Sandy Fussell's Blog, page 19

You know the sort of friend who is always muddling up dates and tuning up late? Their heart is in the right place but their had is sometimes not. I'm afraid that' sme today. But I'm still excited to be part of Riley's blog tour and to share the 'secret' Riley told me when I interviewed him.

Hi Riley. It's thrilling to meet a world traveller such as yourself and to share your adventures through you books. Of all the places in Australia you zoomed through in search of the Curious Koala which was your favourite?
First can I say – I think your books are so cool, Sandy! Mum has let me start reading them, even though they're still a little old for me. I think it's so awesome to be on your blog (**blush**).

Well, as for my trip around Sydney – it's so hard to pick my favourite place, but I think it would be Luna Park… I had to fly in really close to those teeth and they almost knocked Panda flying! Actually, they did knock a jam sandwich out of his paw, and he wasn't happy. We had to land and get him some fairy floss to make up for it.

I also liked the beaches – I wanted to go for a surf but I had to watch Lion – he goes a bit bananas at the best of times, and he's not a good swimmer. He ended up making the coolest sand castle, though. Of course, Dragon slept through it all. Oh, and Taronga Zoo was really amazing, too.

Will you be coming back to Australia to visit the Curious Koala again?
Oh yes – I really want to. I was going to visit Vietnam next year but mum says she thinks it might be more fun to stay closer to home for now. I really love Melbourne and I'm super keen to get to Perth. Tassie, too. I want to visit all Australian states.

Where did you learn to fly such a cool looking plane? What sort of a plane is it?
My dad took me on flying lessons when I was three. I was a bit wobbly at first and had training wings for about a year but pretty soon I was flying solo. I love being able to jump in that plane and go anywhere I like. My mum and dad are really cool like that.

And the plane is actually a biplane. That means it has two sets of wings. It's sort of a dusky red. The Red Baron had one of those. Mine is made of tin and the prop is a bit old and wonky but it still flies well. The Red Baron's biplane wasn't made of tin. It also has these super dooper special effects – like inbuilt floaties in the wheels – that were created by Kieron Pratt. He's like that guy – Q – in the James Bond movies that makes high tech and really cool things… he's really clever like that. When we visit Adelaide, the book will be set under the sea (because the animal we're hunting for is a sea-creature), and Kieron is already working on the plans to make my plane water-proof. It's going to be sooooooo amazing.

I'm actually getting a bit worried about the lack of space in my biplane… on each of my book adventures, a new friend joins me and follows along on the fun, so I'm thinking I might have to haul a double decker bus behind the plane eventually. Or we might have to walk. Would be a long trek to Antarctica…. Hang on a sec… Muuuuummm! Can we do a book set in Antarctica?
I'm just getting dinner, Riley, can we talk about this later?
Sorry. I'll have to get back to you on the Antarctica thing. I really want to go to Disneyland but Dad reckons it would be a feat in litigation-dodging. I don't know what that means.
What did your friends think of Australia? Actually, they're used to it now. They've been living here for nearly two years and of course – Koala is a local. We do nip off to Beijing and Hong Kong every few months to visit Dragon's and Lion's family. And Panda has always been with me. We adopted him from China when he was a baby – right when I was born.
Can we have a hint where your next adventure might be?
It's a toss up between the Californian coast, Melbourne or Vietnam… Mum and Dad took me and my sister Ella to Tasmania last year and I though that was really cool – they have lots of scrumptious things to eat there. Maybe it will be Tasmania. Maybe your readers could vote for their favourite place?

Thanks for having me, Sandy. YOU ROCK!

***I'm crossing me fingers for Vietnam! And I'm glad you like my books too.

from Riley

Or how I lost four weeks of my life:

1 Lumbar Puncture (I know that's two words but I did have two!)

2 Cannula

3 Needle

4 Vein (where all sharp things end up!)

5 Bacterial Meningitis

Even though it has been a horrific 4 weeks, I am greatful for the love and support of family, friends and colleagues. My house is filled with flowers and good wishes. I am still very tired but every day life gets better.

I haven't yet blogged my most-marvellous-best-launch-ever yet at St Pius X as I haven't got all the photos in order (yet. coming soon. watch this space).
However Coen and his mum are much more organised than me. Coen was the winner of the K-6 Mask and helmet

making competition with his wonderful kabuto helmet and samurai mask. I wish I had one like it.
When we met Coen was reading Matthew Reilly's Hovercar Racer but after winning a copy of Fire Lizard (and enjoying the first chapter) he decided to read the whole series. After he finishes Hovercar Racer of course!

If you listen closely you can hear the sound of champagne fizzing and crackers crunching. I've even decorated my blog in pond slime green. I'm having a party and everyone is invited.
I've had the pleasure to be involved in a number of wonderful blog tours in recent times. It's particularly exciting today to welcome Angela Sunde with her debut novel, sure to be the first of many. Pond Magic is an Aussie Chomp and as any writer will tell you, it's very, very hard to be published in Penguin's prestigious Nibbles, Chomps and Bites series.

