WoMentoring Project for aspiring women writers launches today

A new scheme offering free peer mentoring to aspiring women writers launches today.  The WoMentoring Project aims to offer insight, knowledge and support to women writers at the beginning of their careers. Mentoring is voluntarily offered from a pool of over 60 women working in publishing as authors, editors, literary agents and illustrators.

The WoMentoring Project is managed by novelist Kerry Hudson. Without a budget, the entire project is currently dependent on volunteered time and skills. Individual mentors will determine what they can offer with their mentee, and mentorships are likely to differ. Organisers of the project said that, “In an industry where male writers are still reviewed and paid more than their female counterparts in the UK, we want to balance the playing field. Likewise, we want to give female voices that would otherwise find it hard to be heard, a greater opportunity of reaching their true potential.”

WoMentoring Project mentor, Shelley Harris (author of Jubilee), said that “mentoring can mean the difference between getting published and getting lost in the crowd. It can help a good writer become a brilliant one. But till now, opportunities for low-income writers to be mentored were few and far between. This initiative redresses the balance; I’m utterly delighted to be part of the project”.

Alison Hennessy, Senior Editor at Harvill Secker, said she knows from her own authors “how isolating an experience writing can often be, especially when you’re just starting out, and so I really wanted to be involved. I hope that knowing that there is someone on your side in those early days will give writers courage and confidence in their work”.

Francesca Main, Editorial Director at Picador, said her career “has been immeasurably enriched by working with inspiring women writers, yet the world of publishing would have been inaccessible to me without the time and support I was given when first starting out.  The WoMentoring Project is a wonderful, necessary thing and I’m very proud to be taking part in it”.

Mentors also include authors Peggy Riley (Amity &Sorrow), Julie Mayhew (Red Ink), Keris Stainton (Emma Hearts LA)  previously reviewed and interviewed by We Sat Down; and children’s literary agent, Louise Lamont (agent for Red Ink).

Applicant writers (mentees) should submit a 1000 word writing sample and a 500 word statement about why they would benefit from free mentoring. All applications must be made for a specific mentor. Mentees can only apply for one mentor at a time. 

http://womentoringproject.co.uk/

 

 

 

We sat down for a chat...with Emily Murdoch

Today's guest post is a multifarious delight! Emily Murdoch, author of the poetic If You Find Me, spills the beans  on rescuing equine friends, Winnie the Pooh, and being lefthanded. Plus, there's a chance to win a paperback copy of her novel. And there are cute photos galore -especially at the end!

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Emily Murdoch: It's a genuine pleasure to be here with both of you. Thank you for inviting me to your lovely blog!

WSD: You're welcome! We’d love to hear more about the sanctuary that you offer to horses on your Arizona ranch.

Emily Murdoch: I've always loved horses. I didn't grow up with horses, but I always hoped I'd own a few of my own one day. When I was writing one of my earlier manuscripts, I decided to make my protagonist a horse rescuer, having no idea what that entailed. As I did my research, I uncovered a history of such inhumanity, brutality, and injustice toward these animals, I couldn’t NOT help.

Once you know, you know. And once you know, you can do something.

That's when I first learned how America’s wild mustangs and burros (burros being the western word for donkeys) were being rounded up by our government from their federally protected lands and, all too often, sold to “kill buyers” who truck them to slaughterhouses.

Every day, amazing people fight to keep these equines wild and free in their herd management areas (hma’s) on the land preserved for them under United States law – of which 22.2 million acres have already been “lost” in favor of cattlemen grazing their beef cattle at “welfare” prices. Right now, cattle outnumber wild horses 50:1.

Seeing how many horses were being slaughtered, I decided to put our land to good use and adopt, instead of buy. And in my own small way, I provide sanctuary for a lucky few -- we have three slaughter-saved horses (one a once-wild Nevada estray mustang) and a donkey – and I do what I can to raise awareness.

As they say in the animal world, saving an animal may not change the world, but it'll change that animal's world ... and maybe your own.

The following link contains up-to-date information for anyone interested in the plight of America’s wild horses and burros and how you can help, regardless of country of origin. I remain constantly surprised at the power of petitions and signatures. These equines are not only national treasures, but treasured by the thousands of tourists worldwide who visit the U.S. each year with hopes of catching their own glimpse of these magnificent beings. http://wildhorsepreservation.org/

(ps. see end of post for more equine pics....)

