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After being long listed for the WriteMentor Children’s Novel Award,
Amy Borg took part in the WriteMentor 2019 summer mentoring
programme where she worked on her Young Adult fantasy manuscript with
the help of author Amy McCaw.
Since then, she has received representation from
Sara O’ Keeffe, Editorial Director of Corvus.
Amy shares her writing journey, her experience
with WriteMentor, and her thoughts on why mentoring is so
valuable for writers.
Tell us about your writing journey from start
until now.
I started writing my first novel in high school,
and finished it in my second year of uni. It was a gothic fantasy
murder mystery (for kids!), and despite my best efforts, I didn’t
manage to get it anywhere near publication. In the gap between
then and now, I wrote a second novel, travelled Europe teaching
English, had a few shorter pieces commissioned and published, and
somehow landed on a master’s program for publishing and creative
writing in London. On that program, I heavily revised my first
novel to use it as a self-publishing experiment. I also started
writing the first draft of what would become Shape, though
at that point, it was a very different story from what it is now.
What made you apply for the WriteMentor
programme?
My route into WriteMentor was comparatively
roundabout. I didn’t know anything at all about the programme
until I ran into the submissions call for the 2018 Children’s
Novel Award… approximately four hours before the deadline. I saw
the mentorships and feedback that came with the competition,
along with a ton of support and positivity from the
community, so I decided to submit. I’ll confess, the novel wasn’t
actually even finished at this point, but I never
expected to be longlisted. I figured that if I were, I would’ve
finished my draft by the time February rolled around.
Spoiler alert: I was longlisted, with 20k words
still left unwritten. Cue a week of endless coffee and no sleep,
getting up early and staying up late to pour down words around
the margins of my shift work, so that I could send the judges an
actual manuscript. I distinctly remember apologizing to Stuart
about the state of the whole thing when I sent it over with
(again) about four hours to spare. But I’m so glad that first,
ragged-around-every-edge draft got shortlisted, because my
mentorship with Amy was absolutely invaluable.
Read more here.
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Short
Story/Flash Fiction contests OPEN!
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Our contests are back! With a
WINTER theme, you can incorporate that in whatever imaginative
way you can.
Emma Finlayson-Palmer and Sally Doherty are back to judge, and
the prize is a full feature of you and your story in the next WM
magazine!
Deadline: 31st October.
Read more here.
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Last Chance!
MG is sold out, and only a couple of YA places!
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WriteMaster
Lindsay Galvin and Alexandra Sheppard will lead their own 6 week
online courses, taking you through the main elements to make
to make your novel really stand out and to learn craft aspects
that will help, not only this novel, but every one your write.
With guest agents Chloe Seager and Jo Williamson, who will look
at the opening of your WIP and give some feedback, this is a
great way to develop craft while writing, or redrafting, your
novel MG or YA novel!
Start
date: 6th October 2020
More here.
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12 week
courses with Lauren James (YA) and Maz Evans (MG)
Places are available on a first
come, first serve basis, so sign up now (by paying a £60
deposit) to secure your place for January 2021. Be quick, we
sold out quickly last time.
The groups are smaller this time, to give you and your manuscript
even more attention!
And remember, as well as incredible tutoring, feedback and
insight from Lauren and Maz, we also offer feedback on your
submission package from a top agent - click on the links
above to find out more!
There will also be 1 scholarship place on both courses - look out
for details on how to apply, coming soon.
Start
date: 4th January 2021
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Spark
Mentoring
Spark Mentoring is always
available if you need extra help or support each month. We have
made the Spark mentoring package even better by including access
to our 12 month novel course and the self-editing course with
Kesia Lupo for all Spark mentees - do contact me if you wish to
access either of these and are a current spark mentee. If you
wish to sign, hit the link above for all the details.
We have introduced a couple of
new mentors in recent months to give those signing up, a wider
range of authors to choose from and increase likelihood of
compatibility. All their profiles can be found on the website.
We welcome Melinda Salisbury, Yasmin Rahman, Alex Sheppard and
Aisha Bushby.
All our mentors would be delighted to work with you!
Spark mentor Emma Read has offered to give ongoing free critiques
to BAME writers - one free package per month of synopsis and
1st page.
Sign up here and she will work through the list, at a rate of 1 a
month, so the quicker you sign up, the quicker you'll get some
feedback.
https://forms.gle/g9fWLovv7oGxozYV9
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The latest edition of the magazine
was released on 7th August!
FEATURING:
Kit de Waal | Joseph Elliott | Emma Perry | Marisa Noelle |
Kaitlyn Leann Sanchez | Jasmine Richards | J.R. Ford | Ian
Johnson | Fiona Barker | Anna Moutran | The Honest Writer
Find out about...writing Young Adult fiction...publishing your
first novel...life as a literary agent...representation in
publishing...writing picture books...self-publishing...overcoming
writer's block...plus read competition-winning short stories and
flash fiction, and our celebration corner - featuring you!
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Disabled Creatives Universe
Mentor Program
For the attention of disabled and/or Neurodiverse writers: this
new mentoring programme is seeking mentors (until 1st
December).
On January 5, 2021, their webpage will go live and further
promotion will begin and this will be the
first date mentors can open to applicants.
If you are a disabled/ND writer, you can apply to be mentored at
this point.
They have two flexible and varied options, so do check them out
on Twitter for more information.
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Final word from the Jedi Master
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Doing the wrong things
for the right reasons
This is the basis of every memorable antagonist.
All of the great stories for children (or many of them) have
memorable antagonists: Trunchbull, President Snow, Mrs Coulter,
Count Olaf…and there's so many more…
But what makes them memorable - is it just their evilness, just
the horrible, cruel things they do?
I'd argue that developing a deep, 3D antagonist is just as
important as doing the same for your protagonist. As readers, we
like characters who can relate to, whether or not we agree with
them, but we need to get a sense that we can understand why someone
is evil or someone is the antagonist.
Because, and this is so very important…
Nobody
is the antagonist of their own story.
All of the people above, and all antagonists don't think what
they are doing is evil - they are doing it for a strong reason,
something they truly believe in.
If we take some films I love, we have two prime examples in both
Darth Vader and Thanos.
On the surface, these guys are sold as the baddies. The
antagonists, the forces for evil. But when you dig deeper, and
this is what we must do with our antagonists, then we discover
that at the heart of all the atrocities and evil deeds, is a
strong, relatable reason or motivation for doing what they do, at
least to start with.
We see the fall of Anakin to the dark side in the prequel trilogy
of Star Wars, and after viewing that, we begin to see how he
became Darth Vader. It was out of so much love for his wife, and
the fear of losing her, that he began down the dark path.
For Thanos, it was seeing his planet destroy itself due to
overpopulation - he did not want the rest of the plants to suffer
this same fate.
There is a real understandable initial motivation for all our
antagonists and it's important to remember that when telling our
story. A 2D, cardboard cutout villain is not going to cut it with
our kid readers - they want more, they want depth, they want to
see why this person has gone bad, and maybe, just maybe she that
glimmer of humanity that was in them before, and even during the
darkest of their acts.
So, spend a little time this week developing those antagonists -
give them that real, relatable reason for starting on the dark
path, one we can understand, one that is powerful enough to keep
them doing the dark things. If you're stuck, love is often the
most powerful reason, and fear of losing that love, or loved one.
We all need love, even the baddies.
All we need is love.
Writing can be lonely, but it doesn't need to be.
May the Force be with you!
Stuart
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