Blog Tour

It's now less than a week till the publication of Dear Dylan and I'm really excited to announce that, as part of the publication publicity, I'll be going on my very first blog tour.

One of the great things about the internet is that it's given readers from all over the world a forum in which to share their love of books. And in the YA book world there is an abundance of fantastic blogs run by book-lovers for book-lovers.

When I initially self-published Dear Dylan I didn't think there was a hope of getting the book reviewed. I had previously written an article about publicising self-published books and every literary editor I interviewed said that they would never review a book that didn't come from a traditional publishing house.

But then I discovered the world of the YA book blogger and was delighted to see that such snobbery didn't exist here. Every blogger I approached agreed to review Dear Dylan - and, as their sites were aimed solely at my target reader - their reviews were worth their word count in gold!

What's lovely is that every site I'll be 'visiting' on my blog tour was massively supportive the first time round. It feels really nice to be coming full circle like this - a sort of home-coming tour...

Electric Monkey Launch Party

Last night I went to the Electric Monkey launch party. Electric Monkey is Egmont’s new YA imprint, and, I’m delighted to say, my new publishing home. It was thrilling to see Dear Dylan be a part of such a fantastic list.



With my editor Ali Dougal



After Dear Dylan won the Young Minds Award I was lucky enough for it to go to auction, which left me in the bizarre position of actually being able to choose a publisher (rather than my previous default setting of begging!) Last night underlined for me yet again that I had made the absolutely right decision. It was so nice to meet the members of the Egmont team, who have been so supportive and enthusiastic in getting the book ready for publication. (I just about managed to stop myself declaring my undying love to the person responsible for the Waterstones order!) After self-publishing Dear Dylan the first time round, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the fact that there are now other people working really hard to make sure the book gets into the shops, and that readers get to hear about it. Going it alone was exciting, and a massive learning curve, but it was also bloody hard work. Several people asked me last night whether I would recommend self-publishing over traditional publishing and I guess my answer is that I would recommend self-publishing as a way of getting a traditional publisher’s attention. And as a way of learning the nuts and bolts of the business of publishing. But ultimately as an author, you can’t beat the feeling of being part of a team, and having the support and expertise of a publishing house behind you.

Electric Monkey Goodie Bag

After drinks and canapes (I’ve now discovered that I’m able to eat an entire mini-burger in one bite) there was a panel discussion featuring three of my fellow ‘Electric Monkeys’ – authors Michael Grant (BZRK), Elizabeth Wein (Codename Verity) and Laura Jarratt (Skin Deep). Writing is obviously a very solitary process so it was great to hear the experiences and opinions of other YA authors. The points raised that really resonated with me were:

• Michael Grant saying that his main responsibility as a YA author is to entertain; that he wants his readers to stay up all night because they cannot put his book down. This is such a good tip for any novelist and it reminded me of a book I once read by an American editor called Sol Stein. He said that every chapter should start with a hook and end with a ‘thruster’, so that it becomes impossible to put down. To me, this is one of the most crucial (and fun) parts of being a novelist. Never forget who you are writing for, and challenge yourself to keep them thoroughly entertained – and sleep-deprived!

• Laura Jarratt talking about the importance of writing romantic novels that are empowering for female readers. Novels where the heroine learns that getting a boyfriend isn’t the be all and end all, and that if her relationship doesn’t work out she is more than capable of carrying on. She also spoke about the importance of challenging peoples’ prejudices when it comes to physical appearance and background – another issue that I think is of key importance to teens.

• Elizabeth Wein’s novel Codename Verity is set during World War Two, and she spoke about feeling a terrific sense of responsibility when it came to recreating that world, so that today’s teens could get a real sense of what it was like.

All in all, I came away feeling proud and privileged to write for young adults. It is a job that comes with a lot of responsibility but hopefully the stories you write and the characters you write about can really make a difference – whether that be to entertain, inspire or inform.

Dear Dylan Poetry Competition

Last week I received my first copies of Dear Dylan. It was such a thrilling moment it took every ounce of willpower for me to not grab my postman in a wild embrace - this is a very good thing, as my postman is so scary even his tattoos have tattoos!

Anyway, as a way of spreading the joy I’ve decided to run a celebratory poetry competition, inspired by the themes raised in the book.

Entrants must be age 10 – 17 and the poems should be based on one of the following themes:

Friendship: Dear Dylan is the story of a friendship that begins online – in fact the whole novel is made up of emails between the two characters as their friendship grows. Perhaps you would like to write a poem about your own experience of friendship and how important your friends are to you.

Family: The main character in Dear Dylan, Georgie, hasn’t had the easiest family life. Her father died when she was little and she doesn’t get on with her step-dad at all. There is no denying that families can be very complicated. But they can also be full of love and good times. Maybe you would like to write a poem about your own experience of family life – good or bad, happy or sad…

Dreams: Georgie dreams of being an actress and the book follows her determination to pursue her dream, no matter what obstacles life – or her step-dad – throw at her. Do you have a burning dream or ambition? Would you like to write a poem about your pursuit of this dream, and the importance of never giving up?

