#WriteMentor 2020

#WriteMentor 2020

I’m really excited that I will be mentoring again this summer with the #WriteMentor programme. Here’s a little bit about me and what sort of submissions I’d like to see this year…

I am represented by Laura West at David Higham Associates. My writing is featured in many different magazines, anthologies and online, and I am currently on submission to publishers with a with themed chapter book.

I won the Urban Retreats six month novel writing course scholarship in 2018, ‘Off the Page’ competition judged by Hodder & Stoughton, honourable mentions and placing in other competitions including being a Mslexia Children's Novel Award longlistee in 2019 for an upper MG Coming of Age Thriller.

Living in Wolverhampton, gives me the perfect mix of rural and urban landscapes to influence my writing. I live with my husband, stepson, three boys, one daughter, two mischievous kitties and the youngest family members, Matilda, Dorothy, and Malcolm, our chickens. My background is in Fine Art, and later working with children in variety of jobs. Now I’m also an editor and mentor and one half of YouTube writerly duo, Word Witches with Carolyn Ward, and I am creator and host of a writerly chat on Twitter called #ukteenchat.

I write picture books, chapter books and Middle Grade novels for ages 5-8 and 8-12, and into the lower Teen age range of 13-15. I’m also a writer of flash fiction and short stories, with some of these winning competitions or being published. I’ve written contemporary novels, Fantasy, Humour and Thriller, with a strong focus on friendship and family relationships, usually, though not exclusively, with strong female main characters.

I’m keen to mentor a writer of either a chapter book or Middle Grade story. The genres I am keen to see are quite a broad range: Contemporary, Humour, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Horror, or Fantasy. It could be laugh out loud or making my hair stand on end, I’m happy to see all sorts of stories.

Some of my favourite books are: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (anything he’s written really!); The Truth Pixie by Matt Haig (again, all of Matt’s books); the Amelia Fang series by Laura Ellen Anderson; Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison; Instructions for a Second-Hand Heart by Tamsyn Murray; Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence; Ready, Player, One by Ernest Cline; Dear Charlie by N.D. Gomes; Noah Can’t Even by Simon James Green; To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han; The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy; Oliver Moon and the Potion Commotion by Lucy Diamond; The Other Alice by Michelle Harrison; The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson; The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder by Sarah J. Harris; Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddell; Skullduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy; All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven; The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky; Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs; The Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones; The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness, to name but a few 😊

I absolutely love being a mentor and having the opportunity to work with the writers and support them and offer advice and encouragement. I am currently a mentor with the #WriteMentor Spark programme, and independently as an Editor and Mentor. I was a mentor for the first #WriteMentor summer mentoring programme in 2018, which I absolutely loved and had the opportunity to work with 3 fantastic writers, and I mentored 3 writers in 2019 and co-mentored another 2. We are still in touch and support each other’s writing journey, and I’m looking to do the same this year.

My main reason for being part of this #WriteMentor programme is that I love being with other writers and the fantastic kidlit writing community. I’ve been very fortunate over the years to have had support via mentoring and from amazing writing groups and individuals and want to share that passion for words and the support and encouragement, with lots of positivity (think Joy from Inside Out) and gifs along the way! I’d love to work with someone who is keen to learn and share their writing with me and have fun along the way. I’m quite keen to take on two mentees that will also have the benefit of each other for extra support and camaraderie. 

There will be Q&As ahead of the application window to ask me questions, but do feel free to send me a message on Twitter if you have anything you’d like to ask in the meantime.

So do apply to me if you feel we would be a good fit 😊

For further updates please follow me on Twitter @FinlaysonPalmer