The story left untold…

With thanks to Grace Bryant for her words.

We all know the feeling of self-doubt. It tiptoes politely around our tiniest, most beloved ideas, softly seeking permission to be present. Then gently questions, until it becomes a comfortable, familiar and almost reassuring voice. Then it starts poking. And pointing. Over time, that voice makes your tiny idea feel even tinier. This discouraging whisper often becomes a war cry, crushing your tiny idea even before it could blossom into a story.

We’ve all been there. Even the most successful, most talented, most celebrated authors and illustrators suffer this voice. And it’s not a voice that goes away. It must be managed; hushed with words of affirmation, saturated by hard work, reshaped though development, conquered by perseverance and straight up loved into submission. It’s definitely possible to shush this voice and to make space for your tiny idea to grow. And the reward for protecting your tiny idea from that big, nasty voice? Well, I’ll get to that.

SCWBI ACT’s August development event welcomed author/illustrator Caroline Magerl, author Emma Allen, illustrator Hannah Sommerville and NLA publisher Susan Hall, who generously shared their warm voices, brilliant ideas and contrasting experiences with us.

Believe it or not, Caroline Magerl’s pathway into illustration was neither linear, nor easy. She shared with us many ideas; some tiny, some grown and nourished through time and experience:

• Hold on to your tiny ideas and dispute your personal fail-voice;
• Modern day networking is a blessing. We’re lucky to be so connected and for opportunities to be visible, as this hasn’t always been the case;
• We don’t need a license to try, or to succeed;
• Have an agenda or you’ll become someone else’s agenda;
• Keep a line in the water; in fact, keep many lines in the water to stay diverse and at the edge of your abilities;
• In this industry, one success does not guarantee another;
• Follow through on your ideas and listen to your own voice; 
• And most importantly, that crafting our tiny ideas into stories is more powerful than we can imagine. A children’s book is capable of influencing many lives.

If you ever get the chance to hear Caroline’s story, you won’t regret it. Not only does she spin a good yarn, its fibres are shorn from hard work, soaked in persistence and challenging times loving stitched together with her successes. Her most recent book, Maya and Cat is drawn from these experiences. It’s evidence that a tiny moment can become a tiny idea, which could impact someone, somewhere. Its stunning word choice and thoughtful, unexpected watercolour and ink illustrations are an utter delight.

Caroline Magerl at SCBWI ACT's August Development Event

Emma Allen, Hannah Sommerville and Susan Hall showed us how the power of an idea can be enhanced, elevated and enlivened by others. And that our collective ideas, skills and experiences enable the ideas and success of others. In sharing the story of their collaboration, we learnt that:

• Establishing the right working relationship is as important as getting the work right;
• A genuine collaboration requires trust, as you’re both exchanging something precious;
• Trust in each other enables confidence in one’s self, one’s skills and in the partnership. Sharing in this trust is a joy;
• Collaboration is an iterative process. Words, illustration, edits will evolve as the work ceases to be owned by an individual and the story becomes co-owned;
• If you’re lucky, you might even make a friend though a collaboration;
• Understanding the rhythm of the story is vital, to allow space for the story to breathe, pant or sigh, rather than simply be told;
• Regardless of the story that you intend to tell, the readers will always imprint themselves on to it. This is the joy of storytelling and of sharing your tiny idea.

Digby and Claude is Emma and Hannah’s most recent collaboration. Though it’s set in the 1930s, the themes of friendship, imagination and belonging keenly resonate today. Their seamless blend of words and illustrations offer readers the opportunity to explore grief and renewal, in a safe space. Hearing about their collaboration inspired SCBWI ACT to trust others with our tiny ideas.

Susan Hall, Hannah Sommerville and Emma Allen on collaboration

And now, to answer that lingering question. What is the reward for persisting and for battling self-doubt? It’s not necessarily global success or a three-book deal. It’s the opportunity to share your tiny idea. To nourish another’s tiny idea. To tell your story. Or, the simple knowledge that the tiny idea left unexplored, or story left untold leaves a greater void than daring to try. You never know the impact you may have simply by sharing your tiny idea. 

