Lian Tanner's Blog

I recently read an article by David Cain on reading aloud. He talks about how he used it to find his way through long, tricky sentences, and again when he was reading a book that was written in dialect. So I thought I’d give it a try.

I’m a very fast reader, which has its advantages, but also means that I skip bits, and don’t always absorb as much as I could. Right now I’m reading a couple of books for a panel on ‘the lure of speculative fiction’ at the upcoming Tamar Valley Writers’ Festival. The first one, All the Murmuring Bones by AG Slatter, is described as grim, fairy-tale gothic, which sounds a bit darker than my usual reading, and I’ve been putting off starting it.

But yesterday I set out to read it aloud. The first chapter breaks all the rules of writing, in that the whole thing is a telling (rather than a showing) of a family history. I would have skimmed much of it if I was reading it to myself. But read aloud, the gorgeousness of the prose stood out. I lingered over paragraphs and read them again, and now I know a whole lot about the O’Malleys that I might have otherwise missed.

I’m sure I’ll go back to reading silently most of the time, but I’ll also keep this in mind for when the writing is lush and deep, or when I just want to slow things down a bit.

I had a hectic couple of weeks in Sydney and Melbourne, followed by a lightning visit to Brisbane. I caught a cold in Sydney, so had to cancel a couple of Melbourne schools, which was a pity, but I managed to bounce back in time for the last two. I’ve since been hearing of so many authors who had the same thing happen. Unfortunately, Book Week always comes at the exact time of year when viruses are at their peak.

It was still fun, though. One of the highlights was working with different groups of K-2 kids to make up stories. My favourite was the one about Chocolate Man who had his head bitten off by a cow.

I also loved these cute pictures of Clara from a Year 3 class.

I was so excited to be asked to be quizmaster for the Year 5/6 competition at the final of this year’s Readers’ Cup in Brisbane on Thursday, September 5. There were eighteen teams from all over Queensland, each of them winners of their regional competitions, and they had to answer questions about six books, one of which was Spellhound.

Honestly, they were amazing. Their depth of knowledge about those books was so impressive, and the winning team, from St Andrews Catholic College in Cairns, had researched all the authors, as well as memorising the details of their novels.

While I was in Brisbane I spoke to a really nice bunch of teacher librarians (and other assorted folk) at the Quick Brown Fox Bookshop, at a monthly event with the enticing name, ‘Reading between the wines’. The other two authors were Dannika Patterson and Alison Stegert, and Jonathan Bentley turned up, too, to provide a bit of support.

I really appreciate opportunities like this, where I get to hang out with other authors/illustrators as well as all those lovely teacher librarians and bookshop owners.

For kids, I’m rereading Diana Wynne Jones’s The Pinhoe Egg, which is a follow-up to Charmed Life and one of my favourite books from the Chrestomanci series. It’s the story of Cat Chant, who finds a large, mysterious egg, and discovers that in the village around Chrestomanci Castle, all sorts of secret, magical misuse is going on.

DWJ continues to be one of my all-time favourite fantasy authors.

For adults, as well as All the Murmuring Bones, I am dipping in and out of The Poetry Pharmacy, compiled by William Sieghart. Its subtitle is ‘tried-and-true prescriptions for the heart, mind and soul, and it’s filled with gorgeous poems.

For example, the prescription for anxiety is Wendell Berry’s ‘The Peace of Wild Things’:
‘When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds …’

Our latest episodes cover how we make magic seem real in our stories, whether adverbs and adjectives are friend or enemy, plotting vs pantsing, and finding amazing opening lines. We’re joined by Sue Whiting for the first three episodes, and Nathan Luff for the last one.

You can listen to them here.

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Book Week is coming, and all over Australia children’s authors are preparing for several intensive weeks of school visits. I’ll be visiting Sydney schools in the week starting Monday, August 12, and Melbourne schools the following week, starting Monday, August 19.

