Q&A with author, Beverley McWilliams!

Beverley McWilliams loves sharing history with young children. In August 2019, she published her debut picture book Born to Fly, which tells the story of South Australian aviator Captain Harry Butler and received a notable commendation from the CBCA. Beverley’s writing has also been published online and in magazines, and she is a regular contributor to The School Magazine, Australia’s longest-running literary publication for children. Beverley's two historical middle-grade novels, featuring her passion for animals, are Spies in the Sky and The Reindeer and the Submarine. Her upcoming picture book Willow's Gumboots is to be released in October by MidnightSun Publishing.
Beverley is the event coordinator for the Society Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI SA) and a member of the Australian Society Authors. She lives by the beach in beautiful South Australia with her family and menagerie of pets who provide endless inspiration. Visit her website at: www.beverleymcwilliams.com/


1.  Beverley, I love your first book, which was the picture book biography 'Born To Fly' about pioneering SA aviator, Harry Butler. Can you please share your process in bringing the book to fruition? What were the challenges? 
 
Thank you, Brenton. The idea for Born to Fly came to me when I was travelling in the Yorke Peninsula with my family. We stopped at a playground in a little town called Minlaton, and just beside the playground was a memorial building housing Captain Harry Butler’s ‘Red Devil’ plane. It was the first time I’d heard about Harry Butler, and I was immediately drawn to his story. He was a farm boy who followed his dream to become a pilot at the time when aviation was in its infancy. It was such an inspiring story and fascinating piece of local history, and I thought it would make a perfect picture book.

My first step was to contact Harry Butler’s relatives, and they were very supportive of my idea. It was an exciting book to research. I was able to chat in person with Harry’s relatives and look through their photos. There was a local museum in Minlaton dedicated to Harry with lots of information and memorabilia. Also, the State Library had several boxes in their archives on him. I loved delving through these boxes, and it was here I found some of the special anecdotes I included in the book, such as the cockatoos calling Harry’s name as he flew over the houses. I also discovered an amazing connection. While in the Royal Flying Corps during WW1, Harry spent a lot of time training pilots from a base in a small Yorkshire village called Markse-by-the-Sea – this was my birthplace and home as a child!
 
As far as publishing the book, I had my heart set on MidnightSun Publishing. It was a South Australian story, and I desperately wanted an SA publisher and illustrator. My main hurdle was time. The following year was the centenary of Harry Butler’s historic mail flight over the Gulf St Vincent, and there was a huge celebration planned in the Yorke Peninsula. I wanted my book to be part of this.

I was really lucky as the previous year I had attended a speed pitch at a local writers' festival where I had pitched a non-fiction picture book idea to MidnightSun. My story wasn’t for them but they like my writing and advised me to write an Australian story. I was given a direct email address, so I emailed Anna Solding at MidnightSun and asked if she would be interested in the manuscript. Anna replied within a couple of weeks offering me a contract. She had also found the perfect South Australian illustrator - Tim Ide. After years of trying to get published, it all happened remarkably quickly. It was the right book at the right time, and I feel very grateful for that.
 
 
 
2. Do you have a typical process when you write? What does the rewriting process look like for you? 
 
My process really depends on what I’m writing. I like to know where I am going with a book, so I am a planner to a certain extent. With my novels I work to a very rough outline as I like more flexibility. With picture books, I am more rigid in my planning, particularly if it’s non fiction. I like to set out with a page breakdown from the beginning as this helps me to visualise the story in pictures as well as words. I re-write and re-write until I am as happy as I can be. Then I pass my book onto my writer buddy Kristin and a couple other readers for their thoughts. I usually put my manuscript away for a few weeks or even months so I can re-look at it with fresh eyes. I then do a final edit (or two…or three) before I send it out into the world.
 
 
 
3. Is there any one thing, or multiple things, you know now about writing and publishing that you wish you knew when you began? 
 
Like most aspiring writers, I had romanticised the idea of being an author, and I expected it to be a lot easier than it was. Most things I know now I am glad I didn’t know as I’d probably have given up: how long it takes to get published, how much heartache and disappointment I’d have to cope with, how little money I’d make…
 
One thing that would have made my writing journey easier was if I had connected with other creatives in the early days of my writing. I thought I could do it on my own and for the first few years, I just wrote and submitted (unsuccessfully). It wasn’t until I took the bold step (for me) of pitching at a local writers' festival that things changed. I came out of my pitch and one of the waiting writers chatted to me and told me to join SCBWI. That night I joined, and it was the best writing decision I ever made. Suddenly I was among other writers – published and aspiring. The writer I had spoken to was Kristin Martin, and she is now one of my best friends and my most trusted writing companion.

Being part of a supportive community is really important as a writer. I have received so much encouragement and love from my SCBWI group. I have celebrated achievements with them and cried on shoulders. So my advice to writers starting out is to find a support network – it may be SCBWI, a local writers’ centre, a critique group or a Facebook community. Find a group of people who understands (anyone who hasn’t genuinely tried to get published doesn’t have a clue) and share that journey with them.
 
 
 
4.  You are a huge fan of animals and history being included in your stories, like in your two wonderful historical novels 'Spies in the Sky' and 'The Reindeer and the Submarine'. What's the most important things to consider, for you, when researching and writing a story about true events from the past? How did you first discover the true stories behind these books to then write the novels? 
 
Yes, animals and history are my passion. Everything I write now is either based on animals or history (or preferably both).
 
