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FRIDAY
Astred Hicks was the cover designer on my Mac Slater, Coolhunter books and now she has designed the splotchy, goopy, messed-up internals of My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up. Here, she gives insight into the book design process.
1. Where do you begin when considering how to lay out a book? What inspired your approach to My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up?
The brief for My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up consisted of the official brief document, manuscript and a bunch of the illustrations. As well as a few sample designs for inspiration. After reading through everything I had to think about how the intended audience was going to read this book. Cover-to-cover or one story at a time? How do we make boring stuff like page numbers work with the story and illustrations? How do I make Tom’s notes at the end of each story stand out?
Then I put together a sample design for one chapter and sent it off to the publisher for approval. Then they come back (in this case) and say: Make it messier!
2. Book design must often happen by committee. How do you work collaboratively in this way and not get annoyed with the process?
I think it depends on your relationship with your client. I am really lucky with the publishers and editors at Children’s and Young Adult Books Random House. We have a great line of communication because they are all very creative and I trust their original vision. They in turn trust me to bring it to life and give me the freedom to explore different solutions.
3. What did you enjoy about working on My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up?
Already giggling at the titles of some of the illustrations being sent to me, such as ‘cat_vomit.jpg’ and ‘dog_kisser.jpg’ I was laughing hard as I started to layout the first chapter. Which to me is a great sign as it makes (my already awesome) job a lot of fun. It also helps me get into the right mind-frame for the audience. And I admit to reacting aloud to some of the stories (Vegemite-toe eeeewwwww!!).
4. What were some of the challenges that you faced?
Finding the right set of typefaces that complimented the story, suited the target audience age but also added character was a challenge. I tend to sit and play with a lot of combinations until I am happy and apply them to the layout.
5. Why do you particularly love to design books? Do you ever tell people in bookstores that you designed the cover of the book they are about to buy?
I love books. Full stop. And being able contribute some way to the creation of a book is something that I love doing. I have to admit to restraining myself from grabbing people on the street who are holding books I’ve designed. I have also been known to lurk around bookshop shelves and watch people pick up books I’ve designed. But I have never had the guts to accost anyone…yet! And I may or may not have stood by giggling as my husband rearranged a display in Kmart, by moving all the books with my covers to the front*.
*If this did in fact happen, I would like to point out that it was early in my book designing career and I have since learnt from my young ways, as booksellers hate people doing this (particularly authors and designers).
6. Are you a dog kisser, have you ever been involved in competitive eating and could your Nan beat Tom Weekly’s in a back-alley brawl?
I am definitely a dog smoocher, but won’t go so far as call it kissing. I have seen my dogs sniff their fair share of butts and eat the odd piece of poo and I am not pashing that! I give them smooches on the tops of their heads instead.
Although a few years ago I did do a photo shoot with my old dog Thorn, that involved him licking my face and me laughing nonchalantly . As the photographer saying the usual “yes, that looks great! Now laugh more, good dog lick more!” All I could think of was the poo-breakfast Thorn had probably eaten that morning.
Astred Hicks, Designer
That wraps up a week of insights into the making of My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up. I loved working with these creative humans who brought my stories alive and pushed me to be a better writer. I hope you’ve enjoyed this book journey.
THURSDAY
Illustrator Gus Gordon was a natural choice to illustrate My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up. We set him loose on the book with very little guidance and he became the other half of Tom Weekly’s brain. Here he gives insight into an illustration process that reflected his own childhood.
In Gus’s words:
Tom Weekly reminded me very much of my 12-year-old self. It wasn’t too difficult a task to channel the random thoughts of that younger, fantastically naïve, enthusiastic, imaginative boy as it is pretty much how I am today. I still, like Tom, daydream about incredible situations and still have the propensity to think in a random, fractured manner, jumping from thought to thought with no real segue as if I am picking my thoughts out of a hat. Drawing for me was the most efficient way of communicating these unorganised ideas. Off-kilter illustrations and pointless list writing were a speciality of mine. I drew in every class, in every margin on everything and anything I had in front of me. This kind of fervour – the need to express myself through drawing – was how I approached the illustrations, or more specifically, how I saw Tom drawing them – a natural extension of his rambling imagination.
The subjects (awkward encounters, gross bodily functions, eating, girls) were also all too familiar to me. Whether it was a panicked list about an operation, escaping false teeth or a drawing of a floating poo, it all felt disturbingly normal. Obviously it was the same for Tom!
Tomorrow, designer Astred Hicks from Design Cherry takes us inside the unconventional design and layout of the book in all its crumple-paged, coffee-stained glory.
