Three Tips for Aspiring Writers

Three Tips for Writers from bestselling author, Karen McMillan

Karen McMillan is a popular and diverse author, from bestselling novels, The Paris of the East, The Paris of the West and Brushstrokes of Memory, to non-fiction books that inspire and help others: Everyday Strength and Unbreakable Spirit, and now the popular Elastic Island Adventures series for children, optioned to be made into movies, and Suzy Cato is narrating the audiobooks. Karen talks to us about her writing.

‘2023 is a very special year. I have just had my 20^th book published, 20 years after my first book hit the bookshops, thanks to my wonderful publishers. I’ve ended up writing fiction, non-fiction and children’s books over two decades, and I would like to share three tips I hope will inspire anyone who would like to have a book published. If I can achieve the dream of being a published author, so can you!

The first tip to being a writer is to be an avid reader. Typically, I read 250 to 300 books a year. I’m not saying you need to read that many books to be an author, but you do have to read some books on a regular basis to understand the world of books and publishing. Imagine being a scriptwriter and never watching TV or film! If you write crime novels, you need to read other crime novels. If you write children’s books, you should read other children’s books. You get the picture!

The second tip is to write when you can and write about what you are passionate about. I don’t get to write every day, but when I sit down to write, I make the most of the time, and I’m always enthused about the subject matter I have chosen. My two books about cancer were born from a passion for helping other families facing this dreadful illness. My fiction has its genesis in people I have met or places I have visited, which have spurred me to go on and write a full-length novel because I feel passionate about the story I want to create. The Elastic Island Adventure series for children was inspired by family. Milla, the then 10-year-old in the family, kept asking me when I was going to write a children’s book, so I originally wrote the books as something she would enjoy. She continues to inspire me, as do the many children I meet when doing school events. The Elastic Island Adventures books encourage the ‘theatre of the mind’ in children, and I love that the series is set in our part of the world, the South Pacific! I feel very passionate about creating fun books for children that encourage their own literary and creativity.

My latest book is Elastic Island Adventures: Rarotonga. For people who don’t know about the series, four Kiwi kids travel on the ‘elastic island’ in each book to fabulous destinations in the South Pacific. Each book is a different adventure, where they have to work together to get out of trouble before returning home. They are great for children aged 7 to 12 years of age.

In the latest adventure, the children travel to beautiful Rarotonga. They are expecting to relax in the sun, but it’s not long until they run into problems. Mighty Moko, the resident grumpy gecko who lives in their room, is determined to get rid of them, no matter what! But his annoying antics are quickly surpassed when all the black pearls on the island are stolen in a brazen heist, the thief leaving clues scattered around the island. The children are determined to solve the clues, but even with the help of the wise Mana Tiaki, will they be successful? Will the people of Rarotonga ever see their precious black pearls again?

In the previous books, the adventures have been set in made-up South Pacific islands, but I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Rarotonga, thanks to the Pacific Resort Hotel, to research this book. I’m so delighted this book is set in real-life Rarotonga and young readers will get to learn about Cook Islands’ history and culture in a fun way. I did a lot of reading before my research trip to Rarotonga, and I hit the ground running with a list of places to visit in person. The Pacific Resort Hotel answered my numerous questions and Cook Island Tourism also read and checked the final manuscript. I got to meet local artists Pania and Ivon Lee while in Rarotonga, and they created the gorgeous cover illustration. It was a real joy to have so many people from Rarotonga involved in the book’s production.

So my final tip? I think another key thing is to be flexible and have a joy of writing. Enjoy all the adventures along the way as well, but also go with the flow if you can’t write for some reason. People might think it’s been a book a year over the past twenty years in my book career, but that isn’t the case. I had a significant gap when I was facing cancer where I did no writing and, therefore, no books were published, but I seem to be making up for the gap now!’

Elastic Island Adventures: Rarotonga, Duckling Publishing, RRP $21.99, available at all good bookshops and from www.ducklingpublishing and www.karenm.co.nz