Out on the school visit trail again today, this time to Broxbourne School, in Hertfordshire. In pretty quick succession I did three talks (of around fifty mins each) to sixty Year 9 students, sixty Year 7s, and sixty Year 8s — yep, a hundred and eighty young people in total!

I was delighted and honoured to get the chance to talk to so many…

…and to be honest, when I’d managed to get through all three sessions without spitting on anyone by mistake or spilling my drinking water down myself (both serious dangers with me!) I have to say I felt pretty /relieved/, too! ;p

My thanks to Sue Shaper for kindly inviting me, and to anyone I spoke to who’s reading this, thank you for listening.

At the end of each session I handed out (my latest thing-) some business cards that I’ve had printed up with the Sam Enthoven portal page address on them. This was to encourage anyone who had any follow-up questions to get in touch with me, either through my various social network profiles (see my previous post!) or through the Black Tat and Tim Guestbooks. Speaking of which…

To my great glee, on returning to my desk I discovered some AWESOME new Guestbook entries! Today’s big shout (or giant monster roar) goes out to Sienna from Toronto on the Tim Guestbook (thank you so much, Sienna!) but also to Linda from Germantown, Maryland on the Black Tat one, who writes:

Hey, I LOVED the book. It was imaginative, suspenseful [which, ahem, led me to flip to later events] and just….kinda fills up a little hole in ya,…ya know? And I totally loved the London speeches in it like git. I don’t know if you know it but your humor in the book made me laugh laugh. Not in my mind haha-let’s-read-on.
Anywho, I have a few questions I hope you answer:

1. How do you figure out names or looks for the monsters? Like the Chinj? [They’re actually kinda cute in my mind lol]
2. How do you imagine the dragon’s inside? It seems kind of hard…
3. How do you find a publisher [or agent first?] to read your manuscripts? I know I’m young but I really do plan on becoming an author. Although I’m actually procrastinating quite a bit. But I really wanted to know how to get one and do you have to pay them? Thanks for reading and/or answering my questions! :] LOVED the Black Tattoo. Can you just make a small book about Jagmat coming into Earth and Jack and Esme’s relationship? If you don’t, then, ah well, I tried. 😛

oh P.S I still don’t know what the password’s for!

Hi Linda! Thanks for getting in touch, and thanks so much for the kind words!

1. Thinking up names and looks for monsters is something that I personally don’t find too hard. In fact – as you’ve probably guessed from my stories – there’s almost nothing I love better! Dreaming them up and giving them personalities is an absolute delight, for me. And once you’ve done that, finding names for them is a matter of picking something that best suits that particular monster.

One trick that I found worked well for several of the demons in Black Tat was to write lists of words that /sounded/ close to the sort of effect I was after. I’d then take individual syllables or letters from those words and recombine them in different ways until I had something that fit. ‘Chinj,’ though, came from a billboard ad I passed when I was on the bus one day! The word caught my eye, I did a double-take and realised I’d misread it, but by then the word ‘chinj’ was stuck in my mind – and my weird brain was already whirring into action! Monster names can come from all sorts of places. /Human/ names, however… wow, now those are /hard/. 😉

2. Imagining the Dragon’s insides? Nothing to it: just go to Google Images and type ‘Endoscopy’ – though you’d maybe better not try it if you’re eating. HEE HEE HEE! ;p

3. How do you find a publisher? Or an agent? Hmmmmmmm. Actually, again, ‘finding’ them is easy. There are various books (depending on where in the world you live) which list details of where to send your stuff, and what to send. You should be able to find those in your local public library, or on the internet. Looking at who publishes (and represents) your favourite authors is a pretty good place to start, too.

The hard bit, of course, is getting a publisher or agent to take you on.

First, concentrate on creating the absolute hands-down best book you can possibly write. This, really, is the most important step. Until you get past this stage – and have a complete, finished book that you are proud of and you think might stand up against other books – things like agents and publishers are very unlikely to follow. So, to reiterate: first, write your book.

If your book is good enough and you find a proper publisher who loves it, you won’t need to pay them. Your agent (if you have one – I think they’re crucial, but not everybody agrees) will only be paid when he or she sells your work. This will be in the form of a commission percentage taken from whatever money the publishers pay /you/.

But really, I’m sorry to harp on, but it’s stage one that counts. Write your book. [For some tips about procrastination, click here]. Make your book as good as you can possibly make it. With determination, and luck, everything else comes /afterwards/.

…And the password in Black Tat? Go to the site, click on ‘What Is The Black Tattoo?’ and click on ‘Locked’.

OK Linda, hope that’s helpful! And thanks so much again for getting in touch!

Anyone else want to ask me something…? 😉

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Comments? Suggestions? Questions? Me and THE WEBSPHINX would love to hear from you! Drop us a line at the Tim, Defender of the Earth Guestbook for current or Tim stuff, or The Black Tattoo Guestbook for Black Tat stuff. First (or demon-!) names only, please. 😉