The Hunting Ground by Cliff McNish

The Hunting Ground by Cliff McNish was first published last May but in honour of the new paperback edition, I thought a quick review might be in the offing.

First the blurb:

When Elliot and his brother, Ben, move into the old and crumbling Glebe House they don't expect to find themselves sharing it with ghosts. But soon sinister events are unfolding...  An old diary reveals glimpses of the mansion's past - and of a terrible tragedy. A mysterious woman talks to the dead. And evil lurks in the East Wing - a hideous labyrinth of passageways devised by a truly twisted mind. Can Elliot and his family escape the clutches of Glebe House? Or will they be trapped in the maze of corridors, forever hunted by the dead?

If you turn this book over you will see, in garish yellow capitals, the words 'NOT FOR YOUNGER READERS. If you then turn the book back, open it and read the first page you'll understand the warning. This is horror of the imagination. The opening sequence, with 16 year old Elliot lying in bed and listening to the approaching ghostly footsteps might sound a bit corny, but it's handled with a chilling touch. For a start, there are no jangly chains or eerie cries. The ghost that wakes Elliot was a young girl in life and the thumping that accompanies her is the head of the doll that she drags behind her. And for my money, if that isn't a pretty scary starting point I don't know what is.

The Hunting Ground of the title is an area of land close to Glebe House where a previous owner liked to chase his victims and that sense of chase permeates every page of this book. McNish whisks the reader along at a breath-taking pace, dropping clues for the protagonist and reader alike and never giving either of us time to really digest what we've learnt before moving onto the next.

This technique makes for a very quick read. You finish one chapter and have to move onto the next in the hope that the answer to the problem raised in that last chapter will be answered in the next, and so on. This is fun and exciting, and works perfectly for the first two thirds of the book. But I had a strong sense that the final act needed something different. All the story elements come together in the last third. The story twists and turns as fast as Elliot chases through the East Wing's corridors, and then, suddenly, things start to happen which are entirely new and seemed, to me, to belong in a different book entirely. I can't reveal the details without spoiling the story, but a new set of paranormal rules are introduced in that final act which haven't been prefigured in any way in the earlier action and without which the denouement cannot occur.

Now maybe, if the action hadn't flown as quickly as the metaphysics, I might have not been bothered by this. As it was, the nice little twist that brings the story to a close got lost while I tried to get my head around what had actually happened. And that meant that the end felt a bit like one of those 'with a bound he was free' things, which is a shame because the rest of the book is very good indeed.

So now I think, maybe, you need to read at least the last third of this book a bit more slowly, let the weird metaphysical stuff at the end sink in. Then the power of the twist will hit you and you will put it down feeling fully satisfied.

And as to that warning on the back. I agree. Horror of the gory kind is fine for younger readers. They love it. But there really isn't any gore to talk of here. Well, not described anyway. Instead there is plenty of opportunity to imagine all manner of ghastly ways to die, be maimed, tortured and generally put through pain. And it's all so seductively written that you don't really notice how much you are imagining all those nasty things until you put the book down.

And that, frankly, is enough to give anybody bad dreams.

The lovely people at Orion Books sent me a review copy. If you want one of your own please click the link below and Amazon will send a contribution to the maintenance of this blog.

 

SCBWI Professional Series Book Camp

On the evening of Tuesday 6th March we all met once again in the upstairs room at the Theodore Bullfrog pub in London for the latest Professional Series event. This time is was 'Book Camp' with Julia Churchill, Lirerary Agent of The Greenhouse, and Ali Dougal, Commissioning Editor of Egmont Press (who was standing in for the poorly Leah Thaxton, Publishing Director at Egmont).

The evening was billed as a run through of the process of finding an agent and getting a book published and so, logically enough, Julia went first.

Julia started her career as an agent in 2002 when she joined Darley Anderson. At that time DA specialised in commercial fiction and non-fiction and did not represent children's authors but in 2004 a manilla envelope dropped on the floor with a submission from Cathy Cassidy for Indigo Blue. Everyone cried on reading the script but didn't know what to do with it. So Julia sat down with the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook and started to contact publishers. The rest, as they say, is history.From that start Julia built up the children's side of the business until she left Darley Anderson in 2009 to join Sarah Davies' new agency, where she is responsible for all non-USA clients.

At Darley Anderson, Julia's day started with the post. All the agents would sit round and go through the submissions before anything else, on the principle that they wanted to be the first agency to get back to a good prospect so as to seal an exclusive look at a script. At The Greenhouse all subs come via email and so Julia finds herself going through this process not once, but many times a day, and night and at weekends too! She reads the first 5 pages of a script and if she likes it, askes for a full. If she likes that she will either sign up the writer immediately or do some editorial work with them first and sign them up if that works out. In her experience most debut writers need some editorial work, and much as she would like a script that could be sold immediately, she is happy to work on perfecting it.

