Pet Sitters series
by Ella Shine
Guest author post by Ella Shine, Cecily Paterson on behalf of herself and co-author Penny Reeve for Joy in Books at PaperbarkWords blog
The magic of writing together
Our collaborative writing story began when my friend, writer Penny Reeve, and I decided to make a foray into writing a junior fiction series. When we asked ourselves, ‘What do seven-year-olds like?’ we came up with some answers: best friends, pets, adventures and magic.
We combined all of these and came up with the Pet Sitters, made up of BFFs Lina and Cassie, together with Gus, an attention-loving, grumpy cat, who has a knack for causing chaos wherever he goes. The magic happens when the ‘magic’ literally happens: Gus and the girls discover they can talk to each other, and each animal they look after has an unusual talent or trait that takes everyone by surprise.
Write and edit, write and edit
There are different ways to write collaboratively. Penny and I plan each story together. After creating a chapter plan, we take turns writing each chapter. Because our writing styles are quite different, we made the choice early on to be free to edit each other’s work. This has been crucial to finding the ‘Ella Shine’ voice which has ended up being its own unique style!
Even if Penny and I were precious about the words we write, we aren’t any more. Penny loves frilly phrases, while I go for short, sharp and to the point. We respect each other’s style enough to keep the best parts of each and meld the rest.
Finding ourselves in the characters
Like Penny, Cassie has curly hair, and like me, Lina has straight dark hair, but the characters aren’t based on us. Cassie is modelled on my child’s friend who would turn up to an afternoon of play dressed and accessorised to the nines, including sparkly shoes. Lina is far more practical and appeals to the little girl who prefers shorts and sneakers. She has Indian grandparents and teaches Cassie a new Hindi word in every story. Both Penny and I have lived in the Indian subcontinent, so this is a precious part of the series for us.
The appeal of magic
We love magic. Not only is anything possible, but it creates surprise and suspense for our main characters, who must come up with creative, out-of-the-box problem solving when things go wrong. In the first series, our stories featured a guinea pig that becomes invisible, a ‘flying’ miniature pony (although the flying is more like large, bouncy hops) and a glitter-sneezing bearded dragon that seems to be allergic to cats. In the second series the girls deal with mice who multiply in puffs of smoke, and a goat who can’t stop dancing.
The fun of snark
The greatest, most enjoyable part of writing the Pet Sitters is Gus the cat. He’s sarcastic and snide and has no filter, which is a super fun part of yourself to let loose on the page. At the same time, we love him: he has a soft underbelly and just wants to be loved.
Speaking of Gus: that lovable grumpy cat is the key for structuring our stories. His insecurity or unchecked curiosity is what usually causes the key problem, and while the girls attempt to solve things, Gus is also the one who ends up finding the solution – albeit in an unorthodox or unexpected way.
Our own real-life pet sitting
Surprisingly, neither Penny nor I are ‘cat people’. We both prefer dogs. Mine is an old softy with floppy ears who loves nothing more than to be next to someone on the couch, or even better, on their lap. Penny’s pup is younger, bigger, and more boisterous, but just as gorgeous. We’ve both been around a variety of other pets over the years including chickens, baby goats and guinea pigs, which helps with inspiration for the Pet Sitters stories.
Find out more about:
the Pet Sitters at www.ellashineauthor.com
Cecily Paterson at www.cecilypaterson.com
Penny Reeve at www.pennyreeve.com
Award-winning author Cecily Anne Paterson is the co-author with Penny Reeve of the Pet Sitters series, and author in her own right of nine Middle Grade and YA novels.
Three books in her Kangaroo Valley School Series are listed in the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge. Four of her novels have won or been listed for awards, including Lola in the Middle, winner of the Forevability Awards 2023, and Invisible, featuring a Hard of Hearing protagonist, which was a semi-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel (ABNA) Awards 2014.
Cecily is a marketing and communications specialist and has worked as a freelance writer and book editor. She lives in Sydney with her family.
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