0 Tracking Down Unicorns - Lari Don

I’ve spent the last month trying to track down a unicorn. You probably won’t be surprised to discover that unicorns are hard to find!

I’m currently pulling together the background research and references for a collection of horse stories (a companion to Girls, Goddesses and Giants, and Winter’s Tales.) And I want to include a unicorn, just like I want to include a centaur, a kelpie and a hippogriff. But the unicorn is proving the hardest to track down.

I keep glimpsing the perfect unicorn story, but never actually finding it. I keep finding hints of a Ukrainian story about the unicorn refusing to go on the ark with all those other smelly animals, which is apparently why unicorns aren’t exactly common these days. I like this little fable, and I want to include my retelling of it in Wild Horses, Wings and Warriors.

But in collections of myths, legends and traditional tales, I always put information at the back of the book about where I’ve found each story, with a genuine trackable source.

sources in my collection of Scottish tales Breaking The Spell

And though I keep glimpsing the unicorn story, though I keep seeing partial hoofprints, I can’t find a source that isn’t gossip, rumour or hearsay.

Google doesn’t help. The same few lines are repeated on lots of different sites, but all the sources seem to be copying each other, like a circle without a starting point. And even proper books - old dusty books, hardback books, books in the library - lots of them mention the same story but even they don’t give an actual source.

And in a slightly unlikely twist, when I mentioned my quest to my best friend, she pulled from the back of her amazing brain a SONG about the story I am hunting for, and sang it down the phone to me. Which was fun, but not really what I was looking for…

So, how much should I care about sources and provenance? All traditional tales have been made up, by someone, some time. Does it matter where I found them? Any book I use as a source, however old, will still just be one version of the story, captured at one moment. You can’t point at a particular version of an oral story and say – that’s the original story.

Even so, I think it does matter. I like to feel that anyone reading a collection of mine can go back to the sources I used and discover more about the story, perhaps find their own way of telling it and perhaps find out more about the culture the story came from. I’m retelling these old tales, not creating them myself, and I want to give credit to the sources that inspire me.

But this particular story seems to be, like the unicorn itself, very hard to find. Elusive. Frustrating. Perhaps non-existent.

I’ve never had this trouble in any other collection, with any other story. Perhaps it’s only unicorns that are impossible to track down…

a helpful child drew me a unicorn!

So should I just shrug and think, it’s only a story, and stop worrying about it? Or should I make a virtue of the fact that finding the unicorn is uniquely impossible? (It does feel quite appropriate!) Or should I keep looking? Should I keep hunting the unicorn, with my telescope, my seven league boots, my map saying ‘here be dragons’ and my compass with the needle pointing to Once Upon a Time…

I think, for now, with the deadline for Wild Horses still more than seven leagues away, I will keep hunting for that unicorn.

Lari Don is the award-winning author of 22 books for all ages, including a teen thriller, fantasy novels for 8 – 12s, picture books, retellings of traditional tales and novellas for reluctant readers.
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Detail: Tracking Down Unicorns - Lari Don

0 Yay YA! What a great day! - byLinda Strachan

   First Scottish YA festival to celebrate Young Adult fiction
took place last Friday as 200 Young Adult readers from 9 schools arrived at Cumbernauld Theatre.

All eleven authors who took part live and work in Scotland, writing a wide range of books, from gritty realism to fantasy, historical settings from Vikings to the First World War, adventure, humour, weirdness and wonder.  An amazing bouquet of words and writing  to delight any reader.

Kirkland Ciccone 

After the success of the YALC (Young Adult Literature Convention) in London last year YA author Kirkland Ciccone decided there should be something to celebrate the wealth of YA books, and their authors who are living and working in Scotland.

A larger than life character, with typical enthusiasm and humour he gathered together a 'novel' of authors (is that the collective term?) and asked if we would be keen to take part.

No one was sure what to expect, least of all Kirkland himself, I suspect, but by the time the sell-out crowd arrived on Friday morning it had already gathered great momentum.

Kirkland had approached sponsors and secured a commitment from both the Cumbernauld Theatre and North Lanarkshire Council's CultureNL, who supported the event with great enthusiasm and helped to make it such a success.