Sara believes that agents are increasingly becoming editors. This is to ensure their books get sold. Publishing editors receive on average 5 scripts a day from agents but they are buying less. At Macmillan, for example, debut novels are down by 30%. So your script needs to stand out. In addition there are few old school publishers around now where the editorial team takes the acquisition decision. Now, an editor will have to justify acquisition to the whole company. That can be a bloody experience and so the editor really needs to love the book first.

Once Julia has a book ready for submission she tries to find a good pubilshing match. Some agents do a lot of research and then sub to a few publishers. Julia prefers to sub more widely as she thinks this is more successful. With a publisher hooked, her next role is to negotiate the optimum contract. She notes that the difference between accepting the first contract you're given and fighting can mean as much as 20 to 30p per book extra in royalties. She looks for better options for authors in terms of rights, advances and payment schedules. In particular she is keen to keep foreign rights so that these can be sold off separately as this generates more income streams. In her terms she turns a publisher-friendly contract into an author-friendly one.

A debut author's career starts with the first novel and the first deal but this doesn't always develop into a second book with the same publisher. An agent works with an author to develop their career. This may mean finding a new publisher, developing new novels, or advising on a pen-name. And even if an author stays with a publisher, the agent is still their long-term business partner, as editors often move between publishing houses.

So that's what she does for her 15%!

Julia then went on to discuss what she's looking for:

• trends - this is for her to sell a book, not for an author to write one, as the timescales don't work. There are typically four or more years between an author starting a script and a book being published. Trends can change a lot in that time.
• taste of certain editors - in spite of Julia's wide submission policy there is no point in sending some books to some editors
• holes in publishing lists
• something that will become a classic

Her personal view is that debut business in the short-term will focus on a lot more younger fiction: 'the world doesn't need much more Young Adult'.

In reviewing a script she looks for six things:

• Concept - The hook, in a few lines. This is the focus of the book, its USP. It needs to be fresh, a new twist.
• Character - Should leap off the page and be tied into the plot. She wants to get to know the characters and like them so that they become her new friends. They need to change and learn, be fresh, and be credible in their world.
• Story -What do the characters stand to win or lose? There needs to be anguish, real choices, courage, action. Characters need to face high stakes involving outward danger and/or emotional challenge.
• Setting - Needs to enhance the action and be integral to it.
• Theme - This is the residual that stays with you after you've finished reading the script. It's something deeply felt, at the heart of the story.
• Voice - Needs to plug into the age group, be identifiable, different, special, authentic. Julia says it's hard to explain but easy to spot!

Julia finished up with some advice to debut writers:

• know your market- read widely and understand the dreaded age categories.
• distance yourself from the first draft so as to get a fresh perspective on it. Better still get a crit buddy to look at it.
• when reviewing the first draft look at the main story arc: where does it go, does it start strongly, what do you find out about the main character in the first few pages, are there too many characters, do all the scenes need to be there, are you entering late and leaving early in each scene?
• read the dialogue out loud or better still, get some else to do it for you.
• make sure there are no 'lessons' - don't preach
• show don't tell!

At that point Ali Dougal took over the microphone.

Ali works as a commissioning editor with Egmont Press where she handles books in the age range 5 years to Young Adult and Crossover. She started her career at Puffin where she was for 5 years before joining Egmont three years ago.

Egmont is regularly in the top 5 publishers each year. They are the largest publisher in the UK, if you include the whole business of magazines, tie-ins and character books, and fiction. In fiction they have a good split between back and front list. Their backlist includes Enid Blyton, Flat Stanley, Michael Morpurgo and provides them with the financial means to keep a good front list going. Their biggest brands include the backlist as well as the Mr Gum books and Michael Grant.They used to be focused more on younger books but now have a dedicated YA imprint (Electric Monkey). The list is small but growing. This means every book has impact.

There are four editors and a pubishing director. Although this is a small team it is pretty typical.

Ali desribed what she is looking for in a debut:

• stand-out writing. This could be eccentric or anarchic
• great story-telling - something that resonates with adults as well as children
• characters that are going through a real emotional struggle
• a good hook as this will help her sell the book to the sales team
• YA that appeals to her teen self
• younger fiction and anything that plugs gaps in the list (this needs to be balanced with mass market, literary and reluctant reader book all covered)
• quality middle grade - she would love to find the next Artemis Fowl or Percy Jackson

 Ali notes that a lot of agents don't work on scripts and most scripts still need a lot of editing. So the script doesn't have to be perfect to be accepted but it does need a really great hook.

 She then went on to discuss the author-editor relationship. It should be personal so that:

• the author's vision is shared
• you want to work with each other
• there is a connection - this is especially important with humour
• there is confidence, trust, honesty
• the author's career can be grown.

Ali likes to meet with an author before signing them so that she can set up this relationship at the earliest opportunity.

