My honorary dragon this week is ninja Jen Swann Downey, author of the brilliantly-titled debut novel, The Ninja Librarians, which leaps onto bookstore shelves today! When Dorrie and Marcus chase a bad-tempered mongoose into a library closet, they make an astonishing discovery: the headquarters of a secret society of ninja librarians. Their mission: protect those whose words get them into trouble, anywhere in the world and at any time in history. Dorrie would love nothing more than to join the time-travelling society, fighting injustice with a real sword! But when a traitor surfaces, she and Marcus are prime suspects. Can they clear their names before the only passage back to the twenty-first century closes forever?

Unsurprisingly, Jen says she has never visited a library in which she didn't want to spend the night. Her non-fiction pieces have appeared in publications such as New York Magazine, The Washington Post, and Women's Day. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia with her husband and three children and feels very lucky they have not yet fired her.

1) Uh oh, it’s the zombie apocalypse. Which author (living or dead) do you want riding shotgun?

Eva Ibbotson without a DOUBT. She often wrote about ghosts, vampires, witches, sea monsters and the like with great sympathy. I can picture her swatting a pursuing zombie on his nose with her handbag, and insisting in a very understanding yet stern way that we really couldn’t have that kind of shambling “I want to eat your flesh” nonsense if we were all to get along. And if that didn’t work and we had to die, we’d do it laughing.

2) Look, I got a time machine on eBay! Where do you want to go? (Said time machine may possibly malfunction and leave you there. Possibly. It was *very* cheap.)

Today? 10th century Timbuktu, when it wasn’t so lost, and in fact a great crossroads, stuffed full of scholars and traders.

3) What’s your favorite thing about writing for kids?

As a kid, I loved DWELLING inside of a book, living FIERCELY inside the author’s created world and embroidering it with my own extra details. Also, kids are still forming their ideas of the possible. Wonder is strictly not prohibited. That said, I most definitely set out to write The Ninja Librarians for adults as well as kids to enjoy. As a kid, those were the kind of books I loved most, the ones which seemed to be speaking on two levels at once.

4) A witch has cast a spell on you (sorry about that) and you’ve woken up as a character in a children’s book – what’s your special talent or power?

To be able to discern the true emotion out of which the words uttered by others spring.  Also, to be able to hang swings from low-lying clouds.

5) What’s the scariest or strangest thing you’ve ever done?

So many to choose from… but… here’s a scary one. As much for the rest of the world, as for me: I decided it made perfect sense to learn how to drive a stick shift car by simply getting into one and proceeding to drive it from Brooklyn to New Paltz, New York.

6) What’s something you wish you’d known about writing when you started out? What’s something you wish you’d known about publishing?

I wish I’d understood better the power of index cards and plotting ahead of time. As for publishing, thanks to the folks who’ve been willing to share their experiences on their blogs and websites, and tombstones, I have to say… I haven’t yet been surprised!

7) What would your daemon be?

I would WANT it to be an otter, but it might be a moose.

8) My book doesn’t have dragons, but it does have... Gayetty’s Medicated Papers, aurochs, an imaginary dog, a mongoose, the smell of ancient Paris, rope-climbing librarians, and Hypata – wicked smart mathematician, logician and croquet player extraordinaire.

Swings that hang from clouds?? Wow, me too :) You can find out more about Jen and her books on her website and Facebook page, chat to her on Twitter, and buy The Ninja Librarians here.

My guest this week is the hilarious Allan Boroughs, a writer and traveller with a passion for big adventure stories “in which a lot of stuff happens”. His first novel, Ironheart, was inspired by his travels in Siberia and  tells the story of a young girl who goes in search of her missing father and makes friends with a military android.  As well as journeying to Siberia, Allan’s travels have taken him to Mongolia, China and, most recently to the Antarctic. For his next book, he is planning a trip to the jungles of Venezuela.  

1) Uh oh, it’s the zombie apocalypse. Which author (living or dead) do you want riding shotgun?

It’s a difficult one – obviously you want to be able to have a good writerly conversation in the evenings now that there’s no TV, on the other hand you want someone whose going to be a bit handy with an automatic weapon.

Sadly, most of my favourite kids’ authors would be pretty damn hopeless in a zombie fight – CS Lewis, Philip Pullman, JRR Tolkien (all lovely chaps but each about as lethal as a scone).  So based on the Allan Boroughs ‘Literary/Kick Ass’ survivability Index © (see below), I’d probably have to go with Andy McNab.  

2) Look, I got a time machine on eBay! Where do you want to go? (Said time machine may possibly malfunction and leave you there. Possibly. It was *very* cheap.)

How about anytime during the golden age of adventure:

• 1889 to travel round the world in 80 days with Nellie Bly 
  
• 1907 to join Percy Fawcett’s expedition to the heart of the Amazon (in which he shot a 62 foot Anaconda don’t you know) 
  
• 1910 to join Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole 
  
• 1914 to join Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic expedition (but not if I have to eat the huskies)
  

Actually I’d like to do all of these – how about I just go back three minutes to the point where you came in and I just mug you for the time machine?

3) What’s your favourite thing about writing for kids?

