In my last post of each month I’m in conversation with an author friend, each time on a different topic that I think will interest my readers. This month, I’m chatting with Karen Inglis, who is a British international bestselling children’s author.
Karen’s time travel adventure trilogy for readers ages 8-12. The first book in the series, The Secret Lake, has now been enjoyed in its original English version by over half a million children. There is also a fast-growing collection of foreign language versions, including Albanian, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Czech, Farsi, German, Italian, Japanese, Romanian, Russian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Spanish, Turkish, and Ukrainian. Wow! She has also written many other children’s books, including some for younger readers.
As I have a plan up my sleeve to write at least two children’s books in due course, I have a vested interest in talking to her today about the story behind her success, and sharing her top tips for other aspiring children’s authors. Her insights into what motivates children to read will also be of interest to anyone trying to encourage young people to read for pleasure, something dear to my own heart, especially after working for three years for the national children’s reading charity Read for Good and as a supporter of local charity Read With Me.
Debbie: Karen, you’re a very successful author of children’s fiction, with your bestsellers being your books for middle-grade readers, as they’re known in the trade. What qualities make a story attractive to middle-grade readers? Oh, and what are middle-grade readers exactly?
Karen: Hi, Debbie – thanks for having me! First things first, middle grade refers to books aimed at children aged 8-12. The main characters are generally within that age group, and occasionally a little older. ‘Middle grade’ is a publishing term that has come from America, although I gather from American friends that US parents use the term ‘middle-school books’ rather than middle-grade!
Debbie: Aha! ‘Middle-school’ books makes much more sense to me – ‘middle-grade’ sounds more like a quality judgement!
Karen: I think that what really attracts readers in this age group are stories in which the children have both freedom and agency and are largely away from the adults on some sort of adventure or quest. Not only are they having fun or solving a mystery, but they are also overcoming physical and/or emotional challenges, as well as learning along the way.
That learning might be about themselves or about other people or about life in general – or all three.
Crucially, it is not dictated in any sort of moral way. Rather, as the story progresses, it comes out through the children’s actions and reactions to key events and other characters. Certainly as I write for this age group I can feel both the former child in myself and my future readers imagining themselves alongside the characters in the book sharing their ups and downs. ‘I felt as if I was right there in the story!’ or ‘I wish I could have friends in the past like Tom and Stella!’ is a common comment from my young readers, so I think it’s working! I can’t say I follow a particular recipe for the Secret Lake stories, beyond creating believable (I hope!) characters whom readers will root for, and plots with twists, turns and surprises along the way that keep young readers turning the pages.
In short, the story needs to be one that a child is fully invested in and would want to keep the lights on for way past their bedtime!
Debbie: There are three books so far in the Secret Lake series – how do you make sure each one is different from the others?
Karen: For Return to the Secret Lake (book 2) I was keen from the outset to start from a different angle and to focus on one or two of the characters we had previously met in past time. Thus, whereas in The Secret Lake the story starts in the present, with Stella and Tom discovering the time tunnel and meeting Emma, Sophie, Lucy and Jack back in Edwardian times, in Return to the Secret Lake the story opens in the past (2012), where a life-threatening drama causes Lucy to go forward on her own through the time tunnel to try to get help from Stella and Tom for young Emma who is seriously ill.
So, this time around, I was allowing young readers to see our modern world from Lucy’s perspective whereas in book one the reader had experienced Edwardian London through the eyes of our modern children.
And when later in book 2 they all go back down the time tunnel, rather than have them staying in the homes and communal gardens of Notting Hill, as they do in book 1, a twist in the plot sees them crossing London in an early motor car to meet Jack and his family in East London. Not only did this offer a chance to highlight the sights and sounds of London in 1912, but I was also able to introduce young readers to how the poorer classes lived at that time.
Of course, we writers know well that ‘show, don’t tell’ makes for great writing, and I took care to ensure that the social history was simply there for the taking in the background, with the page-turning plot fraught with danger, twists, and turns taking centre stage.
Finally, in Beyond the Secret Lake (book 3) I went for a ‘hybrid’ approach, starting off in the present once again but very quickly jumping to the past and a ‘parallel’ scene which eventually leads young Jack to come and meet Tom and Stella, only to discover that a letter they have found told them he was coming. (Time moves in mysterious ways!) Once they all return to the past the variety continues as the story takes the children out of London to a grand country estate where all is not as it seems. Needless to say there is a mystery to solve that requires the children’s teamwork, trust and loyalty to each other…
Debbie: In the early 20th century, there was a sea-change in publishers’ and authors’ attitudes to young readers. Out went the cautionary tales about naughty children coming to sticky ends (Struwwelpeter, I’m looking at you!) and moralising stories of perfect paragons. In came adventurous stories of spirited children breaking rules, often in the absence of adults to keep them on the straight and narrow. What innovations and trends have emerged in 21st century children’s books?
