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| The Weird Stories Gone Wrong series, 2014-2019 |
YES, it's almost Halloween, so here is my re-post about Weird Stories Gone Wrong, and how to write a spooky series for kids:
"4. My advice for anyone writing a children's middle-grade series?
Write it your way from the start, however weird, different or strange it may seem at first (hey, I wrote the first book about a giant’s hand buried in a farmer’s field, if that isn’t weird, what is?). Your series template is your personal calling card, your style, your vision. Make it memorable and unforgettably yours from the first word to the last."
The above is an excerpt from my post about Quinn and the Quiet, Quiet on the Dundurn Blog, October 31, 2019. Quinn is the sixth and final book in the award-winning Weird Stories Gone Wrong series.
What's my favourite memory from this 5-year journey? What's my favourite book? How do you end a series? Did I know I was going to write 6 books when I started out? (No, on that one!)
Full blog post here: Philippa Dowding on the Dundurn Blog
It's true, the sixth and final book in my award-winning, middle-grade horror series has just been published. It's Quinn and the Quiet, Quiet, an environmental dystopia which will introduce kids to the idea of resistance, imbalance of power, and self-determination. I'm pleased with this book, something I've wanted to write for a long time.
It's hard to say goodbye to a series, but it's been an incredible joy and pleasure to create the Weird Stories Gone Wrong series over the past 5 years. The books have been called "Goosebumps from north of the Border" by Kirkus Reviews, and they've garnered three national nominations, and won honour book at the 2017 Forest of Reading celebrations in Ontario. I couldn't be more proud of all the books, or more surprised at how fast the time has flown by while creating them!
I guess time really does fly when you're having fun.
Here's my favourite illustration from Quinn:
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| Clem looks into the Quiet, Quiet, Illustration by Shawna Daigle |
I had a wonderful publisher, thank you Dundurn Press. And a terrific illustrator, many thanks to Shawna Daigle, we've had such fun together and have vowed to find something to work on again.
More to come on Quinn, but for now:
