StoryGodmother Newsletter #41 - The Emotion Rollercoaster
Hello!
Hello, and happy September to you all! And a special hello if you’re new here – lovely to have you with us! As I’ve had a lot of new subscribers lately, I’ll do a very quick introduction. I’m an award-winning, bestselling writer and since my first picture book was published in 2009, I’ve written over 30 books, including picture books, chapter books, middle grade and adult, alongside short stories and screenplays. You can find out more about my books here: www.amysparkes.co.uk and you can check out my readers newsletter.
I’m passionate about nurturing writers and with my courses, coaching and mentoring I’ve helped hundreds of writers, many who have gone on to become published and agented. Making writing accessible to all is important to me and alongside affordable teaching, I offer a free mentoring programme to selected under-represented writers every year – keep an eye open this autumn for an important announcement. For more about what I offer, please see: www.storygodmother.co.uk So, on with this month’s newsletter – hope you enjoy it!
RESOURCES - The Emotion Rollercoaster
Have you ever found yourself thinking:
This story is the best story I have ever written and everyone is going to love it.
Only to find, some time later, that the thought is replaced by:
This story is the worst story I have ever written and everyone is going to hate it.
Until the thought is replaced by:
This story is the best story I have ever written and everyone is going to love it...
One moment you’re up in the tallest tower, observing the glorious land of success awaiting you; the next you’re in an oubliette that you cast yourself into, questioning if you should ever pick up a pen again. And so the cycle continues until you end on one thought or the other. It’s exhausting but it’s normal.
Why this happens
Being human, we have a tendency for our feelings to swing all over the place on a regular basis. Writer confidence tends to be very easily shaken and very easily boosted and because writing is usually such a deep, personal thing, we can feel everything very strongly.
It can be difficult to disentangle our emotions to form an objective and rational appraisal of our story and so we can end up with an intensely emotional response instead – and neither end of the spectrum is particularly helpful. This is likely to be even more common when the story is especially important for personal reasons, such as the inspiration behind it, or the amount of time we have spent on it. Equally problematic is when we have swung around from one extreme to the other so much during the course of writing that we don’t even know how we feel about our story any more!
How to deal with these feelings?
There is nothing actually wrong with experiencing these extreme feelings, and in fact they can be very helpful at times, as a confidence boost or a reminder of humility. But to save time and emotional energy, it can help to train your brain to think about the middle ground.
1. Focus on something logical.
Write yourself a list with three sections: What is working well, what needs some improvement, what isn’t working. Write these in whichever order works best for you, and give all three equal attention.
If you provide written feedback to critique partners, try and use a similar template for feedback you give others, except this time, give it to yourself. This can help create a bit of distance and objectivity and also engage the more critically thinking part of your brain (although it is always going to be difficult to be truly objective about our own writing).
2. Put the story away and give yourself time.
This can save you from either submitting a story too early (a common mistake) because you are flying high with the joy of it all, or from deleting every word of your manuscript and throwing your laptop in the bin because the whole thing is rubbish and will never get better. However you feel about your story, giving it some space and coming back in the cold light of day can help you look at it in a more balanced way. Once the initial emotional response has dulled, your rational brain can reassess and help you plan the next logical step forward.
3. Acquire external feedback
When you seek external and more objective feedback on your work, the chances are that the response will be somewhere between the two emotional extremes. As writers, our love for our characters, world and story can blind us to the problems in our story (or tempt us to ignore or forgive them) but they will be very obvious to other readers coming in fresh.
On the other hand, our lack of confidence in a manuscript may simply be projected feelings about ourselves rather than quality issues with the actual story.
Whatever the situation, external feedback can place your feet on more solid and reliable ground, and give another point of view.
4. Remind yourself not everyone is going to love your book but some people will – and that is absolutely fine.
This is helpful to remember because it is realistic, and realism can ground you. If you feel no one will ever love your book, then remember there will be other people who think and feel like you out in the world, and if you like it, then someone else will, too. And if you think everyone is going to love your book, then it can help bring you back to Earth and prepare you for the rejections that will inevitably happen in some way, shape or form along the journey.
A good way to find a sense of balance is to read reviews of other people’s books. Think of one that is considered popular and successful within its genre or one that you really enjoyed. Go to Amazon (suggested because of the sheer volume) and look at the reviews available. Amongst them, almost certainly, there will be some 1* or 2* reviews, beyond ‘there’s a squashed bug on page 54’. You cannot please everyone all of the time.
On the flip side, look up a book that you would have rated a 1* or 2* read? How many people gave it 3*, 4* or 5*? People can feel differently, but that is the beauty of storytelling and why it is important to have so many different types of stories available.
Most importantly of all, be kind to yourself, however you’re feeling. Writing is difficult enough without us being hard on ourselves. Remember that you’re allowed to be human – and emotional responses do come as part of the deal.
CHARACTER CORNER
Who is your protagonist when no-one is watching?
