First
off, could you give us a little teaser about what Clunky Monkey is about?
Clunky Monkey is on her way back home when she discovers a picture of a
beautiful dancing couple. She goes to
visit the wise gazelle, in order to find out exactly who these strange dancers
are. Fascinated by what she learns, she
wants to learn this ‘ballet way’ too, but Clunky Monkey’s family are a funky disco
dancing troop, therefore it will not be easy for her to break from tradition to
becoming a ballerina instead. The
accident prone monkey tries to follow her dreams, even though most of the
jungle creatures ridicule her.
What
made you write a story about a monkey?
I honestly can’t remember... I remember the inspiration came to me one
morning. I can even recollect where I was standing too, but cannot recall
exactly what trigger inspired that picture book.
How
did you come up with your cute title?
I do remember that a book about a funky monkey
seemed too cliché; this is how I deviated from writing about this. I recollect changing the original storyline
from a monkey that should have been funky, into an accident prone monkey
instead (while she was trying to learn ballet).
What
process do you use to do your illustrations?
Examples
of my illustration work can be found on the link http://www.harriromney.com/gallery-4/ . I’m what you’d call a technophobe, so I just prefer
to use pencils and paint pens rather than Wacom technology. My husband enhances colours and removes
smudging using a computer, before publishing the pictures.
Which
is more of your passion, illustration or writing? How long have you been doing
each?
In reality, I haven’t been doing either of
them for very long. Sadly, it was the
death of my brother in law a few years ago, which inspired me to fulfil my
ambitions (one was to write a children’s book).
I really don’t mind whether I write or illustrate… they’re both necessary
in order to get my work done. Sometimes
I need a break from one; but at other times I prefer to do the other. After sending off quite a few manuscripts to agents
(and receiving just as many rejections back), I decided to publish my work on
Kindle instead – but I needed to get the illustrations done first (I’d not drawn
anything for 20 years). After joining
some networking sites, I had an unpleasant experience with one illustrator who
tried to hard sell me his work (after I’d complimented him on it). Anyway following this incident I decided that
if I was ever going to get my work published, I’d need to have a go at
illustrating myself… so I did. I never
intended to illustrate; in fact I was scared stiff at the mere thought of doing
so.
Do you have a goal with your writing that you want to achieve? If so, how long do
you think it will te you to achieve it?
I don’t really have a goal … I achieved the
initial goal to get one children’s book published. I’d always had an ambition to write a book since I
was around seven years old, which never seemed to fade. However, after completing my first story, I
was emotional; I felt a real sense of achievement because of the little
manuscript I’d created. Afterwards my
head was buzzing with so many more ideas or quirky titles, and I had to start
keeping a notepad nearby at all times.
That
very first story became part of the series ‘Winston and Fairy’s Adventures’,
which has been dedicated especially to my brother in law. For this reason, when the first paperback
from this series ‘Winston and Fairy: A New Sleigh for Santa’ is published in
2012, some of the proceeds will go towards supporting the ‘National Ankylosing
Spondylitis Society’, which researches the condition that my brother-in-law
tragically died from.
Presently,
I’m in the process of illustrating any remaining books that I’ve written right
now (as there are about twenty books), but I’ll see what happens afterwards…
Whatever life does next is what’s meant to happen. Away
from the writing and illustrating life, I really want to concentrate on my
academic studies.
Clunky
Monkey is written in Rhyme. Are all your stories written this way?
Most of them are written in verse. Out of twenty stories, there are only three
that aren’t, but they’re lovely stories too.
What
inspired you to become a children’s book writer?
I’m
told that I’m like Peter Pan, refusing to grow up. It’s the experiences that children and I
share a love of such as celebrations, fairy tales, mythical characters, snowy
scenery and nature and so on, which inspire me. Additionally studying childcare, working
with children or being a mother, has partly helped me to understand children’s
likes, dislikes, or their thought processes and capabilities. Plus I’ve read countless picture books to my own
children every day, since they were both only weeks old, so perhaps picture
books are the genre that I’ve been the most exposed to (apart from academic
literature).
What
are you working on next?
I am finishing off the illustrations to my
remaining stories right now, which will take me at least another year or two. Although I have actually written (and edited)
the first two books from my next series, but that really is a long term plan.
What
is the single most important thing you have learned from your writing to
publication journey?
Writing and illustrating is not my main
job; it’s more like an interest. I’ve
learned that within this journey, you need to have a great deal of stamina to
accept plenty of rejection, and always have an alternative plan to help you
move forward, if you really want to be published. Don’t take things too much to heart or you
could walk about feeling quite despondent; writing/illustrating is so
competitive. The flip-side is that, it
can be extremely rewarding too – just through finding out what you can achieve
on a personal level.
My
personal experience (as a published author), began on Kindle. I found that picture books which are only
available on Kindle or iPad, don’t seem that popular among parents yet (I’ll be
the first to admit that I’d not let my children free with these gadgets
either). I believe that for this reason
and other reasons, paperback or hardback books remain the preferred
presentation for picture books, hence why I made the decision to get my work published
in paperback earlier this year.
I am not with a main publisher. I’m actually using a
micro-publisher who prints on demand, and being rather shy, I’m far more
comfortable with this strategy anyway right now. However, marketing the work yourself is
extremely difficult; that’s the downside ( I firmly believe that confidence is
essential for marketing).
What
is your definition of success as an author?
Being a successful author is achieving what
you set out to achieve on your own
personal level. That answer would vary
according to who you asked. I wrote one
children’s book and then got it published (the fact that I illustrated it
myself, and then went on to write many more stories has been a real bonus – and a confidence boost). Hence even though I’m not famous, I’d
consider myself to be successful … Others would disagree with that. How would you define success Allyn – I’ll bet
your answer will be vastly different to mine?
Where
is Clunky Monkey available for purchase?
My books are available to purchase from the
main online retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones and more…
What
else have you written and where can readers find your work?
‘Clunky
Monkey’, ‘A Dog called Dog’ and more recently ‘Lord Tarquinius Snout and the
Vacuum of Doom’ are now available to purchase online in paperback, through most
main retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Waterstones. Details regarding my publications can also be
found on www.harriromney.com.
Review of Clunky Monkey by Allyn M. Stotz
Who doesn’t love a Clunky Monkey! Well this Clunky Monkey
wanted to change from her families’ way of funky disco dancing. She wanted to
dance like a ballerina. So she finds her graceful giraffe friends and asks them
to teach her. But, it wasn’t so easy for this Clunky Monkey. She had to
practice day and night!
This story is told in rhyme with a good message about going
after what you really want. The repetitive line “your ballet dancing nonsense
is spoiling the day!” really added a charming touch to this little story. The
ending has a very satisfying conclusion and will leave readers with a chuckle.
The illustrations are cute and will have the little ones
laughing!
Thanks to Harri for giving me the opportunity to interview her, it's been a pleasure! I wish her much success with everything she does.
