Blog Tour: Three Ways to Grow your Creative Writing by author Emma Read.

 

It may sound a cliché but writing is an escape.

These days, when our worlds have shrunk and our daily lives have become limited to the experiences within our own four walls and the queue at the supermarket, many people turn to writing to open the door to somewhere else.

Perhaps you’ve decided to write that book you’ve always dreamed of. Perhaps your teacher has asked you write a story as part of your home-schooling. Perhaps you’ve just read a brilliant book and want to write about what happens next.

If so, here are a few tips to get you started and keep you going – now and beyond the Lockdown…

TIP ONE

Catch your ideas

They are flighty little things and when float in they are just as liable to float right out again. Keep notebooks. Everywhere!

Write down all your ideas – be they character names, or settings in a strange world, or a magical item. I write down dreams. Not necessarily the whole, bizarre detail, usually just images or feelings that have lingered. You might find yourself struck by an idea while watching TV, or reading a news story. Or maybe by something you hear over the fence – the scratch of squirrels, the neighbours playing football, or an alien spaceship landing on the balcony (or was it just the cat?)

 

TIP TWO

Read something different

By which I mean – if you’re like me, and generally read fiction, try something like:

• Non-Fiction – e.g. How to be Extraordinary, by Rashmi Sirdeshpande
• Poetry – Like Poems to Live your Life By, Illustrated by Chris Riddell
• Comics or Graphic Novels – My current favourites are Bunny vs Monkey, by Jamie Smart, and Amulet, by Kazu Kibuishi.
• Scripts – Take a look at Dr Who, Episode One – The Woman Who Fell to Earth.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/doctor-who-series11

 

Reading outside your normal scope of media opens your mind to new ways of expressing yourself, new language and also sparks new ideas.

 

TIP THREE

Have adventures!

No, you don’t need to run away and join the circus, or take up with a gang of treasure-mad pirates. But once we are allowed out-out again, have your own adventures. Try something new, even if it feels a bit scary. As a writer, we create fantastical images and write these from our imaginations. But to make them feel real and relatable we weave our real-life experience into the words. The more experiences you have, the more you’ll be able to bring to your writing.

So, for example – your main character is running away from a dragon, and has to climb a sheer rock face to get away. The dragon comes from a picture in your mind, but the effort and nerves felt when climbing the cliff comes from that time you went on a climbing wall at the sports centre.

Or perhaps your hero has to eat a strange alien food. You can go to town describing the food, then really bring it to life by recalling a time you ate something new and unusual for the first time.

 

I hope these tips have been useful and you find yourself escaping to somewhere new and exciting. Happy writing, happy reading … happy escaping!

 

 About the Author

Emma Read is the author of Milton the Mighty, which was one of The Times’s Best Children’s Books of 2019, and the sequel, Milton the Megastar (both Chicken House Books). The MILTON series is written for younger readers and is all about finding courage, good friends, and doing amazing things – even if you’re a spider the size of a raisin! Emma lives in Bath, and never sweeps up cobwebs.

Find out more at: https://www.emmareadauthor.com/

 

Catch the other stops on the tour:

 

Thanks to Emma Read for your amazing content. Thanks to Laura Smythe PR for organising.

Advertisement

Blog Tour: The Thirteenth Home Of Noah Bradley by Amber Lee Dodd.

Guest Post: The Billy Goat Curse by author of The Thirteenth Home Of Noah Bradley, Amber Lee Dodd. 

In 1945, William “Billy Goat” Sianis brought his pet goat, Murphy, to Wrigley Field to see the fourth game of the 1945 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers. However, many fans weren’t too happy to have to stand next to the badly behaved and rather smelly goat. So they got together to get William and Murphy booted from the stadium. But as William and Murphy where being led from the stadium, William promised to have his revenge. Later that day William reportedly put a curse on the team. Ever since, the Cubs have had legendarily bad luck. More so than any other team in the league. Don’t ever mess with a man and his goat.

Synopsis:

Noah’s family never stays in the same home for very long. Legend goes that a curse was placed upon them long ago to ensure that they were never able to settle. Twelve-year-old Noah is about to move into his thirteenth home – and this time, he would like to remain. He not only has friends at school. For the first time in his life, Noah is one of the cool kids. Everything is great, even if he feels awkward about the way his friends treat his new neighbour, Neena.

When the curse returns, with a flock of birds that attack Noah and Neena, Noah keeps quiet. The trouble is, the curse has a mind of its own, and it will take more than one boy’s determination to break it.

Review:

A beautiful story of magical-realism that is set in a very ordinary world. Legend says that once upon a time, the Bradley family were given magical gifts to enable them to settle on an island. After becoming greedy and using these objects to strip the island of its resources,  the islanders cursed the family to always be chased from their home by the winds of the North. That was many years ago. Now, twelve-year-old Noah wants more than anything else to be normal.