Please send your submissions to: contact[AT]siobhancurham[DOT]co[DOT]uk by Monday 2^nd April. And please give your name and age in your covering email.

The two winning entrants will each receive a signed copy of Dear Dylan and their poems will be published on this blog in April as part of the official book launch celebrations.

I can’t wait to hear from you!

Countdown to Publication

Hello lovely blogosphere!

Long time no speak to… but I do have a good excuse, honestly.

For the past few months I’ve been in the ‘hibernation’ part of the writer’s cycle, working furiously on the second draft of my YA novel Finding Cherokee Brown and the first draft of a tres exciting and, for now, top secret new YA series. It hasn’t been all work and no play though – I’ve also managed to squeeze in a visit to my family in South Carolina for Thanksgiving, which was truly turkey-tastic. Other fun events included learning to dance like a Brazilian fisherman (it involves a lot of stomping in case you’re interested) and spending Christmas with my family, including BOTH of my divorced parents. Other kids of divorcees will know what a big deal this is – and no, no-one got killed!

View from the porch, South Carolina

But now it’s time to enter another key part of the writer’s cycle – THE COUNTDOWN TO PUBLICATION!

This time in a writer’s life is both exciting and terrifying in equal measure. Exciting because you finally get to see the book ‘baby’ that you spent so many days, weeks, months, even years, lovingly nurturing into life take it’s first tentative steps alone in the outside world. Terrifying because so much of what happens next is out of your hands. Questions like, Will the shops stock it? Will the reviewers like it? Will the readers buy it? echo through your mind like a really annoying jingle. The interesting thing about the book I have coming out in April is that this will actually be its second publication. The first time round, I chose to self-publish Dear Dylan. This meant that I didn’t manage to get it into any shops (shops hate self-published books), BUT it did somehow manage to win a national book award and the reviewers and readers who managed to get their hands on a copy were lovely about it. Dear Dylan then ended up going to a book auction and the very lovely Electric Monkey at Egmont UK became its new home. So, whenever the fearful questions in my head start to get a little too noisy, I quieten them with the thought that Dear Dylan was voted a winner by young people up and down the country – the very people I had written it for. In that sense, it can never fail.

Dear Dylan, out April 2012

Next week I’ll be blogging about devising a pre-publication publicity plan (try saying that with a mouthful of peanuts!) and all the fun ways you can let the world know about your book. Till then, happy reading!

An Act of Love by Alan Gibbons

This month's recommended read on The Faded Bookmark is An Act of Love by Alan Gibbons, an extremely powerful and topical read. 


Alan was also kind enough to answer some questions about the book from our reviewer Tamsin Jupp...

An Act Of Love by Alan Gibbons

Waiting to collect his medal at a high profile military ceremony, Chris receives a text message from his childhood best friend. A bomb is about to go off. The only problem is that the last time Chris saw Imran, Imran told him he was a kuffar, pressed his fingers to his head and pretended to shoot him. They chose very different paths in life, Chris joined the army and returned injured from Afghanistan; Imran, having lost his best friend and older brother, drifted angrily through life until he found what he thought was his cause, a radical Islamic group, wanting to bring war to infidels. The type of group who spawned the 7/7 bombers.  Chris has to decide if he can really trust his old blood brother, or have ten years and life choices driven them too far apart?  Using flashbacks and changing viewpoints between the two main protagonists, Gibbons creates a pressure cooker of tension.

Having grown up in the Middle East, I was interested to see how this delicate subject would be broached, and I can't fault the research that has obviously been put into this book. Gibbons captures the anger, frustration and sense of isolation that a teenager of any faith or colour feels. "You think you're in control of your life but you're not. Not really. It's like you stumble through the years with a hood over your head.  Nobody knows where they're going."  We all make mistakes growing up, sometimes we choose the wrong path but, with knowledge, sometimes you can get back on track.

An Act of Love is about friendship, growing up in a multi-racial country and looking at everyday people as well as the extremists. I remember the riots and unrest of the 1980's, and had to double check the dates in the book, with the depressing conclusion that history is repeating itself. All these events happened in the last ten years, not thirty years ago, which is a sobering thought about society. Maybe if more people read this book, understanding differences can help break cycles.

This is an enormous and heavy topic to cover, but An Act of Love is not just boy meets girl, Muslims vs the West, it's about a love that fights and conquers hate. A sometimes uncomfortable, but intuitively written and compelling read.  Gibbons gives the invisible a voice. 

Alan answers Tamsin's questions about An Act of Love.

Which came first, the story or the time line?