Ironically, our own stories are more often shaped by challenge and adversity than success. Success is the easy part. The bit that comes before that is the hard part. Sometimes the ability to push past self-doubt and to choose to listen to the tiny idea rather than that nasty voice is the greatest act of creativity. 

So, go on, persist.

SCBWI ACT is grateful to Caroline Magerl, Emma Allen, Hannah Sommerville and Susan Hall for sharing their magnificent, inspiring and influential ideas. We like you. A lot.

SCBWI ACT send their love.

Interview with Dr Terry Whitebeach

Terry Whitebeach

Dr Terry Whitebeach has published work in a variety of genres, including poetry, young adult novels, radio plays, children’s picture books and biography. She has taught creative writing all over Australia, edited several collections of writing, and helped establish the Indigenous Creative Writing programme at Batchelor Institute, Alice Springs. She has a BA in English Literature and Philosophy, a MA in English Literature and Creative Writing and PhD in History.

Dr Terry Whitebeach has published work in a variety of genres, including poetry, young adult novels, radio plays, children’s picture books and biography. She has taught creative writing all over Australia, edited several collections of writing, and helped establish the Indigenous Creative Writing programme at Batchelor Institute, Alice Springs. She has a BA in English Literature and Philosophy, a MA in English Literature and Creative Writing and PhD in History.

Her most recent book is Trouble Tomorrow (2018), co-authored with Sarafino Enadio and published by Allen and Unwin (2017). Based on Sarafino’s life story, this compelling novel tells an incredible tale of courage, resilience and hope, about a Sudanese boy who survives civil war, a treacherous journey and many years in a refugee camp before finding peace.

WHY DO YOU FEEL INSPIRED TO WRITE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE?

I remember very well the time of emerging young adulthood – the feeling of having a foot in two worlds, still constrained by the rules and regulations imposed by adults, but reaching eagerly towards selfhood and control of my own destiny even while chafing under older adults’ authority; having my own hopes and a dreams and possessing a rich inner life that I felt adults around me could barely guess at. I hoped all things, dreamed all things, and was waiting to burst out into my own individual, marvellous life. At the same time I was full of trepidation, riven with conflict because my inner and outer realities did not match. It was a fascinating period of self-discovery, a bid towards autonomy and self-definition, which came with hefty challenges, deep despairs and fears and equally piercing delights.

So it is this period of life that is the chief setting and concern of my novels and collection of poetry for young adults. Each protagonist faces strong physical, emotional and ethical challenges, and the novels trace the journey towards emerging self-actualisation and accountability for choices made. As a writer I feel a strong responsibility not to add to the sum of despair or cynicism in the world, instead, to encourage hope and a sense of possibility and autonomy in young people. Gritty realism and heart-stopping choices there are a-plenty, in the novels and poems, no bland, sentimental or saccharine plots, but encouragement to stay with the trouble; and not succumb to the superficial, nihilistic or doom-ridden credos that are promulgated so pervasively. But above all, I love story and am intrigued to find out what happens to the characters I invent, what they will do next and how they will make their way.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR COLLABORATIONS WITH SARAFINO ENADIO AND THE SUDANESE COMMUNITY

Sarafino and I have collaborated on four books, his memoir, A Little Peace, two bilingual picture books, and a YA novel, Trouble Tomorrow. We met as professional colleagues and our many discussions led to our first collaboration. As an oral historian I have always enjoyed listening to other people’s stories, but Sarafino’s accounts of the civil war in Sudan, his ten years in refugee camps in Kenya, where he had trained as a UN Peace educator, and his subsequent migration to Tasmania were like none I had ever heard. I felt they should be part of our national story.

