This time of year is a feverish time for all children’s authors. There is Children’s Book Week where schools request authors to give talks over the course of two weeks. And there are also the writing festivals. This year the festivals overlap a little which makes it a very busy time indeed.

I’m almost done with preparations for the Melbourne and Brisbane Writers Festivals. I look forward to the festivals and the chance to meet new people but I will also be glad when they’re over so I can get back to doing what I love and that is writing.

Because of a big writing project, I haven’t visited as many schools as I would have liked to. I love the visits because it keeps me in touch with my audience which is so important especially now that I don’t have school aged children of my own.

I have had a lovely four weeks working in my son and daughter’s old primary school. The grade 3 children have been a delight and are so so talented.

Thank you Grade 3’s of Auburn South Primary School! You Rock!!

Here are just two of the beautiful poems that were written in the workshop today.

The first one is by Ben.

Happiness is yellow
It tastes like chocolate cake
And smells like my mum’s perfume
It looks like a smiley face
And sounds like waves crashing on the beach
Happiness makes me feel like I’m in Heaven.

And this one is by Mei Hua

Happiness is ocean blue
It tastes like chocolate
And smells like nature in the morning
It looks like a beautiful butterfly
And sounds like a jungle full of animals
Happiness makes me feel like cuddling teachers.

This one is by Aisling

Happiness is a bright rainbow

It tastes like jelly

And smells like mints

It looks like cute puppies

and sounds like baby kittens meowing

Happiness makes me feel like I’m flying

I am slowly working through my back list of titles making a book trailer for each one. Here is the brand new trailer Ren and I made for A Ghost in My Suitcase. Ren is the one who puts it all together, syncing the pictures and music. How lucky I am to have a son who can do all this for me.

I have been having an inspiring and fun time working with grade three students at my son and daughter’s old school, Auburn South Primary. Last week I asked them to interview a parent, grandparent or great grandparent and bring the answers to class the next time we met which was yesterday. Then I gave them a challenging exercise to do. They had to write a bio about their chosen relative but they had to begin each sentence with a different word. Amazingly they all rose to the challenge even though they are only 8 and 9 year olds. Next I did the famous jelly baby exercise which is more a test of willpower rather than POV, especially at this age. Next I took them through a visualisation exercise. Here are just two fantastic pieces that came out of that. I am publishing them here with their permission.

The first is a poem, the second the beginning to an intriguing chapter book.

‘Shadows’ by Chloe

I am on the beach looking at the sea

I look left I see the shadow of a dragon

I look right I see the shadow of a phoenix

I look behind and see the shadow of me.

‘Where Is She?’ by Mia (This is only the beginning of the story. I hope she continues it.)

I found a box of letters. I opened one up and started reading. Dear Claire… Where have you gone. I was waiting for you on the edge of the cliff. We had promised not to tell about seeing the ghost. It’s sad about how your brother fell out of the tree and died…

Next week we are doing a drawing workshop and perhaps write some poetry.

Last night I was on the stage at Booktalkers with two other YA authors, Kathryn Lomer What Now Tilda B? and Michelle Cooper The FitzOsbornes in Exile, Book 2 of the Montmaray Journals. Arranged by the Centre for Youth Literature for teacher librarians, the discussion centred around what kinds of books girls like to read. We all agreed that girls like books on relationships with strong female characters. But also agreed that girls like a variety of books depending on their individual tastes. Perhaps we should have asked the question – what books do girls NOT like to read.

Apart from having the opportunity of meeting Kathryn and Michelle for the first time, another highlight was to see my book trailer for Little Paradise on the big screen. As the event was held in the Village Roadshow Theatrette it looked like a real movie. What a thrill that was.

James Roy was down from the Blue Mountains doing a week of school visits and he came to be part of the audience. Later, when a few of us went out for drinks, James showed me his ipad. I am now convinced I need one. I have a Macbook Air, which is light. But it doesn’t have a data projector port and I’ve begun to use powerpoint in my presentations more and more lately. Last night I copied my powerpoint presentation onto not one, but two USB sticks just in case one didn’t work. And because I really don’t trust technology, I took in my laptop as a final backup. This is so heavy with its power cord and attachments I decided to use a suitcase on wheels. In the end of course I didn’t need it as the USB stick worked fine. So when James showed me his ipad with its special data projector attachment, I instantly fell in love – with the ipad not with James, although James is lovable. He also showed me how he uses his ipad with small groups showing his bookjackets, photos, powerpoint, trailers etc. And it is constantly connected to the internet via Telstra 3G and works as an e-reader. The only thing it doesn’t have is a camera. I am in love.

