In season one of Prepublished, I talked mostly to writers, agents and editors in the world of children’s fiction, as that’s where I spent the first ten years of my published life. Season two will spread its wings a bit and include conversations with writers across all age groups, including poets and playwrights, debut authors and bestsellers. As before, we’ll also take a look behind the scenes at the world of publishing. 

But I start where I left off, with children’s writing. James Nicol is the author of a fantasy children’s series, published by Barry Cunningham of Chicken House. Barry is the man who discovered JK Rowling, Lucy Christopher, MG Leonard, Kiran Millwood Hargrave (sorry I misspoke your surname in the spoken intro, Kiran), Maz Evans and, in amongst them, me. 

James is the first person I spoke to for this series, during the first lockdown, and once we’d mastered the technology, it was a balm to the soul. Like me, he had a long route to becoming a published writer. I love his story about turning down a dependable job in a sticking foam factory to work as a bookseller for many years. 

James took various writing courses while he honed his craft, and I wanted to discuss the value of these with him. Is it worth it? Should one do it? What do you get out of it? All useful things to know, I think. As always, it was good to talk to a fellow writer about the ups and downs of the road to publication. I loved his comment that ‘you can’t fix a blank page’. If you want to be a writer, however hard it is, you first have to write.

https://jamesnicolbooks.com

https://www.chickenhousebooks.com