Pond Magic didn't start life as an Aussie Chomp and when the first draft finished it was at least 3,000 words over the guideline limit. Some good advice from a Queensland Writer's Centre editorial consultation saw the story polished to fit and the rest is the stuff fairy tales are made of. As you read my review below you will see Pond Magic is a fairy tale too! While I am in fairy tale mode (yes I have a princess dress on!), I'm going to send you on a quest. Drop in to Angela's blog here and read her very own personal fairy tale, where her dream of becoming an author is realised
Pond Magic by Angela Sunde, Penguin Aussie Chomps series, rrp $12.95

Poor Lily Padd. It's bad enough to have name like that but now she's turning green. She's a rocket in the pool with her newly webbed feet but her burps are causing sever embarrassment and the wart on her face is the last straw. It's hard hiding the changes from the kids at school but now her best friend is acting odd and mum has invited a French exchange student to stay.
A fair maiden turning into a frog! There must be magic in the air. When the elderly neighbour admits she is a witch and Lily learns her hide-out in Mrs Swan's shed has exposed her to some 'not quite right magic', the solution is obvious. But where is Lily going to find a handsome Prince?
I love fairytales. There's something timeless and classic about their stories. Pond Magic is proof of this – a thoroughly modern setting and cast with a familiar ring of magic and message. Lily has problems common to most twelve-year-old girls – irritating siblings, annoying boys and a falling out with her best friend. Life is almost ordinary - except that she needs to kiss a Prince to stop turning into a frog.
This story is fun. The urban fairytale plotline will allow less confident readers to predict and enjoy while competent readers will race through to discover what really happens at 'the kiss'.
To find out more about Pond Magic visit Angela's website and drop in at Read and Write With Dale  to continue on the blog tour,

I'm supposed to be writing a review of Cath Crowley's Graffiti Moon . I loved it - you'll find my review at The Reading Stack shortly. But I've been derailed. When I dropped into Cath's website to check a few facts, I was distracted by her blog and I've been there ever since - until I took another sidetrip here to tell everyone about all the treasures I found.
Beautiful, beautiful pictures painted with words. Lines I long to have written. This poignant piece, when we marry, made me cry - inside first, then outside. This wonderful poem on perspective (sometimes) life sucks, (sometimes) life (doesn't) suck contains words I could live my life by. I printed it out and stuck it on my wall.
Now for the ultimate detour. I'm off to the library to hunt down the Cath Crowley backlist

I'm supposed to be writing a review of Cath Crowley's Graffiti Moon . I loved it - you'll find my review at The Reading Stack shortly. But I've been derailed. When I dropped into Cath's website to check a few facts, I was distracted by her blog and I've been there ever since - until I took another sidetrip here to tell everyone about all the treasures I found.
Beautiful, beautiful pictures painted with words. Lines I long to have written. This poignant piece, when we marry, made me cry - inside first, then outside. This wonderful poem on perspective (sometimes) life sucks, (sometimes) life (doesn't) suck contains words I could live my life by. I printed it out and stuck it on my wall.
Now for the ultimate detour. I'm off to the library to hunt down the Cath Crowley backlist

A non-writer friend recently sent me some tongue-in-cheek writing advice. As I smiled my way down the list I started to feel a little uncomfortable. Some of the advice was actually senseible (although certainly not most of it!) and I was guilty of some of the ridiculous cases!

So I thought I would share. Thanks Bill.

Avoid alliteration. Always.
Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're old hat.)
Employ the vernacular.
Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
Learn to not split infinitives.
Contractions aren't necessary.
Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
One should never generalise.
Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
Be more or less specific.
Understatement is always best.
One-word sentences? Eliminate.
Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
The passive voice is to be avoided.
Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
Who needs rhetorical questions?
Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

