FLYING THROUGH CLOUDS – Written by Michelle Morgan
Just Write For Kids are thrilled to welcome back YA author, Michelle Morgan as a part of her Flying through Clouds tour. She generously provided a snippet of her book in our interview last week. Today she shares her in-depth process in developing her historical novels. Thank you, Michelle! 😀 🌥 ☁️
Highlights and Challenges of writing YA novels
Flying through Clouds is my new historical novel for young adults, and follows on from my first novel, Racing the Moon, which was published by Allen & Unwin in 2014. Although both novels share the same main character and are set mostly in Sydney in the 1930s, the stories are quite different, and so were my motivations for writing them.
Flying through Clouds is about Joe Riley’s dream of becoming an aviator and his problematic transition from adolescence to adulthood, while Racing the Moon focuses on Joe’s experiences at school and his transition from childhood to adolescence. Whereas, Flying through Clouds was inspired by two historical events – the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in March 1932, and the landing and take-off of Southern Cross by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith on Seven Mile Beach in January 1933, Racing the Moon was inspired by stories my uncle told me about growing up during the Depression.
Before writing the books, I immersed myself in research. I wanted to understand how people of all ages lived in the 1930s – the food, clothing, housing, schools, work opportunities, social conditions, transport, how they communicated with each other, and what they did on the weekends. I needed to become familiar with that world before developing my characters and narrative. The most difficult research for Flying through Clouds, was learning how to fly a 1930 de Havilland Gypsy Moth. I needed to understand the steps involved and the terminology that was used. I read books about famous aviators and their flying adventures, and watched technical videos on how to fly a Gypsy Moth plane. I interrogated everyone I knew who had flown before, and visited aviation museums, listened to podcasts and searched for old photographs and newspaper articles.
An essential element of any story is getting the voice right. This depends on who your narrator is and what perspective you’ve chosen to write from. With Racing the Moon and Flying through Clouds I chose to tell the stories in the first person from Joe’s point of view and mostly in the present tense. Like many other YA authors I wanted readers to be able to experience the world of the 1930s through Joe’s eyes, to be accomplices in all his well-intentioned but poor choices. The first person also has its limitations because the narrator can’t possibly know everything that’s going on around them or inside the heads of other characters.
It was a challenge to develop the voice, behaviour and personality of a teenage boy growing up in the 1930s. I read widely and watched videos, but I also observed significant males in my life, and dug deep to find the rebellious teenager within. Apart from developing Joe’s voice, I had to develop personalities and quirks for all my characters. When I’m in the middle of writing, I feel like I’m suffering from multiple personality disorder.
When writing for teenagers, it’s important to have interesting, multi-dimensional characters. I often use dialogue to reveal character. My enthusiasm for using dialogue springs from my love of theatre and playwriting. When I’m stuck, I read books and plays or search for old photos, videos and podcasts for inspiration. The National Library of Australia’s brilliant online database, Trove, is my ‘go to’ for inspiration and research; without it, I don’t think I could have brought Flying through Clouds to life. It’s only when I can visualise the world I’m writing about that I can develop the characters and story.
When I have a good understanding of my characters and the world in which they live, I plot the main turning points of the story. A strong narrative is very important to YA readers. And there’s no story without conflict. But the conflict has to come from the interaction of my characters. I evaluate every scene that I come up with – What impact will it have? How credible is it? Will it drive the story forward and develop the characters?
I spent two years editing Flying through Clouds, which is a bigger novel than Racing the Moon, and has sub-plots and a more complex structure. Each turning point in the novel had to come at just the right time and create tension, as well as propel the story towards the climax. Critical feedback from professional editors is crucial to developing a manuscript towards publication, and I was fortunate to work with two talented editors on Flying through Clouds.
Although there are many challenges in writing historical fiction for young adults, there is much joy and many highlights as well. Like when you’ve been working on a scene for days and you finally get the dialogue and the voice right. And then there’s the joy of seeing your book in print for the first time, or of talking about your book, or having readers share reviews of your book.
I hope that Flying through Clouds engages readers with its compelling blend of humour, drama and historical detail, and will encourage teenagers, in particular, to read more exciting books about our fascinating history.
FLYING THROUGH CLOUDS BLOG TOUR
If you’d like to follow Michelle’s full blog tour then please visit the following links:
Day 1 – Mon 3 April – Sandy Fussell
http://www.sandyfussell.com/blog/
5 things I learnt when I was doing my research
Day 2 – Tues 4 April – Di Bates http://www.diannedibates.blogspot.com.au
5 Marketing Strategies for Self-Publishing Authors
Day 3 – Wed 5 April – Clancy Tucker http://clancytucker.blogspot.com.au
My Inspiration for Writing Flying through Clouds
Day 4 – Thurs 6 April – Sally Odgers http://promotemeplease.blogspot.com.au
My Writing Process
Day 5 – Fri 7 April – Romi Sharp
Highlights and Challenges of Writing YA Novels
Day 6 – Sat 8 April – Elaine Ousten
http://elaineoustonauthor.com/
5 things I’ve learnt about writing historical novels for young adults
ABOUT THE BOOK: It’s not easy being a teenage boy growing up in the tough neighbourhood of Glebe in the 1930s. It’s even harder when your dream is to become an aviator, your parents are dead against it, and your girlfriend’s father is the School Principal. But Joe has even bigger challenges he must face and obstacles to overcome if he wants to achieve his dream. He has a plan and won’t let anyone stand in his way.
ABOUT MICHELLE: Michelle is a full-time writer and lives in the Southern Highlands of NSW. Flying through Clouds is her second historical YA novel. Her first novel Racing the Moon, was published by Allen & Unwin in 2014, and released in the UK and US in 2015. Four of Michelle’s plays have been performed in Short Play festivals in Sydney, Newcastle and Armidale. She has also co-written several songs with her husband, Luke.
Find Michelle Morgan at her website, Facebook and Twitter.
Flying through Clouds is available now at bookshops, educational and library suppliers, and can be ordered on Michelle’s website here.
It is also available as an eBook on Amazon Kindle.
#FlyingThroughClouds #JWFKBlogTour