WSD: From horses to bears.....
Winnie the Pooh features prominently in your novel, If You Find Me. What were some of your favourite childhood reads - or favourite literary characters?

Emily Murdoch: Oooooo, I love this question.My husband teases that I must've been British in a past life because many of my favorite authors are British.

Like Frances Hodgson Burnett. Both A Little Princess and The Secret Garden remain all-time favorites I read to tatters. Anne of Green Gables. Anne Shirley is one of my favorite heroines, alongside Jo March from Little Women. A.A. Milne, of course, and Winnie the Pooh. Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. Madeleine L'Engle andA Wrinkle In Time's Meg.

I love strong heroes/heroines, especially those who've fought the good fight. Who doesn’t want to feel braver, stronger, and wiser by the turn of the last page?

WSD: And to the physical act of writing....
You're left handed and say that you smear ink. Does that mean you write by hand a lot? Or draw? And are there other things that you think would be easier (or more challenging!) if you were right-handed?

Emily Murdoch: In my idea notebook, I do write out in longhand items such as notes, story ideas, ideas for titles, even dialogue that comes to me out of the blue. It was a Christmas gift from a dear girlfriend, and rather like Pooh and his honey, I’m quite attached to it.

As for smearing ink ... Ah, the bane of a lefty's existence. Many of us old-school lefties write in such a way that the heel of our hand pushes across the page, smudging the lines beneath.

*in the photo of me signing my book contract for If You Find Me, my leftyness is evident!

Back when I was learning to write, no one knew what to do with lefties; today, more lefty children are taught to position their hand in such a way that it doesn’t drag across the page; in essence, mirroring how a right-handed person writes.

I've always felt a sort of despair writing out thank-you cards, Christmas cards and letters, since I've very nearly smudged every one in existence. So, fast forward to publishing If You Find Me; I was very concerned about smudges when signing books for readers. After some research, I was ecstatic to find special pens for lefties which help with hand and finger placement, but most importantly, that come with smudge-proof ink!

I'm ultra-proud to say that I haven’t smudged one signed book.

For any lefties out there, here’s a great site for everything lefty. Their newsletter is a delight, packed with interesting left-hander information, and they hail from the UK! http://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/

I love being a lefty. I can’t snap my fingers, curl my tongue or whistle. But I’m one of 4 to 10% of the population to go against evolution and write with my left hand. (Right-handedness is believed to have developed from human beings’ need for cooperation in groups, a.k.a. commonality for preservation’s sake.)

Thank you so much for highlighting myself and If You Find Me, today. I love that you’re a mother-daughter reading duo, and I wish you many more wonderful books together!

Thank you Emily for sharing your thoughts and pictures with us!

Win a copy of If You Find Me

Leave a comment, e-mail or tweet us (@wesatdown) about the comp by Sunday, 2 Feb 2014, 6pm. 

One winner selected at random by our yellow-furred random-eater. Open to UK postal addresses. Under 13s should get parental permission to enter.

Prize is a UK paperback edition of If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch, published by Indigo, 30 January 2014.

As promised, more horsey pics from Emily!

Go sign some signatures....

And tweet, comment or e-mail us to win.

Hot Key Books & Red Lemon Press Summer Party 2013

Imagine this: a grown-ups party children's style. Yay! And double yay for me because I was invited!

Hot Key Books and Red Lemon Press held their authors Summer Party last week. I was invited because I’m part of the judging panel for the Hot Key Young Writers Prize 2013 (budding 18-25 year old authors, check it out!). Having had such a successful Hot Key launch year, what a party it was. And with Sally Gardner having scooped this year’s CILIP Carnegie medal the day before, everyone was literally over the moon.

Hot Key Books & Red Lemon Press Summer Party 2013 content guidance.*

Yes, glasses of bubbly, intoxicating colours and tastes, nibbles, buckets filled with bottled contents on ice, and fairy lights. There were games too: giant Jenga and Connect4. I didn’t even get to go on them because I was far too busy chatterboxing with lots of interesting, funny and excited people. I didn’t even get to speak to Viv (Serendipity Reviews), the other blogger member of the judging panel! But I did eventually have a go on the tombola – and I won a book: The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson.

Of course, Sally Gardner was there – before she rushed off to appear on Newsnight. I chatted to her about the differences between two of her books, Maggot Moon and The Double Shadow, as both had been nominated for this year’s Carnegie. Good news from her: The Double Shadow is going to be republished as an adult novel and will include scenes and details that were cut from the original YA version. From Sally’s details, this is exciting news as it will provide the binding that many of us wanted from The Double Shadow. I didn’t ask who the publisher was – I’m guessing Orion?

