The need for cake and laughter: lessons learned on the road to ‘Waiting for Callback’

‘Waiting for Callback’ tells the story of 15-year-old Elektra as she stumbles and cringes her ways through her first experiences as a teen actor and we loved it. Mother and daughter author duo, Perdita and Honor Cargill, are here to tell us the top ten things they learned during the process of bringing ‘Waiting for Callback’ into our hands.

• P: Writing teen novels is a lot more fun than being a tax barrister (bet that one comes as a bit of a shock).

• H: Writing teen novels is a lot more fun than sports lessons especially when the lesson involves running ridiculous distances in the freezing cold without even being allowed to multitask-gossip.

• H: Writing teen novels with your mum distracts her from worrying about what else going in your life.

• P: Writing teen novels with your daughter means you get to know more about her life than she realizes that you know…

• No. 1 perk of writing funny, contemporary teen is that watching ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Made in Chelsea’ is ‘properly’ categorized as research.

• No. 2 perk is that buying pink stationery becomes a ‘legitimate’ business expense.

• P&H: it is not always a mistake to be swayed by cake.

• P&H: If you melt down (you will melt down especially just before publication) then go for a drink with your agent.

• P&H: the MG & YA book world in the UK is stuffed full of generous, lovely people. Take the help as a debut, you’ll need it but remember and be ready to help in return if you can.

• P&H: It’s a long road from ‘shall we write a funny book’ to seeing a real life book with pictures. You need to keep laughing.

We’re in love with ‘Waiting for Callback’ and the novel’s heroine, Elektra, here at MP! Tell us what you think of the book @maximumpopbooks!

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