And of course, children are sorting out their costumes. I had an email last week from someone wanting to know what colour Flax’s shorts were. (They knew her shirt was green, from the cover of Spellhound.) To be honest, I’ve never thought about this question before, but when I did, the answer was obvious. Flax lives in the Floating Forest, so she’s going to want to blend in, which means either dark green or brown shorts. I also mentioned that she would be very alert and watchful, like a meerkat (except meerkats don’t usually carry swords).

Last year, I received some great photos of kids dressed as the Spellhound pup. This one was my favourite (posted with permission).

I’ve just come back from Brisbane, where I spent three days at the Mt Coot-tha Young Writers Workshop with an amazing group of Grade 6 kids. The workshop is held annually at Rainworth State School and draws keen writers from surrounding state schools to work with a visiting author (this time, me!). Later this year, their stories will be published in an anthology, which I’m really looking forward to reading.

This is such a great program for kids with big imaginations and a love of writing. I would have adored it when I was in grade 6, and I’d very much like to see it happening in every major city, especially in Tasmania.

While I was in Brisbane Jonathan Bentley and I launched our new picture book, When the Lights Went Out, at Where the Wild Things Are Bookshop. It was a very small launch, but it was fun. I learnt to draw an owl, I met Lara Cain Gray (author of The Grown-Ups’ Guide to Picture Books coming in September), who did a champion job as MC. And I met Jonathan B for the very first time!

It was a great relief, to me at least, to discover that Jonathan and I liked each other as much in person as we did online. We went out for dinner afterwards, and when we came to pay I couldn’t find my debit card, which should have been in my pocket. I was searching and searching, and at the same time trying to explain that I absolutely hadn’t done this on purpose—

‘Oh, it’s in my hand!’ Cue much laughter. I occasionally do this with my glasses, which usually turn out to be on my face.

I also visited a stack of bookshops while I was in Brisbane, which is always a delight. The people who work in them are always so passionate about books and reading.

For kids, Catch Me If I Fall by Gary Jonsberg. I hadn’t read anything by this Australian author before, but loved his futuristic book about twins Ashley and Aidan who have been sheltered from the increasingly dangerous world around them, only to find it starting to intrude when they meet some homeless kids in a park. When Aidan, who has always been his sister’s protector, has a serious accident and comes home from hospital totally different, they are both forced to face unexpected secrets.

For adults, Judi Dench’s Shakespeare, the Man Who Pays the Rent, which is a series of interviews about the various Shakespearean roles she has played, the ones she loved, the ones she hated (Portia in A Merchant of Venice), mishaps, disasters and jokes. She’s so funny and interesting that I’m loving it.

‘Taking a curtain call with a live snake in her wig; cavorting naked through the countryside painted green; acting opposite a child with a pumpkin on his head… these are just a few things Dame Judi Dench has done in the name of Shakespeare.’

We’ve been four writers five minutes for the last few weeks, as Tristan takes a break, and in future weeks we’re going to be inviting other Australian children’s authors to fill in for him. Our first guest is Sue Whiting.

Meanwhile, we’ve been looking at creating character through dialogue, a deep dive into Sarah Armstrong’s Magic Awry, addressing the whole question of comparing ourselves with other writers, and avoiding the dreaded info dump.

You can find us at https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/5-writers-5-minutes/id1700577887 or wherever else you get your podcasts!

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A week ago, the people in my little dead-end street of twelve houses held a mid-winter feast. My neighbour Gina and I had the idea last year, but were too busy to do anything about it. So this year we got up a bit of an organising committee and sent out invitations telling everyone to rug up warmly and bring food, plates, cups and cutlery.

The little kids raced up and down the street with footballs and glow bracelets while we grown-ups sat around the fire pots eating, drinking mulled wine and talking. We had live music for much of the night, and nearly everyone in the street came, plus a few others who used to live here and will always be honorary members.

It was a great night, and it wasn’t until a couple of hours beforehand that I made the connection with my new picture book, When the Lights Went Out. The book is about community, about a street coming together to celebrate and have fun, and I honestly hadn’t seen the connection until someone pointed it out.

