HELLO!

Welcome to Chapter Three of The Happy Book. In this chapter, I'll be talking to author and friend, Cate Whittle. Cate is a junior fiction queen, and I'll be chatting with her about the inspiring way she creates her books, how she plots and plans so well, yet still manages to pen such evocative and beautiful language, even for younger readers.

I'll also talk to Cate about how she creates her gorgeous characters, about passion projects, about career trajectory and so much more.

Fire up your device, cram in those earbuds and enjoy this foray into the magical world of kids' book creation. If you have any questions or comments, you can say hello at [email protected].

I'm Tania McCartney and I'm an author, illustrator and editor of children's books. I've always wanted to live inside a book, and now I practically do. Welcome to the Happy Book.

GUEST - CATE WHITTLE

Cate Whittle has been writing for children and young adults for over 15 years, with many articles, book reviews, and short stories published in a range of magazines and anthologies, both in print and online, and her work has been placed in competitions both nationally and internationally. Her first book for young readers, Trouble at Home, about a girl and her troublesome dragon, was published by Omnibus Scholastic in 2016. More stories about Trouble followed over the next couple of years: Trouble and the Missing Cat, then Trouble and the New Kid (which made the long list for the CBCA Book of the Year Awards in 2018), and, the final book in the short series, Trouble and the Exploding House. Cate's latest book, Wyrd, a middle grade fantasy for slightly older readers, was released in August 2018. Next up is Emergency Rescue Angel, another middle grade/young YA title, both also with Omnibus Scholastic. Also a teacher, Cate has a passion for nurturing a love of stories in her students - as readers and creators - and she has delivered workshops for grown-ups, too, working with ACT Writers Centre and SCBWI ACT. Cate is active in the Kid Lit community and loves the opportunity to share her experience with others. Cate lives on a hillside overlooking a beautiful rural valley in New South Wales with her family, a cat, and a whole host of wildlife that visits her backyard. Other than writing stories, she loves to read, go for walks in the rain, take photographs, play with watercolours, and potter in the garden when she has time.

SHOW NOTES

00:35 Introduction

01:36 Introducing Cate Whittle

02:53 Our bevvies of choice-with ginger and lemon tea with local apple box honey and a creamy flat white

04:18 A typical writing day for Cate

08:20 Cate's genres - junior fiction and middle grade

09:28 The difference between Junior Fiction and Middle Grade

11:21 Expanding on vocabulary

12:23 Cate's Trouble junior fiction series origins

14:12 Magic realism-kids adore it

14:44 Age groups for Trouble-younger and older readers

15:54 Not getting caught up in readership age

16:39 Would Cate like to write picture books?

16:30 Word economy in picture books

17:50 Wyrd-Cate's middle grade fiction

19:01 Relationship exploration

19:37 Writers need to reflect what children experience in real life

21:09 Putting ourselves in the minds and hearts of our readers

22:07 Condensing your message so they work harder at a lower word count

22:57 Beautiful writing and language for younger readers

25:14 The Rule of Three and poetic balance

25:48 Exquisite language-Cornelia Funke

26:58 The Rule of Three

28:17 Fairy tale story construct and Celtic tales

29:15...