SCBWI Victoria August Gathering

Date/Time
Date(s) - 20/Aug/2016
2:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Location

RMIT University

Corner Russel and Victoria Streets - Melbourne, VICTORIA

We look forward to catching up with you for our third gathering of the year on August 20.

This gathering will feature Susannah McFarlane, Cally Black and Nicky Johnston.

Susannah McFarlane is the author of some of Australia’s most successful children’s book series. She is the creator and writer of the awarding-winning EJ12 Girl Hero and EJ Spy School series; the creator and co-author of the hugely popular series for boys, Boy vs Beast; the author of the Little Mates series of the alliterative alphabet picture books for under-fives, and the series editor for Stuff Happens!, a great series for tween boys about the everyday challenges they face. Susannah was also the original concept creator of two of Australia’s leading tween fiction series—Go Girl! and Zac Power.

Susannah was previously the co-owner, managing director and publisher of Hardie Grant Egmont; the managing director of Egmont Books UK; the vice-president of the Egmont Group; contributor to the UK trade journal Publishing News; and the Convenor of the Children’s Publishing Committee and Board Director of the Australian Publishers’ Association. 

Susannah has titled her talk – ‘Oi! I’m over here!’ How to claim your space in a crowded children’s book market.

Cally Black, SCBWI member and author of educational fiction and Sci Fi short stories, has been on a long writing quest for that elusive thing that might make her work stand out in a marketplace full of amazing books.

As the winner of the Ampersand Prize, Cally will share her journey to her first trade novel and what she’s learned about voice, storytelling and finding personal strengths in her talk – Pushing For Something More. 

Nicky Johnston is an educator, speaker and author/illustrator. She is passionate about promoting resilience in children and raising awareness of mental health issues. Her book ‘Go Away, Mr Worrythoughts!’ has been produced as a theatrical production which has been touring primary schools for the past 5 years.

Nicky’s love of teaching sees her busy with school visits and presenting at workshops and conferences. Her extensive experience as an educator has provided her with valuable skills that she now utilises when visiting schools as an author/illustrator. During her talk, Picture This, Nicky will share practical hints, tips and examples to help you when presenting in schools.

SHOW AND TELL 

As usual, we will have a brief Show and Tell segment, so if you have a recent publication to show us or news of a recent success to share (such as an award or grant) we’d love to hear from you.

MEETING DETAILS

Date: Saturday 20 August 2016
Place: RMIT University, Building 13, 379-405 Russell Street, Melbourne (corner Victoria Street). PLEASE NOTE ROOM CHANGE: The room is in the same building as our last event, but one level higher. Enter via the main Russell Street entrance and follow the SCBWI signs up the stairs to room 13.3.009 (Building 13, floor 3, room 9).
Time: 2pm—5pm (all are welcome to stay on afterwards to chat and drink downstairs)
Cost: $25 members, $30 non-members (includes afternoon tea)

BOOKING   DETAILS

Book here for the August 20th gathering.

SCBWI VICTORIA NEW MEMBERS MEET AND GREET – 13 August 2016

If you are a new SCBWI Victoria member, please come and meet the committee over a casual cup of coffee or pot of tea. We look forward to hearing about your projects and aspirations. This is a free event, but please book here so we can confirm numbers.

Date: 13 August 2016, 3pm-4:30pm

Location: Upstairs at Cafe Blac, 707 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn, Vic, 3122. Tel: (03) 9818 8965

 

SCBWI DATES to Remember for 2016:

·      13 August: New Members Meet and Greet, Hawthorn

·      20 August: SCBWI VIC Gathering, Russell Street, Melbourne

·      4-6 September: SCBWI International Biennial Conference, Sydney

·      15 October: New Members Meet and Greet, Hawthorn

·      23 October: SCBWI VIC Sketch and Scribble, venue to be confirmed

·      12 November: SCBWI VIC Gathering, details to be confirmed

 

SCBWI VICTORIA COMMITTEE MEMBERS

 
Caz Goodwin: Assistant Regional Adviser, Victoria
Chris Bell: Assistant Coordinatorand CBCA Liaison
Serena Geddes: Illustrator Coordinator
Betty Sargeant: Technology and Social Media Coordinator
Jo Burnell: Membership Coordinator

Living the Dream - Story City

As children's authors, we often live the lives of our heroes vicariously. It's much easier, safer and cleaner that way. However, part of me still relishes the breathy feeling of discovering the missing link for myself, trekking down the baddies armed with nothing more than a sharp pencil, and surviving a mutant alien invasion with all of my limbs intack. It's thrilling stuff living in the heart of your own adventure and being your own hero, and the reason choose-your-own-adventure style storytelling is so popular with young and old alike. It's also why I decided to 'choose' a different path in my story creation, for a short while at least.

Last year I embarked on a writing adventure that challenged my ability to pen such a story suitable for the digital format. Story City is a FREE downloadable app using GPS and geocaching technology to inspire people to get active and physically immerse themselves in real-life choose-your-own-adventure stories. It ingeniously unites our modern-day love affair with technology and the need for fast access entertainment with a solution to stave off obesity and anti-social behaviour that can be associated with our overuse of modern devices. In otherwords, it gets us out there on the streets living and breathing stories in the real world.

