Julie Marney Leigh

Twitter: @jules_leigh

Website: www.storyspinners.wordpress.com

Agent: Chloe Seager at Northbank Talent Management

Published books: I am currently revising before submission.

Genre: YA Contemporary

Bio: I write contemporary ‘clean teen’ novels for young people with a focus on feminism and friendship. I am represented by Chloe Seager at Northbank Talent Management. In 2016, I completed the Curtis Brown Creative Writing for Children Course with Catherine Johnson, where I developed my novel ideas and met some of the best writer-friends imaginable. We formed a peer critique group and regularly read and comment on one another’s work. I also write screenplays, and in 2014 I had a screenplay selected into the top ten scripts of BAFTA Rocliffe’s New Writing Forum for Children’s Film and Television Writing. I have a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh, where I was a lecturer in English for many years, as well as being co-Director of the Scottish Universities’ International Summer School.

Experience: In my role as a lecturer I really enjoyed working one-to-one with both undergraduate and postgraduate students and helping them to fulfil their potential. It’s one of the main reasons that I’m looking forward to working with another writer. I know we’ll both get such a lot out of this experience. I relish this opportunity to be a mentor and provide advice, support and encouragement. Writing can be a long road, and it’s important to be enthusiastic and a little bit like a bull terrier with a big stick. You know it might not fit through the door, but you keep running with it anyway.

Mentoring style: I work best with deadlines. I’d like to set up a timeframe and aim to stick to it. Depending on the needs of the project, we’ll do a few rounds of edits – starting with broader strokes, such as tone, voice, and structure, before looking at the finer details.

Mentee style: Let’s work hard! I’d love it if we were both committed and dedicated, and put everything into this. It’s a great opportunity for both of us, so I think we should seize it and make it as successful and as much fun as it can possibly be. Let’s redraft until it’s right, and see what we can learn in the process.

What kind of novel would you like to work on? I’d like to work with someone who’s writing in a similar area to me – a focus on contemporary fiction that’s fun and heart-warming, and aimed at the younger end of YA.

Favourite novels: The Georgia Nicholson series by Louise Rennison, Editing Emma by Chloe Seager, Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne, Geek Girl by Holly Smale, The It Girl by Katy Birchall, Super Awkward by Beth Garrod, Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy, Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu.

Mentoring package offered: I’m happy to look at both of the following: Query package (synopsis, query letter, 1st 3 chapters) and First 10k of manuscript.

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