The idea for The Reindeer and the Submarine came from a newspaper article I read online. I initially drafted it as a picture book (the picture book which I pitched to MidnightSun at my first writers’ festival). But I felt there was so much more to the story than I could convey in a picture book, so I decided to write it as a novel. I knew that writing from an animal’s point of view was a little risky and would put some publishers off, but this was Pollyanna the reindeer’s story and I wanted her to be the one to tell it. I also felt this was a good way to help children understand as they are seeing the war through an almost childlike perspective. There wasn’t a great deal documented on the true story of Pollyanna and a lot of it contained inconsistencies, but I managed to get hold of an amazing book called Under the Jolly Rodger which included first-hand accounts and quotes from the submariners who travelled with Pollyanna. The most challenging area of research for this book was getting the submarine element correct. As well as reading up everything I could about WW2 submarines, I also used virtual tours and for a little lighter relief watched World War Two Submarine movies.
 
Spies in the Sky was a story I had wanted to tell for many years. I have always had a soft spot for pigeons, and I wrote an article for The School Magazine called Feathered Heroes about their role in war. I wanted to develop this idea into a middle-grade novel, I just needed to find the right angle. A few years before, I had adopted a rescued pigeon who I named ‘Blue’ after Royal Blue, King George’s pigeon who was awarded the Dickin Medal for his service in WW2. I decided that Royal Blue would be an ideal protagonist – a royal pigeon coming from a pampered background thrust into war. From there I decided to base all the characters on Dickin medal winners – so along came Commando, Mary and Billy. This book required a lot more research. Having kept pigeons, I had a good knowledge of them as birds, but I met up with people from the homing pigeon community so I could get more of an understanding about racing pigeons. As well as a significant amount of research on the internet, I read over twenty books as background research. These included books on royal pigeon keeping, the RAF airfield Bircham Newton, the Baedecker Raids, and Coastal Command. I even read books about Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s childhood as she features in a chapter called ‘Lilibet.’
 
With historical fiction there is no necessity to get things perfectly realistic. However, it is really important to me that I reflect the past and my animal protagonists accurately which is why I put a significant amount of time into research. Although my stories are fictionalised in that I am creating characters and personalities and am giving the animals thoughts and opinions, they are grounded in as real a world as I can create. I hope that readers can love my stories but also learn so much (without realising they are learning).
 
 
5. You have a buzz-worthy picture book 'Willow's Gumboots' coming out this year with MidnightSun, plus a picture book with CSIRO. Can you please share a bit more about these two books and their creation process? 
 
Willow’s Gumboots was actually the first book I ever wrote (back in 2013) although it has changed a great deal since then. It was inspired by a friend who used to put plants in her toddler’s shoes as he outgrew them. Most of the books I wrote in my early years have been well and truly archived, but I always believed Willow had a place in the world. I redrafted the book over a hundred times and Willow has had four different names and worn gumboots, rain boots and wellington boots! Ten years after my first draft, Willow finally found a home with MidnightSun Publishing. I was really excited that Helene Magisson was selected as the illustrator (I always loved her book Jacaranda Snow). I am so delighted with the final illustrations. Helene has brought my story to life just as I dreamed.
 
My picture book with CSIRO is called Cassowary Dad and is due for release in November.
Before I moved to Australia, I had no idea Cassowaries existed. When I saw one at a wildlife park, I thought it looked like a dinosaur. That inspired me to write an article for The School Magazine called Dino Bird. The more I learned about cassowaries the more  enchanted I became with them. Then I read an article about the cassowary being the world’s most dangerous bird. I always feel the need to champion for those misunderstood animals and so I decided to write a picture book to help children (and adults) better understand these magnificent birds. In the cassowary world the father is the sole carer and his relationship with his chicks certainly qualifies him as one of the animal kingdom’s super-dads. I decided to base my book on this beautiful relationship. The book gives a wonderful insight into the cassowary and their rainforest habitat. It is also a good book to teach and celebrate non-traditional families. I wrote the book with CSIRO in mind. Luckily, they loved my proposal and partnered me with the amazing natural history photographer and illustrator Julian Teh.
 
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6. Tell us about your writing space? 
 
(See picture below!) It doesn’t always look that tidy! 
Unless I am away, I always work at my desk in my office. It is my most productive space. My desk and shelves are filled with elephants (since working on my latest MG I have become obsessed with elephants), lots of candles and my special animal mugs. And of course I am surrounded by lots of books!
 
 
7. And a bit of a fun but tricky question for last, to make you really think! If you could put just 1 Beverley McWilliams book in a time capsule to be opened in 1,000 years, to give future generations the best understanding of who Beverley McWilliams is as a writer, then which book would you choose and why? 
 
That is a tricky one! I like to think that all my books carry a piece of me as a writer and a person. A friend told me that The Reindeer and the Submarine was so me – they could see my personality in the pages. I felt that was such a compliment (I hope it was meant that way😊). As a writer, my historical fiction novels are probably the best reflection of who I am. They demonstrate my love of writing about history and animals as well as my passion for non fiction and fiction. Taking a true event and writing a fictionalised story around it is definitely my happy place as a writer. I also love working with settings in historical fiction – those little pieces of description that can transport a reader to another time and place. As to which of my historical fiction books I’d put in that capsule I think probably Spies in the Sky as my heart was invested so heavily in this story.
 
 

Beverley's treasure-filled writing office!

Willow's Gumboots by Beverley McWilliams - coming in October 2024 from MidnightSun Publishing!

Beverley's debut picture book, 'Born to Fly' about Captain Harry Butler.