Lian Tanner's Blog, page 2

Rita’s Revenge is getting closer…

It’s only a month and a half until Rita hits the shops, and I’m starting to think about launches and book trailers.

I’ve never actually made a book trailer before, and I was going to spend the first half of this year practising. Of course I didn’t get round to it, so it’s going to be a lot more rushed. But thanks to the pandemic, I at least know my way around making fairly basic video clips.

And I’ve been collecting duck pictures. Like this:

And this:

Not sure how (or if) I’m going to use them yet. My ambitions tend to be greater than my skills, which is why, in the past, I’ve ended up with lots of frustration and no actual trailer.

But this time…

Meanwhile I’m working on something completely different from Clara and Rita. (Though hopefully just as funny.) Next year’s book is a fantasy called Spellhound, and it’s already written. Now I’m writing the sequel, which has the working title of Fledge-witch. I’m currently knee-deep in dragons, witches, a talking knife and horned glob (don’t ask). Makes it a bit hard to drag my thoughts back to Little Dismal, but I’m doing my best.

If you’d like to read the first chapter of Rita’s Revenge, you can download it here. Just scroll down until you find the right button.

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The ducks come to visit

I used to have chooks, which was really helpful when I was doing research for A Clue for Clara. But I’ve never had ducks.

Luckily, there are dozens of them living on the canal just around the corner from my house. And every now and again, the ducks come to visit. Last week they wandered into my front garden, looking for snails and other treats.

This was nice for several reasons:

1. I don’t have a cat at the moment, so visits from random birds and animals are always welcome.

2. They make me laugh, because they always look so serious.

3. Southern Tasmania is currently in lockdown, so visits from random birds and animals are extra welcome.

4. Research for Rita’s Revenge!

There are also baby lapwings around. And baby native hens. And young bandicoots.

So it’s a really nice time of year here.

Other news:

Last weekend was the Hobart Writers Festival. I was reading from A Clue for Clara in Parliament Gardens, and these two came dressed as Olive and Clara. Don’t they look wonderful?

This really is the height of delight for an author, having people dress up as your characters. It always makes me happy.

What am I reading?

Welcome to Consent: how to say no, when to say yes and everything in between, by Yumi Stynes and Doctor Melissa Kang.

This is an absolutely brilliant book and I wish it had been around when I was a kid/teen. So much important and useful stuff about boundaries – what they are and how to set them.

Highly recommended.

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No two books can be written the same way

One of most useful things I’ve learnt over the years is that no two books can be written the same way.

I used to think that I just had to find the right process. I’d start at step 1, then do steps 2, 3 and 4 – and then I’d be finished. And I could use that process every time I wrote a book!

It turns out each book needs to be approached slightly differently. Which is probably just as well – doing it the same way every time would get awfully boring.

But one thing I find all books have in common. I need to wander around the idea for a good long time before I try to pin down. I need to give it enough space; give it daydreaming time.

That place of uncertainty is uncomfortable, because I want to get on with writing the book. But it’s also necessary. My failed books, the ones that never got past the first few chapters, or never got published, are the ones I tried to pin down before the idea was right.

So that’s where I am right now; wandering around an idea and trying not to pin it down too soon.

A new picture book!

I am delighted to be able to tell you that I have another picture book coming, with Allen & Unwin. It’s called When the Lights Went Out, and the illustrator is the amazing Bruce Whatley.

Release date is mid-2023, and yes, that’s an awfully long time to wait. But picture books are slow beasts, and this one is no exception.

And besides, 2022 is already taken by Rita.

Festival of Lies

I had the nicest message from a family in North America a couple of weeks ago:

‘Dear Lian, my family and I wanted to thank you for your wild, imaginative, funny, beautiful stories. In honor of the Autumnal Equinox last night, we held a Festival of Lies – and it was so much fun! Thank you for the inspiration! Here’s a snapshot of us – my eldest daughter made masks for us, I’m the raven, my daughters – a fox and duck – and my son, a dog.’

Clearly the Festival of Lies needs to be an annual event all over the world!

Bruce Whatley | picture book | process | writing adviceBruce Whatley | picture book | process | writing advice

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Hooray for Clara, winner of the Davitt Award!

At an online ceremony last weekend, A Clue for Clara was declared the winner of the Sisters in Crime Davitt Award for Best Children’s Crime Novel. Hooray!

You can watch the award ceremony here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYts1SiN6yo&t=2052s

It was pretty exciting, even though I had known about it for a week and a half. The thing was, I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone except my agent and my publisher. No one else, not even my best friends. And that was really hard, when I was almost bursting with the delight of it.

I did end up telling one person, because Sisters in Crime needed a photo of me with my new trophy, for publicity purposes. I tried propping up my phone and doing it myself, but that was hopeless. So I dressed up and trotted around to my friend Nola’s house, and swore her to secrecy. She took a few shots until we had one that was okay.

But of course now I can tell everyone, which is really fun. Friends and I are going out for lunch tomorrow to celebrate the fact that we are all double vaxed – with an extra bit of celebrating on top for Clara’s win.

