Anna Claybourne: FAQs
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How did you get that job? |
I was lucky - I became a writer by just applying for a job as a trainee children's non-fiction writer with Usborne Publishing. I had a degree in English and a small amount of proofreading experience. I got the job, and worked there for three years. Usborne trained me in all aspects of non-fiction writing and editing. Then I went freelance so I could move to Scotland.
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Do you draw the pictures too? |
No - and this really is a frequently asked question. I write the text, then a designer lays out the text and decides on the pictures. If we're using artwork (rather than photos), an artist does the pictures. If we're using photos, I sometimes get to choose the ones I like from online picture libraries. My favourite is the Science Photo Library.
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How do you manage being on your own at home all day? How do you motivate yourself? |
Everyone asks this, but I love being at home alone all day - it's just a personality thing. If you like being around people all the time, you probably shouldn't think about doing this kind of job. However, I do talk to friends and colleagues on the phone several times a day and do a lot of emailing. About the motivation - since I don't get paid if I don't work, I have to work! Also, I enjoy my work a lot, so it's not too difficult.
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How can I become a writer? |
My advice for aspiring writers is to read as much as you can, and, if you have time, write a diary every day. Keep your diaries, as well as any stories, poems or essays you write, in a big box and they'll be useful later. Try to get involved in writing for a school or college newspaper or local newspaper. (I was too shy to do this and I missed out.) It's hard to start being a freelance writer straight away, so maybe look for a job in journalism, publishing, PR or advertising first.
If you're starting as an adult and are working in another field such as teaching, read a lot in the field you'd like to work in - such as children's books, popular science or whatever - and write as much as you can in your spare time. Join or start a writing group or class - this is good because it forces you to have something ready each time. There is lots of support on the web and in the form of books and magazines. Try MsLexia (for women writers), WritersWeekly.com, and Google's Writers' Resources page, and get the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook (at Amazon.co.uk), or in the US, Writer's Market (from Amazon.com).
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What's your favourite book? |
My favourite book of all is Roget's Thesaurus, a book that tells you how to find another word for a word you've thought of. It's very useful for writers and also hilarious to read. You can visit a very good online thesaurus here. I don't have a favourite fiction book as it changes all the time, but some of my current and all-time favourite authors are Carol Shields, Ian McEwan, Alice Munro, Joan Aiken, Roald Dahl and Philip Pullman. I also love some much older books such as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Macbeth by Shakespeare, and the Old English legend Beowulf.
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What's your favourite book that you've written? |
Until recently it was The World of Shakespeare, a guide to Shakespeare for ages 11 and up (see the books page), which I co-wrote in 1995-1996 with my colleague Rebecca Treays while working at Usborne. It won the 1997 Times Literary Supplement Senior Information Book Award, which was presented by Trevor MacDonald, but unfortunately I couldn't go to the ceremony because I was in Canada. Click here to see Bec and Peter Usborne receiving the award.
However, now my fave is probably Tiger, published by Belitha - mainly because I love tigers. See books.
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What's your best ever review? |
I treasure this one from New Scientist: "Usborne's... Computer Dictionary for Beginners is excellent... the book squeezes an incredible amount of useful stuff into its 64 illustrated pages. Books of this quality demonstrate that, in the right hands, information itself can inspire."
There are also some interesting new customer reviews on the Amazon sites ~ for example of Starting Drawing, Planet Earth, and The World of Shakespeare.
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What's your worst ever review? |
I probably haven't spotted the worst ever one, but check out Percy P's remarks on the Amazon.com bookshop site's page for The Adventures of Ulysses. He complains that the book is a poor reflection of the real Odyssey, which is true. He's also upset that I didn't go into more detail about the preparation of the spike used to gouge out the Cyclops's eye.
The new Genes and DNA book has already started to cause some consternation about whether it is biased for or against scientific advances such as GM crops and genetic engineering. The New Scientist reviewer felt it was biased against science and called it "inflammatory"; but I suspect reviewers with other backgrounds might find the opposite. (Needless to say it's meant to be unbiased, and tries to explain both sides of each argument.)
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Why do you live in Edinburgh? |
Edinburgh is a great place to live - it's small and easy to get around, yet it's a busy capital city; it's amazingly beautiful; it's not too expensive to live in the centre of town; and there's a lot going on. I do work with several London publishers though, so I go to London regularly for meetings.
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Do you really work in a sleeping bag? |
This FAQ appears by popular request. Yes, I sit at my desk at home inside a big turquoise sleeping bag, and I would recommend it to anyone. It means you can be warm without having to heat the whole house, and it gives you a nice cosy feeling, as if you're working in bed (second-best option to working in the bath, which is what I would do if I could).
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You're a writer who lives in Edinburgh, so you must know J. K. Rowling! Do you go for coffee with her? What do you think of Harry Potter? Don't you want to follow in J. K. Rowling's footsteps and write best-selling fiction books? etc. |
I don't know J. K., although I do live in the same part of Edinburgh as her and probably go to some of the same local shops (where, possibly even more excitingly, I have spotted Robin Cook).
I have read the first four Harry Potter books and will read the rest, and I enjoy them, though I do think they're a bit worryingly old-fashioned when it comes to gender roles and so on (which is odd, when you think about the phenomenon that is J. K. herself). But she is a great popular writer and I think it's brilliant that the Harry Potter thing has happened – it proves beyond all doubt that kids can still get excited about books, and that books are not outdated or made redundant by newer media.
Of course most writers would like to write a bestseller, and I do attend a creative writing group and hope that I might eventually publish some of my own fiction.