The stories he told about guarding the family’s crops from marauding birds and animals delighted me so I suggested we also create a picture book showing a way of life that had been swept away by war. Many Sudanese children were born in refugee camps or in Australia and have little knowledge of their homeland, so we thought this might be a good opportunity of showing them a little of their cultural heritage – and introducing Australian born students to Ma’di (Sudanese) language, experience and culture.

The first book, When I was a Boy in Sudan, was based on Sarafino’s life, and we then created a companion volume, When I was a Girl in Sudan, with Sarafino’s mother-in-law, Paskalino Eiyo, about her life as a girl in Loa, South Sudan. Tasmania writers Anne Morgan and Julie Hunt collaborated with us, and Gay McKinnon illustrated the books.

The final book in our collaboration is the YA novel, Trouble Tomorrow, which is loosely based on Sarafino’s experiences. It was prompted by Sarafino’s admission that the children of Ma’di refugees knew little of their parents’; experiences. The war was not something discussed in Sudanese households. It felt important to me that both Madi and non-Madi people in Australia learn about this history.

YOU HAVE BEEN AN ADVOCATE FOR THE RIGHTS OF AUTHORS FOR MANY YEARS, THROUGH THE ASA AND PEN. WHY?

I have strong feelings about injustice. Have been an activist for freedom, human rights, preservation of the planet and non-violent solutions to conflicts for most of my life. This has led me down some interesting and challenging byways.I am on the PEN writers in prison committee, joining with other writers in sending greetings of solidarity to writers and journalists who are political prisoners and lobbying governments on their behalf. And the ASA I think of as the writers’ union, who lobby for just usage of our cultural property, and for decent return for our work, and who help safeguard our rights as writers, illustrators and creators.

I have only one life, and my main talent is writing – so writing has been one of ways I may address some of the issues that really matter to me. But it is difficult balancing the collaborative work of advocacy and support for social change with the solitary work of the writer.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST WRITING CHALLENGE?

TIME. Taking the time to write. Snatching, it; that’s what it often feels like. And feeling illegitimate about wanting or taking that time. Like many women, I have been socialised to take care of the needs of others first. I have an uneasy relationship with the balance between acceding to, or denying, many of the multiple calls on my time. And I am not so good with self care. Recently I have suffered serious illnesses and these have further diminished the time and energy available for writing. I don’t expect ever to solve this dilemma, but there still exists in me a naive belief I will be able to fit in everything I wish to do – despite the daily proof that this is not the case. And I guess learning to live with paradoxes and the tension of irreconcilable opposites is just part of the fabric of life.

HOW AND WHERE DO YOU LIKE TO WRITE?

I write in my ‘office’, which is a caravan up in the paddock on the edge of the bush that backs onto our block. That way I leave the house and go off to work. I look out the window and watch the chooks rootling around, the occasional echidna swaggering past, birds swooping, the wind ruffling the trees. Time just disappears and I exist in a wonderful, eternal ‘now’; until I suddenly realise my back is aching, I’ve been sitting at the computer for hours and I’m dying for a cup of tea.

What Have SCBWI Vic been up to?

SCBWI VIC has had a busy month. Our Professional Development Day for writers and illustrators was held on 14th July. It included a line-up of wonderful speakers and panellists including Sally Rippon, Deb Abela, Sherryl Clark, Gabrielle Wang, Meredith Costain, Serena Geddes and Adam Wallace. We also heard from Sabine Bolick from Pearson Education and the Marketing Manager for Hardie Grant Egmont, Tye Cattanach. We came away bursting with enthusiasm and information.

Our event at Docklands on 28 July featured Zoe Walton from Penguin Random House. Zoe’s presentation focused on the editing process and included lots of valuable information for writers of picture books through to young adult novels. We also heard from talented illustrator and SCBWI ARA from Sydney, Marjorie Crosby-Fairall who spoke about the process of telling a story with pictures and former journalist Heather Gallagher discussed some of the the best ways to get media coverage for our published children’s books.