AustLit

John Flanagan's career as a writer of childrens fiction began when, after having many manuscripts trargeted to adults rejected, he redrafted one of the short stories he had written years earlier for his son Mike. Random House accepted and published Ranger's Apprentice - The Ruins of Gorlan and the medival fantasy series is up to its seventh book (8). Flanagan now enjoys national and international success as a writer of children's books, however, as Leigh van den Broeke points out, 'it has taken him a long time to become a full-time novelist and the memories of being an unpublished author are never far from his mind' (9). Flanagan says he very nearly gave up (8) and credits his family with giving him the confidence to continue' (9). His advice to budding writers: "If you believe in your writing, you never know what might happen with it" (9).