Nicky Singer's Blog
November 17, 2015
Children’s Books 2015: Market Commodities or Meaningful Stories? A Writer’s Tale
(first given as a speech to the IBBY Conference, London 14th November 2015) Today I’m going to do something rather un-British. I’m going to talk about money. Not the sort most writers earn – that would clearly be a pretty short speech – but the swing from editorial to marketing power that I’ve witnessed in […]
October 21, 2015
Island – The Director’s Cut
This is the afterword to my novel Island – explaining the genesis of the story, my chance encounter with Chris Riddell and my gratitude to all my amazing backers. So many people have nurtured Island. It’s a tale of chance remarks, serendipitous meetings – and incredible generosity. Let me begin at the beginning. The day […]
June 12, 2015
Slow Books – A (fairly) quiet Rant
Why did I decide to Kickstart Island – rather than conventionally publish? Some answers here. Along with some discussion on the current state of childrens’ publishing. Link above to Candy Gourlay’s blogsite, where the article first appeared in May 2015.
March 11, 2015
Tips for Writers
Tips for Writers by Nicky Singer When people ask me for writing tips, I always remember the remark of the agent who turned down my first novel. ‘Is there any hope?’ I asked. ‘Well,’ he replied, ‘at least you’ve finished a book. Most people want to have written a book, but far fewer actually want […]
February 27, 2015
Does This Bomb Cross Your Boundary?
My novel – The Innocent’s Story – is a dangerous book. (This article written on first publication of Innocent’s Story 2005) I didn’t know that when I wrote it. I thought it was a serious and moral attempt to contextualise terrorism for children. If the idea of talking to children about suicide bombing makes you […]
February 10, 2015
The Good, The Bad & the Opera
Is every soul born good? This is the question which opens my novel Knight Crew. I’d written a 150 pages of the book – my re-telling of the King Arthur legend set in contemporary gangland – when I was invited to a Music-in-Prisons event at Prison A. (This article first appeared as a guest blog […]
February 9, 2015
To Play Or Not To Play
The ink was barely dry on the final draft of my novel The Flask when the National Theatre rang me up and asked if I wanted to write a play. (This article first appeared as a Foyles Guest blog in 2012) There was a silence my end of the phone. “You’re not going to say […]
