: Do you have a favourite character? If so, who and why? A favourite scene?

SEB: I really love the raven. When I see a raven in the street now I always watch him to see if he might be my raven. I love that the raven is a mammoth grump but ultimately lovable. But all the characters in What the Raven Saw are very special to me, and they all have qualities that made writing about them a joy. My favourite scene is probably when the raven and the pigeon meet the scarecrow – I think the scarecrow is the character that has the most impact on the raven.

GR: How did you celebrate the sale of your first novel?

SEB:   It’s quite funny; you work so long and hard on one novel, and every few weeks or so there is a new development and it becomes an ongoing process, this sale of your book. And when the publication date finally comes around it kind of feels like just another logical step – although I do keep an eye on my book at work – always face-out!! I think the celebration was more internal – getting a children’s book published has been one of my biggest dreams since Kindergarten, and I was very happy and proud when it was both accepted for publication and then released. It is a great confidence booster that hard work and belief in yourself pays off.

GR: What are you working on now?

SEB: My second standalone novel is written and being given an edit at the moment. I have just written a short play, How Can We Help, which will be performed at the Essendon Theatre Company in June. But my next project, which I am so excited about, is a children’s series called Silver Shoes – it is set in a dance school called Silver Shoes, and told through the eyes of four of the dancers there – Eleanor, Ashley, Riley and Paige. It is for a mid-primary audience, and all about dancing – not just ballet. I love it because I get to combine two of my biggest loves – writing and dancing.

Thanks for dropping by The Great Raven, Sam-Ellen! 

If you would like to follow Samantha-Ellen's blog, she can be found at the Book Grotto

Guest Post By George Ivanoff:Inspired by High School

  I can remember, years ago, working on an issue of SPOCK, the Star Trek club fanzine, typing up one of George Ivanoff's stories in which the word "probe" was used often and I kept mis-spelling it "proble". The friend who was typing up the issue with me agreed that "proble" was an ancient Vulcan rite involving the ritual assassination of Spock's father, Sarek. We wrote a very silly story about it, so you could say that George has inspired my own writing. :-)

Since then, he has sold sixty-five books and I've sold ten. George has done fiction of many, many genres and non-fiction on just about everything under the sun. Some time I would love to invite him back to talk about some of the bizarre experiences he has had in the publishing industry!

George is a fellow Ford Street writer, the author of the two Gamers' novels, which are very popular in my school library. But there was another book, once, which went out of print, as books tend to do, and is now back with a vengeance!

I'll let George tell you about it - welcome to the Great Raven, George!

My very first book, published back in 1999, was a collection of YA short stories called Life, Death and Detention. Out of print for many years, it’s now back — a new edition with a new cover, a new publisher (Morris Publishing Australia) and updated stories. I’ve already written about the journey this new edition took, on my own blog (see here — http://blog.boomerangbooks.com.au/the-long-and-winding-road-to-a-new-edition/2012/08; and here — http://blog.boomerangbooks.com.au/life-death-and-detention/2012/08).

Each of the ten stories in this book is based in some way on my own past experiences. Now, that does not mean that I ever brought a gun to school, or held a teacher hostage, or snogged the school bully — aspects of my life were merely starting points for the stories, rather than the stories themselves.

Sometimes the relationship between story and real life is direct, as in the case of “Remember Me”. I wrote the first draft of this story shortly after my grandmother died. Writing it was a kind of therapy. I then pushed the story further from reality as I re-wrote it. Although the story is now fiction, the emotions that the main character is experiencing are very much my own. It’s probably the most personal story in the collection.

I didn’t need comforting. I needed to be alone. But it had to be done; so I put on my funeral face and dealt with the guests. It was strange—tears had been replaced with a mixture of nostalgic conversations and concerned looks.

With other stories, such as “Ghosts”, the connection is looser. I have never encountered a ghost. With this story the association is one of location rather than experience. When I was in high school, and later university, I used the library as a sanctuary — a place to escape to; to be alone; to reflect on things. And so, in this story, a girl named Melissa uses her school library in a similar way.

