Janice Marriott
Writer , Editor
Biography
The first work I ever had published was in the very first Junior Journal. I was a teacher trainee, and I’d sent “Turkey Gobble” to School Publications. At least a year later, I was in the staff room of my first school, thumbing through this glossy new publication, and to my astonishment there it was. It had Dick Frizzell illustrations. I was very impressed with them.
“Turkey Gobble” – I still don’t know if it is a play, a poem, or a chant-like song lyric – is unusual. You have to read it aloud and act it out, with rhythm and bravado. After all, it is a turkey dance.
I didn’t know it then, and am still surprised by it now, that this was the first of many of my pieces to be published for Ready to Read, the Junior Journal, the School Journal, the School Journal Story Library, Connected, and Choices. I like to think that the characteristics of “Turkey Gobble” – rhythm, fun, and the utterly bizarre – are in many of the subsequent pieces I have created.
Seeing the world through children’s eyes
I am a very busy person. I write a weekly gardening column in the paper, as well as articles in magazines. I ghost-write sports stories. I give workshops and talks. I tutor my own correspondence writing courses through the New Zealand Institute of Business Studies. So, why do I write for children?
I like writing about the extraordinary in ordinary daily life. I like to see the world through fresh eyes. And that is how a child sees. I like the energy of children and their sense of humour. I enjoy writing funny novels about how difficult it is for children to understand adults – as in Chute Thru and Bute View. Humour is an essential element of all communication with children. Even my non-fiction books for children have humour in them. The Yates Young Gardener book has animal characters, jokes, and word play. When you write for children, you must be original.
I also enjoy writing articles and more in-depth non-fiction. When you write non-fiction for children, you always have to simplify, clarify, and make the subject relevant to the world of your readers, that is, children of the twenty-first century. I enjoy that challenge. One of the hardest things I ever had to write was an explanation, for beginning readers, of why a ball bounces. Try that. It’s hard!
Many reasons for writing
Sometimes my stories are gifts for people dear to me. “The Glittering Baby” was for a friend who had had a baby. “Shelter from the Wind” was for a neighbour who struggles over the motorway bridge every day. “On the Reclaim” was for a friend I have been doing weekly walks with for 25 years. Many stories and plays are inspired by family pets who, I am sure, find our behaviour inexplicable, although we are reliable providers of food.
Learning Media has encouraged me to experiment with genres, and as a result, I have published stories, poems, plays, non-fiction, and song lyrics. I love changing my style, producing something different every time, because I am fascinated by language.
The satisfaction of seeing it published
I appreciate the thought that goes into the publication of my work by Learning Media. The editors always ask difficult questions as they polish the prose till it shines. The designers manage to match the text to an appropriate illustrator and lay the work out so it looks attractive on the page. This is so important for a young reader. Readers must find the physical book attractive and not too daunting.
I have recently had the satisfaction of seeing some of the work of my writing students published in the School Journal. This must mean I’ve been working in the business for a long time, but I still often visit schools and I still teach the turkey dance to new entrants. We all have a great time.