Two panel discussions will top and tail our ‘Wolves and Apples’ event on October 3rd.
WHY WRITE FOR CHILDREN?
10:15-11:00

The opening discussion will introduce the event and our guest speakers and touch on some key aspects of creating work for children and young adults.

Possible Areas of Discussion.

• How and why did the panel begin writing for children and young adults?
• What are we trying to achieve by creating work for young audiences?
• What are the pitfalls and advantages of working in this area?
• More girls than boys read. Does that matter and how does it affect the choices one makes as a writer?

Q and A.
The panel will end with an opportunity to ask questions of our speakers.

A WRITING CAREER
16:00-16:50

The closing discussion will be focused on professional development for writers. Collectively the panel has experience of publishing, writing, producing, directing, show running, and representing writers.

Potential Areas of Discussion.

• Developing a viable career: not putting all your eggs in one basket.
• Understanding how different industries (e.g. Theatre, publishing, TV) operate and work with writers.
• Presenting and submitting your work – best practice.
• Where to get further advice, support and help.
• Dos, don’ts and next steps.

Q and A
The discussion will end with a final opportunity to ask questions of our speakers.

Here is the fourth micro interview with guests who will be speaking at our upcoming  Wolves and Apples event. Wolfblood’s Debbie Moon answers our three searching questions.

1. What was your favourite book when you were a child, and why?
The Grey King, by Susan Cooper. A heady mix of Welsh myth and legends in a 1970’s setting, full of dark lords, strange boys with golden eyes, magical creatures, and a powerful sense of the landscape of north-west Wales. It had such a profound impact on me that I ended up moving to Wales as an adult!

2. What is your top writing tip?
The best advice I was ever give was “don’t get it right, get it written”. A completed story gives you security. You can rewrite, reorganise, throw out whole sections, and yet always have the original version to refer to or revert to. A half-written story can’t be polished or perfected, because you don’t know what it is yet. So get it finished, however terrible you think it is, and then you can whip it into shape.

3. What is the best thing about writing for children?
Probably their enthusiasm for stories. Children experience so much of the wider world through stories, and they embrace them passionately, and get very attached to characters and relationships within them. Adults may treat television as wallpaper, there but ignored: children almost never do.

Here is the third of our micro interviews with our Wolves and Apples guests. This time it’s the turn of picture book author Jonathan Emmett to answer three questions.

1. What was your favourite book when you were a child, and why?
I had lots, but the one I usually single out is Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. As an adult I can appreciate that it’s beautifully illustrated with a deftly written text that reads wonderfully aloud, but as a four-year-old it was the sheer nightmarish scariness of the Wild Things, with their “terrible roars”, “terrible teeth”, “terrible eyes” and “terrible claws” that drew me in. Their wildness was in stark contrast to the tameness of most other picture book characters then and now. The book was criticised by parents and withheld from libraries for being “too dark” when it was first published, but that darkness is hugely appealing to many children.

2. What is your top writing tip?
Always try to finish what you start. You might not be happy with what you end up with, but you will gain useful experience for your next project.

3. What is the best thing about writing for children?
You’re writing for an open-minded audience that has no preconceptions or prejudices about what you should and should not do in a book. So, generally speaking, you can be more playful and creative when writing for children.
And, if you can write books that children will enjoy reading, you’ll be helping to give those children a head start in life. Research has shown that children that read for pleasure do better in maths, vocabulary and spelling than those who rarely read and consequently gain advantages that last their whole lives.

As we enter the last few days before our October 3rd writing event, Wolves & Apples, some places are still available. The event is aimed at aspiring writers for children and young people, across books, TV and Theatre.

The latest version of the programme with some updated information is available here or download a pdf version here: Wolves&Apples Programme V2.0

Congratulations to Debbie Moon, writer on CBBCs ‘Wolfblood’, which has been nominated in the Best British Children’s Television category by The London Screen Writer’s Festival

For more information on Wolves&Apples click here.
To book your place visit: Wolves & Apples on Eventbrite

This is the second micro interview with our Wolves & Apples guests to whet your appetite for the event on October 3rd.

We asked Literary Agent Polly Nolan these three key questions.

What was your favourite book when you were a child, and why?
I loved everything that I read so that’s almost impossible to answer!  Sometimes I wanted to read difficult, gritty books and sometimes I just wanted to escape from everything with books that were like chewing gum for the mind.  I haven’t changed as an adult. A tough day at work sends me running for easy escapism. Other days, I want to read something that will challenge me, educate me and make me think.