Gus Gordon, Illustrator
WEDNESDAY
Here, Random House Australia Managing Editor Brandon VanOver gives an intimate insight into the editorial process on my new book of weird, funny, gross short stories for kids, My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up. Brandon was an essential player in pushing me to the end of the line as a writer and making these stories really zing.
1. Why do you think Zoe asked you to edit My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up?
Even though I work principally on the adult side of the ledger, I’ve had the pleasure to be involved with several children’s authors on an on-going basis. My sense of humour is a bit skewed, and perhaps Zoe thought an odd mind might match up well with odd stories and quirky illustrations (and those strange individuals responsible for them). There’s a fair amount of match-making involved between editor, author and illustrator, and working on MY LIFE felt like an instance where we were all on the same laugh track.
2. What did you enjoy about the process?
The stories were in great shape before they even reached my desk, so I was able to see the stories in their near-final form. It was fun to look for the more subtle places where a tweak here or there might make take the story that little bit further. I wasn’t bogged down on getting the storytelling fundamentals right, so all my energy was focused on taking the volume from 10 to 11. Short story endings are notoriously hard – some of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories feel like he was knocking out an exercise in English class and ran out of time (‘Pencils down!’) – and I love the process of kicking over the various possibilities, weighing them up, plucking one out and massaging it into the text for the best possible conclusion, be it shocking, profound, humorous (quietly or loudly so), heart-breaking or gross-out.
3. Can you remember any of the challenges or major changes that you suggested to any of the stories during the editorial process? (eg: I remember your encouragement to take The Dog Kisser further which led to Tom going full circle and becoming a Dog Kisser.)
I think the ending of ‘Swoop’ was the only place where it took a couple of versions to nail it down. If I remember correctly, the version I first saw had a fairly dark, abrupt ending, and then in another version the final confrontation with the magpie was taken out, a plot twist that I loved. I made a few wrong-headed suggestions of making Sasha’s dad the Dog Kisser and Tom looking over to see Bando having breakfast at the table with the dad, adding to his humiliation, etc., etc., so it goes to show how many wrong back alleys of the imagination you can follow until you find the ending that clicks. It’s often that volleying of ideas back and forth between author and editor that produces the best story. The final version is perfect to me (the magpie returned!) and says a lot about Tom’s personality: even in the face of wholesale defeat, he grabs onto that one thread of optimism, that one last scheme that will get him back on top.
4. As an editor, do you have any methods that you use to tap into a character, setting or story? How did you manage to understand what Tom should do next?
The author lays down the blueprint, so it’s really a matter of examining that structure, which is really a snapshot of that author’s mind and imagination (scary!), and making sure the story stays tight, on track and follows through to the best possible conclusion. There is an element of thinking about the nature of the character you’re presented with – in this case Tom Weekly – and comparing it with everything you know about the wild, weird and wonderful nature of human beings. Thinking about kids’ behaviour is great because childhood is a tremendously free and virtuosic period in your life. You don’t always have to make sense, so the plot possibilities are limitless; you just need to shirk off that adult part of yourself that has been socialised and tamed. How many times do I look at my son, Will, and think: what the heck were you thinking? It’s almost impossible to go back to that uninhibited self, so it’s a challenge to be authentic in children’s writing and editing. But I’m pretty there are a lot of Tom Weeklys running around out there.
5. Are you a dog kisser, have you ever been involved in competitive eating and could your Nan beat Tom Weekly’s in a back-alley brawl?
I’ve never had a dog, but I also never kiss and tell. I was once in a sarsaparilla spider eating contest when I was a kid – a half hour after the contest I was still eating the ice-cream in the backseat on the drive home. My granny would’ve smoked Tom’s like a cheap cigar.
Tomorrow, it’s illustrator Gus Gordon taking us inside his process on the book.
TUESDAY
Zoe Walton is a children’s and young adult publisher at Random House Australia. She published my MAC SLATER, COOLHUNTER books, later published by Simon & Schuster US. She also works with many other Australian authors including Deborah Abela and ‘New York Times’ bestseller John Flanagan. Here she gives insight into my new book of short stories MY LIFE AND OTHER STUFF I MADE UP from concept to completion.
1. Can you explain how the publication of My Life book came about?
We’d published Tristan’s Mac Slater, Coolhunter books and we wanted to find a new project for Tristan that would be just the right fit for Random House. I said to Tristan, ‘I’m thinking funny and full of adventure for boys aged 8-11 – what have you got?’ And of course Tristan delivered, with the first inklings of an idea that involved, in his words, ‘quite subtle and tasteful poo jokes’. How could I resist that?
