An announcement is made

Meanwhile, in a wet part of Dublin...
A contract is signed...
A celebrating jumping-around is performed...
A title is in debate...
A cover is in the making...

Intrigued? I should hope so!

Busy, busy

 After a couple of months of "far niente" (ie, writing board books, game books and stocking up on trivia for a forthcoming info book), I've recently got stuck in a new translation. And quite a task it is: over 350 pages of dystopian teen sci-fi involving genetic and environmental issues, politics, love and a couple of child-births.
The book is called Prized and it's the second in the BirthMarked trilogy by US writer Caragh M. O'Brien. It's very different in feel and style from the other series I've been working on, so it's an added challenge, but a welcome one, too, as I get to exercise a different part of my brain/dictionary. I really like what O'Brien has made of Gaia, the heroine, in this second instalment and I'm looking forward to showing it to her French fans...

On the wing…

Remember that Tandem Fair I was talking about some months ago? Well, I’ve been working hard on not one, but two projects, and I’m happy to announce that my bit is done for both (for the moment). I’ve written two texts, for two very different picture books and one of them involves the motley crew of the Flying Taxi, which will look something like this, or so the illustrator Captain Jelly tells me…

Alcatraz, book 3

These days, I'm busy doing lots of things, one of which being the translation of Alcatraz Versus the Kights of Crystallia into French. Like the other two books, it's fast and fun, and it has its share of untranslatable puns, including something to do with riding hogs (as in bikes... or pigs) (precisely). I shall try my best!

Tandems



(c) fixedgear

 Following a fellow French-kidlit-writer-living-in-Dublin's suggestion, my French website is hosting a ''Tandem Fair'' where writers and illustrators are invited to send projects and find partners in crime to bring said projects as far as they will go. Writers will send me excerpts of text and illustrators one or a couple of pics, and I'll post the lot on the blog page on December 1st. The ''fair'' will then move on to another blog for another month. Watch this space!

PS: all welcome, although some command of French a plus! ;o)

Results!

Impressed yet? Here are the results of my paper-folding efforts at the weekend. Santas, samourai hats, butterflies, bells and what have you. Now Mad Cap, I know what it feels like!

Research (ahem!)

Tomorrow I'm off to the National Print Museum to do a bit of research... aka an origami workshop. The aim of this make-and-do adventure is not at all to have fun and get some deadly handmade xmas decorations, but to get a better understanding of the deeper being of Mad Cap, a heroine of mine which some of you will have heard of. Mad Cap, you see, is big into origami and well, one needs to know what one's creation is talking about, right?

A bit flummoxed

Here I am, in my attic-cum-study, hoping the roof will hold and the bucket won't overflow, and finding myself not quite mistress in my own home, what with the water sneaking in through loose tiles and my new story showing me who's boss (not me).
I had this silly idea for a picturebook about a nasty kid who ends up (or thinks he is going to end up) in a 'boy sandwich' at the hands of his two aunts who may or may not be witches.
It seemed pretty straightforward so I picked that idea out of the project box and started working on it, i.e I opened a brand new Word document, saved it as 'Boy Sandwich' and started typing. And then stopped. And started again, with a different opening. After I did that three or four times, I declared to my typing self: ''There's something wrong''.
I thought about it for a while and realised it wasn't the writing that was causing trouble; it wasn't finding the right words to launch the story that was proving tricky. It wasn't even the story itself. It was a) the main character (evil boy) and b) the format (picturebook).
I've written a few nasty-character stories in the past and imposed some terrible fate on them or given them a glorious ending. But for some reason, last week, I found that the boy in the Boy Sandwich project refused to be treated as a nuisance. That he demanded to be painted as a human being with light and shade, good points and bad points. The works.
As a result, the size and shape of a picturebook didn't work anymore, as my Boy needed more space to plead his case and develop. I'm now 1700 words into the story and Boy has yet to meet the Aunts, and I can already see places where I'll have to go back and add bits so that it all makes sense and isn't rushed.
I've no idea where this is going (as my original ending worked really well for a picturebook but might look a bit slim and 'babyish' in the new order of things) or how long it'll take us (me and the boy) (or rather the boy and me) to get there. Even the whole sandwich business may have to go out the window... and perhaps be recycled in some later project!
Exciting times...

(The flummoxed rooster, wondering in actual fact how he can get rid of his hiccups, is from La véritable histoire du coooq Figaro, written by yours truly and illustrated by Dorothée Jost)

The fabulous week that was...

Fabulous house, glorious food, great people and fantastic work done, these seven days in deepest, darkest Monaghan went beyond expectations. So a massive thank you (again) to my sponsors, that was one big birthday present! And a hullo to my new acquaintances from far and further. (I'll let you decide for yourselves which of Dingle or Melbourne is 'further'.) As a result of this week, I have:
1) read a vampire book, which hadn't happened in a decade or so;
2) written a bunch of reviews and done a modest amount of editing;
3) dug up The Amazing Anna Moe and put her on such a healthy diet that she ended up 3000 words heavier. (Or longer, I suppose);
4) infused philosophy into Mad Cap and Fitzmarcel the Mysterious (ahem);
5) discovered where the word 'jazz' apparently comes from ;
6) learned about a writer's duty to their translator, a duty to be as specific as possible, in particular when it comes to family ties and Chinese translations (older or younger brother? grandfather on the mother's side or the father's side?) (there are no generic terms for 'sister' or 'brother' or 'uncle' etc in Chinsese);
7) eaten a schocking number of profiteroles doused in chocolate sauce (the lot home-made);
8) heard a stunning poem involving a birthday cake with black icing;
9) seen deer in the garden and
10) been served a pint of Smithwick's by an 87-year-old-and-kicking barmaid.
Oh, and I played a game of Jenga, too. Fabulous, I tell you!

Heaven...

After the hard work in Provence, a break of sorts was needed, and here I am in the amazing Tyrone Guthrie centre in Co. Monaghan, to be excellently fed, abundantly watered and artistically inspired for a week. On my agenda: some in-depth revision of Mad Cap 1, some dramatic planning of Mad Cap 2 and perhaps some writing in French about sandwiches and frogs (not frog sandwiches). The Amazing Anna Moe may also make an appearance. In any case, I'm hoping this will be a busy, fruitful week, with plenty of sunshine and swimming in the lake (ahem). So far so good...

Catching up

This is an in-betweeny sort of post. It's beeen a quiet week or two blogwise as I have been very busy with all sorts of things and I'm delighted to say that I Have Made Progress!
I've reached the end of the first draft of the new translation (Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones) and  that's the back of it broken, and a few more bones besides. I'm hoping to post more on the translating process à la Juliette one of these days.
I've also managed to squeeze a classic novel into picture-book format, yes the 32-page, 1000-word kind. I shall reveal all when the project is a bit nearer completion.
I've been to a most excellent workshop organised by Children's Books Ireland and the Ark and have learnt an awful lot. Again, you'll read more on this in the summer issue of Inis.
I have finally seen Avatar and confirmed that 3-D doesn't work for me. I have nothing against it, I just appear to have funny eyes...
I also finally sent out both my entry for the Kidlit contest and the manuscript for my Disaster David picture-book to a UK agent.
There's still plenty to do on all fronts, not to forget the intensive reading for the Bisto Book Award of which I am one of the judges. Meanwhile, I am in Paris for erm... research in erm... gastronomy and... erm French children's literature. A serious, educational trip. I shall communicate my findings in due course.