I have just finished making the final shortlist for megaphone. We had sixty-two applications and it has been incredibly difficult to choose the shortlist of ten, knowing that after editors’ input that will have to go down to just five successful applicants.
I really didn’t know what to expect – how many applicants, what standard of writing – and I’ve been amazed, firstly at the high quality of the submissions, secondly at how many people have already made big investments in and sacrifices for their writing, thirdly at how interesting everyone was. I would have liked to give everyone a place if only to meet you all. It was also notable that many people expressed the feeling that Megaphone was a necessary, not just a desirable, project. So many applicants wrote about the sense of being absent from literature as children – locked out of the secret garden – and the real effects that this had on their developing identity. Many people wanted to write the book that would change things for the child they once were. But most of all, what came through was the joy all applicants took in story-telling and creating worlds (a joy that’s often under-rated, and easily lost).
Megaphone aims to develop five publishable novels for children and young adults over the course of one year. That was always going to mean that some really promising writers were not going to be shortlisted. I’d like to stress that writing matters even if it does not immediately (or ever) result in commercial publication. Communicating with children matters, diverse stories for young people matter, and in the next months I will be looking into ways in which Megaphone can be developed to help more people reach goals that are right for their current stage in their writing life.
What happens now:
I should hear back from the editors and publishers by February 16th and will inform the successful applicants first. I will then email everyone else. I will let you know if you were on the shortlist and you are welcome to use this fact on a writing CV if you wish. Unfortunately I can’t give feedback on unsuccessful applications, but I stress again – your writing matters and even if you are not successful in this instance, it doesn’t mean you won’t find success with your writing in the future.
- Thank you again for applying!
Catherine: “It’s usually different every time, Sawbones was triggered by a visit to the Hunterian Museum in London – there was a tumour in a jar, the label read ‘cut off the face of a boy in St Kitts’ and I wrote the whole thing in six weeks. Caraboo came out of being reminded about her in an interview when I had just written Nest Of Vipers (about a gang of confidence tricksters). I was asked who my favourite conman or woman from history was, and I knew I had to write about her. Every book is different. Although being shallow I must admit the first historical fiction I ever wrote was prescribed by fashion. I wanted a book with empire line frocks so it had to be the 1820s…I have to get caught up in the story, a novel takes a long time and it’s sort of a confidence trick in itself. You have to convince yourself your characters are real before you convince any readers!”
Catherine: “I think writers need proper support; publishing is a business but I don’t know if it’s one I would be able to join if I was starting out now. I had a housing association house, a part time job and tax credits as well as writing books. These days – twenty years on – my advances are not any more than when I started out. It looks bleak – why do it at all? It’s hardly viable…..BUT the only person who loses out if you don’t do it is you. So it’s like a horrible addiction. What positive change would I like to see apart from writers being paid reasonably? More people of colour in the publishing industry for sure, in twenty years I have only ever worked with one Black editor.”
Leila: “And finally, why did you want to be involved with Megaphone?”
