| On the ‘write’ track |
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Around four and a half years ago, 44-year-old Simon Woodward started to write a story to surprise his daughters but the journey from first putting pen to paper to becoming a published children’s author did not always go smoothly. Kim Kimber talked to Simon about what motivated him to keep going and how he eventually achieved success. “After 18 months of finding the space to put pen to paper, or rather in my case, fingers to keyboard, I finally felt that I had written the best ever children’s novel. How deluded was I?
“Before packaging up the carefully crafted pages, ready for that Christmas, I decided to seek professional opinion. Having found a company that provides editorial comment and critique via the Internet, I duly sent off my year and a half endeavour, looking forward to receiving, at the very least, top marks for an original and inventive story. What an idiot!” After a period of some weeks, Simon received a 20-page report on his work. He says: “The initial comment made me feel pretty happy with what I’d created, apparently the humour was very good in places, but then I read the rest of the analysis, provided by a published author. To be honest it was the biggest slap in the face I’d ever received.” Simon now acknowledges that the analysis was spot on but his confidence suffered badly at the time. However, after a period of deliberation, he signed up for a beginner’s course in creative writing. “That really gave me the writing bug,” admits Simon, “and I wanted to know more, so after that had finished, I immediately signed up for the more advanced follow-on course. Then, armed with everything I had learnt, I went back to my manuscript of Brave Dave – The Makings of a Hero and rewrote it, applying all the advice I had been given in the critique and the creative writing courses.” To test how good a job he had done, Simon began to send the revamped manuscript to literary agents and he quickly received a call from an agency to say that they were interested. The company promised to get the book published and also to promote it on the Internet. “It was a surprise to get a result so quickly,” says Simon, “as everything I had come to expect from the courses I’d taken indicated that getting published within two years would be a success and it had only taken me around six months from the time I’d sent off the manuscript.” Brave Dave was published in December 2006 in time for Simon to give the book as a Christmas present to his daughters. “It had been the tardiest present I had ever given, around two and a half years late,” he says, “but the girls were stunned and I was really chuffed to see the surprised looks on their faces.” The book itself is a humorous children’s fantasy, written with seven-14 year olds in mind, fortunately, Simon’s children were still in that age bracket when it was published. He had achieved his goal. Simon has gone on to write two other books in the Brave Dave series, which are all illustrated by Ralph Platt whose imaginative drawings have helped to make the Brave Dave series a success. He has also contributed to two anthologies, Sinister and Bedside Manner, published by his writing group, Writers Anonymous. Simon is, without a doubt, a success story but what advice would he give to anyone who is thinking about trying his or her hand at creative writing? “Writing a story for publication is not as straightforward as it seems,” concludes Simon, “it is certainly more than just writing a story, and the entire market for fiction is a crowded and difficult place to get into. But if you do decide it’s something you want to do, make sure you have the right tools in your literary toolbox and the stamina to see it through; it’s not quick and it’s not easy, but it is possible and can be done.”
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