 

I chatted with friendly authors I’d met before – Alison Rattle (The Quietness) who told me some exciting personal news (I’m not the one to spill the beans on here though); Julie Mayhew (RedInk) and I got deeply sociological and spoke openly about insect bites and the taboos of how we ‘other’ people, environments, and situations: all of it scary, mucky stuff.

There were many authors I hadn’t met before and it was great to get to know some of them like Fleur Hitchcock who is on the Young Writers Prize judging panel with me. Tom Banks (The Great Galloon) was funny and endearing, and we talked not-pirate adventures and balance of gender in his novel. We also had a whale of a time talking (with Olivia Mead, Hot Key) about the ‘pacifics’ of language usage in talk and writing. And, it turns out Gareth P Jones is also funny and is as selective as me about his reading choices.

James Dawson quietly told us stories about questions that 11 year olds ask about sex (he was a sex ed type teacher once upon a time and is the author of Being a Boy, forthcoming from Red Lemon Press). Tom Easton was a pleasure to meet and I probably could have talked to him all night about South African politics, Disney, and stuff. He has written a new book and says it is a funny one about boys and knitting (forthcoming from Hot Key; private aside here – “Little M, I told you, knitting is hot, hot, hot!”).

At last I met the author who on Twitter has urged me to continue with my reading of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Nigel McDowell. He is a very, very tall and quietly unassuming man and I have a hunch he is kind. His first novel, Tall Tales from Pitch End, has just been published and it features a very richly constructed dystopian/fantasy/steampunk world. And I met Isobel Harrop who is just 18 and Hot Key is publishing her illustrated journal (take note all you young would-be-published-writers out there).

 

Two of my favourite surprise introductions of the night were Alex Campbell and Tori Kosara.

Earlier this year, I’d made note of a novel that Sarah Odedina purchased in Bologna. It’s called Land. I’d forgotten about it (because its publication date is quite far into my reading future) so was happily, happily delighted to be reminded of it by meetng its author Alex Campbell. The sorts of things we chatted about – including translating aspects of personal experiences into fiction - have heightened my anticipation of Land’s publication. I recommended an adult novel, Amity & Sorrow by Peggy Riley, to her.

Tori Kosara is an editor at Red Lemon Press, Hot Key’s non-fiction sister publisher. We chatted for ages about sex and violence in children’s books, including fiction and non-fiction, middle grade and YA. We both agreed that we didn’t like “gratuitous anything” in these books. And Little M was delighted to hear from me that Tori has worked on The Hunger Games novels!

And then I left....sort of. Nothing finishes a good night off like a controversial chat on the pavement outside with a children’s author and a literary agent! Should prestigious children’s fiction prizes be judged by select groups of adults – or by children? Should the judging process be a reflection of our democracy and involve its intended audience or do some judging criteria justify the use of adult only judging panels? What ifs, hey.....

 

Things I learnt:

• Literary scouts have nothing to do with knots or birds.
• At literary parties, most of the couples are not romantic partners - they're author and agent.
• No matter how low, heels become killers: so take plasters or best wear flip-flops.
• Laughter is always good.
• Best hangover prevention tip: lots of chatterboxing means less guzzling.

 

Thank you Hot Key Books and Red Lemon Press for hosting such a wonderful evening.

 

* Yep, Little M fiddled about with the Hot Key Books' ring - without asking first!

PS. You may have noticed, no photos taken by me this time and all my notes were made post event. Memory Recall is liable, not me.

 

 

 

 

Anne Frank’s Thirteen in 13 Campaign

   

On this day in 1942, a young girl was given a diary for her 13th birthday. She recorded her thoughts in this diary while she and her Jewish family hid out in an attic before being captured by Nazis. Her name was Anne Frank and her diary is know worldwide as The Diary of a Young Girl.  Inspired by her diary, the Anne Frank Trust is running the Thirteen in 13 campaign.

 

If you’re thirteen years old - at any time during 2013 – get involved with the Thirteen in 13 campaign. It’s your chance to tell the Prime Minister, David Cameron, what you would do if you were the prime minister.

 

Anne Frank at a desk. Image courtesy of Anne Frank Trust.

