Malorie Blackman: how my Project Remix will tap into teen creativity

Malorie Blackman: teenagers are some of the most passionate, dynamic and creative people I know Photograph: Tom Pilston/Tom Pilston

This morning Malorie Blackman launches a project and competition designed to tap into the creativity of teens in a really thrilling way. And here Malorie herself tells us what the competition is all about and why she’s running it:

It’s one of the ideas I had when I first became children’s laureate and something I had to get off the ground before my tenure is over in June 2015. What I wanted to do was use literature and different kinds of stories and poems as a springboard taping into the creativity of our teens – I wanted teenagers to come up with their own creative responses to literature – using books themselves as a starting point. So we’ve come up with a list of 24 books from a wide range of authors and genres including Holly Smale, John Green, Suzanne Collins, Philip Pullman, Benjamin Zephaniah, Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker and the competition is to make something of your own that is inspired by one of the books.
What we’ve done is come up with five categories: creative writing, music, book cover design, book trailer and comic strip. We don’t just want a retelling of the story, what we want is something new, so you can take a character from the story and put them in a completely new setting or maybe write a prequel or a sequel to the story.
Teenagers are some of the most passionate, dynamic and creative people I know. Yet too often this creative spark is left to flicker precariously and sometimes fade entirely. Project Remix is all about fuelling that inventive spark, encouraging young people to view literature in fresh and exciting ways, putting creative control directly back into their hands. Imagine Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice remixed into a drum and bass anthem or saxophone solo, Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games reimagined as a vibrant comic strip, and Patrick Ness’ The Knife of Never Letting Go brought to life as a suspenseful book trailer

 It is about using these stories as inspiration for doing your own work. I think fan fiction is the way most writers start, and the same goes for music and design. When I wrote Noughts and Crosses, I was half way through it when I realised this was very like Romeo and Juliet… as long as you make it your own, and put your own spin on it, I think it’s brilliant to use other great work to find your own voice.

The competition is open to 13-19-year-olds and Malorie has partnered up with Movellas.com to run Project Remix – for those who don’t know, Movellas.com is a teenager story-sharing community. So all the entries will be published on the website – then the winners will be announced in April 2015.
“As well as celebrating story in all its forms, I hope Remix will shine a light on the vast range of opportunities that there are in the creative industries for our young people – so often overlooked within traditional careers guidance,” explains Malorie.
Imagine Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice remixed into a drum and bass anthem! Photograph: Moviestore Collection/REX/Moviestore Collection/REX

The winners and runners up will be invited to the Project Remix ceremony, with the winners awarded an exclusive experience relating to their category, including: a day at a music studio (Music); a design portfolio session with a Random House senior book designer (Book Cover Design); a film feedback session with BBC director Jermain Julian (Book Trailer); an editorial critique session from a top Random House editor (Creative Writing); and a behind-the-scenes visit to the Phoenix comic publisher (Comic Strip). The runners-up will receive a special goody bag of books.

So check out Project Remix for further information about the competition, plus resources to help you create your entries, including guidance and insider tips from top industry experts from each category.

The project is being delivered by Booktrust, who manage the Waterstones Children’s Laureate post, in partnership with Movellas.com and Malorie Blackman’s publisher, Penguin Random House.
We’ll be following the competition with great interest, so watch this space!

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