What am I reading?

I still haven’t read all of the books shortlisted for the children’s section of the Davitts, but my favourite so far is The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle, by Pamela Rushby. Here’s the very first line:

‘It is usually a distressing experience to be informed that a close relative has been eaten by a crocodile.’

What a brilliant way of starting a book – and the rest of it is wonderful, too. It’s adventurous, mysterious and intriguing, with sinister villains and unexpected ghosts. Plus it has cats who are not at all what they seem. Highly recommended!

One last thought

This week has reminded me that winning anything is the best feeling. It might be a competition like the Davitts, but it might also be a struggle against mental or physical illness, or between two different parts of yourself. It might be a fight against bullies, or against unkindness, loneliness or anxiety.

May you win something this week, big or small.

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Clara has been shortlisted

I am absolutely delighted to see that A Clue for Clara has been shortlisted for the 2021 Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards!

These awards come up once a year for Australian women crime writers, and I didn’t know they even had a children’s section. You can see all the shortlistings here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ9kC-EuScA

Allen & Unwin put up a picture of their books from the various shortlists – most of them competing for the adult crime awards. But there’s Clara on the end. It’s so cute and funny seeing my brave little chook next to those other sinister covers.

The winners will be announced at 8:00 PM on Saturday, August 28, on the Sisters in Crime YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/c/SistersinCrimeAustralia/videos

So now I’m about to start reading the competition. Here are the books Clara is up against in the children’s crime section:

The Book of Chance by Sue WhitingThe Ghost of Howlers Beach by Jackie FrenchThe Grandest Bookshop in the World by Amelia MellorThe Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle by Pamela RushbyThe Secret Library of Hummingbird House by Julianne Negri

It’s a very strong shortlist. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

On a far more serious note, I know that some of you are back under lockdown. I hope you’re doing okay and treating yourselves and those around you with great kindness and compassion. And that this passes as quickly as possible.

Sending hugs to all of you.

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Books for anxious children

I was a dreadfully anxious child. At the time, it seemed to me that I was the only one in the world who felt like that, and I became very good at hiding it. Looking back, I really needed books that told me I wasn’t the only one. Books that told me I wasn’t weird and alone.

So now I’m making a list of books for anxious children. I haven’t got very far with it yet, but I thought I’d share what I’ve found. (Note that I haven’t read any of these yet. But they were all recommended to me by people whose judgement I trust.)

I have linked each title to a review.

Middle grade novels: Michaela Mason’s Big List of 23 22 Worries by Alexa Moses.

Kate Gordon’s Aster’s Good, Right Things. (Pretty much any of Kate’s middle-grade novels tackle anxiety and other such issues with a delicate touch.)

Picture books: Under the Love Umbrella by Davina Bell and Allison Colpoys

Mr Huff by Anna Walker

Go Away, Worry Monster by Brooke Graham

If you know of any middle grade novels or picture books I could add to this list, please let me know in the comments.

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Rita’s Revenge is coming …

In October last year, I posted about Rita’s Revenge, a companion book to A Clue for Clara. I’m very excited to be able to tell you that I now have a contract, and it will be published by Allen & Unwin in July next year.

I didn’t really think I would be writing a follow-up to Clara. It was meant to be a standalone novel. But then of course, as always happens, I got interested in the world and the characters, and wanted to keep going.

One of my favourite parts of A Clue for Clara is the ‘ducks are mad’ joke that runs through it. It made me laugh, and it made other people laugh, and I never once stopped to think about how the ducks of Little Dismal would react to someone saying such terrible things about them.

My favourite duck picture

But once the book was finished, I started wondering.

And that’s when the character of Rita appeared. A disgraced duck. A duck who has done something that is not on the list of approved activities. A duck who has behaved so badly that none of her fellow ducks will even look at her anymore.

What would such a duck do to be accepted back into the flock?

I adore this book. It makes me laugh, even though I wrote it. My publisher described it as ‘completely hilarious and ingenious’. My editor described it as ‘one of those rare books that is both deeply clever and full of heart’.

That’s a lot to live up to, right? So fingers crossed that you’re all going to love it too.

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Harry

Harry turned up in my back garden about ten years ago. I didn’t take a lot of notice of him at the time, because my garden is basically a jungle, and it’s not unusual for one of the neighbourhood cats to spend time there during the day.

At first, I thought he lived over the back fence, and just spent his days here, lying in the sun. He was such a beautiful cat, and I didn’t imagine for a moment that he was a stray. I just thought he was extra friendly. If I was gardening, he’d try to climb into my arms. He particularly liked to do this if I was doing something delicate, like sowing carrot seeds. I spent a lot of time pushing him away.

But he was a determined cat. And very early one morning, in the middle of winter, when I saw him catching mice in the compost heap, and eating them as soon as he caught them, I realised he was actually living in my garden.

So I started feeding him. He was pleased, but obviously wondered why it had taken me so long. And I named him Harry-le-beau. Because he really was the most beautiful cat I’d ever seen.