Karen: To be honest, when it comes to ‘adventure’ I think it’s much of the same these days – kids are still getting out there and breaking rules, and having fun – but for the most part are working out for themselves what’s right and wrong through their experiences rather than (as might have been the case) a reprimanding adult setting them right at the end!
However, there is a lot more besides – most notably around diversity and ‘being different’ as well as strong female characters – all of which have emerged as strong themes in the 21st century. Children’s book covers today say it all – gone are the dominant images of white middle class characters and in are character casts featuring a blend of children from different ethnic backgrounds, including children with physical disabilities. This is great not just for the story, but also for encouraging the love of reading across the widest possible groups.
Children are far more likely to engage with reading if they can see people like them in the story and we have come a long way on this in recent years.
In addition, themes such as bullying, bereavement, family separation, and being able to express feelings run through many children’s novels these days, along with environmental themes. The Last Bear is a fantastic example of a children’s book that mixes environmental messages with a great story that pulls at the heart with its themes of loneliness and bereavement alongside the effects of global warming, without preaching or moralising . Similarly The Boy at the Back of the Class is a great example of a page-turning story that incorporates not only bullying but immigration, single parent families and the difficulties of fitting in. And there are plenty more where these come from!
Debbie: Although publishers and booksellers categorise and display books as appropriate for a specific age group (not always helpful, because a child’s emotional and reading age don’t necessarily chime), I firmly believe one is never too old to enjoy a children’s book. I’ve recently been rereading E Nesbit‘s books for children, and even at my age I find them compelling and often hilarious. Who are your favourite children’s authors – to read when you were a child, and to read as an adult? Which children’s authors or particular books shaped you as a writer?
Karen: Funnily enough, as a child I didn’t read nearly as much as my siblings did. I spent most of my spare time at the riding stables mucking out and going on adventures riding through woods with my friends! However, my mother did read to us a lot, and it was classics such as Alice in Wonderland, and The Wind in the Willows that really captured my imagination – along with poems from The Book of A Thousand Poems. All of these, I’m sure, have influenced my writing style, particularly for the Secret Lake series. I do, however, remember the magic I felt when first reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – especially when the children found their portal into the magical world up in a spare room behind those coats.
This juxtaposition of a magical world that is just out of sight but is there if you look for it is something that has always intrigued me, and I often quote Roald Dhal on that at my school visits:
“…watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” ― Roald Dahl
As an adult, I love reading children’s books, and enjoy a real mix of classics, children’s historical fiction as well as more modern adventures. Notable recent reads have been most of the Anne of Green Gables series which I have absolutely adored (two more to go!), and Journey to the River Sea, by Iva Ibbotson, which had long been on my list!
Debbie: Anne of Green Gables was chosen by our mutual author friend Jean Gill in a previous series of guest posts I ran on this blog in 2020, asking writers to tell us about their favourite school stories. You can read her post here.
Karen: On a more fantastical level, Philip Reeves’ Mortal Engines and Struan Murray’s Orphans of the Tide series are both brilliant reads with feisty female main characters in a Steam Punk world. Ditto Queen of the Warrior Bees by Jean Gill, albeit this is moving into YA.
My love of children’s historical fiction partly comes from falling in love with Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, and Charles Dickens when I finally really got into reading in my teenage years. These books have definitely influenced my style of writing – or at least my sense of observing the world – in the Secret Lake series.
For my shorter middle-grade novels, which are aimed at more reluctant readers, I think some of the chapter books I used to read to our boys when they were younger including those by Jeremy Strong may have influenced my writing style. Also, I have a business writing background, which requires you to be succinct, and I find it quite easy to switch into that style when crafting a story with a reluctant reader in mind. These books are very different in style to The Secret Lake, which has more description sprinkled into the story.
Debbie: I’m sure any parents, grandparents, carers and teachers reading this would love to hear your top tips for encouraging reluctant young readers to embrace a regular reading habit – what’s your best advice?
Karen: I would say read to your children regularly, and let them see you reading regularly yourself. In other words, lead (or read!) by example. Oh, and let them choose their books (or magazines), no matter what you may think of the author in question! Put them in control.
I believe most young readers prefer print books to ebooks. We all hear so much about children spending too much screen-time.