In case you want to come along, I will be appearing at the Melbourne Writers Festival on Wednesday 1st Sept at 10am with Kate Forsyth, 11.15am with Kirsty Murray and solo on Thursday 2nd Sept at 10am.

At the Brisbane Writers Festival I will be appearing solo on Friday 3rd Sept at 9.45am and at 1.20pm with Morris Gleitzman.

CYA Conference in Brisbane at 5.10pm for a workshop on using your imagination.

Would love to see you there.

I love Google Alerts because without it I wouldn’t have seen this great review of Little Paradise on ALPHA READER, MY SOLO BOOK CLUB. If only someone in the film industry would read the review too, it might just convince a movie producer to adapt the novel to screen. But that is purely wishful thinking on my part.

‘Little Paradise’ by Gabrielle WANG

Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

As Mirabel watched him, she could not bear the thoughts creeping up on her. JJ was in the Chinese army and his mission in Australia would one day be over. Then she would be just like the others, a girl left behind in the wake of war. ‘I’m afraid,’ she whispered. ‘When the war ends . . . what’s going to happen to us?’

He put his arm around her and stroked her face. She knew he could not answer that question. But she wanted him to lie, to say that he would take her with him, that they would be together always.

Melbourne, 1943, and Mirabel is seventeen. She’s leaving school, designing dresses, falling in love. Then fate intervenes, her forbidden affair is discovered, and JJ is posted back to China where a civil war is raging. Despite all warnings, Mirabel sets off for Shanghai to find him . . .

Gabrielle Wang’s YA novel ‘Little Paradise’ is based on the true story of how her parents met.

When the book begins Lei An is changing her name. She is a third generation Chinese-Australian (her grandparents came over in the gold rush) and she wants a more Aussie name. She settles on ‘Mirabel’, and visits a soothsayer to bless the name. But the soothsayer has only ominous words to offer;

Dressing the dead

Treasure not wed

Lost on the sea

To fortune you’ll flee

The novel skips ahead to Melbourne in 1943. War hasn’t touched Australia the same way it has Europe and Asia. American soldiers have made base in the city and school children are armed with air-raid kits. But Australia is otherwise far removed from the war, although people are still on-edge after the Japanese attack on Sydney Harbour last year.

Mirabel is in her last year of school and coping with a hectic home life. Her older sister Lola is dating an American soldier, much to her parents chagrin. Mirabel’s mother is having another ‘episode’, battling the highs and lows of her emotions that force the family to send her away to a facility in the country. Mirabel has her head in her art books, but decides to join the army cartography unit once school finishes.

Then Mirabel meets Lieutenant Lin. Lieutenant Jin Jing, or ‘JJ’ as he prefers, is a liaison between Chinese and Australian forces. JJ was a peasant in Shanghai, but left the city when Japanese forces invaded, now he is in Melbourne working a special assignment for the two governments. He and Mirabel cross paths a number of times, before being officially introduced by her father and told to escort JJ around Melbourne to show him the sights. JJ is tall, strong-jawed, and respectful and the handsomest man Mirabel has even seen – she falls in love instantly. Soon she and JJ are spending every spare minute together, including a clandestine trip to Tasmania. But just as war bought them together, it also tears them apart. JJ leaves for Shanghai in the midst of political upheaval with the communist party. In 1945 peace-time brings new immigration restrictions in Australia and no way for JJ to return… not even when Mirabel sends word of her pregnancy.

I loved this book! This is the sort of novel you wish had been on the syllabus when you were in high-school. There’s a lot of merit in the book, from Wang’s lyrical writing to the sweeping historic landscape. But at its centre, ‘Little Paradise’ is a wartime romance and addictive reading.

If the old adage is ‘write what you know’ then it’s obvious why Gabrielle Wang chose to tell this story. She has clearly grown up hearing the tale of her parent’s meeting and star-crossed love, and their romance is grand-scale and incredible enough to merit book-form. JJ and Mirabel’s romance is swoon-worthy, playing out during World War II and the impending communist take-over of China – theirs is an epic love story. Wang did well to not lose these two characters amidst the historic back-drop; she beautifully describes their first meetings and timid affection, which eventually grows into a heated romance.

“One day we will be together again,” JJ said.

She put a finger on his lips. No, they could only talk about this room, this bed, their love, and the sad note that lingered on the strings of the Chinese violin.

But a tiny seed of hope had been planted.

