My latest book, The
Fix-it Princess, began life over twenty years ago, as a short story. Which
was rejected. It went the way of other rejections and was sent to a secluded
place in a manila folder, under a pile of other manila folders, with barely a
whiff of a filing system.
And so, the story became
somewhat forgotten.
Somewhere along my
writing journey, I’d heard the axiom, never throw anything away and so
one day, perhaps when I was desperate for a new idea, I trawled through the
folders and came across this particular story.
It was spare and it
became clear to me then that the story had all the hallmarks of a first draft.
In other words it was a story that hadn’t been fleshed out. It wasn’t strong
enough. We didn’t care too much about the characters. The name of the main
character, which I’d called Princess Shaz, now jarred, and altogether it was a
bit dismal. Yet, there was something there. Perhaps it was an element of fun.
Perhaps it was the element that this princess, ever enthusiastic, jumped into
situations willy-nilly and the results were often chaotic. What could happen to
change that situation around?
Recently, I was
considering the girl characters in many of my books, and it occurred to me that
they all possessed in their DNA an element of my favourite girl character ever
– Pippi Longstocking.
Pippi loved
adventures, would give anything a go, was creative and daring, and caring. And
so was this princess, although she had other characteristics dissimilar to
Pippi, for example, her love of singing.
Draft then followed
draft as the work morphed into a new, longer story with title changes from What
is the Plan? The Princess and the Plan and finally, The Fix-it Princess.
Personally, I was a
fix-it kind of kid who loved to fossick in Dad’s shed, fiddling with wire and
wood and paint, or making things from random, discarded bits and pieces. And
so, I could invest a certain amount of emotional memory into the story.
The first major
rewrite of this title was dated July, 2006. More drafts and more rejections
followed. It seemed as if my princess and the dragon were to be forever trapped
in a manila folder or in the bowels of my computer.
Yet, still the idea
persisted. And so did I. I began to question the princess’s motives, make her
more fallible, yet still caring, introduce more problems for her to deal with
and hopefully tighten the story generally.
In 2020, three days
before Christmas, after a long, terrible year of Covid, came the good news that
Walker Books had accepted The Fix-it Princess. Princess Shona was to
live after all. The news that the talented author and editor, Sue Whiting, was
to take over as Project Manager gave me a wonderful feeling, a safe harbour,
because Sue and I had worked together previously on another title, Yong: and
the journey of an unworthy son, and her suggestions and editing then had
been kind, warm, supportive and clear-sighted.
Because the story
leans more towards the younger age-group of a mid-grade novel, it was felt
there was room for several illustrations. Sue was also involved in the choice
of an illustrator and Cherie Dignam was perfect. Cherie’s work had the fun and
quirkiness the story needed.
And so, after many
years, countless drafts, re-writing and editing, The Fix-it Princess is
now finally fixed!The Fix-It Princess is a twisty-turny fantasy romp, with heart, humour, do-it-yourself projects and a singing dragon.
Two days ago, Mum-Queen and Dad-King happily flew off in the Wing-Thing that Princess Shona, the Fix-it Princess, had made them. Shona hasn’t sighted them since. And that’s a worry. But Shona is a princess with a Can-Do attitude. After all, she isn’t called the Fix-it Princess for nothing. She is great at solving problems. Surely, the Fix-it Princess can work out a way to find a Wing-Thing and a pair of missing parents. Surely … At age sixteen Janeen Brian trained as a primary teacher and at eighteen stood in front of her first class of year five students. Her teaching career saw her work in junior primary, primary, drama and as a teacher-librarian. While raising a family, she began a four year career with a professional children’s theatre company, both acting and writing. She has also been involved in over 100 television and radio commercials as well as dozens of voiceovers for radio and video. She began dabbling in writing in her thirties. Since then she has written over 100 books both in trade and education, and in genres ranging from picture books to poetry, short fiction, nonfiction and novels. Janeen is an award-winning author and poet and many of her books have been translated and published overseas.
