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Secretary's Diary
My name is Fiona and I work four days a week for Paul. I help him out with his mail, keeping his website up-to-date, keeping all the paperwork sorted and the bills paid. Paul's latest project is writing some wondeful anecdotes from his childhood and early years. You can find them on the 'Blogs' page. These may be published some time in the future.
We have recently moved the office to a wonderful studio at Paul's house. Here I can do my work while I watch the blue wrens in the garden and, at this time of the year, the storms roll by. Lately the rabbits have become a bit of a pest, so Paul and Arie have been out baiting them. Arie is a landscape gardener who has help Paul plant some of the 40,000 native trees on his land. The vegetable garden is looking very tasty, as it is rabbit proof, and I am looking forward to a pot of soup from it or a summer salad!
I have found some photographs of Paul as a child in the archives which I thought you might enjoy seeing. I will put on a new one with each update of the 'Secretary's Diary'.
Rascal Bumps His Head
Due for release in February 2011, and newly illustrated by Bob Lea, is the cover for 'Rascal Bumps his Head'.
‘Cluck, cluck, cluck.’ Rascal thinks he is a chicken.
Ben is worried. Will Rascal ever be a happy little dragon again?
What do you think of the new cover illustration?
Rascal and the Bad Smell - New Release
Rascal and the Bad Smell is my latest Rascal release. Series Editor, Catherine McCredie, really likes this one "... a great new Rascal, sure to give endless delight to children and immature adults alike!" Here is a page from the book:-
Dad is Dave Hughes???
It was reported in 'The Age' recently that Dad (alias Ben's Dad) in Paul's latest 'Rascal' book 'Rascal Plays Up' looks a lot like Australian comedian Dave Hughes.
Bob Lea, who illustrates Paul's 'Rascal' books lives tucked away in the UK has never seen Dave Hughes and says the whole thing is a coincidence!!
What do you think??
Writing Tips
Here are a few ideas which might help with your writing. One of the things you need is raw material. Jokes, little stories, places, people and the sorts of words we use. You also need feelings. You know - sadness, joy, anger, fear, embarrassment and worry. Where do you find this raw material? In your own life, that's where.
People say to me "You must have an interesting life, Paul Jennings". Well, yes I do, but so do you. Everyone has something worth writing about. If you think hard, you'll find there are countless stories in your life. What your dog did. The time you ran away from home. How adults don't understand what it's like to be a kid sometimes. How you hated speaking in front of the class.
People say to me "You must have an interesting life, Paul Jennings". Well, yes I do, but so do you. Everyone has something worth writing about. If you think hard, you'll find there are countless stories in your life. What your dog did. The time you ran away from home. How adults don't understand what it's like to be a kid sometimes. How you hated speaking in front of the class.
All your experiences are fantastic raw material. Remember, if it made you cry it will make someone else cry. If you are embarrassed, other people will be too. You take these feelings and exaggerate them a bit - make them larger than they really were. Once, I was embarrassed because I forgot to change out of my old painty trousers into clean ones when I went to a posh dinner. Embarrassing - but not good enough for a story. I changed it to a boy who is embarrassed because his head got stuck in a toilet seat and he can't get it off. That would make people in the restaurant sit up and look.
I am nearly always the main character in my stories. Lots of the events are straight from my own childhood and others are things that I wish could happen. Like, being able to fly or read people's thoughts.
Before you write the first line, think. Is it interesting? I never start my stories with ‘It was a sunny day and the sun peeped out from behind the clouds’. That's no good. The reader has already closed the book or fallen asleep. Go for an unusual start. How about ‘I did not eat your jeans. Well, not on purpose anyway’. Or ‘My cat laughs every time I sneeze’. Or maybe ‘Is this the way to the Hell's Angels Flower Show?’. You can probably do better. Why not try?
Another very important thing is the title. It may be the best story ever, but if the title is so boring that people don't even start to read it, they will never know. So a lot of thought has to go into the title. I don't usually choose a title until my story or book is finished.
My first stories were terrible. I can't bear to read them any more. If you keep practising you get better. Read, read, read. If you're not a reader you won't be a writer.
Don't let anyone tell you that you are just a kid - your life is as important as anyone else's. When you tell your own stories they are real. Add a bit of fantasy and you have MAGIC!!
I am nearly always the main character in my stories. Lots of the events are straight from my own childhood and others are things that I wish could happen. Like, being able to fly or read people's thoughts.
Before you write the first line, think. Is it interesting? I never start my stories with ‘It was a sunny day and the sun peeped out from behind the clouds’. That's no good. The reader has already closed the book or fallen asleep. Go for an unusual start. How about ‘I did not eat your jeans. Well, not on purpose anyway’. Or ‘My cat laughs every time I sneeze’. Or maybe ‘Is this the way to the Hell's Angels Flower Show?’. You can probably do better. Why not try?
Another very important thing is the title. It may be the best story ever, but if the title is so boring that people don't even start to read it, they will never know. So a lot of thought has to go into the title. I don't usually choose a title until my story or book is finished.
My first stories were terrible. I can't bear to read them any more. If you keep practising you get better. Read, read, read. If you're not a reader you won't be a writer.
Don't let anyone tell you that you are just a kid - your life is as important as anyone else's. When you tell your own stories they are real. Add a bit of fantasy and you have MAGIC!!
Good luck!!
Getting Published
We are always pleased to see young people's writing, however most writers work for years and years before they have had enough practice to make their work suitable for publication, and there are so many good children's writers around that new people's work does have to be absolutely exceptional in order to compete.
Should you find your age a drawback to having your work accepted for publication, please don't stop writing!
Should you find your age a drawback to having your work accepted for publication, please don't stop writing!
Many young writers submit their work to magazines, particularly those with a children's section like -
Oz Kidz in Print
(PO Box 267, Lara.Vic.3212).
