Where Do Dragons Come From?

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the story behind the serialization of my novel, The Discoveries of Wispish, I would like to bring you up to speed. Being a hospitable sort of blogger, I don’t want anyone roaming around here feeling lost and asking themselves perplexedly, “Where am I? What’s all this about?”  And, “What is this Wispish? Is that even a real word?” Or, the absolute worst, “Where’s the stuff about wasps?”

I couldn’t in good conscience let that happen to you, so hereunder is a bit of background.

Well, it’s like this. It all started four years ago with a snippet of writing penned in a lonely café (or should rather I say a scribble in a coffee shop during the quiet time between breakfast and lunch?)  Anyway, I showed it to someone I greatly admired, who knew I sketched as a hobby, and he said, “I think you should put down your pencils and pick up a pen.” I couldn’t let that gem go to waste, so I decided to give it a shot.

“Complete rubbish” would be understating how bad I was at writing. I lacked focus, motivation, skill; so naturally anything longer than a snippet fell to pieces. And then, the person I greatly admired died.

I think it was out of a desire to honour him that I became serious about learning to write. I started at the beginning. I read everything I could find on style and grammar and even some stuff on rhetoric. But book learning doesn’t easily translate into the feel and ear that an author requires. So, I played. I played until I could write 1000 words, and then until I could manage 2000 words, and then until I could submit a short story for publication. Which I did, and twice I was rejected. But the third time I tried, Something Wicked, a horror magazine, accepted my story A Letter to a Friend.

Right, moving swiftly ahead, skipping lots of boring stuff. So there I was, I had finished my second attempt at a first novel, and I was considering sending it off to some publishers, when I heard about The Citizen Book Prize, a prize jointly presented by Pan Macmillan and The Citizen newspaper, and it just so happened that they were soliciting young adult fantasy submissions.

In a nutshell, I submitted The Discoveries of Wispish along with a synopsis, Pan Macmillan shortlisted my novel, The Citizen newspaper ran my synopsis along with eight others, the public voted, and I won.

Sadly, Pan Macmillan decided not to publish. Fortunately, The Citizen newspaper chose to push on, back the underdog, if you know what I mean. Every Thursday for a limited time they will be running a serial, showcasing segments of my novel along with some of my illustrations. Then, with their kind permission, I add every week’s clipping to this blog for the world to see.

So now that you are up to speed, I have a small request. You see, I’m approaching the book industry in reverse order: first I win a prize, then I find an audience, and finally I get published. I need your help with the second portion, and all you have to do is go the top left of the blog, click on the Newspaper Clippings tabs (1, 2, 3), read and hopefully enjoy. Oh, and leave a comment if the urge takes you. That’s it.

By the way, ‘Wispish’ is a real word. Or at least I think it is.