People talk a lot about community and how they wish they were part of one. What they don’t always realise is that it doesn’t just happen; it takes work. My favourite way of helping to build community is to give my neighbours excess fruit and veg from my garden. This year for the first time I had too many figs to eat, so I gave them away as well as blood plums and apples. And it turns out that a mid-winter feast is also a great way to strengthen the links between people in our street.

Speaking of community … in mid-June, my online critique group met in the hills behind Bangalow, NSW, for our second writing retreat. With Deborah Abela, Sarah Armstrong, Zanni Louise and Tristan Bancks, I put in five days of solid work interspersed with great conversations and amazing food. Sarah, Zanni and Tristan live close to each other and write together frequently. But with me in Tassie, it’s a rare treat to actually be able to spend time with them in person, and chat about writing and other stuff.

I went into the retreat wanting to solve a problem that’s been bugging me with my current novel. There’s a point near the beginning of it where I really need the reader to suspend disbelief, and I just couldn’t get it to work. I’d had several people read it, and they all said, ‘Nope.’ So I rewrote it, added a prologue that I thought might help, and laid it hopefully before my crit group.

The verdict? ‘Nope, still not there.’ But the good bit was, over a long conversation in the kitchen, they helped me nut out exactly why it wasn’t working. For the first time, I really got it. And I realised I’d just been tinkering around the edges of the problem without actually making the big changes needed to fix it.

I haven’t rewritten it yet, but I know what I need to do, and that’s a very satisfying outcome.

And yeah, while we were there we restaged our old album cover from 2022.

For middle-grade (and adults), A Murmuration of Starlings, by Franny Billingsley (US title is The Robber Girl). If I could give this a hundred stars, I would. It’s the story of ten-year-old Starling, who is part of an outlaw gang led by Gentleman Jack. She has a dagger that talks to her, and an Affliction that means she can only speak if someone speaks to her first. She worships Gentleman Jack, and doesn’t want to let him down, but when he’s captured as part of a heist gone wrong, Starling is sent to live with the Judge and his wife.

Gradually she starts to remember things about her previous life, before she joined the gang. The writing is idiosyncratic and intriguing, and the gradual changes in Starling are painfully exquisite. It’s a book for kids who are curious, confident readers, but also for adults looking for a story full of heart.

For adults, I’ve been rereading one of my favourite science fiction trilogies, the wonderful Linesman series by SK Dunstall. ‘The lines. No ship can traverse the void without them. Only linesmen can work with them. But only Ean Lambert hears their song. And everyone thinks he’s crazy…’ Once again, it’s the characters that make this so good, and in this case the characters include the space ships.

I’ve also recently read this wonderful article by Ursula le Guin on Lithub, about how to become a writer. The short version is, you write. Le Guin’s longer version is well worth a read.

On the podcast this last month we did a deep dive into Zanni Louise’s Cora Seen and Heard, discussed what a typical writing day looks like, talked about the unconscious mind as a powerful tool for writers, and did another brainstorm. You can find the episodes here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks for reading! I’ve got a book launch coming up in Brisbane in a couple of weeks, so if you’re nearby, I’d love to see you there!

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My big news is that Spellhound won the 2024 Aurealis Award for Best Australian Children’s Fiction (fantasy and sf)! This was wildly exciting because the Aurealis is one of the few awards that don’t notify the winner beforehand, and it was a very strong shortlist so I honestly didn’t expect to win. I didn’t even check the website until the next morning.

And there was Spellhound! I squeaked a lot.

So now I have a very nice virtual sticker to put on the front cover, and soon I’ll have an even nicer trophy for my mantelpiece.

I’m working on a secret project at the moment – not completely secret because the other members of my writer’s group know about it and so does my agent. It’s something I’ve been working on for years in the gaps between other books, and I decided at Christmas time that this year I was going to finish it.

I’ve done a couple of drafts already, and feel as if it’s going okay, but I was reminded the other day that no matter how interesting or clever your plot is, what keeps most people reading is the characters. The relationships between them, the way they change, the way they face life.

