SANDY WRITES

Sandy writes. And sometimes she rewrites. Which is what I am doing now. My editor and I have had a big talk, talk, talk about Mexica Runner (due for release March 2010) and I am loving the new ideas that came out of our discussion. Chronology has been an issue. I began Mexica Runner in 2007 immediately after Polar Boy. When Samurai Kids evolved into a series, I put Mexica Runner aside to write Owl Ninja (book 2). That was a long time ago - two more books and one and a half manuscripts ago. My writing has grown with practice and experience. Some of the imagery and phraseology has accidentally seeped into subsequent Samurai kids books and needs to be removed. What was once unique is now a little too much like the voice of another charcater. There's bit of work to be done but every new idea I touch flows perfectly. So I can feel the rightness of these changes.

I'm loving this rewrite.

SANDY WRITES

The conversation went like this: "When I was pretending to be an author today..." and I told the story. My much-loved friend, always brutally honest and tactless, rolled her eyes. "Give it a rest, Sandy, it's getting bit tired. You are an author. You've had lots of books published and you've got that award sticker thingy."

I've been thinking about her comment a lot because she's often right. And I think she is again. Why don't I feel like an author? Why do I hide behind throw away lines like 'when I was masquerading as an author.. "? I have seven trade and education books published, another one due out in 6 months, two more contracted and four more accepted. And yes, I have a CBCA shortlisting sticker. So what's my identity crisis all about?

Finding your author identity is a tricky business and one I've often heard my yet-to-be-published and newly-published friends talk about. For me it all began when I first realised I was an aspiring author. I never had a problem with the 'wannabe author' tag as I always knew 'you have to wannabe if you're gonnabe' And this became my mantra of sorts. But what was I? I wanted to be something that said I was professional about wanting to be an author. I was attending courses, workshopping and writing lots. But when I was at these seminars and conferences with the real authors, who was I?

Another friend, a much published author, helped me out. "You are a writer," she said. "A writer is a word craftsman who just hasn't been published yet." I doubt it's an official dictionary definition *grin* but it worked for me. I was a writer.

Then one day the call came. Walker Books Australia wanted to publish White Crane. In the two years between that call and publication I had lots of time to get used to my authorly skin. But I never did. And all of a sudden I was published with as my friend pointed out - books and a sticker. I think my problem was it all happened so fast. It's been less than 18 months since that first novel was published. I call myself the Cinderella author because it seems like someone has waved a wand over me. I joke and say I hope I don't turn back into a pumpkin in the middle of a school visit. But in truth, it does feel surreal.

And then there's this other problem - whenever I pick one of my books off the shelf - it doesn't read like a real author wrote it - it reads like I did.

It's been a month since that conversation and a transformation has been happening. I'm beginning to accept that I am an author. That the dream did come true. I've been doing a lot of school visits lately and that's helped me put it all into perspective because - when I stand in front of the class - I really do feel 100% author.

[Footnote: I picked the picture to load for this post from the White Crane launch files and then noticed what I had labelled it at the time: 'Author Impersonator' Ha! Karma.]

SANDY WRITES

Recently I was in the Southern Highlands doing a few school visits (best fun ever, post and pictures to follow as soon as I work out my new camera and which photos it is OK to use), and I was asked the inevitable "where do you get your ideas from?" I love this question. Firstly because I can always count on it and in my school visit rookie days I clung to the knowledge that I was always prepared for at least two questions (the other being "what is your favourite book?" The answer being a sneak in of two titles - The Tales of Despereaux by Kate DiCAmillo and the Dragonkeeper series by Carole Wilkinson). I know many children are encouraged to ask about ideas but you can tell they want to anyway. And adults ask the same question. Especially aspiring authors because they hear publishers say all the time 'we are looking for a fresh voice and new ideas'. So they want to know where other authors found their ideas.