 

The Anne Frank Trust said that the “Thirteen in 13 campaign gives young people the opportunity to make their voices heard at the highest level. We are inviting thirteen year olds to write a letter to the Prime Minister expressing their thoughts and hopes about growing up in twenty-first century Britain and telling him about the world in which they would like to be adults. Thirteen selected letters will be presented to Prime Minister, David Cameron, excerpts from which will be printed in The Times in early July. The Times will also print an open letter of reply from the Prime Minister, responding to the views and concerns of Britain’s newest teenagers.”

 

 

Francesca Simon, one of the judges for the competition element of the campaign (some of you 13 year olds might know her from your Horrid Henry reading days), told us a bit about her involvement.

WSD: When you were 13, what might you have written in a letter to the Prime Minister?

Francesca: When I was 13 I was very active politically. I grew up in America and I would have written about ending the war in Vietnam and gun control. Those were the two issues that really concerned me.

WSD: What inspired you to get involved with this campaign?

Francesca: I'm Jewish and so I've always been very aware that what happened to Anne Frank would have happened to me and any relatives living in Europe at the time. I think it is important that Anne's legacy be remembered. Children are the future and the sooner that they get involved in the issues that affect them the better! I first met The Anne Frank Trust when I gave a talk in Cambridge as part of a week looking at families and refugees and was delighted that they approached me to be involved in this campaign.Little M said about the campaign: “I think it is very good and it may help the world become a better place. I have already written a letter.”

 

 

To find out more about taking part, check out the Thirteen in 13 campaign website – it’s easy to get involved and takes just a couple of minutes to upload your letter. Do it before 21 June 2o13!

 

 

You can support the campaign

 

on Facebook (facebook.com/13in13campaign)

and Twitter (@13in13campaign).

Join the conversation with #Thirteenin13.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teri Terry chat

Heads up: Teri Terry reveals her next book title!
(plus a book giveaway)

Last Thursday, I had the good fortune of whiling away a morning with Teri Terry as she bit down on her nails, feeling all anxious about the Leeds Book Award announcement later in the day. Her book, Slated, was in the running for it.

She told me she was shattered. She didn’t look it. She was as bright and fresh as a daisy and full of gleeful bounce. As well she should have been because Slated went on to win the day in the age 14-16 category! Congrats to Teri. Little M and I both loved Slated. It’s a really thoughtful dystopian (Teri doesn’t like that term but I do!) that continues in the sequel, Fractured.

Teri spoke to me about growing up with an airforce father, which meant she got to live all over beautiful Canada – and especially Vancouver Island (phew, none of my tourist illusions shattered!). She also lived in Sydney, which as a tourist, I’d loved visiting: going to Manley on the ferry – we both had good memories about that! But, an upside is that living in Australia has cured any fears of English spiders that Teri may have harboured. There’s nothing quite like the Aussie beasties to do that for you! Teri now lives in England with her husband.

We also chatted about publishing and the editing process. Teri’s busy doing the edits on the third book in her Slated trilogy. Teri told me a secret about this. I promised not to tell anyone except Little M. Teri Terry is one of her favourite authors and her world would have been shattered if I’d left her out of the loop. She was already feeling a bit battered about having to miss meeting Teri!

To make up for it, Teri signed Little M’s copies of Slated and Fractured, and answered a couple of questions too:

Little M: Can you remember what book got you into reading?

Teri: I've been an avid reader since I was tiny, so I can't remember if there was a particular book from way back then that really got me into reading. I can remember a picture book that I must have had read to me over and over - Millions of Cats, by Wanda Gag - I can still remember some of the lines now (hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats!). Books that really stick out in my mind after that - Lord of the Rings. I read this over and over again. And I really loved Anne McCaffrey's Pern books.

Little M: When you found out that your book was going to be published, what did you do?

Teri: I was very happy! There was definitely some celebrating going on. But there was also this part of me that didn't believe it. Until I actually got the book in my hands and knew nobody was going to change their minds, I kept feeling like someone was going to tap me on the shoulder any minute, and say, 'sorry, it was all a mistake'.

And now, today’s the day where Teri’s said I can spill the beans to the world. Have you spotted it yet?

The title for the next book in the series is.........

SHATTERED

Read our reviews of the first two books, Slated and Fractured.

Win a copy of Fractured!

To win a copy of Fractured:

leave a comment on this blog post

OR

e-mail us with FRACTURED as the subject title - wesatdown2 (at) gmail (dot) com.

Entries close on Friday 7th June 2013.