My first draft characters are usually pretty cartoonish, because at that stage I’m trying to figure out the story and get the broad brush strokes onto the page so I’ve got something to work with. My characters don’t start getting fleshed out until the second or third draft. So that’s what I’m doing at the moment, trying to figure out how these characters change and what makes it happen.

This is a big year for me with two books coming out. First Fledgewitch, then the new picture book, When the Lights Went Out, which is coming at the beginning of July. I didn’t think I could love anything more than Jonathan Bentley’s illustrations for Ella and the Ocean, but what he has done for this book is just astonishing. Look at this beautiful cover!

Jonathan and I both going to be in Brisbane in July, so we are hoping to do a Brisbane launch on Thursday July 18 at Where the Wild Things Are. Nothing definite yet.

Science fiction has always been one of my favourite genres. I read vast quantities of it in my teens, and Lois Bujold, Ann Leckie, Elizabeth Moon and SK Dunstall are all on my favourite rereads list. This month I have found some more favourites.

For middle grade: HM Waugh’s Mars Awakens and Mars Underground. I read the first book, Mars Awakens, several years ago, but have only just got round to the second one. It’s a gripping series based around two rival colonies that have long since been abandoned by Earth, and which are both struggling to survive. The adventure is high-stakes and exciting, but there are also some really interesting themes about the abuse of power and the use of paranoia about ‘the other’ to maintain that power.

For adults: Miles Cameron’s Artifact Space. This really hit the sweet spot for me – space opera with great characters, lots of skulduggery, and interesting aliens. There were quite a few techie bits, which I tend to skip over, but there was enough human stuff to satisfy me.

On the podcast this last month we did a deep dive into Deborah Abela’s beautiful verse novel The Kindness Project, and talked about writing personal stories. And then – oops, we miscalculated and ran out of episodes. So we’re on hiatus for a couple of weeks while we record some more. But we will be back!

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It’s been a hectic month, with Fledgewitch released on April 4, followed by not one, but three book launches, all with the help of the State library of Tasmania.

In Hobart, MC Marylouise Jones dressed as a tree from the Floating Forest, and the kids from Albuera Street Primary School performed a scene from chapter 2, where Countess Xantha and Count Zaccar drag poor Brim away from home to the School for Prevention of Witches.

In Launceston and George Town, the MC was Lyndon Riggall (who was also starring at the Princess Theatre as a suspected serial killer, which was an … interesting combination). The Launceston performers were from Scotch Oakburn College.

Despite the best efforts of George Town Primary School, we couldn’t get together a bunch of kids to do the play. So we had to improvise with volunteers from the audience – which turned out to be hilarious fun.

I’m so thankful to the brilliant librarians in each case who helped make these launches possible.

While I was up north, I visited Windermere, where my best friend in high school used to live. The Tamar Valley is the landscape of my childhood – paperback trees and she-oaks – and I love it.

I drove around the narrow winding roads remembering where we used to ride horses, and finding my friend’s parents’ memorial plaques in the churchyard. They were lovely people, so it was nice going to say a quiet hello to them. And the Windermere church must be one of the most beautiful old churches in Tasmania, in one of the most beautiful settings.

There are two exquisite middle grade novels coming up this month, and they’re both getting rave reviews.

The first is The Kindness Project, by Deborah Abela. It’s Deb’s first verse novel, and although verse novels aren’t usually my thing, I love this one. It’s about four kids who are given a class project to make the world a better place. Trouble is, they don’t like each other … until they discover they have much more in common than they thought, including some pretty big worries.

I love the way Deb has used with different fonts and lettering to accentuate the action and the kids’ feelings about what’s happening. This is a playful book that addresses big topics in a very accessible way, and is full of warmth and good-heartedness.

The second book is Cora Seen and Heard, by Zanni Louise. It’s the story of Cora, who gets tongue tied at the worst possible moments and would rather hide in the library than step on a stage. But when her family moves to a small town in Tasmania to renovate an old theatre, she sets out to reinvent herself.