It always amazes me how 'new' (and that's a whole other discussion!) ideas can appear at the same time. There have been a number of samurai books of course but no series. At the time Samurai Kids was released, three more samurai series hit the shelves. They were all very different - one had a strong fantasy element, one was blockbuster action and one was more kung fu. Samurai Kids is something else again - adventure, history and humour - with just a dash of philosophy (Zen is both really funny and really clever. Kids get this combination straight away). So how did this coincidence happen? Perhaps there were samurai idea seeds in the wind, blowing all over the place. And that leads me to my theory that ideas are in the air everywhere but some people are more receptive to catching them just as some people are more likely to catch the common cold (the air is full of germs and ideas!!). Perhaps that's not as far fetched an analogy as it might sound. Once you catch a good idea - you live and breathe it every day.

Does it matter if an idea is not entirely unique? Not to me. I am a new author hopeful that readers who begin with one samurai series will enjoy it and look around for another. I hope they find my books next.

Sometimes ideas are right under my nose and I don't see them. Recently #2 son and I finished The Greatest Blogger in the World. Loved it. And what a brilliant idea - a kid and a blog. Very technology and communications current but very accessible to primary kids. And every young reader loves a text type twist. How many children's authors are blogging every day and missed the idea connection?

Sometimes I find my ideas are already taken. For years I have touched upon writing the story of The Highwayman - Alfred Noyes' wonderful ballad - crime, love, adventure, romanticism and tragedy. If you haven't read the poem, and even if you're not into poetry, click on the link becuase it's worth a look. I was flicking through a Walker Books catalogue recently and there it was - The Highwayman's Curse by Nicola Morgan, book 2 in a series already well under way! So I added it to my reading list and crossed it off my writing list

And just in case you would like to know where the idea for Samurai Kids came from. From my study of history, fascination with swords and love of eastern philosophy. But the feature which makes the series catch its readers' imaginations, that these are children with a disability, came out of the air. I know a number of children and adults who have lost limbs, who like Yoshi have struggled to overcome there fears or like Kyoko have lived with 'being different.' I am inspired by the way they barrel through life's challenges. And this is a strength and power innate in most kids. They do because no-one said they can't and it doesn't occur to them to question whether they can - or even should. And for those children who are more reticent or unsure then I hope that like me, they draw on the same inspiration.

Sometimes an idea isn't readily agreed upon. Especially if it is a little unusual. "You cannot put five disabled children together in a book," I was told. "Why not?" I asked. "it's not done." I thought it was a good idea. I felt I had created a gathering of strength and a band of potential heroes. Why couldn't they be samurai as much as any one else? Once you've found a good idea you have to believe in it and hold on tight so it doesn't vanish back into the air it came from.

SANDY WRITES

I'm a mathematical sort of person really. Some of my friends and colleagues are amazed I can do anything as creative as writing fiction. I'm a computer programmer, I enjoy algebra (I even did a maths degree by choice), I like coding in 2B pencils perfectly sharpened (I have an electric sharpener) and I smile when the Tupperware biscuit container is all packed with neat lines and angles of shortbread.

So where do the words come from? Tonight, as I reflect on completing the first two chapters of Samurai Kids 5, and schedule the remainder to meet the 5 month deadline, it occurs to me that perhaps creative chaos comes from mathematical order. Chaos theory is nothing new and words and numbers have always been related.

I don't plot. I map and graph. There are fourteen chapters in every Samurai Kids book. This was quite accidental - initially I wrote thirteen, my editor pointed out that much as I like to do the big action scene in three lines (I submit I've improved since then) I had excelled myself this time and knocked the main character unconscious, woken them up and referred to the big action scene that happened off camera while they were asleep!!! So a whole new chapter was required to redress the omissions. The 14th. Two chapters for each virtue of Bushido.

And then there are usually 40,000 words or thereabouts. Divide it out. There are 122 days left to write not counting weekends. I might write then but if I do, it will be to catch up or play or maybe even work on the secret alternate ms which I always have going. I divide some more to get the number of words I'll write every night until the deadline.

Chapters spill out along a sine curve. Thats's how I know I'm pacing properly. My characters a,b,c and x,y,z plug into equations that create situations that create plot. An interview process of sorts.

