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Lucas Maxwell was announced as the winner of the 2024 Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition, an annual prize that aims to uncover new talent in children’s fiction. His story, You Have Selected Power Drive, is the story of Elias, an autistic fourteen-year-old boy growing up in a snowy rural town. Unbeknownst to Elias, his older brother Bo struggles with addiction.

Pitched as being for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece, judges praised Maxwell’s accomplished writing and the endearing warmth of the story.

In this Q&A, Lucas discusses the inspiration behind his winning story, his writing journey, and what the experience of working with Chicken House has been like so far …

What inspired the story that won you the Times/Chicken House Prize?

I wrote the story because I felt it had always been swirling around in my head for a very long time and I thought it was something worth telling.  It’s inspired by events that transpired when I was younger and growing up in rural Canada. I didn’t realise it at the time, but looking back, I realise that my brother and I had a somewhat unique experience and I wanted to write it all down. We were surrounded by a lot of interesting characters and there were some ridiculous and  traumatic events that have remained in my mind. Ultimately, I wanted to tell a story that will stick in people’s minds.

Can you tell us a bit about your writing journey before the competition?

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. I wrote ghost stories and poems and stories about UFOs and bigfoot when I was a little kid.  I tried very hard to have my short stories published when I was a teen. They never made it to publication, but there were two events that I never forgot and that kept me going.

I received a rejection letter from a small Nova Scotian publisher and the guy who ran the publisher sent me a hand-written note that told me he was sorry that he couldn’t publish it but to keep going, that there was something there he could see that was good in the work.

The second was when I was in a very low place and gave a short story to a university professor, she held it up in front of the class, read it and then announced that one day I’d be a published author. That was over twenty years ago now, but it never left me.

What made you decide to enter the competition?

I really felt this story was pretty good and at the same time was feeling somewhat disheartened by the process of finding an agent. I know now how hard it can be to find an agent but at the time I was just frustrated and was being quite hard on myself about the entire process. I felt like I had a great story but I didn’t know what to do with it. When I saw the competition, which just seemed like a breath of fresh air, I decided to give it a try.

How did it feel when you found out you’d won?!

Leading up to the event, I had, like most people I’m sure, trained myself to accept that I had lost. I felt pretty relaxed up to a certain point, then, as the announcement got closer, I felt really lightheaded and strange. I was standing behind a few people and I could see the stage and it all just hit me and I felt really sad for some reason. I think in my head I knew I wasn’t going to win and I was trying to accept it, but when you make it that far it’s hard not to want it to be you.

I remember Shalu, my editor from Chicken House, came and stood beside me and said something. I don’t remember what it was, but she is so nice and has a calming presence and it made me feel a lot better.

Then one of the judges, Lucy Bannerman, stood up on the stage and said something about the winning book making her feel cold just reading it and a light went off in my head as I knew my book was set in a Canadian winter and I thought that maybe there was a chance. And before I could get that thought out I saw my face on the screen as the winner and I don’t remember anything I said after that. It changed my life, I know that much.

What’s it been like working with Chicken House since your win?

They are amazing people. I have been fortunate to see them in person since I won and they really have been the best group of people to work with. I am working with Shalu on the edits and she is the best, I know she’s championed the book from day one and I owe her a lot. I owe all of them a lot. This has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid scribbling down ghost stories under a blanket with a flashlight, stories I’d tell to make my brother laugh, and it would not have happened without them. They genuinely seem invested in every single detail of this book and I am very grateful to be working with them.

What has surprised you most about the publishing process?

I’m very fortunate that through my role as a school librarian I’ve met a lot of authors and I’ve always picked their brains about the process. Therefore this has given me a lot of insight into the publishing process over the past decade. So what I’ve been surprised the most is how Chicken House has been asking me for the ‘feeling’ of the book to help with titles and book covers and that was a pleasant surprise.

I went into it so worried that I would not have as much input on things like that, and I’ve really enjoyed exploring the book again and ensured I’ve squeezed out everything that I want from it to give Chicken House a complete picture.

Any tips for writers who are thinking about entering in the future?

Get someone else to read your story. I say this because for a very long time I was reluctant to let anyone read this story because it’s so personal. However, when someone else reads your story they will find things you would never pick up on and it will be a huge help.

Also, try to give yourself enough time to finish your story, not look at it for a few weeks or even a few months and then go back over it line by line. Again, you will find all kinds of things, not just spelling and grammar mistakes but plot holes or things that don’t make sense.

Craft a good synopsis, and don’t forget that you should spoil the ending in your synopsis, I didn’t realise that for a long time. My last tip is to simply take the leap and try, I never in a million years thought I’d win so don’t let self doubt get in your way.

What’s next for you and your writing?

I have two things I’m working on that I’m really excited about. I don’t think I can talk about them at this time but I’m very excited about the stories. One is essentially pure comedy and the other is very, very sad, so they couldn’t be more different, but at the moment I am very proud of both of these stories and I would be very grateful if they make it onto shelves one day.

What books or authors inspired you as a young reader?

When I was a kid I read a ton of comic books, I was obsessed with The Punisher because they felt like comics that I shouldn’t be reading at that age. But when I was around nine or ten, my teacher read The Hobbit to us in class and I was completely hooked.

I became obsessed with that story and anything like it. My brother, who was older, gave me a book called The Crystal Shard by R.A. Salvatore which is part of a fantasy series that I also became obsessed with. This series introduced me to the world of Dungeons and Dragons and that has also had a huge impact on me. As a teen I read Sometimes a Great Notion and The Catcher in the Rye which were also life-changing for me.

If you could give your pre-entry self one piece of advice, what would it be?

To not be so hard on myself. I think because writing is often a very isolating process we can beat ourselves up and simply exist in a cloud of self doubt. I would tell myself that the fact that I had even written a novel is a huge thing, it’s massive, and it’s something not to be sniffed at. I’d tell myself that the story I’ve written is worth reading, I’d try to convince that person to be nicer to themselves.