in families. The story sort of unfolded by itself as I wrote it but I also had a lot of help from my wonderful agent Kate and my very clever editors Rebecca and Stephanie. They helped the story take shape and most importantly make sense!” The tale revolves around a kidnapped groom and a ransom note as Anish’s aunt prepares to marry. Anish and her best friend Milo must find the underlying cause of the disappearance, with clues along the way for readers to see if they can solve the mystery. Serena adds: “I really hope children like Anish and her funny family. I hope Anisha’s escapades will inspire a new generation of readers and writers and that she shows children that a story can be representative of a culture without having to be defined by it.”
I wrote and kept Post-it notes of scribbled thoughts in a folder. Eventually I realised if I wanted to do something serious about it I needed help. Which is how I found Golden Egg Academy on a Google search. I sent them a sample of my work and they accepted me on to the Foundations course. It was a turning point. Suddenly I had feedback on my writing, real guidance to turn those erratic thoughts and ideas into something coherent. I guess I wanted to write for children because now I had children and to leave something for them as a legacy was the dream really.” Outside help and advice helped Serena, but her major break came through the Undiscovered Voices competition. She was selected for an anthology of new writing, and this gave her a platform to showcase her work and “catapulted my journey forward at a remarkable rate because now I was on the radar of agents and publishers”.
From manuscript to book
That led to Serena signing with agent Kate Shaw, and from there the pace continued to speed up.
“We were finishing the manuscript, polishing it for submission and then off it went with a four week deadline attached for any offers,” says Serena. “I got four in the end which was totally surreal. In the end, I went with my heart and it was the right thing to do. My journey has been a rollercoaster as I am sure it is for many writers. But the Undiscovered Voices competition really helped to make it happen and for that I’m forever grateful.” That manuscript is now a fully-fledged book and Serena is proud of her lead character Anish, who “was inspired, I think, by the determined personality of my own daughter and perhaps a little of the ten-year-old me too.
“The idea for the mystery based around a wedding came from a thought I had about how big Indian weddings are and how they become these extravagant events that bring out the best and worst
22 PEN&INC. A seal of approval
The initial signs were good with Serena’s daughter and son both providing a critical eye. “My daughter, aged eight, read it
in a day. It was wonderful to see her chuckling along and going through the different suspects. She tells me she really enjoyed it and as she reads a lot I take it as a huge compliment. “My son, aged six, took about a week to read it and again it was just so lovely to watch him processing the story, figuring it out alongside Anisha. It was a very proud moment for me to see them reading it.”
There are more to come in the series and Serena is working on other projects, including a picture book and developing middle grade projects. The next steps for Serena are clearer now and she is hopeful that other writers will be following her path and bring more diversity and representation into children’s publishing.
She says: “It feels to me like there are a few good people in the industry banging the drum and pushing for change. I’ve been very fortunate to find some of those people and they have welcomed me and made me believe there is a space for a book like mine. There’s always more to be done, we’re never really done are we? Until every child feels represented and as you say without books being pigeonholed because of the colour or cultural background of the characters. I think what Usborne has done with the Anisha series is great because it is allowed to be a funny mystery and although Anisha’s culture features as part of the story, it doesn’t define it. I’ve been really fortunate to have a great editor to help me write the story that way.” PEN&INC.
Anisha Accidental Detective by Serena Patel (illustrated by Emma McCann) is out now in paperback from Usborne. Book two in the series, Anisha Accidental Detective: School’s Cancelled publishes in September
Spring-Summer 2020
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