Zanni is justifiably well-known for her picture books, but she also has a wonderful capacity for writing heartfelt middle grade novels that capture the anguish and the joys of being young. Plus the idea of living in an old theatre is irresistible!

I saw both these books develop from the initial idea, and read them in manuscript, and am so very happy that they are now out in the world. Highly recommended, both of them.

I did an interview for ABC radio a few weeks ago, and they’ve added 4 minutes of it – where I talk about being arrested for busking, and dynamited while scuba diving – to Story Stream. You can listen to it here.

On the podcast this month we’ve done a deep dive into the making of Fledgewitch, as well as talking about writing stuff that matters, creating realistic locations, and what to do when the writing gets hard. You can find all episodes here. And if you want us to address a particular topic, just let us know.

Thanks for reading!

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It’s way too long since I updated my blog, but I absolutely have to do it today, because my new book Fledgewitch is here! This is the second Dragons of Hallow book (and the follow-up to Spellhound, which came out last year) and I adore this cover by Martina Heiduczek.

Yes, there are dragons in this book. And witches. And a horned glob called Snort – that’s him you can see on the cover, peeping out from underneath Brim’s knitting. There’s also a rather gloomy paperknife, who was once a sword …

If you’re in Tasmania, we’ll be launching Fledgewitch in three different locations during the April school holidays. The Hobart launch is at 10.30 am on Saturday April 13th at the State Library of Tasmania. You can register here (or you can just turn up on the day).

The George Town launch is at 10.30 am on Friday April 26th at the George Town Library. Register here (or just turn up). There will be a writing workshop for kids aged 8-12 years at 12.30 pm that same day, and you do need to register for that.

The Launceston launch is at 10.30 am on Saturday April 27th at the Launceston Library. Register here or just turn up.

I was very excited to see Spellhound on the shortlist for the Aurealis Award, even if they got the name of the book wrong.

The Ghost Book by Remy Lai is the only other one I’ve read, and it’s absolutely wonderful.

Way back in 2020, in the middle of all the lockdowns, author Deborah Abela emailed me and three other children’s authors to see if we wanted to set up an online critique group, for feedback and support. We’ve been meeting once a month ever since, and it’s honestly one of the best things in my life.

As well as Deb, there’s Tristan Bancks, Sarah Armstrong and Zanni Louise, and you couldn’t find a kinder, more supportive bunch of writers.

Last year we started a podcast called 5 Writers 5 Minutes, where we try to talk about the craft of writing in 5 minute episodes. (They usually stretch a bit longer.) We’re getting great feedback from teachers, emerging writers, kids and pretty much everyone else who listens to it.

This week we’re talking about ‘Sparking the Action’, aka the inciting incident that sends your character hurtling into the story. You can find this and all other episodes here.

This is a big year for me, with two books coming out, and I’ve promised myself that I’m going to update this blog once a month. I’m also intending to set up a newsletter on substack, so I’ll let you know about that when it happens.

Meanwhile, happy reading!

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Happy book birthday to Spellhound, the first in the Dragons of Hallow series! I’m so excited to have this book out in the world at last, and am dying to know what people think of it. If you read it, I’d love you to leave a review somewhere – whether it’s goodreads, twitter, a blog, or the footpath outside your house.

Meanwhile here’s an exceptionally nice review from Better Reading!

Now that’s the sort of thing that warms an author’s heart!

Meanwhile we are busy planning the launch aka a book birthday party. I have two librarians helping me, which pretty much guarantees it’s going to brilliant. It’s at 10.30 am on Saturday April 22nd at the State Library of Tasmania in Murray St, and if you’re in Hobart, you’re invited!

There will be jelly babies, of course. (And if you don’t know why, you really need to read Spellhound.)

I’m also running another competition, only this one is for schools. Well, classes really. To celebrate Spellhound going out into the world, I’m offering a free online visit to one lucky class (Years 3-5) in Australia or New Zealand. You can find the details here.