Kirkland had everyone laughing with his introduction. Waving his ray gun and wearing a tin foil top he started it off by saying ...
 “Welcome to the first annual Hunger Gam…oh wait!”   

Almost immediately the audience was split into two halves with some spending the morning in the auditorium listening to three great authors -  I would have loved to be there but I was busy elsewhere as you will discover below. I did hear that the audiences were hugely entertained with their presentations, mesmerising words, and a few interesting props...

Barry Hutchison, Cathy MacPhail and Theresa Breslin

 Catherine MacPhail showed the trailer for the film of her book Another Me, which is delighting  and scaring audiences as much as the book does its readers!

Theresa Breslin took them on a trip into the past showing off her gas mask and some shrapnel from WW1

Barry Hutchison apparently had them enthralled with stories about death and.... squirrels  - I really must get in to listen to him sometime soon!


Meanwhile in lots of different nooks and crannies, such as dressing rooms and tiny bars scattered around Cumbernauld Theatre, with amazing efficiency the Front of House staff led groups of between 5 and 15 young readers around each of the other six authors.  We had about 7 or 8 minutes with each group before they were moved on to the next author.

In the Cottage Bar

What a challenge that was, to find a way to engage with the audience and let them feel connected with us and our books in just 8 minutes.

I was in the Cottage Bar, a lovely space with cottage-style windows and as each group was ushered in I had decided I would tell them a quick, hopefully atmospheric, snapshot of each of my three YA crime novels - Spider, Dead Boy talking and Don't Judge Me.
After that I threw it open to them to ask me anything they liked.  Almost every group had at least one or two who had questions for me and I thoroughly enjoyed that it was very much more personal than a large school event.  The pressure of the limited time was also less of a problem than I had expected.

Alex Nye

Next door to me was the lovely Alex Nye with her books Chill and Shiver and announcing her forthcoming novel.  Hers was the only presentation I got
in to hear a part of, because one school had cancelled (there had originally been 10 schools) which meant we all had a few minutes to catch our breath. . Alex passed around her notebook with all her changes and scoring out. It was lovely (serious notebook envy!)

The other four authors involved in the ' 8 minute speed dating'  were Lari Don, an amazing storyteller and writer for younger readers who was talking about her first YA novel, Mind Blind;  Roy Gill, with his werewolves in Daemon Parallel, is taller than anyone has a right to be;  Matt Cartney, a real life adventurer, with his Danny Lansing adventures, and V Campbell and her Viking Gold!

Roy Gill and Lari Don in the 'selfie' area

At lunchtime there was a chance for the young readers to buy books and the lovely Scotia Books had an amazing bookstall.

The enthusiastic teachers, librarians and bloggers seemed to be enjoying the day, too.

I saw lots of young readers with four or five books, eagerly chasing down authors for a signature, or a photo! 

 After lunch it all started again with the audience changing places so that those who were in the auditorium in the morning came around to meet us for their 8 minute chat, while the others had a chance in the auditorium.

Author Keith Charters joined us at lunch time for the latter part of the afternoon and excellently chaired the final event which was a panel of authors taking questions. Alex Nye, Roy gill, Victoria Campbell and Lari Don fielded some challenging questions and generally agreed to disagree with most of their answers which is probably exactly how it should be, because no two writers are the same!

V Campbell, Matt Cartney and Keith Charters

Despite all the rushing about, chatting and book buying sometimes you want a quiet spot to get stuck into that book you've just bought......

Finally it was all almost over when Theresa Breslin presented Kirkland with the Chocolate Trainer Award, which he promised to enjoy!

Chocolate Trainer Award

Everyone agreed it had been an excellent day and hopefully Yay YA! will continue next year!

Our thanks to Kirkland Ciccone without whose delightfully over-the-top exuberance, patience and organisation, this would never have happened. Well done Kirkland!

---------------------------------------------

Linda Strachan is the author of over 60 books for all ages from picture books to teenage novels and the writing handbook Writing For Children.

Linda's latest YA novel is Don't Judge Me . 
She is Patron of Reading to Liberton High School, Edinburgh.