This is a fascinating question and I could run an entire webinar on this! But I’ll behave myself and keep it brief. Most characters – and real-life people – wear masks to some extent. Often only the very closest friends and family members see us as we (almost) truly are. Even then, that is still not as authentic as your character being alone by themselves and knowing there is absolutely no one else around. There is no need of a mask. No other person to affect your character’s behaviour. Just your character. So, who are they? What do they think? What do they feel? How do they behave? And crucially, how is this different to have they think, behave and feel when they are with others?
If you don’t have a scene in your book with your character being completely alone, it’s worth writing a bonus scene just for your own reference, to have that experience and see your character at their most honest and authentic. But also consider adding some in: allowing your reader to glimpse a protagonist-only moment or scene is like letting them in on a deep and beautiful secret. It also allows them to make valuable comparisons with how the character behaves at other times, and gain vital character understanding.
WRITING COURSES & EVENTS
A final reminder that there are two brand new, sparkly courses on offer this week: PERFECT PITCH and WRITING HISTORICAL FICTION.
Perfect Pitch (2 weeks)
Monday 7th & 14th September
7pm BST.
£32 (plus Eventbrite admin fee)
Over the two sessions, we will be looking at:
Mindset and pitching
Pitching from idea creation to marketing
Key elements involved
How to pitch to agents, publishers and readers
Different methods of pitching
Utilising angles
Common problems and mistakes
Pitching and self-publishing
You’re also welcome to send over a pitch for feedback after the course.
Writing Historical Fiction for Kids & Adults (2 weeks)
Tuesday 8th & 15th September
7pm BST.
£32 (plus Eventbrite admin fee)
The two weeks will cover:
The WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHO, HOW and WHY of historical fiction
Sub-genres and why they matter
The relationship between period drama and historical fiction
How to handle research
Different ways to generate story
Different formats in historical fiction
Making history accessible from picture books readers to YA
Publishing industry insights
Dealing with sensitivities, bias and prejudices of the past and present
Both courses will be running via Zoom. Sessions will be recorded and be available for a limited period after the event in case you can’t make it live or want to re-watch.
Free session
I like to offer FREE writing webinars as a thank you to all my Story Godmother newsletter subscribers. This time I’m offering a free session on the basics of picture book writing.
This is a subscribers-only workshop, but if you know anyone who is writing picture books and would be interested in coming, please direct them to my newsletter here: www.buttondown.com/StoryGodmother and ask them to subscribe before the event.
COMPETITIONS
WRITING MAGAZINE CHILDREN’S BOOK PRIZE
The Writing Magazine Children’s Book Prize is now up and running, with categories for picture books and chapter books. The submission window is open from 1st September - 31st October. For more information and to enter:
Writing for Children - Chapter Book Prize - Writers Online
Writing for Children - Picture Book Prize 2026 - Writers Online
Many winning or listed titles have gone on to become successful published books, such as The Tale of The Whale by Karen Swann (illustrated by Padmacandra), The Quickest Bedtime Story Ever by Louise Fitzgerald (illustrated by Kate Hindley), One Moose, Two Goose by Kael Tudor (illustrated by Nicola Slater) and, most recently, Stanley Said No! By Sue Meikle (illustrated by Denis Angelov) – to name just a few.
Just to reassure writers, there is no personal gain from this competition as I provide the critiques and feedback without remuneration.
Agents really do pay attention to competition listings, so when you think your writing is ready, it is definitely worth entering some. Have a look at the competitions below, some of which are currently open. If you’re not ready for this year, why not see if you can have a story ready for 2027?
Novel Prize for YA and Children’s Fiction 2026 - Searchlight Writing for Children Awards – Open until 30th November 2026
Picture Book Author Prize 2026 - Searchlight Writing for Children Awards - Open until 20th November 2026
The Bath Children’s Novel Award 2026 - £5,000 writing prize - currently open - submissions close 30th November 2026
Chicken House Books - The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition
COACHING COMPETITION
Speaking of competitions… Fancy a FREE 30-minute coaching one? There’s one slot available each newsletter to help coaching become accessible to all regardless of means. The session is worth £30 (absolutely no strings attached) and the winner is chosen via a lucky draw.
If you want to give it a go, please email [email protected] with COACHING 6.9.26 in the title and you will be entered into the draw. All entries must be received by Wednesday 9th September 23:59GMT. I will contact the lucky winner directly, so if you haven’t heard anything, please assume you’ve not won on this occasion, but do try again next time!
STORY GODMOTHER WRITING COMMUNITY
Do you use Facebook? Great – join the Story Godmother Writing Community on Facebook. It’s a free, private and friendly group, where writers can share encouragement, thoughts or interesting finds. I also share weekly writing tips, and I’m there to answer any questions you have. Come and join us! Story Godmother Writing Community
It’s a private group and a friendly bunch – a safe space for you to grow as a writer. And it’s absolutely free.
If you request to join, please do make sure you answer the membership questions and agree to the group rules otherwise you cannot be admitted.
END NOTES
Thanks for reading! If you have suggestions of anything you’d like to see featured here in the Character Corner, Resources, or courses you’d enjoy, please do drop me a line at [email protected]
Happy writing, and speak to you soon!
Amy
Story Godmother
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