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Simon's first novel for middle grade and young adult readers, The Alchemist’s Portrait, was published in 2003, followed by The Sorcerer’s Letterbox in 2004, The Clone Conspiracy in 2005, The Emerald Curse in 2006, The Heretic’s Tomb in 2007, The Doomsday Mask in 2009, The Time Camera in 2011, The Sphere of Septimus in 2014, Future Imperfect in 2016, the Flashback series, comprising Flashback, Twisted Fate, and Parallel Destiny, in 2015, 2016, and 2018, the Shadowzone series, comprising Shadowzone, Into the Web, and Black Dawn, in 2017, and The Stone of the Seer series in 2022. He's also the author of The Children’s Writer’s Guide, The Working Writer’s Guide, The Time Traveler’s Guide, The Social Media Writer’s Guide, a contributing author to The Complete Guide to Writing Science Fiction Volume One, and has written more than a hundred non-fiction books.
Simon offers a number of services for writers, including editing, manuscript evaluation, coaching, mentoring, and writing workshops, in addition to copywriting services for the business community. He's a writing instructor for adults with the University of Calgary and offers online workshops for both children and adults. He also offers a wide variety of presentations, workshops, and author in residence programs for schools and libraries, as well as virtual author visits.
Simon is a regular presenter at conferences and festivals, and served as the Writer-in-Residence with the Canadian Authors Association.
Full details can be found on his website at www.simon-rose.com.
Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite
“Writing books for children is a marathon, not a sprint.” So claims children’s author, Simon Rose. With quite a few children’s books published and in circulation, the author knows the amount of time and effort that goes into writing a book. And the work never slows down. It’s more than just writing. As he points out in his book, The Children’s Writer’s Guide, there is a great deal of discipline and dedication that goes into pursuing an idea from its roots to the final product of a published book. And the work doesn’t stop there, as all writers today will agree. There’s the promotional package, the book signings, the in-school visits and presentations, and much more. Writing a book, any book, is a job that never really comes to an end.
Simon’s guide is a valuable resource for both beginner and established children’s book writers. In the first chapter, he provides some basic groundwork for all writers, with subsections with headings like: “In the Beginning” and “No Happily Ever After.” He continually stresses that writing is more than just generating a great idea. It’s hard work and lots of it. So writers need to be organized and committed to what they propose to write. He leads you through the initial concept of finding the great idea to inspire the book, how to hook the reader, and some less traditional writing guide topics like choosing the right names for your characters and dealing with rejection. Using examples from his own experience and his own published works, Simon provides a clear and concise guide to writing a good children’s book. Very useful.
