Five Questions with author Vanessa Hatley-Owen

Vanessa was a daydreaming child whose nose was permanently stuck in a book. Now, she is a keen writer of stories for children, and has been published by Upstart Press, Duck Creek Press, Oratia, Sunshine Books and Learning Media. She was a finalist in the 2023 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, and has also been shortlisted for both the Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon and Storylines Joy Cowley awards. She holds qualifications in Writing for Children, and Library and Information services. She currently works as a primary school librarian and volunteers on both the School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (SLANZA) Tāmaki Makaurau committee, and Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust of New Zealand Hui committee.

What is your writing day like? When and how do you create?

Confession… I am an amazing procrastinator and timewaster! I am not a writer who is up early, knocking out thousands of words every day before breakfast. I work in a school, and I always intend to use the term holidays wisely and ‘do lots of writing’. Often, this does not in fact happen and the time flies by with lots of reading but no words being added to manuscripts (in my defense, reading IS part of the process!). When I have gotten some procrastinating out of my system, I find mid-day-ish is when I am ‘in the zone’ and ready to write: some days it seems easy, and other days it seems very, very hard. A lot of writing happens first in my head - the who, what, how etc, so when I am at the keyboard it’s a bit easier to get it out. Interesting fact: I wrote a junior fiction manuscript first draft by hand as an experiment as I had heard that writing gets the brain fired up (they have done studies to prove this). I did find it helped the words to flow, although.. I did have a bit of trouble trying to read some of my terrible handwriting!

 

Where do your best ideas come from?

While I tell the children who ask that question that there is a secret ideas shop that only writers know about, the truth is… ideas come from anywhere and everywhere. Sometimes stories are inspired by memories of my own children as they were growing up: The Littlest Lifeguard was partly from remembering them as littlies wanting to help around the house; sometimes stories spring from observations or random thoughts: When Dad Came Home came from a thought I had at an author event in 2014 when the discussion was about writing war-themed books for children. Knowing there would be lots more being produced as the 100-year commemorations for WWI began, I thought “I hope someone writes a book about the poor chaps who came back with shell-shock.” And sometimes ideas come from ‘what if’ or simply being curious about something: Farewell, Anahera came from a family trip to the Bay of Islands, and when we took our girls up to Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Reinga) and told them about why the place is so special, I got wondering what that final, farewell journey would be like for a wairua (spirit).

What is the work you are most proud of so far? Why?

I’m proud of all of my works that have been published, and also of the ones that have come close to being published. However, the one I’m most proud of is Farewell, Anahera illustrated by Scott Irvine - it was a finalist in the 2023 NZCYA which was pretty exciting and I love that the publisher (David Ling, Duck Creek Press) created it as a bilingual book, and Kanapu Rangitauira did a wonderful job translating it into te reo Māori. Just after it was published, I received a beautiful message from a family who shared how the story helped them move through their grief; knowing my work means so much to someone makes me very happy - it’s why we do what we do.

What is something you dream of achieving with your work? 

Dreaming big for me looks like having a story that becomes a bit of a classic, one that is beloved by children and parents alike. Even bigger? Seeing your story played out on the big screen would be amazing! In the meantime, there are varying dreams: finishing that manuscript, getting a publishing contract, writing as a full-time job… oh, and winning a fab writer’s residency.

What is one thing you would say to aspiring children’s writers? 

Don’t give up: keep writing, keep reading, keep learning and keep enjoying it. The road to publication (especially traditional publishing) can be long and filled with many disappointments. But along the way you meet loads of lovely, like-minded writers, illustrators and booky people who all love children’s literature as much as you do!