Melbourne is my home-town, so I loved reading about the city in 1945. Wang offers a little snatch of Melbournian history and brings the wartime town to life. Wang also does a wonderful job painting a picture of a third-generation Chinese-Australian family. She touches on Anglo prejudices, Melbourne’s ‘melting pot’ and the strict familial obligation Mirabel has to her parents. Wang offers a fascinating glimpse into Chinese family and tradition, and sets up many seemingly impossible obstacles (both familial and historic) for Mirabel and JJ to overcome.

Melbourne’s Flinders St. Station, 1945

Though the first-half of the book is set in Melbourne during war-time, it’s the second-half based in Shanghai that really captivates. China is on the brink of revolution, and the Kuomintang government are trying to weed out communists and sympathizers to curb the red fever. Mirabel and JJ find themselves caught in the midst of revolution, when the country is on the precipice of the communist take-over. This was fascinating reading for me, as Wang brings this giant historic event to a more personable level through Mirabel and JJ. The second-half of the book also offers some of the most heart-rending scenes, like Mirabel’s visit to the devastated city, Hiroshima. In the second-half Wang really stretches her literary wings and absolutely soars with the plot and narrative.

‘Little Paradise’ is an epic saga of wartime romance, revolution and one girl’s destiny. I really did love this novel, and wholly wish something like ‘Little Paradise’ had been on my reading list when I was in school.

5/5

http://alphareader.blogspot.com/2010/07/little-paradise-by-gabrielle-wang.html

I always find dialogue the hardest of all to write.

Here is some excellent advice from Janet Fitch- A Few Thoughts About Dialogue

For those of you who maybe interested in making a DIY book trailer, here is how I went about it.A book trailer is a teaser, a peephole into the world of your story.

Little Paradise book trailer was a collaborative effort. My son, Ren used imovie, the movie software that comes free with a Mac. I purchased the music from stockmusic.net a royalty free music site at very reasonable prices. I listened to hundreds and hundreds of demos before I chose one that I thought just fitted the mood. Other sites I used were Getty Images and Dreamstime. Getty is expensive, especially if you are looking for a vintage shot. For example, an image of 1948 Shanghai would have cost me $306 for just one year of use. So I found another photo of Shanghai on Dreamstime. It’s not historic, but still has the atmosphere of old Shanghai with the boat, the river and the city in the background without the huge skyscrapers.

As well as using the beautiful photo of my mother, I also used an image of my father in soldier uniform standing outside my mother’s Carlton house.

The image of Melbourne 1943 came from the State Library of Victoria. They have a wonderful collection of digitalised photographs that are no longer under copyright. The library is also in the process of converting their images to jpeg. Instead of filling out a permission form, sending it in and waiting 15 days to receive a good copy, many photos are now ready for immediate download at high resolution. As long as you acknowledge the library, you are free to use the image. They also have a wonderful service where you can speak to a friendly librarian either online or by phone.

There are many other stock photo and music sites on the web. There are also professional book trailer makers like Paul Murphy at Book Tease. He has made trailers for authors such as Kate Forsyth and Andy Griffith. It all depends on your budget and whether you can find family and friends who are willing to help you out.

The downside? Making a book trailer yourself can be a fiddly process especially the editing. Unless you have taken your own images and write your own music, you need a fair bit of time to go through hundreds of stock photos and music clips. All together, my book trailer took Ren and I about three days to make, which I guess in the whole scheme of things is not that long. With the experience we have gained, I know it will be easier the next time around.

The upside? Although I’m forever hoping that a Hollywood producer will phone offering me a mega movie deal, a book trailer is probably the closest I’ll ever come to seeing my book on the silver screen, even if that silver screen is only Youtube. Music and images add a whole new dimension to your story. And seeing it in this format is a thrilling and satisfying experience.

Last week I asked a publicist whether she thought book trailers enticed readers to buy books. Her opinion was in the negative.

I’ll let you decide that for yourselves.

VIEW THE TRAILER

I loved the process so much I am now making a trailer for A Ghost in My Suitcase. Even though this book came out last year, I think it will be a very useful promotional tool to have when I visit schools and talk at writers festivals.

I received new copies of Little Paradise Audio book today from my publisher, which is always very exciting. But my excitement is often tinged with trepidation.

What if I don’t like the voice?

Also, in this book more than any of my others, the reader needs to speak with a Chinese, German, French, Italian and Polish accent as well as say some sentences in those languages. This is a huge ask.

But the reader, Miriam Glaser, has done a wonderful job. I love her voice. She is the perfect Mirabel.