Since mid-primary school, I have been an enthusiastic science fiction fan. That interest manifests itself in two stories. “Sugar” is my take on the sci-fi, rampaging monster story. “Beam Me Up”, on the other hand, takes a more personal approach. Rather than being a science fiction story, it’s about a group of science fiction fans — nerdy kids who band together with a common interest. When they are first introduced, they are set up for ridicule (as I had experienced), but I then turn this around as the story progresses, trying to show them for what they really are — ordinary kids.

Natalie surveyed the worried faces. Daniel was sitting on one of the desks, rocking back and forth nervously, while Crystal bit at her nails and Anthony paced. Anton and Marco stood rigidly in place, uncertain glances darting between them.

They’re kids, thought Natalie, just an ordinary bunch of kids. A bit weird, sure. But hey, aren’t most people a bit weird in their own little ways?

This came as quite a revelation to her.

All fiction needs a kernel of truth. It’s this basis in reality that can make the most dramatic and fantastical of situations believable. Feelings, incidents, locations, interests, people, thoughts — all these things from my high school life have come together in the creation of the stories from Life, Death and Detention. They are undoubtedly fiction, but there is also truth in them — my truth, inspired by my time in high school.

Life, Death and Detention is available in bookshops around Australia. It can be purchased from many online bookstores, including Boomerang Books (http://www.boomerangbooks.com.au/Life-Death-and-Detention/George-Ivanoff/book_9780987244499.htm). And it is available in numerous eBook formats from Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/174560

George Ivanoff is an author and stay-at-home dad residing in Melbourne. His books include Gamers’ Quest, Gamers’ Challenge and Life, Death and Detention. He has books on both the Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge and NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge booklists. He is currently working on the third book in the Gamers series. Check out his website:     http://georgeivanoff.com.au

         

AN EVENING WITH CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI

After a long day at work, finishing reports to free me up today, I made my way to the  beautiful, hundred-year-old Atheneum theatre in Melbourne, where the Melbourne Writer’s festival was hosting an event in the Schools program.

I didn’t have time to stop for a meal, as I reached the city at 5.30 p.m. and the event was due to start at six, so I bought and gulped down a vegetable pasty from a stall at Flinders Street Station, promising myself a real meal afterwards, and caught a tram to Collins Street, where the theatre is located.

There was a crowd waiting in the foyer when I got there, many children and teens with their parents and some adult fans as well. I have to admit I have only been reading Eragon since I decided to buy a ticket. The books are very popular in my library, but oddly enough I couldn’t find students interested in going, not even Kristen, who is a major fan of the series and has read and re-read it; possibly she didn’t want to risk being disappointed. She needn’t have worried, as you will see presently, but she missed out. Luckily, the author was interviewed on Radio National this morning on Books and Arts Daily and the ABC prepares podcasts. And what he said on radio was very similar to what he said last night, even to the wording, so that’s okay. People tend to ask the same questions, and he does a lot of touring, so he has no doubt prepared a script to help him along. I would probably do the same.

It was fascinating standing there on my own, listening to conversations around me. Two boys were discussing Tom Sawyer. One declared it was “crap” while his brother said, “Actually, if you read it till the end, the last six chapters are not too bad. The bit where they go to the caves and get lost...”

Amusing to hear Mark Twain’s classic book about childhood discussed in that way. Is it even meant for children or is it for adults who have a sentimental view of their own childhoods? I suspect Mark Twain would have laughed if he’d heard the conversation.

A little after six we were allowed to enter the auditorium in groups. They asked us to sit near the front and fill that up before the back. That was fine with me, although a lady next to me said she’d rather sit near the back where it was warmer. With so many people all going in at once, though, they glanced at our printed-out tickets and didn’t bother to scan them.

