WriteMentor Hub member Rachel Pattinson won the Hachette Children’s Novel Award at the Northern Writers’ Awards in 2023. Here she discusses the release of her debut novel, Seven: Distracted Detective, out now from Aralyn Press. 

What interested you in writing a mystery for children, and what was the process of writing this book?

Seven started out as a short story I wrote in response to a challenge set by North East-based children’s writers and artists group, SSWAG, where my title character, Seven, was bored in a maths class. But my critique group said it sounded like the beginning of the novel…and that’s now Chapter 1!

I’ve never been much of a plotter, but I did develop a two-page outline in attempt to plan it out before I began. Which didn’t include Mam’s storyline, since I’d only written chapter books before and I’d only ever had to think about an A-plot – so that emerged as I was writing. And I wrote the whole first draft (all 50,000 words of it) by hand!

How did Write Mentor support your writing?

I’ve been a WriteMentor Hub member throughout the process of writing, editing and publishing Seven. Before I wrote the manuscript, the Hub sessions gave me lots of inspiration. And when I finished the first draft, I was given a place on the WriteMentor Summer Mentoring Programme 2023, where I was paired with a fantastic mystery writer, Sue H. Cunningham, who supported me through the first edit of the story. And Seven was also named as a Readers’ Favourite in the Novel in Development Awards 2023!

And how did the Hachette Children’s Novel Award come about?

I’d just started the WriteMentor Summer Mentoring Programme when I found out that this novel had won the Hachette Children’s Novel Award 2023. When I entered the Northern Writers’ Awards, I hadn’t actually finished writing it. But I thought I could. So, I sent in the first few chapters and wrote my socks off to make sure that if I got longlisted, I could submit the whole manuscript. When I made the list, I had enough time to finish the last couple of chapters, tidy up the manuscript, and sent it off, thinking it was amazing my novel had got that far. I couldn’t believe it when I won!

Your novel doesn’t shy away from showing a parent struggling with alcoholism. Why was it important for you to explore that theme for young readers?

Living with a parent who drinks is a reality for lots of children and young people. In fact, one and five people in the UK are affected by a parent’s drinking. Whilst editing the story, I took part in training with NACOA (The National Association for Children of Alcoholics) a charity for children – even grown-up ones! – who are affected by a parent’s drinking or similar additive problems.

Tell us about your journey to publishing.

After working with Hachette to develop Seven: Distracted Detective, I explored traditional and new ways of publishing it, supported by Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice scheme. I was open to the idea of both, and after I didn’t secure an agent or traditional deal for it, I decided to publish it independently. So, Seven is being published by my imprint, Aralyn Press. I’m really proud of it.

And what’s next?

Well, I’m busy planning launch activity around the publication of Seven. And then, I’m going to get back to some new writing, of course!