Reece Carter on how his debut novel A Girl Called Corpse started an international bidding war. The essential element of a good opening to a story. And what are ‘ghost words'? And win A Kind of Magic, a memoir from Anna Spargo-Ryan.
Reece Carter is the author of A Girl Called Corpse. He grew up on his family farm in Tammin, Western Australia. There was an unfortunate lack of witches and ghosts though, so Reece had to find them in books instead. Roald Dahl, Paul Jennings and Emily Rodda were some of his first favourite authors. When Reece moved away to boarding school at the age of eleven, he could regularly be found hiding in the library, tucked away in the corner with a good book. With the encouragement of his English teacher, Reece started writing his own stories. After a few years travelling overseas, Reece moved to Melbourne. But even while working as a nutritionist by day, Reece maintained a secret double life, continuing to write middle-grade novels by night. Now, he lives in Sydney and writes kids' fiction full-time. When not reading or writing, Reece can usually be found talking to his dog Hagrid – and hoping that one of these days Hagrid might decide to talk back.Â
  
