2017 winner STRUAN MURRAY is a Scottish lecturer and researcher in genetics at the University of Oxford. Orphans of the Tide, captivated our junior judges from the off, as the brilliantly inventive Ellie rescues a mysterious boy from a beached whale. Struan tells us about opening up to those you trust, his writing journey and exciting agent representation news.
Congratulations again on your win! What’s the reaction been like from family and friends?
Everyone’s been so supportive! Writing at any level involves perseverance in the face of so much rejection. When you finally have something to celebrate, your friends and family are so thrilled to see your hard work pay off.
Have people who know you for your genetics work been surprised to discover you have written a winning children’s novel manuscript?
I think people are surprised to discover I can tie my own shoelaces.
What it’s like to have won a prize shortlisted by children and teens.?
It was a bit strange! Writing is a very lonely pursuit and you get so used to spending so long working away at something then having maybe a couple of people read it. So to suddenly be in a room full of people who know your characters is very surreal. One of the most rewarding things about the whole competition was getting my novel into the hands of the Junior Judges – its intended age-range.
Had other children read Orphans of the Tide?
Nope, this was the first time it ever got into the hands of its intended audience!
Were you surprised to win?
I wasn’t at all expecting to win on the evening – I had read the extracts from the other shortlistees and was very intimidated by the quality of the storytelling! It was such a pleasure to meet them on the night of the awards and I can’t wait to see their books in print!
When and why did you start writing novels?
As a kid I wrote a lot of stories about a 1920s grizzled American police detective. Sort of like Dick Tracy. When I showed the stories to adults they laughed at how unexpectedly bloodthirsty they were for an eleven-year old. So I kept writing them.
I properly started writing novels when I was about twenty. I had just started working in a lab, doing my PhD, and was suddenly learning what it’s like to be a scientist and watch experiments constantly fail. I needed something else to focus on in those times when science wasn’t going my way, and decided that writing fitted the bill.
If you could travel back in time and tell teenage Struan one writerly thing, what would it be?
Don’t give up! And be on the look-out for competitions aimed at writers under 18. Often they’re free, so there’s nothing to lose – they’re a great way to keep motivated about writing.
Is Orphans of the Tide your first novel manuscript and how long did it take to write?
It’s my third. My first was an adult sci-fi novel about a bunch of deranged scientists trapped underground, and forced to do science against their will. The second was the first part of a planned YA fantasy trilogy, though parts of it were later cannibalised and re-used in Orphans of the Tide. I think I’m tending more and more towards middle grade these days. I find myself drawn to the strange and fantastical elements.
The first draft happened in a mad dash of about six weeks. It got edited over the course of a year, something like seven or eight drafts. Major changes included changing the main boy’s character entirely – including a name change to ease the transition.
How many manuscripts do you have?
Seven unpublished, four more unfinished!
As part of your writing process, you created detailed drawings such as this interior of Ellie’s workshop. How do you use these drawings?
In between the first and second edit I decided to map out the world carefully to help me follow the plot through the city. I find drawing the settings really helps me to visualise the world, and to plant me firmly in the action while I’m writing.
What’s the message behind Orphans of the Tide and why did you open with the whale?
It’s about opening up to the people you trust, and asking for help when you need it.
I’ve always been a bit obsessed with whales. I’d read somewhere about how certain blood vessels in a whale are big enough for a person to swim through, and it fired up my imagination, about what it would be like to be trapped inside a whale. I’d also read about how whales can explode if they die on land, because of the build up of gas inside them. For research, I watched some fairly graphic YouTube videos of this actually happening, including one where a whale is being carried down a busy high street on the back of a truck….
Is Ellie based on anyone?
I think she’s actually based more on me than on anyone else. I did make sure to have my partner read it through, though, to tell me if she ever did anything that felt off. It was a good education for me in the dangers of the ‘male gaze’.
Do you have a favourite scene?
Yes! It’s a moment near the end when the main character is at her lowest point. It’s dark and shocking and twisted and I suspect any editor will make me take it out.
Your partner Anbara Salam is also a debut novelist. How did you meet and do you ever write together and/or edit each other’s books?
Yes! My partner’s first book, Things Bright and Beautiful is coming out in April, 2018.
We got to know each other because of writing. At first we were reading each other’s novels, then meeting up to talk about them and exchange notes. At some point they stopped being writerly discussions and became actual dates, though I was a little late in cottoning on to this. We once met for a picnic in the summer, but I just assumed it was an editing session, and brought along my notebook and my red pen…
Lastly, huge congratulations also on your exciting agent representation news…
I’m extremely excited to be working with Stephanie Thwaites at Curtis Brown on a new round of edits, taking on board the feedback I received from the junior judges. Following these changes we will hopefully be sending the new manuscript out to publishers!
Interview by Caroline Ambrose
STRUAN MURRAY is a Scottish writer and a lecturer and researcher in genetics at the University of Oxford. He won the Bath Children’s Novel Award 2017 with Orphans of the Tide (originally submitted as The Vessel), his unpublished fantasy novel set in a drowned world. When a mysterious boy washes in with the tide, only Ellie, a fearless young inventor living in a workshop crammed with curiosities, believes he is not the enemy. Struan is newly represented by Stephanie Thwaites at Curtis Brown and his website is www.struanmurray.com/
Read the opening pages of Orphans of the Tide
Bath Children’s Novel Award 2017 full announcement