What is your top tip for writers?
If you’re writing for yourself, enjoy it.  If you’re writing in the hope of publication, avoid sending your manuscript to agents too early. Once you’ve typed ‘The End’, go back and rewrite the beginning. Polish the book. Proofread it.  Work on the bits that you know deep down aren’t right. And once you’re ready to send it out, don’t! Put it in a drawer for as long as possible first (ideally six months, though – understandably – most people find that virtually impossible).  Take it out and re-read it then. You’ll be amazed – and probably embarrassed – by what jumps out at you once you’ve had a bit of distance from it.  After you’ve addressed those problems (and then got people to whom you aren’t related to read it and give you an honest opinion), it’s probably ready to start sending to agents.  The biggest stumbling block for new writers when looking for an agent is that they send their work out too early.  Avoid this at all costs. It’s heart-breaking for the author, and for the agent.

What is the best thing about creating work for children?
As an agent and former publisher, I’m a step or two removed from actually creating work for children.  That privilege falls to authors, illustrators, playwrights, animators and scriptwriters – and I look at them all with envy!  I can still clearly remember the joy of reading a book as a child and then going out to find that door in the hill to another world, that talking animal, that magical creature hiding at the bottom of the garden, that baby bird with the broken wing . . . I still have the same thrill (without the freedom to explore, sadly) when a manuscript lands on my desk and transports me from the 200 unread emails and piles of editing to a different place.  To be part of an industry that gives children that thrill is brilliant, and being part of something that imparts to a child the sheer delight of reading – a gift that will stay with them forever and see them through the highs and lows of life – is humbling.

We asked each Wolves & Apples guest three questions to tell you a little bit more about them.

First up is 2015 Carnegie Medal winner Tanya Landman.

Interested in writing for children and young people? Book your place on our Wolves & Apples event.

Writer Debbie Moon will be talking about ‘Wolfblood’ and writing for television at this year’s Wolves & Apples event, on 3 October. Debbie began her career as a director and first became interested in writing while adapting works for the stage. Her original series for CBBC, ‘Wolfblood’, won the RTS Children’s Drama Award 2012 and the second series was nominated for a total of 6 Children’s BAFTAs, an RTS award and a Televisual Bulldog award. Previous children’s credits include two episodes of ‘The Sparticle Mystery’ for CBBC. Her first novel, ‘Falling’, was long-listed for Welsh Book Of The Year, and she’s currently writing a children’s novel. She has also written a radio play, comics, and short stories. Book here Wolves & Apples

“‘Wolfblood’ was inspired by a shelf of second-hand books. Which just goes to prove that writers can get inspiration from pretty much anything. I was standing in a charity shop, browsing the books, when my brain somehow read half of one title and half of the one next to it, producing a new title – Wolfblood. “Interesting,” I thought. “What’s a Wolfblood?” And thirty seconds later, I was dashing out of the shop to buy a notebook and pen and start scribbling…”

Debbie Moon Website

Writer Debbie Moon will be talking about ‘Wolfblood’ and writing for television at this year’s Wolves & Apples event, on 3 October. Debbie began her career as a director and first became interested in writing while adapting works for the stage. Her original series for CBBC, ‘Wolfblood’, won the RTS Children’s Drama Award 2012 and the second series was nominated for a total of 6 Children’s BAFTAs, an RTS award and a Televisual Bulldog award. Previous children’s credits include two episodes of ‘The Sparticle Mystery’ for CBBC. Her first novel, ‘Falling’, was long-listed for Welsh Book Of The Year, and she’s currently writing a children’s novel. She has also written a radio play, comics, and short stories. Book here Wolves & Apples

“‘Wolfblood’ was inspired by a shelf of second-hand books. Which just goes to prove that writers can get inspiration from pretty much anything. I was standing in a charity shop, browsing the books, when my brain somehow read half of one title and half of the one next to it, producing a new title – Wolfblood. “Interesting,” I thought. “What’s a Wolfblood?” And thirty seconds later, I was dashing out of the shop to buy a notebook and pen and start scribbling…“

Wolves and Apples, our annual conference on writing for children and young people, takes place in Leicester on October 3, 2015.  Keep an eye out here for more information on the programme.

Meanwhile, here’s a clue about one of our speakers…This author used to hide in the toilets at school discos. “The best thing about getting older is not feeling compelled to dance in public.”