A partnership that works

I spent a very enjoyable day yesterday at the offices of Working Partners in London taking part in a writers' workshop. From a writer's point of view it's a different way of producing a book. Rather than being a publisher, Working Partners is a book packager that develops series fiction for all the major publishers. They work alongside writers to create whole ranges of books that will appeal to boys or girls aged from 4 to 12+. Some of their recent successes include Beast Quest, Rainbow Magic and Dinosaur Cove.

The idea of the workshop wasn't to tell already published writers how to write, but to guide them through the process of how books are developed by Working Partners, and very interesting it was too. That said, a great deal of sense was spoken during the day and some excellent advice was passed on. Much of it was along the lines of tricks and tips that many of us had used already but without having a label for that particular writer's tool. By making it so explicit, the editors who spoke at the workshop provided me personally with new ways at looking at characterisation and those all important opening lines. I can also see some of their advice coming in handy on those days where the creative flow just isn't flowing like it should.

As I say, I was just one of a group of up and coming writers who attended the workshop, and you should definitely check all what everyone is up to. So take a bow Dave Gatward, Kate Scott, Maureen Oakeley, Benjamin Scott, Thea Bennett, Tara Button, Margaret Carey, Susan Sandercock, Addy Farmer and Gemma Dunn. Keep an eye out for them in the future - these are the names to watch!