Her best selling series Hamish McHaggis is illustrated by Sally J. Collins

website:  www.lindastrachan.com
blog:  Bookwords 

Detail: Yay YA! What a great day! - byLinda Strachan

0 Positive and negative reasons for choosing character names – Lari Don

Yesterday, I asked my daughter to help me choose a name for a (fictional) white cat in a novel, and as we scribbled down various ideas, I realised that I choose character names for a variety of reasons, both positive and negative.

I’ve always loved selecting names that have resonance or meaning for me, in order to help me get to know new characters, though I usually keep that meaning hidden, rather than shouting it out loud in the story.

So that’s a positive reason to say YES to a potential name. And I have those positive reasons for every major character and quite a few minor ones in all my novels so far.

But there are lots of reasons to say NO to a potential name, many of which I said yesterday as my daughter listed possible names for that white cat.

I can’t use the name of a person I know well. (Or indeed a cat I know well, it turns out.)

I can’t use a name (in the case of this cat) that we’re ever likely to use as a name for a future family pet.

I can’t use a name that I’ve used for a character in one of my other books, even if that book is in a different series (though I’m fairly sure I’ve already slipped up and have a minor character in one novel with the same name as the main character in a picture book. Ooops.)

I can’t use a name, for a minor character, that I like so much I might want to use it for a major character in a future novel…

And of course, the one I imagine most writers struggle with: I can’t use names that look too similar on the page. Recently, I wanted to call a new character Roxanne, but I couldn’t because I already have an established character in that book called Rosalind, and two names starting with ‘Ro’ would be too confusing, for me if not for the readers!  So I'll have to return to the baby names books for that character...

All of which leaves me with a rather worrying question. I’ve got at least a dozen novel ideas that I’m keen to write over the next few years. But will I eventually run out of character names that work for all my positive and negative reasons? Will I run out of labels to stick on my characters before I run out of stories to put them in? (Perhaps I’ll have to start writing the sorts of books where I can invent words…)

Just in case you’re wondering, the cat is probably going to be called Poppet. Not a name I’m likely to use for a cat of my own, or indeed for a serious kickass heroine in another series.

Lari Don is the award-winning author of 22 books for all ages, including a teen thriller, fantasy novels for 8 – 12s, picture books, retellings of traditional tales and novellas for reluctant readers.
Lari’s website 
Lari’s own blog 
Lari on Twitter 
Lari on Facebook 
Lari on Tumblr

Detail: Positive and negative reasons for choosing character names – Lari Don

0 Teenagers aren’t scary – Lari Don

I spend a lot of time in primary schools, chatting to upper primary age children about adventures and monsters, heroines and heroes, myths and legends, and my Fabled Beast Chronicles. As a writer and storyteller I get on well with 10 year olds - we seem to enjoy the same kinds of stories.

The wonderful thing about primary age kids is their open joyful enthusiasm about their own imaginations.

So a roomful of 10 year olds, or 9 year olds, or 8 year olds (or 4 year olds, when I’m reading one of my picture books) is not scary for me. Not even if there are several hundred of them in a large school hall. That’s my natural environment, as an on-the-road author.

However, a room full of teenagers? That’s scary, isn’t it? It’s certainly not my natural environment, or not until recently.

Because I published a teen novel this year, the YA thriller Mind Blind, and this month, I took Mind Blind on tour, chatting to widely varying numbers of teenagers in secondary school libraries, English classrooms and school canteens.

And I thought this would be completely different from talking to readers in primary schools.

I really did expect teenagers in large groups to be scary. More critical perhaps, less open. Taller than me, certainly. Wearing more makeup and fancier shoes than me…

And I’ve certainly discovered that secondary school events are very different from primary events, but not for the reasons I expected.

So long as I make it clear I’m not trying to teach them anything, that I’m just there to share my passion for ‘what happens next’, and once I’ve shown that I’m not concerned about rules or exams, that I’m prepared to admit mistakes and make a bit of an idiot of myself at the front of the room, then the secondary pupils are usually very open and enthusiastic about sharing their own thoughts, ideas and questions. Just like the primary school pupils.

One striking difference from primary events is that as young writers grow, as they read and write more, they begin to develop a good working knowledge of their own writing style and opinions, which makes for fascinating discussions about different and equally valid ways of planning / not planning stories, what makes a satisfying ending, and how to treat characters and readers.

