The Crossover Novel - A Realy Nice Rest

The Crossover Novel: A Really Nice Rest.

(Published in the Northern Echo May 2004.)

Some years ago, after a brief foray into young children’s fiction, I wrote a novel about Lizza, who was fifteen. After escaping from the North East to work Lizza comes home only to be ‘locked in’ by the travel restrictions during the nine days of the 1926 national strike.

Not knowing any other writers, and not being locked into networks so familiar to present day beginning-writers, I merrily sent Lizza off to ‘someone’ at two very major publishers.

The first publisher loved it but suggested changes. In my new-writer-pride I considered this unthinkable, like cutting off my baby Debora’s arm. So I sent it off to the other publisher. Linda Jennings of Hodder & Stoughton – later my much respected editor – wrote and said she how much she enjoyed it. They were happy to publish it, virtually unchanged, except for the removal of a family called Onions who were cluttering up the plot.

I was so happy, I nearly fell out of bed. (Bryan had just brought up the post with a cup of tea). Any new writer will tell you how orgasmic this moment is. Here are total strangers - totals strangers in the chilly literary regions on London, no less - who think your work good enough to publish! No greater validation for a new writer. I write, therefore I am.

Then I read further into the letter.

Linda said. ‘This will be wonderful for our young adult list.’ Young adult? A children’s novel? But I had written a novel, a universal story that could be read and relished by anyone, whatever their age.

Still good news, though. I embraced Linda and Hodder & Stoughton as my gateway to serious writing and they subsequently published two more young adult novels. This was eighteen years and fourteen novels ago but all three of these children’s novels are still borrowed in British Libraries. Lizza is still read by adults. The Real Life of Studs McGuire is on some Australian school’s required reading list, another is still read in Swiss schools. Probably the glue-sniffing scenes are a bit of a pull.

Then I wanted to write in the same style, but increase my scope and scale. The only way to do this in those days was to move into adult fiction. Fourteen novels on I do not regret this. The label gracing my novels is now ‘Saga’ of ‘Historical’, rather than ‘young adult’ but they seem to be enjoyed by many readers out there and as a writer I relish their pleasure.

A few weeks ago I was at Bishop Auckland Town Hall brooding on the fact that these days I could have increased my scope and scale within the field of children’s fiction by writing ‘crossover novels’. Over lunch the indefatigable Gillian Wales, we were brainstorming our annual Creative Writing Competition. In its fifth year now, this has been very successful, bringing entries from all over Britain and further a field. Our first winner Jonathan Tulloch, went on to write ‘Dream Ticket’ which was later filmed as ‘Purely Belter.’

In recent years our competition has focussed on the novel rather than short prose but we this year we were looking for a new, inspiring angle.

Our thoughts turned to our own David Almond. A Patron of our competition, his book Skellig raised controversy when it won the Whitbread prize for children’s fiction in 1998 . It was good enough to win the main overall prize but it didn’t, because children’s fiction was dealt with separately.

David’s remarkable literary novels for children continue to win adult acclamation. The latest is ‘The Fire Eaters’, set in Newcastle, a deeply moving, funny, perceptive, wonderfully written novel. I have to declare this is favourite of all the novels mentioned here.

His work reminds me of that of another personal favourite, Alan Garner, whose 1970s novels – particularly the lyrical Owl Service, and the challenging Red Shift - also crossed over almost unseen between adult and young reader’s worlds.

Of course here in the North East we have Ann Fine, former Children’s Laureate, whose open-eyed knowledge of a child’s world is reflected in her wry, accessible novels aimed at pre-teenage and teenage readers which are always a joy to read.

And now a welling chorus of adult acclaim for fine children’s fiction has culminated this year in writer Mark Haddon winning both the children’s and the overall Whitbread Prize. with his novel ‘A Curious Case of a Dog at Night-time’ This intriguing novel continues to top the children’s and the adult best-seller lists and is sold in both adult and child-friendly formats.

Haddon, a fine children’s writer for many years, has used that same closely observed, child-aware focus in this novel of a boy whose literal take on the world throws into counterpoint our own taken-for-granted, complex world. There is much for a grown-up to learn here.

This use of differing adult and child formats has happened already of course, not least with JK Rowling’s Harry Potter Books. In my view their massive success has been as much to do with the novels meeting adult desires for a light, escapist, if rather wordy read, as with a child’s delight in fantasy.

Without doubt Rowling’s enormous financial success has led other publishers to look for, and promote children’s writers as a good new investment. Therefore there are more of these novels, to respond to this growing market.

One of these is Philip Pullman, whose novels are read by children for their playful fantasy and racing quest-driven narrative. The same children, cued by adults and teachers, may or may not spot the spiritual and political universal truths buried in the children’s quest. These novels are also relished by adults who just love to escape into an alternative, simpler world where Good is in the end likely to overcome Evil.

So why, Gillian and I pondered, this upsurge of novels which genuinely cross over between the child and adult appreciation? As is my wont, I told her a tale of my very clever grandson. I once asked him why he still enjoyed watching Tom and Jerry when he could watch The Matrix with informed appreciation. He looks at me with those big blue eyes and say, ‘It’s a rest, Wendy. It’s a really nice rest.’

Novels of the best crossover writers, (Almond, Garner, Haddon, Fine) are beautifully conceived and luminously written, unclogged by look-at-me-I’m-clever metaphor, and unfogged by pretentious, implosive introspection.

At the next level, (Pullman, Rowling) they display driving, quest- laden narrative, intriguing invention, and a distinct notion of good and evil. This is so even when the better novels offers images of ambiguity of notions of good and evil.

Even at their most populist end the novels offer escape into the rites of passage of childhood and early adulthood where the child, in the end, survives dastardly enemies and mostly triumphs. They appeal to the child in ourselves.

Gillian and I decided that such novels are indeed ‘a very nice rest’ from the dilemmas of whether we should or shouldn’t have invaded Iraq, whether we should or shouldn’t participate in a European Constitution, just how we deal with paedophilia on the Internet, or how our best friend is going to face life after redundancy.

So! After a long lunch hammering out these views on ‘the crossover phenomenon’ at Bishop Auckland Town Hall, the lovely Gillian and I finally decided that ‘The Crossover Novel’ should be the theme of our 2004 Creative Writing Competition.

Then we had a great stroke of luck. Writer Pat Barker, the Competition’s patron, put us in touch with Clare Alexander, Mark Haddon’s agent. Fantastic! Clare has said she will read and comment on the six finalists and may even manage to get up here for the presentation lunch.

You never know Gillian and I may be just midwives to the next David Almond, the next Ann Fine, the next Mark Haddon. Not an impossible dream.

Watch this space.