I just wish I could always solve the equation right first time. A maths problem solved is 100% complete. Nothing more required. But a manuscript no matter how well written is never as good as it could be. The refining goes on forever. Or in mathspeak: "The equation of the derivative tends to infinity."

SANDY WRITES

Recently a young reader asked me "Where did you get the idea for Mitsuka Manuyoto?" Mitsuka is a character in Owl Ninja, the second book in the Samurai Kids series.

Throughout the Samurai Kids writing process my constant companion is The Book of Five Rings by the great Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, even today, considered without a doubt the best. When Musashi's ghost heard that question, I am sure he laughed. For much of Mitsuka is drawn from Musashi. And that's one of the wonderful things about writing history. It provides its own starting points and ideas.

Musashi was not only a skilled swordsman but a very interesting man. He is almost as famous for his unkempt appearance. There's even a little gossip - was it that he didn't like having a bath or did he have an illness? I suspect if you are the best swordsman in the world then no-one argues too much about whether you smell or not! He was also a man with a sense of humour and an integrity that led him to put his sword aside for the wooden bo (he tired of winning by killing opponents he admired). Eventually he decided he'd had enough of battle and retired to paint birds on silk. The dichotomy of the man of who excelled at war but at the same time exalted in the pattern of canary feathers immediately attracted my writer's interest.

But while Mitsuka too is a great swordsman and could do with a dunking in something wet, he is otherwise totally fictional. His clumsiness and his devotion to his former teacher are his alone. As is the reason why he hasn't got any trousers when the kids first meet him. Taking off your trousers can be a useful opponent-distracting strategy!

We stop underneath a giant cherry tree. But Sensei's space is already taken by a large dirty man in the ragged remains of a red kimnon and jacket. Snoring there without his trousers on. We don't know which way to look. Sensei makes it even harder when he sits down next to the tramp.

Despite his idiosyncracies and his tendency to drop his sword, in his own time, Mitsuka is the best there is. Even better than Mikko. And when he has a blade especailly made for him by Sensei's old friend, the master craftsman Onaku:

The ronin reaches for it, eyes bright as he recognises the Sword Master's handiwork. From here I can see the grip is unusual. It melts into the ronin's hand and as flesh and sword join together, I hear the blade sing. Everyone can. It drowns out the thump of the drum.

Note: A ronin was a wandering samurai who, unlike most of his peers, served no master.

You can download a fact sheet about Musashi from the Samurai Kids website or read about him in the Chi! Jin! Yu! newsletter. You can read more about Mitsuka Manuyoto in Owl Ninja, the second book in the Samurai Kids series.

SANDY WRITES

People keep asking me why I don't blog about my writing. I guess it's because I'm a bit obstinate and somewhere early along the line decided this was a books and reading blog. I love reading. As a kid I was always being told 'It's rude to read over someone's shoulder.' But I couldn't help it. Words drew me. Even if I knew it was just an ad that was sure to say: "Tomatoes $4.99 a kg" *sigh* A real addict. But I am also a writer. Every day. Almost as much as I am a reader. And writers don't need much encouragement to write about themselves so I've decided to re-rule the line. From here on in... on Wednesday Sandy Writes about when Sandy writes! How self indulgent is that.


Tonight I am working on the fifth book in the Samurai Kids series and I am in research mode. I love this part of the writing process. One of the things I try to do is immerse my self in the language culture of the times. The best way for me to do that is to find primary sources, texts written mid 17th century Japan. My personal favourite companion for The Samurai Kids series in general is Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings. Considered the best swordsman of all time, Musashi retired unbeaten to a cave on a hillside to write his philsophy of swordsmanship - a practical manual of warfare tactics still used in some military institutions today.


While it is a wonderful reference for all things sharp and samurai, it's much more than that. It's my compass. I read and re-read in cycles. The day doesn't begin at 7am for me. Musashi and I face the day together, in the first hour of the Dragon.