Today, for the #HistFicThursdays blog, I'm delighted to be hosting Ellen Rachlin with a guest post about her book brilliant upcoming book Enheduanna's Song from the Sands , as part of her Coffee Pot Book Club tour! Read on to find out more about the writing journey with Enheduanna and what inspired Ellen to write her story. But first, let's meet the book... Blurb Discover the untold story of Enheduanna, the world’s first named author, as she navigates power, betrayal, and divine destiny in ancient Mesopotamia. A mesmerizing fusion of history, myth, and female leadership that challenges how we see the past—and ourselves. A high priestess dethroned. A rebel with a dangerous plan. One empire hanging by a thread. When Enheduanna is named High Priestess of Ur, her connection to the gods makes her a target. Lugalanne’s coup strips her of robes, power, and home, casting her into the perilous underworld. There, amid forests of shadows and treacherous trials, she discovers that d...
Happy Monday and welcome back to our Middle Grade Monday series: genres! Today, I'll be sharing a couple of hints and tips for writing science fiction for children. I'm not a sci-fi author, so I'll be addressing this mostly in terms of being a primary teacher. When teaching about genres to children, it is often a struggle to explain the difference between fantasy and science fiction and, in fact, these two genres often get muddled together in awards and libraries etc. The explanation I landed on was to say that fantasy was things that cannot happen. Science fiction, on the other hand, is things that cannot happen... yet! That all important word at the end leads to my first tip. 1) Science fiction needs to be believable. You need to convince your middle grade reader that it could actually happen, perhaps to them! You do this by explaining anything that may seem magical or far fetched. This, in turn, leads onto the next tip... 2) A knowledge of science really helps! When do...