Curse aside, the story is set in a very ordinary contemporary world. Noah’s life means he has gone from school to school, changing his identity every time to fit into his new surroundings. He has a knack for blending in. At one school, he was very academic. In another, he was a drama kid. Now, for the first time in his life, Noah is popular. This comes with trials as well as perks, because Noah feels compelled to laugh at Neena, the girl from over the road who he would otherwise have liked as a friend. This theme is explored beautifully, showing empathy with Noah but not ultimately excusing his behaviour. Adults can be too quick to say that’s just fitting in when dealing with issues of childhood popularity, but bullying is bullying, and no child should be on the receiving end.

Noah’s family also experiences additional upheaval when his Dad insists on leaving for a time to work abroad. Living with the curse has taken its toll, but it is never easy for children who feel that their family has become too much for a parent. The constant moves, too, will be relatable to many readers. With increasing numbers of children moving from one rental property to another, plenty of readers will identify with Noah’s confused sense of identity.

The characters are created with such empathy that reading the story is like seeing straight into their souls. I especially loved Noah’s brother Billy. Billy is partially deaf, and the representation is spot-on. Billy’s hearing problems affect his life, but so does the way he is treated at times by other people. The things he struggles with need to be recognised and accommodated for without Billy being treated like a baby. He is also finding his own identity for the first time, and this causes Noah endless anxiety. Why must his brother wear girl’s tops? Doesn’t he know what happens to boys who carry sparkly backpacks? People with disabilities, as well as autistic people, often face this kind of overbearing guidance that makes it difficult for their own confidence to develop. Seeing this represented in a children’s book was wonderful because stories enable empathy to grow.

A great story, with strong characters, relatable problems, and a really memorable premise. I raced through the pages and the story was so vivid that I could almost hear the birds of the North.

 

Check out the other stops along the tour:

 

The Thirteenth Home Of Noah Bradley is available now. RRP £6.99.

My copy of the book was provided as part of a promotional blog tour. Thanks to Scholastic UK for sending my book, and for inviting me to take part.

Review: Milton The Megastar by Emma Read.

Extract:

Zoe danced around the garden with Milton, jumping for joy, in her hand. She looked so happy it melted Milton’s heart, and he felt a sense of peace flow through him. This would be the break he needed and he would get to see his Dad again. Everything was falling into place. It was all going to be OK. 

(Milton The Megastar by Emma Read. P36.) 

 

Synopsis:

Being the star of the #NotScaredOfSpiders campaign has stressed Milton out. His friends are supporting him, but secretly they think he’s become a real diva. Milton is on the edge of a breakdown, and he’s also concerned about his Dad who was last spotted in Hawaii.

Zoe’s new life should be easier. Since Dad got together with Greta, there’s been more comfort, less stress, and a whole lot more laughter in the house. Yet it doesn’t feel entirely right.

When Dad and Greta announce a trip to Hawaii, Zoe invites Milton along for the ride. After all, this could be the only opportunity for him to find his Dad. But Milton’s Dad is in more trouble than they know, living on the site of entrepreneur Bradley O’Hair’s latest project. Oh, and there’s also a volcano showing more signs of life than it has done for years …

Can Milton and Zoe trust other people – and spiders – to help them rescue Milton’s Dad?

 

Review:

Zoe and the spider gang are back. Following their escapades in Milton The Mighty, the group is now suffering under the pressure of having a social media presence. Zoe has troubles of her own. As much as she likes Greta, and feels happy for her Dad, the relationship between them has moved so quickly. Where does Zoe herself fit into this new family unit? And why does everybody keep acting as if Greta is her Mum?

A holiday in Hawaii should be exactly what everybody needs, but it only makes things harder. Firstly there’s all the single-use plastic and environmentally awful activities offered by Bradley O’Hair and his mega hotel. Secondly, the man himself is clearly up to something big, and whatever it is, it appears to be bad news for Milton’s Dad and the colony of endangered spiders. Then Zoe herself is struggling – Dad used to tell her everything, but all of a sudden he and Greta are hiding things.

It is lovely to see a book about environmental action that is sensitive to the complexities. Is travelling to Hawaii wrong? Does the spider campaign justify the trip? And then what about Bradley O’Hair’s son Dillon? Dillon has only ever been taught that environmentalism is an extreme view and that there are heaps of trees to go around. Does that make him a bad person? Does it mean he will never listen? His Dad is certainly doing a lot of damage, but when Dillon listens to Zoe, he starts to think about spiders and rainforests in entirely new ways.

The story also proves that struggling with anxiety and stress doesn’t make someone any less of a hero. It is so important for readers to see positive representations of mental health struggles. Feeling overloaded, or talking about feelings, doesn’t make a person any less capable, and seeing favourite characters struggling can help to counter the stigma around anxiety and asking for support.  

Emma Read’s books fit into the growing market for stories younger than Harry Potter but older than the early reader chapter books. This is currently known as Lower Middle Grade, although I would question whether middle grade (traditionally for 8 – 12-year-olds) got so skewed towards the top that we are now seeing a resurgence of books aimed at younger primary aged children. Labels aside, this reminds me of the wonderful stories by Dick King-Smith that I read and reread as a child.

When we aren’t capable of doing something alone, reaching out to other people helps us to get things done. A triumphant return for Zoe and Milton – a story with a massive heart and absolutely loads of spiders.

 

Thanks to Chicken House Books and Laura Smythe PR for my copy of Milton The Megastar. Opinions my own.