Once the deal has been signed she likes to meet the author again to discuss the mutual vision in more detail. The author then meets the marketing team. Each book has a tailored marketing strategy. The editor is involved in this as well as design, productions and sales.

Then the editing process starts in earnest. This should be fun and collaborative. When editing, Ali focuses on character consistency, a clear journey through the story, voice consistency, pace and fitness for target reader.

The editorial team and author will also sit down with the design, marketing and production teams to discuss the cover. They try to get the right illustrator for each author and book and will change illustrators if necessary.

Ali next went on to talk about the state of the industry. She noted that in 2010-11 only 36% of the population bought a book. During that period booksales dropped by 8%, largely as a result of a drop in the sales of paranormal romances. Egmont bucked the trend and saw a rise of 18% over the same period. Other observations included:

• e-books are growing fast but still a very small percentage of sales
• books that are tied in to cinema releases have huge sales
• there are a few months in which sales are strong and so it is important to think about this when deciding when to publish a book
• there might be a case for concentrating more on royalties than advances

For Ali, the ideal author will push their book themselves, albeit with support from their publisher. So they will attend festivals, build a brand, hone the script to perfection, know their readership, play to their strengths.

At this point the meeting broke for a few refreshments followed by questions. Sadly, your trusty reporter had to leave to catch a train and so I can't provide a digest of the questions as I would usually.

Caroline Hooton has also written up the evening over on her blog and has more photos too. So check it out.

Many thanks to Julia and Ali for sharing all this with us and not minding me taking the photos!

ILLEGAL Blog Tour

Here we go again. This month I am really excited to be hosting Miriam Halahmy on her blog tour to launch her latest novel, ILLEGAL.

I've known Miriam for quite a while now. She's one of those people who will come up to new faces at workshops and conferences and introduce herself, offering you help, support and advice or just simple friendship. I've attended one of her inspiring workshops at a SCBWI conference and I've just sat and chatted with her at social events. But we're here to talk about Illegal and I think it's about time I passed over to Miriam herself:

Karl, my second main character, is mute!

Illegal, the second novel in my cycle of three, focuses on fifteen year old Lindy who is in terrible trouble. Her family are too dysfunctional to support her and she doesn’t get on with either the kids or the teachers at school. 

They are doing Hamlet in English. 

The teacher tells them, “Hamlet’s uncle killed his father and married his mother. He had no-one left to turn to. Hamlet was a spiritual refugee.” A spiritual refugee. Lindy liked that. Just like me, I’ve got no-one left at home either. Lindy has been drawn into the shadowy and dangerous world of international drug dealing and with two older brothers in prison, she is terrified she will end up in a cell too. But support comes from a surprising quarter - fellow misfit, Karl, who is known in school as ‘the kid who doesn’t speak.’ Together they embark on a desperate race to ensure Lindy’s freedom.

I decided to create a mute character for this novel partly to challenge Lindy and partly to explore the problems presented by mutism to sufferers. As a special needs teacher for 25 years, I came across several cases of mutism, two in one school. 

Mutism is defined as a consistent failure to speak. Some people are mute for physical reasons perhaps because of severe hearing loss or a problem with the voice box. But Karl is mute for psychological reasons. He uses almost no form of communication, except occasionally moving his eyebrows. He became mute after a particular trauma which his parents ignored. As a result he ceased to speak until finally he spoke to no-one for over two years.

 Most young people who are mute do speak at home or perhaps to one school friend. However, if they cease to speak all together then this is classified as Progressive Mutism. They will need very specialist therapeutic input to start speaking again. In my novel, Illegal, I create a second trauma which shocks Karl into speaking later in the book. Not the ideal way to deal with the problem!

Mutism can become a phobia about speaking. Sufferers might be self conscious about the sound of their own voice, or simply speaking up for themselves, which Karl describes to Lindy in one very poignant scene.

It was quite a challenge to create a second main character who would not speak for such a long part of the novel. I wrestled with Karl and his different forms of expression for about a year. Karl doesn’t do mime or writing explanatory notes. Most of the time his face is quite impassive and Lindy actually comes to enjoy his silence and learning to guess what he wants to say. The silence becomes a very beautiful part of the book, right to the final page.

Lindy doesn’t accept Karl’s mutism immediately and throws insults at him, calling him ‘dumb’, ‘deaf’, ‘thicko’ and ‘retard’. But she learns to regret her meanness as their relationship develops. By putting these terms out there and then challenging them, I hope that my readers might reflect on how inappropriate they are.

Writing Illegal gave me a chance to develop characters which have emerged from the many young people I taught who came from difficult backgrounds or who had emotional and behavioural problems which were holding them back in life. I believe with the right support every young person has a future, as Lindy and Karl demonstrate in my novel.

Miriam Halahmy

 The London launch of Illegal is taking place on 13th March. I'll be there. Maybe some of you will be too.

Thanks Miriam for a thought provoking post.