I think that KS1 teachers across the land are going to be very excited by the arrival of the first title in the ‘Unicorns in Uniform’ series. It will certainly add a bit of life to the ‘People Who Help Me’ unit of work! The highly-illustrated first chapter book format makes ‘Dragon Inferno’ a great choice for newly independent readers.

“When two young dragons accidentally set fire to The Witchy Wood, firefighting unicorn, Blaze, and her emergency vehicle, Quench, race to the scene. As they struggle to get everyone to safety and stop the flames from spreading, a witch called Jinx decides her magical abilities are exactly the help they need to stop the inferno. But Jinx’s magic only spells one thing…DISASTER, and soon the flames are raging towards a treehouse full of powerful potions. Can Blaze and Quench get everyone out before the whole of Witchy Wood goes up in smoke?”

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‘Unicorns in Uniforms: From draft to published book’ by Tracy Curran

I’ve heard people say that writing a book is similar to birthing a baby. Well, writing Unicorns in Uniforms took much longer than nine months! It was definitely hard work and painful at times, with loads of twists and turns and highs and lows. Overall though, it’s been a completely joyful experience and totally worth it. 

I’d been scribbling ideas and stories in some form for most of my life, but I started writing seriously in 2017. I began with picture books as their short word count fitted with the small amount of time that I had. However, I quickly progressed to chapter books as I just loved reading them. There’s something really special about writing for that age-group and I was still teaching Year 1 children at the time. I wrote three texts and got some interest from agents but no bites. I was in my element though and wasn’t about to give up. 

When The Golden Egg Academy began running a Concept Creation course in 2021, I signed up immediately. The course focussed purely on creating young fiction and was run by Kathy Webb and Jane Harris, experienced editors in the field. It was through that course that I began writing Unicorns in Uniforms but my first two drafts were unrecognisable from the published version. The first draft was set in a hospital while the second draft featured all the unicorns together and had a very busy plot which centred around a villain. I was having huge fun with the characters but the structure wasn’t right.

Unsure about what to do next, I sent my completed manuscript to Kathy Webb and was thrilled when she offered to mentor me. She reminded me of what we’d learned on the course and helped me to streamline my thinking by suggesting I focus on one unicorn at a time. I went away and wrote a whole new draft, which thankfully she loved. This version hasn’t changed much but is being published as book two in the series. Kathy then asked me to outline four further storylines – one for each unicorn – and was keen for me to write my second idea in full. This second text was Dragon Inferno and is the one UCLan has chosen to publish first.

With two manuscripts in good shape, Kathy agreed that I was ready to start submitting the concept to agents. However, after some great feedback and a couple of very near misses, I didn’t end up getting any offers of representation. This was a blow and I began think that it was game over for Unicorns in Uniforms. Kathy hadn’t given up though – she suggested that I begin a second round of submissions and asked me if she could pitch the idea to a publisher – UCLan – who she thought might be interested in it. UCLan expressed interest and requested the manuscript but three months later, I’d heard nothing more.

Then in May 2023, everything changed. I received an out-of-the-blue email from Kathy saying that UCLan would like to meet with me online. A couple of days later, I logged into the video call, with Kathy there to support, completely unsure of what to expect. When they offered me a publishing contract for the two completed manuscripts, I was speechless. 

Exactly a week later Alice Williams, an agent who had expressed some interest in Unicorns and who I’d sent a further (and different) manuscript to, offered me representation. Following that, I received a second offer for Unicorns from another fantastic publisher. It was a very tricky decision but, deep down, I knew Unicorns in Uniforms had found its home with UCLan. The finished product has exceeded all of my expectations and Steve Wood has done a phenomenal job with the illustrations.

Writing a book may be similar in some ways to having a baby but I definitely didn’t do it alone. I’ve had so much help along the way and I just hope readers enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

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Thank you, Tracy for sharing your experiences of getting a story from first draft to publication – it’s certainly a lot trickier process than some people imagine! Thank goodness you persevered though; readers are going to love being introduced to the whole unicorn crew as more titles are released.

Jo.

*Many thanks to Uclan Publishing for inviting me to take part in this blog tour*