The story came first. Obviously, the research was integral but I only drew up the time line on request from my editor to give the readers an overview and reference point.

The story has strong similarities to what was going in 1981 especially the Toxteth riots in Liverpool. Did that influence you in any way?

I have lived in Liverpool since 1979 and lived in Liverpool 8 during the riots so it was one of my reference points.

Did you have a specific age group in mind when you wrote this (as adults can learn a lot from your book!)?

I think it was Philip Pullman who said he writes for people. Me too. There is a term crossover, but essentially I think when you write Young Adult fiction it always spills back to younger readers who are mature enough to handle the themes and forward to adults who will appreciate a well-researched, deeply felt story.

What inspired you to tackle this subject?

I had written on the implications of George Bush and Tony Blair’s decision to respond to 9/11 with military invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan indirectly in Caught in the Crossfire. I felt I had unfinished business and it was time to grasp the nettle and deal with the material directly.

I would love to think that this book goes some way towards giving people a more informed perspective, but do you think that things are going to get worse before they get better this country?

I believe the word crisis in Chinese contains the concept danger and opportunity. That is where I think we are. There is an unfortunate and ignorant strand of deep hostility to Muslims in the UK, but there is also a disenchantment with the policies that produced it. We have the opportunity to create a respectful country of many faiths, cultures and energies or slip into distrust and division. On the whole I am optimistic but there are always sinister forces in the wings. It is up to good people to promote the idea of a united community which generates a positive identity out of the many strands of our people.

An Act of Love is available on Amazon and in all good bookstores. I thoroughly recommend you buy a copy...

Fiction Express

I'm sure we've all read books where we wished we could have changed the plot. Recently I read a novel where one of the main characters was killed off completely unexpectedly and just when everything was starting to go right for her and I actually got in a proper sulk with the writer and refused to continue reading for several days! 


One of the most frustrating things about being a reader is that you have no control over the route a story takes. Or at least it used to be. New website Fiction Express is now offering readers the chance to get fully involved in the writing process, providing weekly installments of interactive e-fiction where readers get to vote upon the next plot twist. I was absolutely bowled over by this idea - it's such a great way to get readers engaged and it must be hugely exciting for the writers.


I caught up with Luisa Plaja, one of the authors involved, to find out more...  

"I'm thrilled to be one of the authors involved in the launch of Fiction Express , and I can't wait to hear the outcome of the first reader vote on my book on Monday. I have to admit that I'm also slightly nervous about the project, though! I know I've signed up for eleven weeks of high-pressure writing. I'm also sure there are going to be obstacles but I can't guess yet what they're going to be. I think it's all part of the thrill! I loved coming up with the premise for Diary of a Mall Girl. I thought long and hard about the kind of story that would fit the requirements for a Fiction Express novel in my genre. I decided that a shopping mall would be a perfect setting, as it can often be a hive of teen activity, with so much going on that there are endless plot possibilities. I've seen malls with residential areas and always secretly thought I'd love to live there - imagine the people-watching! But I knew that Molly, my character, wouldn't see it that way. There are advantages and disadvantages to living anywhere, I suppose, and for Molly, the gossip she has access to is nothing but trouble. I love the thought that I'll be engaging with readers and getting their input as I write. I can't wait to see where Molly's story will go...

Thank you for inviting me to your site."

If you would like to help Luisa with the plot for Diary of a Mall Girl, or any of the other writers involved in Fiction Express, please go to: www.fictionexpress.co.uk 

Talk Like an Egyptian

Sometimes I wonder if "being a writer" is actually just an official way of being a big, crazy kid.


Let's examine the evidence. We sit around all day, creating imaginary characters and giving them imaginary storylines to play with. These characters then live in our heads like imaginary friends for months on end, as bit by bit, we plot out their world on paper.


As a kid, I was an only child until I was five years old so I invented a whole gang of imaginary friends to hang out with. Their names were (don't laugh) - Datchu, Gantry (I said, don't laugh!), Mr Jeweler and Cup of Tea. Despite the fact that no-one else could see them, in my mind they were as real as any other flesh and blood people. And I guess you need this same sense of magical belief when you are creating characters for a book. After all if you don't believe they are real as the writer then how can you expect your readers to?


It can get a tad confusing though. 


As well as writing my own YA fiction, three days a week I work for a company called Hothouse Fiction. At Hothouse we come up with ideas for children's fiction series, develop the characters and concepts, commission writers and then sell the books to publishers.


It is a really fun job but sometimes my head can feel close to bursting with all of the 'imaginary friends' I have stored there.


Let me give you an example. Right now I am working on seven different books and the characters I am creating include a talking shark, a love-struck teen, a robotic hotdog, a timid and tearful mouse and an Egyptian farm-boy.


No wonder I look confused when people ask me for directions - half the time I don't know who or where I am! Or whether I should reply with a squeak, a sulk or in ancient Egyptian.