On persistence, a winding road to publication, and the importance of celebrating small wins
Claire Lewis is an author-illustrator whose debut picture book, The Go Away Rain Dance – the unlikely friendship between an excitable dog and a straitlaced flea with a fondness for long words – is published by HB Publishing House. We spoke to Claire about the long road to publication, why she never completely gives up on a story, and what she wishes the writing community talked about more honestly.
Tell us about your book.
It’s called The Go Away Rain Dance and it’s published by indie UK publisher HB Publishing House. It’s my debut picture book as an author/illustrator, and it’s been a very long time coming! It’s essentially about an unlikely friendship between an excitable dog called Ziggi and a straitlaced flea called Ernest who lives in Ziggi’s ear. Ziggi is desperate to go to the playground, but it’s pouring with rain. Ernest is relieved – he’d rather stay at home with a nice cup of tea. But then Ziggi decides to try out her very energetic, very splashy Go Away Rain Dance with all sorts of weird and wonderful animals, and poor Ernest finds himself getting more and more bedraggled and discombobulated (which is one of his favourite words!) Can Ziggi prove sceptical Ernest wrong and make the rain go away just by dancing? You’ll have to get your copy to find out!
How did you start your writing journey? What made you want to write for children?
I love the sense of limitless possibility when you write for children – nothing is too crazy or silly! I’ve always had a fascination for words – I’ve still got a little book of poems I wrote when I was six. In terms of picture books specifically, I’ve heard about a lot of kidlit authors who started writing them when they had young children themselves, but I started about ten years ago when my three sons were teens. I remember it was on a long car journey: I wasn’t driving, and I just started to write something. It was more like a poem than a picture book, but funnily enough, even though I’ve written loads of picture book stories since then, it’s that initial attempt at a poem for children that eventually (after countless revisions – it’s unrecognisable now!) became my first published picture book.
What’s the most useful advice you’ve been given when it comes to writing children’s stories?
Above all, before you even start writing, check that your story has a) child-appeal (it may be adults who buy picture books, but ultimately they’re for children to enjoy,) and b) a strong concept or hook (sometimes just coming up with a brilliant title can be the starting point for this). Also: don’t waste words describing what’s obvious from the pictures; create some sort of escalation over the course of the story (the middle spreads shouldn’t be interchangeable with each other); give each character a distinct voice (if you saw one of their lines in isolation, would you know which character is speaking?); don’t shy away from occasionally using long words (they can be funny, or intriguing, or add to a character’s voice as long as young readers can guess their meaning from the context); and make sure there’s either enough conflict and peril to make the reader care about the characters, or enough humour to keep the reader engaged. In terms of editing and polishing: always read your story aloud to check for awkward wording or boring bits; and build in some fallow time between drafts – it’s amazing what leaps out at you when you haven’t looked at a story for a while!
What challenges did you encounter on your publishing journey? How did you cope with them?
I think like all writers I’ve had times when I feel like I’m getting nowhere and I’ve lost my writing mojo, whether that’s down to lack of success in a competition, seeing a book similar to mine successfully published while my manuscript is still languishing on my computer, getting my hopes up during lengthy discussions and revisions with a publisher only to have them dashed after several months, or parting ways with an agent who decided to give up agenting! My two main coping strategies are 1) having a strong network of amazing writing friends (through critique groups and the online writing community) who understand and commiserate, and 2) not allowing myself to compare my writing journey to others – there’s ALWAYS going to be someone doing better than you: all you can do is carry on doing what you do and celebrate each small win!
What led you to success and the publication of your first book?
Persistence, I suppose, and gradually building on each of the small wins mentioned above. For example, I’ve rewritten picture book stories that haven’t found a home with a publisher and succeeded in getting them published as poems or short stories in kidlit magazines. This gave me something to mention in query letters. Similarly with writing competitions – I’ve always entered them (still do) and each time that I’m lucky enough to get listed or placed, it’s another thing that can be mentioned when I’m trying to stand out to publishers or agents. I think it helps to be as prolific as possible – the more stories you write, the more chance one of them will have that elusive, commercial spark that makes it publishable.
Also, I don’t give up on a story if I think it’s got something good about it. I keep putting it out there to increase the chances that it will land on the right desk at the right time and find the publishing home it deserves, with an editor who loves it. Two of my picture book stories were recently acquired by indie presses in the U.S., so I think it can be a good idea to widen your submissions to include publishers overseas. One final point: small independent publishers are great – you don’t usually need an agent to submit to them and the way they deal with you as an author is very friendly and personal!
Is there anything you wish the writing community talked about more honestly?
Personally, I’m quite worried about AI. The Society of Authors has recently launched a Human Authored scheme with a logo that can be displayed on books to certify that no AI was involved. I think that’s basically a good idea, but what if your book doesn’t have that logo for some reason (for example, at present only text-based books can get the logo; illustrated books can’t yet apply) – will people who are not directly involved in the publishing industry assume AI was involved?
What are your next plans, bookwise?
One day I’m going to write and illustrate the perfect picture book story that is deceptively simple yet brilliant in concept – my very own Jon-Klassen-style classic! Meanwhile, I’ll just keep writing what pops into my mind to the best of my ability and hope someone likes it. I have a few new picture book texts in development (including a sequel to The Go Away Rain Dance), and I’m also working on a middle grade novel. I’ve just finished illustrating ‘Honey’s Helpful Hints – How Green is Your Dog?’, a picture book written by performance poet Brian Moses, which is due out later this year with HB Publishing House, and as mentioned above, I have picture book stories coming out with indie U.S. publishers in autumn 2028 and autumn 2029.
What’s your favorite children’s book? (Or give me three if you can’t narrow it down?)
Oooh, that’s hard. If we’re talking picture books, I’d say ‘Oh No, George!’ by Chris Haughton (even though it’s over ten years old now), or anything else by him – I love his spare writing style and colourful, graphic illustrations. I also like ‘Life on Mars’ by Jon Agee because of the fun gap between the words and the illustrations.
Find Claire at claireflewis.com, on Instagram @claire_f_lewis, and on Bluesky @clairelewiswrites.bsky.social. You can buy The Go Away Rain Dance directly from HB Publishing House.