Over the last couple of years, I’ve had so many great questions from friends and family (sometimes even from complete strangers) about the writing of “Vera McLuckie and the Daydream Club”. So I thought I’d turn my first blog into a make-believe interview! I hope you enjoy it. And be sure to ask any other questions you may have – you can do so by clicking on the Comments section of this Blog, or by contacting me through Facebook or Twitter.
How long did it take to write your Vera McLuckie and the Daydream Club? In theory, about 9 months for the first draft and then another 9 months or so for editing. But in reality, I think your first book is the culmination of all your life experiences and observations up to the point that you write it. So that means that this book took me 45 years to write! Hmm, I wonder if Paul my publisher will be happy if I take another 45 years to write the second one!
What is it like writing a book? It’s like stepping into another world. I can see and hear the characters so vividly, I can feel what they’re feeling. It’s the best form of virtual reality. I don’t just leave them at my desk when I’ve finished up for the day. No, they come outside with me too! As I walk, I think “Hmm, what would Vera think about this?” or imagine different characters living their lives around me. You’re never really alone when you’re writing a book!
Where did you get the name Vera McLuckie from? So many people have asked me how I came up with the name Vera McLuckie and the simple answer is, I don’t know. It simply, or rather she simply, popped into my head one day. It was only one day a couple of months ago as I was meandering down the road, looking at things as I went (yes, I’m a daydreamer too!) that I noticed a drain -cover on the pavement near my home with the name McLuckie on it. Now, I must have walked over and round this drain cover hundreds of times and never (consciously at least) registered what it said. I wonder if I stored it in the back of my brain in a file marked, useful names for characters?
How did you find the publisher Your Stories Matter. I’d only just started writing Vera and was having a bit of a crisis of confidence. You know the sort of thing – was this a story worth reading or was I just wasting my time? (Apparently this is very common amongst authors, not just new ones.) I knew that one sure fire way to find out was to be brave enough to pitch it to a publisher. I also knew that, because one of the target groups for Vera is kids with specific learning difficulties, that I had to be clever with regards to which publisher I pitched it to.
I’d read a lovely picture book about a young boy with dyspraxia called “You’re so Clumsy Charley” and noticed that it was published by a small independent publisher called Funky Gerbil Press (now called Your Stories Matter). I checked out their website and liked what I saw – their vision, their goal – and so dropped the director, Paul Johnson an e-mail.
I was so excited when he said he was interested in the concept and encouraged me to keep on writing. I did, it was just the motivation I needed. About 6 months later, I sent him the full manuscript along with some of Ruth’s initial illustrations. Thankfully he loved both the story and the illustrations and agreed to run with it.
Working with a small publisher who has such passion for his target market has been an absolute privilege. I’ve learnt so much from the close working relationship we have established and look forward to extending that with the second book in the Vera series.
How did you find the illustrator, Ruth Mutch? I’d started writing Vera and was about three chapters in. I was really enjoying how things were taking shape – the plot, the characters – and knew early on that this was a story that would benefit from strong and unique visuals, particularly as one of the main target groups would be kids with specific learning difficulties.
One weekend, I’d taken myself and my daughter off to the local church craft fair – they’re always full of local artists and crafters – and was drawn to a stall selling greetings cards and prints with fabulous cartoon penguins on them. I got talking to the lady manning the stall (who I now know as Ruth’s mum, Kirsten), bought some cards and took the Penguin Parade business card home with me, sticking it on my noticeboard above my desk. It was only when I wrote some more of Vera that I had a light-bulb moment! I’d already decided that I wanted penguins as characters in the book and as a way of reflecting it’s main theme, and here was a young, extremely talented, autistic artist who specialised in penguins!
I wasted no time and got in touch with Ruth by e-mail, asking if she’d like to read what I’d written so far, explaining what my ideas were for the rest of the story and would she be interested in illustrating the book. Thankfully she said “Yes!” and the rest is history.
Because Ruth was involved in the process from (almost) the beginning, it felt like a true partnership. The first time I saw Ruth’s drawings of Vera I thought, “That’s it, that’s her!” . I also knew if I hadn’t got a character’s description or a particular scene quite right if Ruth said she was struggling with a particular illustration. It’s been an absolute joy working with Ruth and I look forward to doing it all over again with the second book in the Vera series.
Jane Evans, Writer 