Fiction for Children and Young Adults
The Steep Path from Editor to Writer: The Ghost Detectives by Emily Mason
First, the backstory. For the past 15 years I have worked as an editor, helping authors to realize their ambitions for their books. I started out in the O’Brien Press before setting up a freelance editing business in 2004. Since then, I have been fortunate to work with a very wide range of authors and projects, across almost every genre. In terms of books the general reader would immediately recognise, I edit the Ross O’Carroll-Kelly series, Amy Huberman and Sinead Moriarty, all for Penguin Ireland. I have edited a strange mix of memoirs, from Austin Curry (All Hell will Break Loose) to Sheamus Smith, the former Irish film censor (Off Screen) to Orla Tinsley (Salty Baby) and, recently, the controversial story of a recession-bitten middle-class mother turned high-class prostitute (Between the Sheets). I have worked on political books, archaeological studies, travel guides, history books and fiction – children’s and adult. You can see why I love what I do for a living – it’s diverse and never less than fascinating.
I think we have established that I have an enviable job, so why did I decide to squeeze in the job of writer on top of all that? Well, I began to feel like I’d spent a long time on a small island, deliberately giving the island’s central mountain range a wide berth: in other words, it was inevitable I would write with intent someday, I just put it off for as long as possible. I had witnessed first-hand the challenges of writing, so I was well aware how demanding and difficult a task it would be. A writer has to have extraordinary self-discipline in order to sit down, plot out and write an entire book, but alongside that is the challenge of getting that book published, promoted and into the hands of eager buyers. It’s a long and lonely path most of the time, and I couldn’t kid myself that it would be otherwise. If I hadn’t known all that I knew, perhaps I would have plunged in years earlier, but there was no way I could ignore the layers of demands placed on the published writer. Instead, I concentrated on becoming the best editor I could be, leaving the writing to one side while I built up my business.
Read more: The Steep Path from Editor to Writer: The Ghost Detectives by Emily Mason
Eighteen Kisses, Laura Jane Cassidy
A girl disappears on her eighteenth birthday. No body is ever found . . . Could a video from the party hold a clue?
Jacki King loves being back in Dublin - she's enjoying the music scene and interning at Electric magazine. She still has flashbacks to the murder case she solved the year before, though her friends, especially Nick, keep her distracted. Until, one day, Jacki's frightening nightmares begin again. And when the police contact her about a local missing girl, she knows the two are connected.
Two years before, on her eighteenth birthday, Kayla Edwards disappeared. No body has ever been found. But now Kayla is communicating with Jacki from beyond the grave - and she won't stop until the truth is revealed . . .
At just 25, Laura Jane Cassidy has published her second novel Eighteen Kisses. Focusing on Jacki King, a teenager who uses her ability to communicate with dead women to help solve their murders, Eighteen Kisses, comes out 3 May, and is a follow-up to Angel Kiss.
Cassidy, who plans to develop the series over four books, says the concept was one she had on the backburner for a while. “I just remember always having an idea to write about a girl who could find missing women, or could find what happened to them. I never really thought about starting the book though. So I had the idea for about six months before I thought about starting it. And sometimes I would write the first chapter or whatever, but it wasn’t really working and I couldn’t really get past the first chapter.”
Alan Early and The World Serpent
Alan Early, author of Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Award nominated Arthur Quinn and the World Serpent, was born in a small town in Leitrim but it was his move to Dublin that spurred his interest in all things Viking, his inspiration for the first in his acclaimed children’s trilogy. Following its success as an Irish Book Award nominee, Arthur Quinn and the World Serpent has been chosen for Children save Dublin, a citywide reading festival run by Dublin UNESCSO City of Literature that will see Arthur Quinn taking over Dublin classrooms in February and March. There are lots of events planned for the duration of the event with Alan giving workshops in libraries, schools and bookshops. Michael Moylan of Irish History Live will be bringing his Viking History show to various locations around the city. The project culminates with a huge event as part of the St Patricks Festival when a train parked in Connolly Station, designed to look like the World Serpent itself, will host a series of fun events.
The Real Anna Carey and The Real Rebecca
Freelance journalist Anna Carey’s novel The Real Rebecca recently won the Children’s Book of the Year (senior category) at the 2011 Irish Book Awards – no mean feat for a category that included veteran children’s fiction writers like Darren Shan and Derek Landy. The Real Rebecca is Anna’s first book, depicting the trials and tribulations of fourteen-year-old Rebecca. Rebecca’s mother is an author known for her warm and cosy women’s fiction – think Maeve Binchy or Cathy Kelly with an extra layer of ‘immensely embarrassing parent’ thrown in – but when she turns her hand to writing teenage fiction, everyone assumes that the book’s about Rebecca and that she’s as pathetic and uncool as its central character.
In an attempt to distract herself from this, other dilemmas at school, and an unrequited passion for a young gentleman known only as Paperboy, Rebecca forms a band with her two best friends and they prepare for an upcoming competition. Told in diary format, it’s a funny and appealing read for young teens and for experienced readers in the 11+ bracket.
Judi Curtin - Double Trouble
Judi, can you tell us about your next book, and where the idea came from?
My next book is called Double Trouble – the second in the Friends Forever series. In this book, Lauren and Tilly travel back to ancient Italy. They have a lovely time until they discover that they are in Pompeii – and Vesuvius is beginning to rumble!
How long did it take you to write?
I was really excited about the story, so I raced through the first draft in three weeks. However, it took six months before it was ready for the printers.
Your first book for children, Alice Next Door, was an instant success. Where did the idea come from?
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