It’s an audience that doesn’t impose any limits.  Nothing is out of bounds, too silly or too far-fetched to be given serious consideration by young readers.  At the same time they are the most demanding audience in terms of technical excellence – kids never miss inconsistencies of plot, characterisation or story world and they never forgive sloppy writing.

It drives me mad when people denigrate children’s writing as less serious than adult literature – it’s both patronising and wrong and I’m pretty sure that no one who holds this point of view has ever really tried it.

4) A witch has cast a spell on you (sorry about that) and you’ve woken up as a character in a children’s book – what’s your special talent or power?

Olfactoflage – that’s the art of being able to smell like your surroundings

5) What’s the scariest or strangest thing you’ve ever done?

Well I’ve eaten scorpions, swum beneath the Antarctic circle, crashed a dog sledge (when the lead dog decided to take a dump) and been bitten by a snake.  However, probably the weirdest thing was getting married in Las Vegas - by Elvis. 

6) What’s something you wish you’d known about writing when you started out? What’s something you wish you’d known about  publishing?

Writing:  Probably a good idea to know how your book’s going to end before you start writing it.

Publishing:  Publishers are businesses – the more you understand and appreciate how they make money the more inclined they will be to help you

7) What would your daemon be?

Something that wasn’t in danger of wandering off, like a tape worm, or maybe head lice.

8) My books don’t have dragons, but they do have...  Androids, tech-hunters, two-hundred year old shamans, teenage outlaws, pirates, submarines, rocket packs, volcanoes, meteorites, steam-ships and giant moving oil rigs. 

Oh, and dinosaurs.  So they do have dragons, sort of.

Dammit, why do I interview people who are clever enough to think of mugging me for my time machine?? *sets burglar alarm* If you'd like to know more about Allan (and I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't, after those answers :) you can find him on his website and Twitter.

So you've only gone and written a book. CONGRATULATIONS. Out of all the millions of people who say 'Oh, if only I had the time', or 'I have a GREAT idea! One day I'll write it', or 'I've been working on my first chapter for nine years', you've ACTUALLY GONE AND DONE IT. Do a few cartwheels. Drink a few margaritas. Pet a few kittens. You've earned it.

BUT. What you have, I'm afraid, is not yet a book. It's a draft. Even if you've already slaved over it and edited it and rewritten it til you've dripped blood on the keyboard (ew, please don't do that), in order to make it really sparkle, to make it stand every chance of getting picked up by an agent and publisher, you're going to need fresh eyes on it. And fresh eyes means knowledgeable critique partners.

It isn't enough just to have a couple of friends who don't even read in your genre cast an eye over it. They probably won't know what to pinpoint, and they're your *friends* so they'll be scared to say anything that isn't YAY LOVED IT for fear of damaging your friendship. You want feedback, HONEST feedback, from other writers. Don't worry if you don't know any other writers. Almost nobody does when they start out. So where do you find them?

Twitter: Are you on Twitter? You should be. The writing community there is incredibly friendly, supportive and helpful, especially the kidlit/YA crowd. If you're brand new and don't know who to follow, try following some of your favourite authors or bloggers and see who *they* follow or are followed by, and just chat to people. Once you've made some pals, you can tweet that you're looking for a crit partner for your amazing new middle-grade zombie-dragon story, and see if you get any takers.

How About We CP: An excellent Tumblr with regular updates from writers of all genres and categories who are looking to hook up with new CPs.

Critique Partner Love Connection: Set up by bestselling YA author Maggie Stiefvater. A great place to find CPs, especially if you write YA. 

CPSeek: What it says on the tin. A website set up specifically for writers seeking critique partners.

The Blueboards: The official forums of SCBWI, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. BUT you don't need to be a member to read and post there. You do need to register and post at least fifty times in order to gain access to certain parts of the boards, but if you write kidlit or YA this place is not just somewhere to find crit partners, but also an absolute gold mine of information on every aspect of writing and publishing for children and teens. It's also an incredibly friendly and supportive place. I really, really recommend it.

So you've found someone who might be interested. Yay! Now what? Here's a tip: do not agree to be someone's crit partner without first testing the waters. I recommend swapping your first chapters and critting them. Then you can see if (a) you like this person's writing enough to want to critique their whole book (remember it takes a decent chunk of time to critique a novel, so you really don't want to get stuck with something that just isn't your thing, plus if you just don't like or read in the genre, for example, you will be much less help as a CP than someone who's knowledgeable in the area) and (b) you can see if you like their style of critiquing and find it helpful. Sometimes you might run across someone who is a good writer but just doesn't get your sense of humour, for example, which is no fun.

Then if the chapter-swappage goes well - congrats, you've just found yourself a critique partner! Now all those lazy bits of writing, inadvertent plot holes, and info-dumps will (hopefully) disappear with their help. Also, don't stop at just one. If you can find two or three, then do. That way you'll have enough feedback to know if your main character really *is* hopelessly unlikeable, or if it's just one person's opinion.

ADDED BONUS: Critiquing other people's work - as opposed to just having your work beta read - will help to make you a better writer. And if you're really lucky, your CPs will become good friends too. Win/win!

PS If you have any other tips on where to find CPs or what to do with 'em once you've got 'em, feel free to chime in in the comments :)

PPS If you still can't find a CP or would like some extra help with your story or query, check out my editing page.