My guest today is children’s fiction author, Susie Bower. Susie is going to talk to us about her writing journey, and her latest book. So grab yourself a cuppa, get cosy and let’s get chatting to Susie
AUTHOR BIO
Susie Bower’s magical mystery books for 9-12 year-olds include School for Nobodies, The Three Impossibles, The Dangerous Life of Ophelia Bottom and The Invisibles (all published by Pushkin Press). She’s also written a picture-book, Shoo!, illustrated by Francesca Gambatesi and Spotlight Sam, a story for reluctant readers (Oxford University Press). Her books have been translated into Dutch, Czech and Turkish.
Susie lives in Devon, where she loves walking in nature and feeding the robin who flies to her hand. She is a firm believer in magic.
CONTACT LINK
Website: https://www.susiebower.co.uk
Welcome to my blog, Susie. Can you tell us about your writing journey.
I was 53 and at art college, quietly writing scraps of words in the spaces-between. Then I took my dissertation idea—about Picasso and identity—to the American dissertation supervisor. Her response:
‘Picaaaaasso? Eeeeeuw!’
This turned out to be a blessing.
I dropped out of art college and attended a week-long summer course on writing a novel. Immersed in writing, among other writers, I found home and tribe. A story appeared, about three 50-year-old people and a TV make-over show. It explored whether change came from the inside-out or the outside-in. Over the course of the next two years, and with the support of two excellent writing groups, I wrote and edited it and sent off to agents.
The rejections came in. I won’t linger over that tough time. Five years later, I was on the point of giving up when a writing friend emailed with a contact for a small women’s press and the words things can turn on a sixpence. The editor asked for the full manuscript and then offered to publish it. A few days later, a silver sixpence arrived in the post. So my first novel, The Making of Her, was born.
I then struggled with writing for adults for a further seven years. I’d written thousands of words of two different novels and was getting nowhere. Then things ‘turned on a sixpence’ again: I saw that Louise Dean (CEO of The Novelry) was auctioning a writing course to support Grenfell Tower, and I looked at her website. As soon as I watched the opening video for the Classic Course (aimed at writing for children), I was hooked: Lucy Pevensie opening the wardrobe door into Narnia, journeying from the drab world of war and evacuation into a magical world of snow and fauns and wolves and lions. I signed up, and wrote my first children’s novel, School for Nobodies—a story about not fitting in and finding belonging. Through The Novelry, I was introduced to my wonderful agent, Silvia Molteni. And Silvia found me a publisher—Pushkin Press—and an amazing, experienced editor. I’d found my writing home.
Seven years on from that course, I’ve written seven children’s books. The Invisibles was published a few weeks ago. And a new story is out there, hoping for a publishing home.
I guess what I’ve taken from these long writing years has been: accept the closed doors—but never stop believing in the doors that will open. Like Lucy, those opening doors may take you into new worlds of magic and possibility, where life can turn on a sixpence and writerly dreams can come true.
What an inspiring writing journey, Susie. I hope the sixpences keep turning and the doors keep opening for you. ☺
️Susie’s latest book
BLURB FOR THE INVISIBLES:
Beware the Creature imprisoned in the Maze. A terrible fate awaits any child who gazes upon her…
In the Land of Magics pigs fly, trees provide all you can eat and children never grow old. But for one child, this life is not enough, and the call of the Island of Darkness is too strong to ignore.
When Grace wakes up in Wasteland, the grim city where only grown-ups live, she no longer remembers the Land of Magics. She doesn’t even remember her own name. Alone and afraid, Grace discovers that Wasteland is no place for a child. A terrifying figure called The Catcher is looking for her, and the only clue to her past is guarded by two hostile invisible children, who have branded her a traitor.
Can Grace uncover the secret of the invisible children and find her way back to the Land of Magics, or will she be trapped in Wasteland for ever?
Buy Links:
More of Susie’s books
Karen King 