Maggie Womersley -Winner

Cheshire Novel Prize Kids Winner - Newly represented by Saskia Leach at The Kate Nash Literary Agency

Novel name: Supers -YA

Maggie Womersley grew up on the South Coast and studied Film Studies and English Literature at Kent University. After graduating she began a career as an archive film researcher and moved to London, where she enjoyed a decade of living in cramped accommodation and staying up late. Her love of film lead to an MA in Cinema at the British Film Institute, and to a life-long love of sitting in dark places on sunny days. In 2023, she took the Three month ‘Write Your Novel’ course at Curtis Brown Creative, so she could read, write and wallow in books with like-minded people. She now lives in High Wycombe with her husband and teenage son, and goes to bed at a reasonable hour.

What made you enter the Cheshire Novel Prize?

I’d heard really good things from friends who entered the Cheshire Novel Prize last year – mainly surrounding the quality of the feedback they received regardless of where they placed in the comp - so when I heard there was going to be a kids’ lit version I couldn’t wait to take part. That said, I left my entry until the last day of the competition – as always!

I think entering competitions like this one is always a valuable experience because it makes you focus closely on your novel opening, your hook, and your synopsis. You can put yourself into the minds of the judges and ask “Is this first line doing a good enough job?” “Is my synopsis hitting the main points?” Even when I haven’t listed in a competition, just getting my work ready for it has professionalised my approach for submitting to agents and future comps.

What did it feel like when you were LL and then SL?

I was ecstatic when I discovered I had made the longlist! It was a big build up to the announcement with the snippets going out on X first, and there was a real buzz among the community of writers who had entered – and that was lovely. Everyone was supporting each other, finding friends, enjoying the pitches being published – it was delicious!

When Sara phoned me to let me know I was on the shortlist I can safely say it was one of the best phone calls of the year! Especially as I thought she was my dentist’s receptionist calling to rearrange an appointment. I was in a bubble of delight all weekend. Having said that, knowing I’d made the shortlist also spurred me on to finesse the book in readiness for June. It’s given me a target to aim for – so that even if I didn’t win, I’d have the best version of the book possible by the time results day rolled around.

What was the reaction from those around you/family and friends?

My 15-year-old son was so thrilled when I told him the news that he even looked up from his phone. Seriously though, it’s such a lovely experience to be able to run up the stairs (my writing area is in the basement) and say “Hey, guess what, guys? Do you remember that time you didn’t get any supper because I was too busy entering a novel competition at the last minute….. well…. I’m on the long list!” And, it’s the people you live with who have to put up with all your moaning about how your book isn’t ‘working’ today, that deserve the biggest acknowledgement when you get some success. Also, my writing group – who I’ve been meeting with for over ten years now – their delight for me, was really lovely too.

You were unrepresented when you entered the Cheshire Novel Prize, can you say what’s happened since?

Since entering the Cheshire Prize I have also been long-listed in the Bath Kids Novel Prize 2023 and I was a finalist for the Undiscovered Voices scheme run by SCBWI. I am now delighted to say that I am represented by Saskia Leach at The Kate Nash Literary Agency.

How did you come up with the idea for your book?

In 2022 I read a newspaper article about super-recognisers who work for the police and the photo that went with it was of a young and charismatic woman who later in the article talked about how her super-recogniser abilities had sometimes got her into sticky situations with friends and boyfriends – so that was my main character right there. I think I started writing the book a few days later.

What’s it about?

Mae Thornhill is a teenage Super Recogniser who can recognise the face of everyone she’s ever met, except the person who matters most - her twin sister’s killer. When Mae joins a group of other teens with similar ‘super’ abilities, she hopes she will unlock the buried memory and move forward to a ‘normal’ life, but she quickly finds herself drawn into a dangerous terrorist plot which will test her nerve, her friendships and her memories of family life before her sister died. It’s got some funny bits too!

What’s your writing routine?

I’m a morning writer – so I write my new stuff when everyone else is still asleep. My perfect writing day would be 8am-1pm, write 8,000 words of amazing new stuff; 2pm-4pm, revise and edit; 4pm – 6pm, Read usefully around the subject and maybe stroll in a rose garden as potential series ideas pop into my head; 6pm-8pm, jot new ideas down in a beautiful leather-bound notebook with fountain pen; 8pm-9pm - write journal about my writing day so my biographers will have something to work from; 9pm - 9.30pm, family time; 9.30 – 7am sleep a lovely sleep and dream up more great ideas. (Needless to say, all meals and snacks prepared by someone else and delivered to me without speech or interaction) I have literally never had a day like this!

What’s next for you?

I want to finish the Middle Grade novel I started back in February and had to put on hold while I made some edits to ‘Supers’ – I’m halfway through it and my characters are really fed up that I left them literally hanging from a dodgy rope bridge strung between a cliff top and a light-house, in the middle of a storm. I need to get those guys down!


What are your favourite children’s books and why?

I know it’s not fashionable to admit it but my guilty pleasure is re-reading ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ every couple of years – they still have the power to transport me to another world and to yank on my heart-strings. I also have a special love for ‘Danny Champion of the World’ by Roald Dahl, and ‘The Ogre Downstairs’ by Diana Wynne Jones - I loved how both of these depict imperfect family dynamics. More recently I’ve been utterly charmed and provoked to uproarious laughter by ‘Steady for This’ by Nathanael Lessore, and I love the danger and high stakes of Sue Wallman’s YA thrillers – especially ‘I Know You Did It’. Plus, a big shout out to Holly Jackson whose ‘Good Girl’ series is amazing! And to Elle McNicoll, whose ‘A Certain Spark’ really opened my eyes to stories involving neurodiversity.

Any tips for writers intending on entering the competition?

Don’t listen to the excuses in your head telling you all the reasons not to risk it. Even if you only have a rough outline and a handful of chapters it is still worth entering, because once you’ve committed to getting your entry in shape I can guarantee you will have improved your work. Then, have a really great first line that grabs the reader’s attention, followed by a fantastic opening paragraph and a stunning first page. Then, think of your extract as being self-contained – with a beginning, a middle and an end of its own – the end of your extract should be a cliff-hanger so that the judges want to read on – and hopefully pick you for the long-list! Also, make sure your title is working hard and isn’t just an after-thought or a summary of your main character. These are all things I wish I had done before I entered this competition, and are definitely what I will do going forward!