From those early beginnings, we workshopped the idea of these short stories about Tom Weekly and his life, debated how many poo jokes one book could hold, and realised that we wanted to get an illustrator on board as well, who could bring Tom’s notebook to life with scruffy, hand-drawn illustrations. Someone who could take those poo jokes and, umm, well, run with them. Gus Gordon was that man.
2. What made you want to publish My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up?
To me these stories are like the essence of Tristan – they play to all his strengths: he’s very funny and has a knack for keeping it real when it comes to writing kids’ voices. I also know that for Tristan, it’s all about the creative process and the flow and zing of writing, and so short stories really fit in with the way he works and also the way he teaches kids to write. It’s all about invention and imagination.
3. Not many publishers seem to be doing short stories right now. Why is that? And what made you want to publish short stories?
It’s true that there aren’t hundreds of books of short stories out there, but there’s always a place for good short stories. They’re easy for kids to read, great for reluctant readers, and have awesome potential for the kind of unpredictable and fun twists that Tristan does so well. In fact, Tristan and I discovered that we share a love of Paul Jennings’ twisted short stories, which we devoured by the hundreds when we were kids. So My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up was obviously meant to be!
4. What were some of the challenges during the editorial and publication process?
Actually, working on My Life was more of a dream run. Our early challenge was to find the right illustrator. But Tristan had met Gus Gordon at a festival and the two got on like a house on fire, and we knew that Gus’s style would be perfect for the book. Often with illustrations there’s a whole process of concepts then drafts then refinements and then final illustrations, which can take months. But because we wanted a rougher, hand-drawn look for this book, as if Tom himself had done the drawings, the first illustrations Gus sent us were pretty much spot on, and only needed minor tweaks to be ready for print. Three cheers for Gus!
The other challenge with these stories was to make sure the twist in the tail of each story had the right KAPOW! factor. Sometimes Tristan would write three different endings and we’d have to choose which one was funniest. Tough job! But it was great that Tristan was also road testing the stories with kids, so he knew what they were laughing at – and where to draw the line when it came to the gross-out stuff!
5. Why children’s books? Why do you do what you do?
Because it’s just SO MUCH FUN. Who wouldn’t want to spend their days discussing such important questions as: ‘Do you think dog poo or cat vomit would be more hilarious in this scene?’
6. Are you a dog kisser, have you ever been involved in competitive eating and could your Nan beat Tom Weekly’s in a back-alley brawl?
1. No. 2. Only with my brother and sister, usually when we’re having yum cha and the mango pancakes arrive. You snooze, you lose. 3. Maybe, if she had her patchwork quilting gang there for back-up.
Zoe Walton, Publisher
Hi, I’m Tristan Bancks, author of the new children’s short story collection MY LIFE AND OTHER STUFF I MADE UP . This week on this here blog I’m going to take you on a journey through the publishing process from initial idea to final design. I will give insight into the processes of the key people who ushered this project from concept to print.
Monday: Author (Me)
Tuesday: Publisher (Zoe Walton, Random House children’s publisher)
Wednesday: Editor (Brandon VanOver, Managing Editor, Random House)
Thursday: Illustrator (Gus Gordon)
Friday: Designer (Astred Hicks, Freelance designer, Design Cherry)
Many of the stories in MY LIFE AND OTHER STUFF I MADE UP sprang from things that have happened to me. I then grossly embellished those stories to make for a series of (hopefully) funny and surprising tales.
I grew up reading Paul Jennings books like Unreal, Unbelieveable and Quirky Tails. I loved these books. Nobody else, at the time, was writing surprising, funny, odd tales for children quite like these. I have used my love of those stories as motivation.
As a kid I always jotted my ideas down in exercise books and notebooks. I didn’t know what I would do with them but I just had to get them down. When I talk to kids in schools and fests I always encourage them to get their ideas down – ideas for stories, movies, inventions, video games, jokes, cartoon characters and general thoughts on life. You never know when they might come in handy.
Thanks to illustrator Gus Gordon and designer Astred Hicks, this book looks and feels a bit like one of my notepads as a kid, with pictures and weird, funny, gross stories and things that would make me laugh. A book like this is a space for a child to make their own, to explore the things and ideas that they love. I encourage everyone, as soon as they can write, to have a book like this where they can be bold and adventurous without needing to be ‘right’ or having to prove anything to anybody. It’s the perfect antidote to NAPLAN testing.
Tomorrow, children’s publisher Zoe Walton will provide her insight into the journey of My Life.
Tristan Bancks, author
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