• Member Login
Telephone: 07591 380434 | Email: info@fcbg.org.uk
The Federation of Children's Book Groups
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • National Executive
    • Our History
    • Our Founder
    • The Jean Russell Gift
    • Support Us
  • What We Do
      • What we do on a national level
      • Introduction
      • Children’s Book Award
      • Conference
      • Past Conferences
      • National Non-Fiction November
      • National Share-A-Story Month
      • National Share a Story Month 2022
      • What we do at a local level
      • Introduction
      • Setting up a local Children’s Book Group
      • What local groups do
      • Find a group
  • Children’s Book Award
      • About CBA
      • CBA Home
      • Children’s Book Award 2022
      • About The Award
      • Previous Winners
      • 2020 Award
      • Winners
      • Shortlist
      • 2019 Award
      • Winners
      • CBA Top Ten 2019
      • Award Ceremony
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Newsletters
    • Resources Hub
    • Booklists
    • Press releases
    • Reading / Literacy Organisations
  • Membership
    • About
    • Member Login
  • Contact
  • Menu Menu

How My Work as a School Librarian Has Influenced My Writing

April 27, 2021/0 Comments/by FCBG blog

Guest post by Sue Wallman
Five years ago, after the publication of my first young adult thriller, I started a new career as a school librarian. Although untrained, I brought to the role a huge enthusiasm for books and writing, and an interest in young people. In turn, my job has had an interesting influence on my writing.

In my first school, one of the most socially deprived in Surrey, we used Accelerated Reader, so I knew for a fact that reading ages in our Year 7 cohort ranged from 6 to 16. One thing I quickly realised was many students had never used a library before. They needed to be taught the system and vocabulary or they were never going to feel it was for them. A frustrated Year 8 girl once described a book to me as “the thin one with lots of words” – she meant the paperback version. Most students, though, whatever their reading level, loved thrillers and mysteries, and their love of plot twists pushed me harder.

As a librarian, I see how students choose books. Of course, some reluctant readers are completely focussed on the thickness of the book, but most students inspect the cover, read the blurb and scan the first page. That first page better be good. Occasionally, they barely look at the book at all, and take it out because their friend has told them it’s good – and I love that. Word of mouth recommendation is everything.

I realise how important it is that my publisher hits the right note with my covers. They need to be attention-grabbing to appeal to my target audience, commercial enough to be sold in supermarkets (if I’m lucky), but not perceived as down-market or librarians and parents will assume my carefully crafted sentences have no substance.

My books have to compete with so much other stuff (especially TikTok). It blows my mind when readers tell me they’ve read one of my books in a day. That book will have taken about a year to write and rewrite, but who wouldn’t want their book to be unputdownable?

Working in a school library has taught me how much my readers love action. When something’s kicking off, you can almost touch the ripples of excitement. Of course, we need all sorts of books, but humans are wired for story. We want – more than ever – to make some sort of sense of the chaos of everyday life. We want great plots and satisfying endings. Interesting, believable characters are crucial, but I also need to make things happen, preferably things which my readers don’t see coming.

Being among my target audience means I have first-hand experience of teenage speech patterns, language and social media obsessions. I have to be careful though as slang can be fleeting and there are regional differences. Life is very different to how it was when I was a teenager, but the intense emotions are the same and it’s those which I tap into. My latest book, I Know You Did It, is based in a secondary school, so that’s been pretty handy!

As a librarian and author, I want the same thing: I want young people to read – to find books they can’t put down, which speak to them, and help them work out their feelings and who and where they want to be. If some of them love reading my books, that makes me proud.

I Know You Did It by Sue Wallman is published on 6th May 2021 (Scholastic UK)

Any opinions expressed may not truly reflect those of the FCBG

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
https://fcbg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/i-know-you-did-it.jpg 487 317 FCBG blog https://fcbg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/newlogo.png FCBG blog2021-04-27 05:30:252021-11-17 10:30:36How My Work as a School Librarian Has Influenced My Writing
0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search The Blog

Latest Blog Posts

  • The Turtles Return by Saviour PirottaAugust 14, 2022 - 6:00 am
  • Dual Q&A with Simon Philip and Nathan ReedAugust 12, 2022 - 6:15 am
  • Ten Healthy Ways to Reward your Brilliant Brain by Nicola MorganAugust 10, 2022 - 6:00 am
  • The Last Monster by Dan WalkerAugust 6, 2022 - 6:00 am
  • Greek Heroes, Top Ten Myths and Legends by Marcia WilliamsAugust 4, 2022 - 12:51 pm
  • Interview with Ruta SepetysAugust 3, 2022 - 11:29 am
  • The Inflatables by Jess Hitchman and Beth GarrodAugust 2, 2022 - 6:00 am
  • Librarian ListAugust 1, 2022 - 12:48 pm
  • For Newcomers and For Welcomers by Katherine ApplegateJuly 30, 2022 - 6:00 am
  • Magic and Dead Good Detectives by Jenny McLachlanJuly 29, 2022 - 6:00 am
  • All’s Well That Ends Well by Roy PeacheyJuly 27, 2022 - 6:00 am
  • How an ‘anti-librarian’ inspired me to write for the anti-readerJuly 25, 2022 - 6:00 am
  • The Inspiration that Sparked My Own Lightning by Lauren WolkJuly 24, 2022 - 10:37 am
  • The Girl Who Noticed EverythingJuly 22, 2022 - 8:00 am
  • FCBG Asks- Alex Falase-KoyaJuly 21, 2022 - 7:45 am
  • Inspiring all kids to love STEMJuly 17, 2022 - 8:11 am
  • No Sleep for Bear by Duncan BeedieJuly 15, 2022 - 5:49 pm
  • How vampires give a teen coming-of-age tale added biteJuly 14, 2022 - 1:19 pm

© Copyright – The Federation of Children’s Book Groups
Registered Charity no. 268289
Registered address: Federation of Children’s Book Groups, Wakananai Firs Road, Mardy, Abergavenny, NP7 6NA

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Youtube
History of Cars by Elliot KruszynskiThis Can Never Not Be Real – Author Interview with Sera Milano
Scroll to top