Of course many of the multi-genre and variously rated stories don't take place in the real world as such. Themes are as diverse as your imaginations but they all share a common thread; their settings are based on real-world locations giving users a fascinating sense of place. Users can choose stories that most appeal to them, then from a starting point, they are in full control and can choose where and how the adventure unfolds. Each tale has several endings. The beauty of this style of storytelling is that there can be no true disappointing ending. If you aren't satisfied with the path you chose, go back and choose another! Even if you choose the same direction over and over again, chances are the location will evoke a different sense of reality for you; the weather may be different, the sounds, smells and people surrounding you may have altered subtly. The scope for continued enjoyment is off the Richter Scale with Story City! Ultimately, it's plain old-fashioned fun, suitable for young and old, Luddites and techno junkies, locals and tourists.

The Gold Coast team headed by Emily Craven - photo courtesy Jenny Stubbs

In addition to this, Story City uses local writers, illustrators, musicians and voice-talent to produce the stories. There is nothing better than homegrown to add a delicious dollop of authenticity and pride.

When I was accepted to be part of the Gold Coast team, I was thrilled to be part of the Story City family which has live working stories in Adelaide,  Brisbane and the Gold Coast with more planned for other regional and capital centres and a notable list of commendable authors and artists including fellow SCWBI members, Isobelle Carmody, Kim Wilkins, Tim Baker and Trent Jamieson to name just a ridiculous few. But I also shivered with panic (on the inside where nobody would notice, mind) I mean I usually struggled to come up with one acceptable ending, let alone up to eight!

Original artwork by Ken Best

Despite scathing deadlines and a collection of plot lines more convoluted than a bowlful of spaghetti and the odd dejected child wondering when she was getting her next meal, I managed to produce The Chapel of Unlove. Mine's a quirky, spoof type tale based in the surreal surroundings of Sanctuary Cove at the north end of the Goldie (where I live). It's fantastical, fun, and kid-and-family-friendly but touches on a few of the delicious life-parodies one can encounter here on the Gold Coast which naturally involves pirates and Elvis impersonators. What more could you ask for?!

Working collaboratively

I encourage anyone with a passion for adventure and a quest to be their own hero to experience the stories of Story City. If the chance to be a contributing artist or writer comes to your town, I urge you to consider pouncing on it. Preserving the art of storytelling in a multi-sense way whilst actually making stories immediately accessible in the hands of our audiences is a marvellous opportunity not to be missed. I learnt a lot. I'm edging over into the realm of plotter vs panster thanks to this project. And I had a heap of fun along the way.

Over the next month or so, I hope to divulge more of the hows, whys and whos behind my Story City Creation. You can follow those posts at Dim's Write Stuff. Visit the Story City website to register your interest as a future contributor or simply learn more about the team behind the stories behind the adventures!

Story City Gold Coast is presented by Story City and funded by the Regional Arts Development Fund. The Regional Arts Development fund is a Queensland Government and City of Gold Coast Council partnership to support local arts and culture.

Dimity Powell is a published children's author and SCBWI member residing just around the corner from Bat Man on the Gold Coast. She is the official Blogger coordinator for this year's 2016 SCBWI Sydney Conference. You can follow her reviews on Kids Lit at Boomerang Books Blog or visit her at Dim's Write Stuff.

On-line Critique Group Update

ON-GOING CRITIQUE GROUPS
I am pleased to report that we now have another Online Critique Group successfully up and running, bring the total number to eight, covering all genres from Picture Books to Young Adult. I continue to receive positive emails from members who find the critique feed-back extremely valuable and enjoy the support and interaction with other writers and illustrators.

PROBLEMS AND ISSUES
Unfortunately, as we all know life sometimes gets in the way of good intentions and some members have had to take leave of absence or drop out completely from their Critique Groups due to family issues, new babies or work commitments and so on.

Fortunately these critique groups are continuing but some are in desperate need of additional members to top up their numbers to form well-balanced groups offering robust critiquing.

WANTED: NEW MEMBERS
So if you have been thinking that you would like to join a Critique Group but you haven’t got around to filling in the on-line form, now is the time to do so.

We would love to have new members, published and ‘keen to be published’, in all the genres to form new groups and, in particular, to supplement the following existing groups:

• PB Writers
• JF
• YA
• PB Illustrators only
• Illustrators

If you are interested please read the information and register On-line by 1st December 2015. PLEASE NOTE: there will be no placements into groups from Friday 4th December 1015 until 20th January 2016 when placements in groups will proceed as normal according to availability.

LOOKING FORWARD TO PUBLISHING SUCCESS
One Critique Group member has already had an offer from a publisher for her Picture Book manuscript and is waiting to see the success of on-going negotiations. Another member has had a publisher express an interest in her submission.  Both of these authors revised their manuscripts after receiving their On-line Critiques.

So sign-up and look forward to receiving constructive and useful critiques that will encourage and help you to re- shape and improve your art work or writing towards your publishing goal.

Margaret Roc
Critique Group Coordinator