It was ten past six by the time Mike Shuttleworth, who used to run the State Library’s Centre for Youth Literature and is now doing the MWF program, came out to introduce the guest speaker. He said that there would be a draw afterwards for a special framed poster for anyone who bought a book. I had no intention of staying for the signing; I have the first one on e-book and the rest in the school library if i want to read the sequels, so thought it might be better to make my way home and let the real fans have their fun. For that reason I also didn’t put up my hand to ask any questions, not wanting to take away the pleasure from any child fan who was waiting to ask.

Finally, he came out on stage, the young man who wrote a novel in his teens and ended up selling millions of copies, translated in to forty-nine languages.

I have to say I was impressed. Yes, the audience was full of fans who wanted to enjoy his talk, but I think he would have engaged even non-fans. Hell, he engaged this cynical old teacher-librarian! So many writers can tear your heart out with their writing, but can’t get up and speak to a room full of strangers. And then there are those who are so arrogant when they’re up there that you want to kick them in the behind. 

Not this lad. 

He told the audience about his life as a home-schooled boy who graduated high school at the age of fifteen and then was bored after two weeks of not having to do anything, to the extent that he dug a hole in the ground and built a mediaeval mead-hall in his back yard. Then he decided to write a book of the sort he would like to read, as we all do - why else would you write a book? He threw in all the elements he loved about fantasy - wizards and rescues of princesses and dragons and battles - and actually planned out his entire series before even getting started on the book. So all these books were planned by a fifteen year old boy. The first draft, as he says, was awful, so he edited it and cut stuff like a unicorn.

The hero’s name was originally Kevin, but you don’t sell many copies of an epic fantasy with a hero called Kevin, so he took the word “dragon” and changed a letter. I had suspected this from the first time I saw the book, so nodded to myself in satisfaction. 

The family self-published the book (I bet you could get a fortune on eBay for one of those first editions!) which was discovered by the YA writer Carl Hiaasen, who bought a copy for his twelve-year-old nephew and brought the book to the attention of Random House and the rest is history.

He told some amusing stories about that first tour he and his family took (and imagine having parents who were willing and able to take you on tour after publishing your book! How wonderful is that? My own parents would have been more than willing, but not able). He had never been inside a high school before, given that he’d been home schooled and you can imagine the reaction he got to his mediaeval costume! 

The herbalist Angela is based on his own sister Angela, who luckily has a sense of humour, and the werecats were her idea.

The cover art is by John Jule Palencar, an artist he admires so much he named a valley in the book after him, but the fact that he did the art was pure coincidence; the publishers didn’t know he was a fan.

The books in the series are full of references to various TV shows - Doctor Who especially, but also Babylon Five, Deep Space Nine and others - damn! Now I will HAVE  to read the rest! I wished I hadn’t decided not to ask any questions, because one influence/reference he didn’t mention was Star Wars, though he is a fan( and told a story of being beaten on an online Star Wars game by someone who went under the name of Eragon). So far, I have found the first novel to be something I would describe as Star Wars with dragons, but will keep my full thoughts on this for another post once I have finished.

He really knew how to engage his audience. A nice touch was to invite people to lend him their copies of each of the novels to read from. Of course, people waved their books at him and he had no trouble getting a copy of each.

He answered questions, asking people not to do spoilers, knowing that there might be people out there who hadn’t actually read the whole series. That was a really good touch, I thought; so many writers would have assumed, arrogantly, that everyone had, of course, read all their works, or why were they there?

Of course, there was a question about his future plans, now that the series was over, and he said he had planned out a lot of books in many different genres, and his next book would be science fiction. But yes, he had already planned out a fifth book in this universe.

There were plenty more things last night, but this is all I have time to describe for now. Stand by for another post when i have finished the novel.

I ended the evening with dinner at Young and Jackson’s pub, where they do a really nice warm salmon salad, so I didn’t have to cook once I got home.