I couldn’t let him in the house because I had another cat at the time, Miss Mouse, and Harry didn’t want to share. So he lived outside, and Miss Mouse lived inside.

At one point, I gave him away. He so obviously wanted to be a house cat, and I was getting a bit sick of having to protect Miss Mouse from him. But it didn’t work out, so a couple of weeks later I brought him back again.

And then Mousie got sick. Kidney failure. She hung on for a while, but the day came when she had had enough, and I called in the vet.

The next day, Harry moved inside.

I’d never had a boy cat before. Are they all so affectionate? So cuddly? The girl cats I’ve had have all been reasonably affectionate. But with every one of them, there would come a time when they had had enough of patting and tummy rubs, and would let me know it. Sometimes with claws.

Not Harry. With him, it was more a case of ‘Why are you stopping? You’ve only been patting me for an hour.’

He wasn’t the boldest of cats (except when it came to wanting attention). But he had a huge personality. And at one point he had his own blog, telling fantastical tales that he swore were true.

Like all writers, he was a sensitive chap. He was allergic to fleas, and had to have a special diet, otherwise he got urinary tract infections. And I always suspected he had some sort of neurological problem. He had a very strange twitch, which got worse as the years passed.

And then one day he had a seizure. That was ten months ago. So I knew the end was coming. In March this year he started falling over, and the vet diagnosed a probable brain tumour.

He died on April 23rd, and it broke my heart to lose him. He is buried under the plum tree, and friends gave me tulips and lilies to plant around him. I miss him so much. But I wouldn’t have missed living with him for the world.

Good night, Harry-le-Beau.

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Brisbane Writers Festival

Last year I was supposed to go to the Brisbane Writers Festival. But of course, like so many other things, it was cancelled. So this year they’re having bits of last year’s festival online.

Especially Word Play, the children’s sessions.

Here’s how to watch it, as an individual, a family or a school. https://bwf.org.au/word-play/watching-word-play-2021

When they first asked me if I’d be happy to do a recorded session, I said a very nervous yes. This was halfway through last year, and I was still figuring out things like lighting, sound, and how to make an online presentation interesting.

But it’s ages away, I thought. And I decided not to worry about it until it happened.

Since then, of course, I’ve done a number of recording sessions, and learnt stuff with each one. One of the most useful things I’ve discovered is that front lighting isn’t enough, and that I need a backlight as well, to make me look three-dimensional.

I’ve also discovered that I actually like recording, because I can play around with pictures and transitions and chook noises in the background. It’s still not as good as a live session, from my point of view, because I can’t see the audience, and I’m not getting any of that lovely feedback where people laugh or smile or put their hand up.

But it’s a lot better than I thought it would be.

The session I did for BWF is half interview (with Verity Hunt-Ballard) and half talk. They titled it ‘The Power of Daydreaming’ which is a bit weird, because the daydreaming section is only very small. Mostly it’s about how I use my own life (and my own chooks) in my writing, and how you can do the same thing.

You can watch it here, from 9 AM on May 17. https://bwf.org.au/2021/word-play/the-power-of-daydreaming-with-lian-tanner

If you get to see it, I hope you enjoy it!

What am I reading?

The Lost Stone of Skycity by HM Waugh is an exciting Australian kids’ novel from Fremantle Press. It’s set in the mountains where Sunaya and her same age nephew have been sent to take the family goatals to their summer pastures. But it’s far too early in the year, which breaks an age-old agreement with the mythical Ice people. At least, the Ice people are meant to be mythical. But it turns out they are very real.

I really enjoyed this. Sunaya is a great main character, and the magical world of the mountains is very convincing. Plus the goatals are gorgeous.

And speaking of gorgeous. How to Make a Bird by Meg McKinlay (author) and Matt Ottley (illustrator) is probably the most beautiful picture book I have ever read. The words and pictures come together seamlessly to create something magical and deeply moving.

What are you reading? Anything interesting? I’m always on the lookout for good books to add to Mount TBR!

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What to write next?

Signing off on a book you have been working on for twelve months or so is both exciting and worrying. Exciting because it has all come together at last. Worrying because it raises that very difficult question, ‘What to write next?’

This year, the question was even harder than usual. Tasmania has been spared the worst of covid (so far at least), for which I am deeply grateful. And my problem was such a tiny one, in comparison with what so many other people are going through. But I spent the first six months of the year trying to work out what to write after A Clue for Clara.

I started three different books and gave up on them, either because they weren’t the right book, or because I couldn’t settle to anything. I think many writers and artists were finding the same thing. There was too much going on in the world, and no space in our heads for creating.

But about halfway through the year I realised that I really wanted to write a follow-up to Clara. Only this time, it would be narrated by a duck.

And so I started work on Rita’s Revenge.

One of my favourite things to do when I start writing a new book is find pictures that stand in for the characters. I build a collage, and refer back to it again and again, until the characters take on a life of their own.

Here’s my collage for Rita:

 

Like Clara, this is a book that makes me laugh. And the power of laughter feels like a good thing right now.

I hope you are all well and safe.

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