Fantasy and science fiction have been my reading genres of choice ever since that first day of highschool when I stared awestruck down the rows and rows of library shelving. More books than I had ever seen in my life. I had no idea where to start so I started at A and there I discovered Aldriss and Asimov.
I read the first chapter of Genesis , the first book in Lara Morgan's The Chronicles of Rosie Black series on-line and knew I just had to continue on. If you too want to take the Rosie Black challenge (and I dare you to do it) you will find the extract here. And if like me, you discover you have to have a copy, you have until 30 November to enter the free give away competition on Lara's website.
Now it's confesssion time. I haven't finished Genesis yet but I am loving it. I can however tell you a few important things. This book can get you into trouble - especially when you are discovered reading it at work becuase you can't put it down. This book can make your family hungry and cranky when you delay dinner for an hour to read just a few more chapters. This book is excellent.
I am very pleased to have Lara visit me on Day 4 of the Rosie Black blog tour to talk about a subject close to my heart - writing a fantasy series. I hope to do that myself one day!
Writing a Fantasy Series
Writing a fantasy series is a like having a group of friends come to stay. In the beginning it's exciting as you spend all this time together exploring each other's ideas and personalities, visiting new and exciting places together…but then you wake up one day and realise they're not staying for months, they're here for years. Now you're going to have to find a way to live together, despite one of them hogging all the cereal. So you settle in, put your head down and get to work.
At least that is what writing a fantasy series feels like to me. It's all fun in the very beginning as I create the world and get to know the characters but there comes a point where I know the fun is over and the work must begin. And it's going to take years.
Writing a series is a big commitment and it really helps to have an idea of the basic story arc that is going to carry through all the books. I'm still learning all the skills I need to get this right.
My first series is an adult fantasy series and when I started work on the first book I didn't have any clear idea of what was going to happen. Hell I wasn't even aware it was going to be a trilogy. I thought I was writing a standalone novel, but as I've discovered, I tend to have problems letting go of worlds and want to keep discovering more about it, so it became a trilogy.
I wrote that first book and still only had a vague idea of how the third would end, but then I got a publishing contract and had to figure it out – or at least provide the publisher with a reasonably coherent synopsis. However, despite sticking to the bare bones of what I submitted, things still change as I write. This is because I'm the kind of writer who learns more about the story as I write it than by sitting down and meticulously plotting every chapter. If I try to plot too much it stifles my imagination and I end up being bored by the whole story because I know too much before I get there. I know I'm not the only one who does this, but there are times I wish I was a more organized plotter because it seems like it would make life easier.
I was on a panel recently at Worldcon where I was inspired listening to Kate Forsyth and Ian Irvine talking about how they work. Both of them are meticulous plotters. Kate especially is so super organized in creating her plot lines, writing detailed files and even a dictionary for some of her worlds that I wished I could somehow borrow her brain. But that's just not how I'm wired. Incidentally, DM Cornish was on the panel and that's not how he works either so I figure I'm in good company.
I have learned to be a bit more organized though since my first series. When I came to write my next one, The Rosie Black Chronicles, I really tried to see into the future and develop the arc for the series before the first book was in print. I think I've done a better job this time and was able to sow the seeds that will carry the story through to the end. Although I must admit I do see this one as going on for some time. Rosie is only sixteen and we get on so well, I think this is definitely the beginning of a beautiful friendship – as long as she doesn't hog the cereal.

If you enjoyed reading my Samurai Kids series you are almost certain to like The Plum Rain Scroll by Australian author Ruth Manley. This timeless tale of Old Japan, steeped in the magic of traditional folklore, was the CBCA Younger Readers Book of the Year in 1979. It is the first title in a trilogy which also includes The Dragon Lantern and The Peony Lantern .

There is an excellent series overview here on the Ensovaari Embassy portal site and my review of The Plum Rain Scroll follows below:
Plum Rain Scroll – Ruth Manley – Paperback – Junior/Young Adult $18.95 – Australian - UQP Press
The Plum Rain Scroll was first published in 1979 but will immediately appeal to today's young fantasy lovers. This is an unusual story. While it reads like an authentic Japanese folk tale, it is a work of Western imagination. Queensland author, Ruth Manley, loved Japanese culture, history and literature, and it shows in her writing.
The hero, thirteen-year-old Taro, is an orphan odd job boy who lives with Aunt Piety and Uncle Thunder. It's a strange household and they are living in peculiar times. Marishoten, the evil Black Iris Lord is preparing to overthrow the Mikado and enslave the world. Taro can see it in his dreams.
But first Marishoten must find the Plum Rain Scroll and uncover its secrets – immortality, the ability to turn metal into gold and the Unanswerable Word which paralyses enemies. The scroll's whereabouts is unknown and only Aunt Piety can translate it. Then Aunt disappears too.
Taro and his companions; Prince Hachi (Lord Eight Thousand Spears), a ghost named Hiroshi, an Oni monster with a taste for poetry, a Roof Watcher creature and a young girl named Oboro and her strange dog; set off to find the scroll, rescue Aunty and save the Chrysanthemum throne.
The Plum Rain Scroll is peopled with eccentric characters such as Lord Sweet Potato, who spreads sweet potato seeds across Japan, but no-one laughs – because he's also very good with a sword. Hiroshi is a samurai ghost – honourable and brave – except when it comes to umbrellas. He's terrified of them.
The tone is both exotic and unfamiliar, as befits a story from another time and place. In ancient Idzumo, unusual is the usual state of affairs.

This is a wonderfully innocent tale of good triumphing over evil, of legend coming to life. Best suited to younger readers 8 -12 years and fantasy lovers, the story has a cultural sophistication that will also lure young adult and adult readers with an interest in ancient cultures and folklore.

I like to read Timelines in the Sydney Morning Herald. It's a section that profiles the lives of recently deceased persons of interest or note. I learn things there that often renew my faith in humanity. Or remind me of things I want to say.

On Saturday there was a piece about New York editor Larry Ashmead. He was working as an editorial assistant editing a non-fiction series called Science Study when he was asked to look over a text by Isaac Asimov (one of my favourite authors).
Ashmead said it was riddled with errors. Asimov was furious but declared that no editor had ever taken as much care with anything he had written and demanded that Ashmead edit everything else he wrote. So began a lifetime freindship.
A good editor is golden. Having recently finished the largest and hardest rewrite of my entire writing life, and having cut out more words than I think I even wrote in my first year! it's tempting to gnash teeth at my editor. Except I am so grateful. The new version is a huge improvement and as usual she was right. I understand how Asimov felt. And I hope I too can look back on a lifetime of friendship.