WRITERS: ON NOT ALIENATING YOUR MARKET

I found the above image on a blog called The Physics Geek, which had got it from somewhere else, while I was looking for a cliched image of a librarian, but couldn't resist. Of course, there's always Terry Pratchett's wonderful Librarian...

I wear two hats - well, three if you count the reviewing, but then, I have always thought of reviewing as an extension of my work as a teacher-librarian. I get excited when a new box of books arrives from the publisher, just as I do when there’s a book display at school - what goodies will I find this time? And when I have donated the beautiful new book to the library, I can tell the kids what it’s about, because I have read and reviewed it.

Writing for children is one of my hats, the other is librarianship. Both have to put up with folk who don’t understand what it is they do and why. As a children’s writer, I’m always hearing people ask carefully, “So - are you planning to do an adult book at some stage?” Translation: “When are you going to write a real book?” My answer to that is always:Never! I love what I’m doing and I enjoy the company. I remember one time when I went to a party at Allen and Unwin. When I arrived I chatted politely with those I saw there, but there were no familiar faces. The writers I met seemed nice enough, but the party was very dull, as far as I was concerned. Then Ann James, illustrator extraordinaire, appeared on the stairs and said, “The children’s writers are upstairs.” Up I went and there was a REAL party happening.

Most children’s and YA writers I have met are delightful. They know how to party. They know how to talk to kids. They share information about markets. They’re fun to be with.

But there are some, a minority I should add, who just don’t seem to understand that they are depending on the schools market for a large chunk of their income, who make clear their contempt for teacher-librarians, in their writing or in person. Their publishers really should explain it to them.

For example, there are those who whine about “gatekeepers” at conferences and writers’ festival panels. It seems that these library “gatekeepers” are preventing their works of genius from reaching what would be their adoring public if only...

Has it ever occurred to these folk that maybe their books aren’t going into the libraries for other reasons? Maybe Book Club wouldn’t take them, or Australian Standing Orders, so they didn’t turn up in schools as much as otherwise?

Or maybe the librarians just didn’t think their particular students would enjoy them? Any teacher-librarian worth his or her salt knows about this stuff - some of us write it ourselves. With an annual budget the sze of the average Grammar School’s petty cash, I can’t afford to buy books the kids are unlikely to read. I invite students in to help me choose from the book displays brought to the school and if they are choosing this book rather than that one, it’s the kids themselves who are the “gatekeepers”, not me. Only occasionally will I reject a book for my own library that I have read for reviewing, and that usually goes to our senior campus, so we're not actually keeping it out.

Tell you what, though, I have no complaints of school libraries with my own books! My Education Lending Right payments have always been about three times my Public Lending Rights. I expect a very good ELR payment for Crime Time:Australians behaving badly when the time comes, from what booksellers tell me.

If schools are not buying your book, perhaps a survey might help to find out why. If nothing else, it will bring your books to the attention of people who might not have come across them. But publicly calling librarians “gatekeepers” definitely won’t help!

Then there are those whose idea of a school librarian is based on one they remember from their childhood, who perhaps didn’t let them borrow from the adult shelves or maybe told them to be quiet. You know - the cliched woman with glasses and a bun? I wear glasses myself and ended up haing to get a haircut to avoid the cliche. In summer, of course I had to put my hair up!

The worst offender, in many ways, is J.K.Rowling, with her Madam Pince, whose first name you never learn, unlike the school nurse (Poppy Pomfrey). Madam Pince works her guts out, day and night, every day except Christmas, with no assistance (unless there’s a house-elf doing the shelving) and never even appears at Christmas dinner. (Maybe she has a loving family to spend it with?) She is described as thin, irritable and “vulture-like”. Talk about cliches! Of course, I love the Harry Potter books, but I wish she hadn’t done that. It jars me every time I re-read the series.

Naturally, I wouldn’t boycott her books, they’re too good in every other way and Hogwarts is a fantasy school. And at least there is no doubt that Madam Pince more than pulls her weight at the school and she only kicks out kids who are eating in the library. Well, wouldn’t you? How would you like to remove half-eaten sandwiches from between the books and banana skins from the carrels after every lunchtime, before going off to teach your own class?