I spent much of last week visiting schools to tell kids about the launch (and about the new book). It was my first time back in schools since the end of last year, and I had forgotten how much fun it could be.

Here I am at Hutchins, trying to convince the class that this boy is a dragon in disguise.

One last thing – to my joy and delight, Spellhound has been chosen as Dymocks’ Children’s Book of the Month for April! Isn’t that amazing?

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I have a competition running at the moment, where you can win a copy of my new book, Spellhound.

All you have to do is write a story involving a dragon and send it to me by midnight on March 13th – oh, and to enter, you need to be a primary school aged kid who lives in either Australia or New Zealand.

Want more information? You can find it here.

Pretty much everything is about Spellhound at the moment, as we build up to April 4th, PUBLICATION DAY! (I wish I could put that in gold lettering. With stars around it.)

Yep, here it is, the first Dragons of Hallow book, and just look at that gorgeous snoot! It makes me laugh every time I see it. Illustrator Sally Soweol Han and designer Hannah Janzen have done a brilliant job on the cover.

Right now I’m sorting out a book launch in Hobart for the April school holidays (Saturday April 22 at the State Library), plus school visits before and after the holidays. So term 1 and term 2 are looking pretty busy so far.

I am so looking forward to seeing what people think of this book!

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To my astonishment and delight, Ella and the Ocean was declared the winner of the Minister for the Arts Prize for Books for Children and Young People at the 2022 Tasmanian Literary Awards last Thursday night.

The award itself is made of Tasmanian myrtle, and is beautiful.

I haven’t stopped smiling since. Especially when the lovely members of my online crit group sent me the most beautiful bunch of flowers.

Others on the shortlist were Aster’s Good Right Things by Kate Gordon, Shoestring; the Boy Who Walks on Air by Julie Hunt and Dale Newman, and Sea Country by Aunty Patsy Cameron and Lisa Kennedy. All beautiful, powerful books, and Jonathan Bentley and I were honoured to share the shortlist with them.

Other news:

I’m very excited about Spellhound: a Dragons of Hallow book, which is coming out next April. I’ve never written about dragons before, and this book was such fun to write. Not just because of the dragons, but because there’s also a giant magical pup, a child Queen, and a very small frightened minch-wiggin.

What’s a minch-wiggin, you ask?

Well, she’s sometimes mistaken for a pixie (except that pixies don’t climb trees and build nests). Her name is Flax, she lives in the Floating Forest, and she carries a famous sword and a satchel stuffed with—

No, I’d better not tell you any more. Not yet. There are very important secrets involved. But I’ve bought myself a dragon brooch to celebrate.

I’ve also just finished writing Fledge-Witch, the follow-up to Spellhound. I sent it to my agent last week, and she just phoned to say she loves it.

Phew! It’s always nerve wracking waiting for that first feedback. And now I have to wait to see what my publisher thinks. I doubt I’ll hear from her until after Christmas/New Year.

Speaking of which …     

Hope you all have a great Christmas. I’m going to run a couple of competitions in the New Year, to celebrate the upcoming publication of Spellhound, so keep your eyes peeled!

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It feels as if it has been an awfully long time coming, but at last it’s publication day for Rita’s Revenge, the sequel to A Clue for Clara. The duck with the soul of a poet (and the combat skills of a ninja warrior) is heading out into the world.

This is always a thrilling moment. It’s also nerve-wracking. I’ve had a couple of early readers say, ‘We loved Clara, so we didn’t like Rita – at first.’

That ‘at first’ is obviously the only thing keeping me from despair.

Well, not the only thing. I’m also rather excited about the book launch coming up on Sunday 10th July, 11 am at the Hobart Bookshop in Salamanca Place. There will be family members who I haven’t seen for several years. There will be duck poetry. There will be multi-species translators, unarmed combat, and maybe even a duck or two. If you’re anywhere near Hobart, come and join us!

Meanwhile a box of books arrived a few days ago, and a friend helped me unpack them…

So now I chew my fingernails, waiting to see what you all think of Rita. I hope you love her as much as I do.

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