The Inside Scoop
Published in Buzz Words Edition 328 (republished with permission)
The annual cost of 24 issues of Buzz Words is only $48.
Melissa Wray has worked in education for many years and is passionate about learning and teaching. She had her first baby in 2006 and thought it would be a good time to enroll in a Creative Writing course while on family leave. She completed this over 18 months during the very short naps her son took! This began a new creative outlet that has continued over the years. Melissa’s debut young adult novel Destiny Road was released in 2012 and she was selected for The Maurice Saxby Creative Development program in 2015. Her work has won honourable mentions and features in several anthologies including Crock of Charms compiled and edited by Sally Odgers and Heat compiled and edited by Dee White. She completed a Master of Education in 2017 whilst researching Picture Story Book use in the classroom and wrote a thesis of the findings.
Your first book for young people
was Destiny Road (Morris Publishing). How did you go
about getting it accepted for publication? (Agent, festival pitch, slush pile,
knew someone…)
I have Buzz Words to
thank for getting Destiny Road
published! I saw a writing competition advertised in this very e-zine. The
competition asked for the first four chapters to be submitted, which I did.
Through this initial submission my story was later shortlisted and the entire
manuscript was requested. Elaine Ouston from Morris Publishing then
offered me a publishing contract, which I will be forever grateful for.
Can you tell readers about your most recent book to be published
by Odyssey Books?
The Ruby Locket is my new YA release. It is very
different to most things I have written, which was the reason I began writing
it in the first place. To begin with, it is written in a two person POV. Secondly it is a dystopian
setting which is also a new style of writing for me. Kerina and Saxon. Two
different stories. Two separate lives. One connected future.
To be released October, 2020.
How did you get this book accepted for publication? Did it take a
long time from submission to acceptance? And then how long before publication?
The Ruby Locket was originally written as a NaNoWriMo challenge in 2014. This is a
national novel writing challenge that encourages writers to write a completed novel
in a month. I had a lot of fun writing the two person POV within the dystopian
genre. Over time I worked on the story until I felt it was ready to begin
submitting to publishers. Each time my submission was unsuccessfull I reworked,
edited and tweaked a little more. After submitting to Odyssey
Books
it took around two months for them to request the full manuscript. It was another
two months before they made an offer of publication. The editing and publishing
process took twelve months from signing the contract to being released.
What are you working
on at the moment and how long will it take to write from start to finish?
I am currently on
working on a picture story book and a middle grade fiction book. Both have
elements of historical fiction woven into them and are original stories that
need to be told. Both are completed but I continue to polish them in between
submissions. Both begun from writing prompts for writing competitions and have
continued to evolve over time.
Can you name five
children’s novels (with authors’ names) which you most enjoyed reading?
Birthmarked by Carragh
O’Brien
Letters From The
Inside by John Marsden
Freedom Ride by Sue Lawson
A Single Stone by Meg
McKinlay
Mindcull by K H Canobi
Do you network much?
Social media or face-to-face (festivals, conferences etc)?
Going to live author
talks is something I try to do as often as possible. It is great to listen to
how people get their ides and why they wrote that story. The Geelong Regional
Libraries (my local) are constantly securing author encounters which is
terrific for our region. I have Facebook and love the connection to other
authors that it allows. The writing community is very supportive and generous. The
success of others is exciting and I am genuinely pleased for them, even though
we might not have ever met in person. Instagram is my new social media that I
am particularly enjoying. It’s great way to connect with others in short
snippets and visual prompts.
What advice would you give to an unpublished author about
getting a book published?
Write, Revise and Research. Write even if it is not very good. Nobody ever
got their first draft published! Revise after you have had time to distance
yourself and see the work with fresh eyes. It is unbelievable how many changes
can be made to what was thought to be a polished piece of writing. Research
through reading widely and subscribing to industry news. This is most valuable
for a beginning writer and unpublished author.
How can readers learn more about you?
Melissa believes everyone should Dream Big … Read
Often.
Odyssey Books https://www.odysseybooks.com.au/
Website: https://melissawray.blogspot.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liss_wray/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/DreamBigReadOften/
Email:
melissawray@hotmail.com.au
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6465945.Melissa_Wray
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