The Den: A blog for authors of children’s and YA fiction

The Den: A blog for authors of children’s and YA fiction

Club Ed Conversations: Editing Horror, Middle Grade and YA
1024 683 Siobhan O'Brien Holmes

The year before last, the wonderful Jennifer Lawler invited me to speak to her students about editing horror for children and teenagers and of course I jumped at the chance! I love talking about children’s books, I love talking about horror and I love talking about editing – it’s truly my dream job – so I was delighted to be asked. Jennifer kindly sent me the transcript from the conversation to share here, so if you’re an aspiring children’s book…

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Resources: Hiring a copyeditor
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If you work with me (or someone else) on a critique or edit, you might decide to continue your publishing journey with another editor. There are several types of professional editing available and they all happen at different stages in the process. You might decide to stop after your manuscript critique or you may choose to take your book through each stage. Your publishing goals and budget will dictate what’s right for you. Copyediting focuses on sentence level issues like…

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FAQ: What’s in your contract and how does it protect me?
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Handing your manuscript over to a stranger is scary, I absolutely get it. That’s why I have a really detailed but easy to read, jargon-free contract that I’ll ask you to sign before we work together. That way, you know exactly what you’re getting out of our work together and you’ll know you’re protected. Here is my contract template for you to read through now, with an imaginary client and manuscript slotted in. This is a contract for The Monster; contracts…

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Nail Your Genre and Give Young Readers What They Want! New course 🎉
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If you struggle to pin down your book’s genre or don’t really understand why it matters when it comes to children’s books, this is the course for you! It comes with an interactive workbook, downloadable genre guide (a more detailed and up-to-date version of this one!) and genre bingo cards which are super fun. I’m massively excited about this one because I’ve poured so much of my experience, expertise, passion and research into it. Give readers what they’re expecting and…

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FAQ: How does payment work at Writer and the Wolf?
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Editing and developing your craft can be super expensive investments. Trust me, I know! I’ve paid for more writing and editing courses than I can count, plus I’ve hired professional editors for my own work and none of them were cheap. So I get how important it is to understand upfront how and when you’re going to be expected to pay for a service. That’s why I wanted to give a bit of detail about the payment process I use.…

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Genre battle! The Clackity vs Clown in a Cornfield 2
940 788 Siobhan O'Brien Holmes

Hey, genre fans! Welcome to a new series on the blog: kidlit genre battle! The two questions that crop up most often in the emails and enquiries I receive are: is my book middle grade or YA? what genre is my book? I also work with a lot of authors who find it hard to find comp titles because they’re not really sure where their own manuscript sits, so how can they possibly find books that are similar? Recently I…

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New Course! An Introduction to Writing Middle Grade and YA Fiction
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I’m so excited to be launching a new course! An Introduction to Writing  Middle Grade and YA Fiction covers so many of the questions I’ve been asked by new and emerging kidlit authors over the years and addresses lots of the most common mistakes and challenges I come across when editing manuscripts. If you’re thinking about writing novels for children or teens, this course will help clear up confusion and misconceptions around middle grade and young adult fiction so you…

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Lessons from picture books: Cake by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet
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Sometimes, even though they’re aimed at a completely different age group, picture books contain perfect, concise little examples of storytelling techniques that we can apply to middle grade and YA. Luckily, I get through a heck of a lot of picture books at home: my husband and I read Caeden three books a night at bedtime plus we go to the library at least once a week (we currently have about 60 books on loan 😬) so I often come across lovely demonstrations of writing craft and get super excited mid-story. 

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Hello! I'm Siobhán, a developmental editor of middle grade and YA fiction. This blog is aimed at authors who write for a young audience, and posts typically focus on actionable writing advice, active reading and advocating for the young reader.



A bumper guide to middle grade & YA genres and subgenres, from cyberpunk and space opera to magical realism and portal fantasy



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