Other writers are less kind about their library teachers. I’m thinking in particular of one whose first book I read and loved and showed to all the kids. I even recommended it for a class text.

Then her second book came out and I bought that for the library and opened it eagerly to read it.

I was horrified and disappointed to find her portrayal of the school librarian in her novel. The woman lurks in the library like some sort of spider and throws out any student who dares to enter, let alone want to borrow a book. Pardon me? Any librarian who behaved like that wouldn’t last a week in a modern school! (Well, maybe Rupert Giles of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer would, and he does kick out kids who aren’t there to look up monsters for slaying, but he’s cute. You can forgive him)

And it shows a huge misunderstanding of the role of the modern teacher-librarian which I will come to shortly.

Call me a gatekeeper if you like, but I don’t see why I should spend my precious budget on a writer who has shown not only a misunderstanding of my job but contempt for me and my colleagues. If a student requested one of her books I would buy it, but fortunately I have received some for reviewing, so those are the ones on my library’s shelves. I won’t go out of my way to look for her books othewise. That said, I have never allowed this to affect my reviews of them. I just won't buy them - and if I feel that way, there may be others. Is it worth alienating your market for one moment of satisfaction getting fictional revenge on the horrible librarian who terrified you as a child?

Contrast this with Australian SF writer Sean McMullen, whose first novel featured a world ruled by librarians. Word got around and suddenly Sean was a bestseller. And libraries have continued to buy his books ever since.

Nobody says your librarians have to be heroic, but for heaven’s sake, check your facts before subscribing to the image of the cross woman in bun and glasses! Would you buy books by someone who sneered at what you do? Hey, think of all the people who do sneer at children’s writers! Think of the adult novel image of the fluffy children’s writer. Yet you’re doing a job that requires skills that few people possess. So is the teacher-librarian.

Which brings me to my next point. Teacher-librarians don’t just process books and check them in and out. They work with their colleagues to design curriculum. They use their knowledge of children’s and YA literature and what kids are reading to choose books and match them to readers. They teach research skills, something that is vital in this day and age. They teach literacy skills. They arrange writer events - yes, the events to which you might or might not be invited. They run reading programs.

Yet since Principals got access to the purse strings in the state system, they have mostly had the responsibility to save money and the first place they always save it is in the library. In Victoria, Australia, where I live, you can’t even study teacher-librarianship any more, unless you study it on-line through an interstate university. There is a perception that you don’t need anybody in the library or that any idiot can stamp books when needed.

Pity I didn’t know this when I was one of thirty students chosen out of five hundred applicants to study librarianship. It was the toughest course I ever did, harder and more exhausting than my Honours degree. And you have to keep up to date, as in any other profession.

Of course - it’s all stamping books! Why didn’t I realise this?

Some primary schools have no one at all; a friend of mine is currently fixing up a library abandoned since the school got rid of its library staff altogether. It’s her son’s school, she’s a volunteer and she’s a qualified librarian. Lucky school. At least until he goes to high school.

Of course, there are those who think hard copy books are already out of date; I recall one of our Principals who was furious when a librarian bought a set of encyclopaedias, because “they look it all up on the Internet now!”

So watch out - you could be next.

If you want libraries to keep buying your books and inviting you to speak and run workshops, you should be fighting to keep professionals in them - they are the ones who know what you do and work with you to keep literacy going and get the school to buy your book in multiples for reading circles and class sets. If you think it can all be done by English teachers, forget it - they are busy with their own teaching and I wish I had a dollar for every English teacher who admitted to me that they read very little outside of the class texts because they just have no time for anything else. It’s true, too, they don’t, really they don’t have time, with all the things expected of teachers these days. If they do take on this job because the Principal got rid of the professionals in the library, then something else has to go.

And the few books they read may not be yours.

Think about it.