Open to UK and Europe only.

Judging a Carnegie book by its cover - and then changing it

Book covers change all the time and for lots of reasons. It's interesting to see that some of the covers for the Carnegie 2013 shortlist have been changed. We've had a look (and we also have a giveaway featuring one of them with its new cover)....

Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

 

Previous cover

 

 

We didn't like this cover.

Little M: looks boring
Daddy Cool: thought Marcus Sedgwick was the book's title
M: didn't like the girl in a nightgown with her head cropped off; didn't think it reflected the multi-layered narrative very well.

The new cover

 

 

 

Little M: I prefer the old cover.
M: It looks wonderful and I thinks it suits the story much better. You can read M' s review of Midwinterblood here.
We have 2 copies with the new cover to giveaway. See end of this post for details.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

 

Previous cover

 

 

Little M: It's cool; the falling plane with a bloodstained cloud.
M: It looks cliched - but I like it, the grey and the red, the lipstick circle

The new cover

 

 

Little M: I prefer the old cover. The new one looks too modern for the time period of the book's setting. The photo of the girl makes you think one of the characters looks like that and you might have imagined her different.

In Darkness by Nick Lake

 

Previous cover (hardback)

 

 

M loved the hardcover version. It looks like a piece of art and seems to take a lot of inspiration from Haiti and African influenced art. The new cover is also nice and probably reflects the main character, Shorty, in a more contemporary way than the previous cover.
Little M: It's okay but a bit too busy. I often don't like bright yellow on book covers.

New cover (paperback)

 

 

Little M: I prefer the new one. I like the boy's realistic looking face rather than the drawn silhouette.
M: I like this cover too. I find both covers appealing.

A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle

 

Previous cover (hardback)

 

 

We didn't like the hardback cover for this novel, which is the copy we have. For us, it was confusing because it's a bit messy; looks like it's trying to be old-fashioned but isn't; looks weirdly like the print is out of register and is difficult to read the way it's blended into the design; not fond of that shade of yellow and it's too bright. However, the new cover is quite appealing and M thinks it reflects the story in a way that will appeal to a younger readership who will enjoy the story most.

The new cover (paperback)

(note: this is not the cover on the Carnegie site)

 

 

 

Little M: I prefer this one because it is not as jumbled so it's easier to see what's happening in the picture. I like the silhouettes. But, the author's name is way too big because it makes you think that Roddy Doyle is the name of the book.

M: I prefer the new cover. Yes, it looks very much like a Michael Morpurgo cover and is startling similar to Soldier Dog (another longlisted title this year) but I think it suggest more about the story, especially the greyhound's transparency. That is clever.

Midwinterblood Giveaway - UK only

 

There are 2 copies of Midwinterblood featuring the new cover up for grabs!
 

- To enter, please e-mail wesatdown2 (at) gmail (dot) com with the subject line MIDWINTERBLOOD
OR leave a comment and a way for us to contact you for your address (if you win).

- If you are younger than 13, please get parental permission to enter.

- This giveaway closes on Sunday 19 May 2013.

- 2 winners will be picked at random and will be contacted by e-mail.

- UK postal addresses only.

 

You can read M's review of Midwinterblood here.



Peggy Riley talks mothers & daughters (plus giveaway)

Talking about her debut novel, Amity & Sorrow, author Peggy Riley  said: "Perhaps that is what I am exploring here, questioning and challenging all the assumptions we make about mothers and daughters, of how families are made and lost." I loved Amity & Sorrow and couldn't resist asking her to explore this further for me as part of her blog tour. Very kindly, she agreed....... 

 

(Psst...there's an international giveaway at the end of the post too: signed hardback! Highly recommend it.)

 

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Peggy Riley:

"Amity & Sorrow tells the story of two sisters and their mother.  But it also tells the story of their larger family, made in faith - a fundamentalist church with one man and his fifty wives.  In the novel, I’m interested in the idea of family, how they are created and how they come to fall apart. 

The very nature of family has changed.  Today, people see themselves as having two families:  those they are born to and those that they choose.  The families we choose – friends, colleagues, communities, causes – come to us passionately, ecstatically.  They are all the more special for being chosen.  But when the going gets rough, as it invariably does, they are easier to walk away from.  We can change and outgrow them.  We can change our minds about them.  We don’t have the burden of genes and history, of shared blood, to make us stay. 