But the main difference I’ve found between primary and secondary events is the timetable! I usually spend an hour or more with primary children. I can usually see them from the start of the school day until playtime or from the end of playtime until lunchtime, or a nice long chat after lunchtime. Primary teachers can be delightfully flexible, and are usually very keen for me to have as long as possible with their pupils.

But in secondary schools the timetable is the boss. I may be told that I can see the pupils for period 3, which is 10.48 to 11.36 exactly, and that the class will have to go to their teacher to register first, so that might really be 10.54 to 11.36, and that they have to be packed and ready to leave when the bell goes, so that’s more likely to be from 10.54 to 11.32…

So I don’t get nearly as long as I’d like. I can’t just blether on, I have to be more organised, more focused, and get to the meat of what I want to do faster. But once I have got my head round the much shorter session time, then it’s fine. Because really, wherever I am, I’m just chatting to people about stories, whatever age those people are.

So now that I’ve accepted my subservience to the tyranny of the timetable, I’ve realised that teenagers aren’t that scary at all. Not even 170 of them in an echoey old school canteen. They are equally as imaginative and enthusiastic and full of adventure as primary pupils. They may just need a little extra encouragement to step out of the confines of the timetable themselves and let their imaginations fly free.

Lari Don is the award-winning author of 22 books for all ages, including a teen thriller, fantasy novels for 8 – 12s, picture books, retellings of traditional tales and novellas for reluctant readers. Lari’s website 
Lari’s own blog 
Lari on Twitter 
Lari on Facebook 
Lari on Tumblr

Detail: Teenagers aren’t scary – Lari Don

0 The not-writing bits of a writer’s day - Lari Don

I love writing, but I can’t do it for long.

I do it in quick bursts (30 or 40 minutes is usually enough) then I need a break, partly to recover emotionally from the fight or chase or argument I’ve just written, partly to get up from the chair and keyboard to give my body a change of posture, and partly to give my brain time to consider solutions to the questions and problems that particular burst of writing has thrown up.

So on the rare and wonderful days when I have all day to write, I don’t spend all day writing. I do a variety of things to take a break, at least once an hour. And over the years, I’ve discovered things which REALLY don’t work as breaks from writing:

Logging on to my email or twitter or facebook or even lovely blogs like this, because I get involved in conversations then feel rude if I break them off to get back to writing, and anyway it doesn’t give me a break from the screen and keyboard.

Reading a novel, because if the novel is any good, 10 minutes isn’t enough, and I risk getting sucked into that world, forgetting the time, forgetting the book I’m trying to write…

Doing a bit of housework, which usually annoys me more than it relaxes or inspires me, so I do as little housework as possible (this is a life rule, not just a writing day one!)

So this month, I made a new resolution (why make them in January? October can be a new start too) and I’m trying to find other things to give me a quick mental and physical break, then send me back into the story refreshed and possibly even inspired. And so far, these have worked:

 

Reading poetry, short stories or collections of art and photos. Much less likely to suck me in than a novel, and also a chance to widen my reading. So I’ve started a shelf of books specifically chosen for glancing at for 10 minutes (and yes, that is a book of Joan Lennon’s poetry…)

Stitching or sewing something. I’ve dug out a cushion cover I started to design decades ago, and now I’m working on it in very small sections. Working with wool is so different from working with words, that it seems like the perfect break.

Baking bread or cooking. It’s not housework, but it still makes me feel domestically useful, and kneading bread is particularly satisfying.

Going for a run. This is the best way to clear my head, and to deal with the dangers of a sitting down job. But it only works once a day, and only when I can be bothered! 

Sight reading a few of my daughter’s scales / exercises / pieces on the piano. (Not particularly well, but with a bit of verve!)

I’m sure if did all of these (run, bake, sew, play music, read poetry…) in one day, I’d probably not write any words of my own at all. But having all of those options certainly beats hanging socks between chapters…

Lari Donis the award-winning author of 22 books for all ages, including a teen thriller, fantasy novels for 8 – 12s, picture books, retellings of traditional tales and novellas for reluctant readers. 

Lari’s website 

Lari’s own blog

Lari on Twitter

Lari on Facebook

Lari on Tumblr

Detail: The not-writing bits of a writer’s day - Lari Don