Debbie: Do adults consciously try to make children avoid ebooks to limit screen-time, or are there other reasons that young readers prefer physical copies? Brough Girling, founder of the charity Readathon – now Read for Good – said “Children see books as toys” – which may also encourage them to choose physical copies that they can touch and hold.
Karen: I honestly don’t know why children prefer print books, but 95% of my book sales are in print! If I had to guess, I’d say it’s nothing to do with being restricted from screen time and more to do with wanting to hold something tangible with the cover on full view, almost as a badge of pride. Long may it continue!
Debbie: Tell us a little about the world of The Secret Lake stories, and what differentiates it from other middle-grade books.
Karen: The books are set in two time periods – Edwardian London from 1911-1913 and ‘modern-day’ London from 2011-2013 with the main characters (Emma and Sophie in the past, and Tom and Stella in modern time) living in the same house.
The overall premise was inspired when some friends moved to a converted apartment in one the huge Victorian houses that backs onto the communal gardens of Notting Hill. When I stepped out on my first visit and saw the children all running freely and playing amongst the trees and clusters of bushes I had one of my ‘tingly moments’ as I wondered what would happen if they could meet the children who had lived and played there 100 years earlier. Then, when I saw one of the children crawl inside a rhododendron bush the notion of a time tunnel was born…
The books are really about friendship and loyalty across time as the children from modern and past time get to know each other and help one another in times of crisis. (It is these crises in turn that seem to trigger the appearance of the time tunnel; there seems to a circular connection bringing the children together.)
The stories have a ‘classic’ feel rooted in historical fiction ‘reality’ rather than a magical world.
The magic is limited to the mysterious moles whose appearance on moonlit nights signals that the time tunnel has appeared inside the rhododendron bush. To this extent I think they differ from much of what’s around – historical mystery adventures, with just a sprinkle of magic!
Debbie: You also write for children of other ages, so whatever age a child is, there will be a Karen Inglis book for them! Can you please tell us a little about your other books?
Karen: It’s by accident rather than design that I write across a range of age groups. It all comes down to my ‘tingly feeling’ as I tell pupils at school visits! This is when I see or hear something that I can’t get out of my mind and feel a shiver run through my body – that feeling refuses to leave me until finally I get around to writing the book, which in some cases can take years! My other titles include two rhyming picture books about kind-hearted Ferdinand Fox for ages 3-5 (inspired by local foxes); a rhyming story The Tell-Me Tree (inspired by a local tree and an overheard conversation) which really helps children aged 4-8 talk about their feelings, and three illustrated chapter books for ages 7-10 aimed at reluctant readers. These last three are fast-paced and fun adventures inspired by local settings or outings with our boys when they were younger. They include Eeek! – featuring a football-mad runaway alien; Henry Haynes and the Great Escape, featuring Gordon, a smelly gorilla with a zoo escape plan, and Walter Brown and the Magician’s Hat, where an inherited top hat and a talking cat cause magical mayhem on Walter’s tenth birthday.
Debbie: Which age do you prefer to write for, and why?
Karen: All of them! I love the variety.
Debbie: What are your top tips for anyone aspiring to write a middle-grade novel??
Karen: Write from the heart, never preach, and before planning your book, read around other children’s middle-grade books to get a feel for what is working. That way, before putting pen to paper, you will be clear about your audience’s needs and in a position to craft the best possible first draft in terms of plot/story, themes, language, characters and book length.
Debbie: What are you writing now? Will there be more Secret Lake books?
Karen: Yes, there will be more Secret Lake books in due course, and I have at least one idea tumbling around in my mind, which is how it always starts… But for the moment I am deep into research for a ‘book for grown-ups’ as I like to say! This one has been in the back of my mind and partially planned (with sample chapters written) for almost twenty years, following a ‘tingly moment’ after something I heard on BBC Radio 4. Whether it ends up coming to something or not I don’t know, but I am thoroughly enjoying going back to the research I started such a long time ago. (The book is set in the future and not the past, so a far cry from historical fiction.)
Debbie: Which children’s classic do you wish you had written? My choice is E Nesbit’s The Railway Children.
Karen: A modern classic I’d have been proud to have written would be Pax by Penny Packer. If going back in time, I’d plump for The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.
Debbie: Karen, thank you so much for taking time to take in such detail about the world of children’s books and your life as a bestselling children’s author. If anyone would like to find out more about Karen and her work, she has two websites – one for young readers: www.kareninglisauthor.com, and the other for children’s authors, www.selfpublishingadventures.com. She has also written an excellent how-to book for aspiring writers for young readers, How to Self-publish and Market a Children’s Book.