I wanted to write about a family that was chosen, drawn together in faith by women who had little in common beside their shared husband.  In their communal faith, everything is shared.  Possessions and property.Husband, wives, children.  The women in the church at the centre of the novel are expected to share their children with one another, to raise another’s as their own.  But when the church catches on fire, Amaranth only runs her own daughters away.  She only takes her own ones.  She doesn’t stop for the other children, made by her husband with other mothers.  She only pays attention to her blood.  Out in a world they have never seen and don’t understand, Amity and Sorrow miss their family – the whole noisy clamour of it, all its skin and noise.  They haven’t been raised to value this one mother above all others.  They don’t know where their own bodies end and their siblings begin.  Can they learn how to be a family without the faith that made it?

I’m interested in the push and pull between our hearts and heads, our ideals and our bodies.  I’m interested in communal societies who try to make their love communal, their bodies communal.  I’m interested in how sister wives view one another in polygamous marriages.  Can you love a woman who loves your husband?  Is it really love, or is it a kind of a contract, a system of checks and balances to keep wives equal?  In households with multiple children and multiple wives, I would think it would be very hard not to feel closer to your own, the blood of the family that you are born to, and that it would be a struggle to love other mothers or children as much as your own.  But that is what their faith asks them to do.

And what of the children and their own expectations?  What of the babies born who are boys, who will be surplus to this polygamous faith, as the boys are in the fundamentalist Mormon communities of the West?  What of the daughters born?  Will they, too, want to be sister wives?  How much choice will these children have, raised in a world with so few options?  How much is any child’s life determined by her mother’s choices?  And what happens when a mother changes her mind and wants to go back to the world she left, a world her daughters have never seen?  And that is what the book is about, I suppose.  How influenced are we by our parents and their world?  How do we become – or stop becoming – our mothers?"

 

****

 

Amity & Sorrow explores these themes and issues beautifully. You can read M's review here and you can read Daddy Cool's review here.

 

Amity & Sorrow is Peggy Riley's debut novel.

 

International Giveaway - Signed Hardback!

 

Yep, that's right. A gorgeous hardcopy (I know, I have one) of Amity & Sorrow signed by the author, Peggy Riley. Plus, you'll get a #godsexfarming badge too (apart from the family themes, Amity & Sorrow really is about #godsexfarming!).

 

 Enter by leaving a comment (and if you win, I'll need to be able to contact you).

This is an international giveaway.

Please note, because we review a lot of children's books on this blog, due to parental responsibilities, safe internet usage and all that jazz, this giveaway is open to over 16s (if you're under 16, please get parental consent to enter).

The giveaway closes on Tuesday 23 April 2013. A winner will be chosen at random.

 

 

Write Your Own Creepy Christmas

No review, no booklists, no reading discussions, no interviews today. No. It's all about Christmas and writing.....

To celebrate the launch of Chris Priestley's new e-book, Christmas Tales of Terror, Bloomsbury's short story writing competition blog, 247 Tales, is running a special Christmas story competition for writers aged 10 - 16.  All you have to do is write a frightful festive story in 247 words - or less. And submit it by Wednesday 12th December. There's a prize too. Full entry details are on the 247 Tales blog.

To give you some idea of how it's done, here's a specially crafted 247 tale written by author Chris Priestley:

That end of the park was empty and Lilian’s footsteps were the only ones to trouble the pristine blanket of pure white snow.  It was so beautiful, so magical.  She was breathless with excitement and, looking back only once at her now distant friends, walked on.

Lillian’s neat and charmless park was utterly transformed.  The grim old archway that stood as a lone reminder of the workhouse that had once stood here was smothered in snow and feathery snowflakes fell and tickled her face.  Lilian stepped through the arch as though stepping into another world. 

 
The park was unrecognisable here.  Lilian felt she was walking through a deserted wood as she reached an area thick with trees where the snow was especially deep and her whispered footfalls were the only sound. She had never thought of the children who lived and died in the workhouse but now they came unbidden into her thoughts.  She even thought she could hear them whispering.

Then looking up she saw children sitting in the branches above her head.  They looked like roosting owls.  They were ragged children, poorly dressed and pale, eerily lit from below by bright snow.  Their thin, wan faces looked down at her with large eyes twinkling in the snow light.  They bore an expression she thought at first was one of tragic longing, but which she realised too late was in reality some kind of terrible and cruel hunger.

And, before she could even scream, they jumped.

Chris Priestley, (247 words)

 

 

******

Good luck!