The Enid Blyton Society

I guess that I have mixed feelings about this...

The purist in me would probably say that characters should be left as they are when the original writer passes away. On the flip side of that however, I have read and enjoyed continuation books involving Poirot, Jeeves, Bond etc. so can't really complain too much here.

Hopefully the books will be clearly marketed as not actually written by Enid.

The only continuation novels I tend to read are those written by people on this website! At least they are written for genuine reasons.

Nick wrote:Off topic but I read last night that Lallemand also wrote additional Mr Men stories for the French market.

Golly, what are the Mr Men called in French then?? "Messieurs Hommes" doesn't have quite the same ring to it...

Rob Houghton wrote:

Julie2owlsdene wrote:Surprised the copyright publishers have done this. I've contacted them in the past about continuation novels, and they always say that they don't want to get into continuation novels, as they're more interested in selling the Blyton books already out!

Yes - I was thinking that too! I haven't ever contacted anyone about my continuation novels, but it would be interesting to see if I get a similar reply!

I imagine the difference being that Pamela Butchart is an established children's authoress.

Pamela’s career as an author has seen her write 18 books for children since 2013, after she entered a writing competition in 2011. Her work has become so popular with younger audiences that she was hand-picked to write the new novels — the first of which, The Mystery of the Skull, will be published in July next year.

As I said earlier - its something I don't like - the idea publishers seem to have that established children's authors (who after all, have been published because of their unique writing style) are looked upon as being the best bet when it comes to writing Enid Blyton continuation stories. I don't see they have any more qualification than anyone else, in fact maybe less! They already have a recognisable style and why would they choose to change all that and write like another author?

Far better to open it up to the general public - all ages - to see what gems might turn up.

Julie was actually referring to the fact that publishers lie when it comes to 'not publishing follow on books'.

As Pamela Butchart admits she is a massive Enid Blyton fan I wonder if she has visited this site or is a member of the society.
I think that the continuation novels available on this site stick very closely to Enid's style and it's a pity that they can't be considered for publication.

John Pickup wrote: I think that the continuation novels available on this site stick very closely to Enid's style and it's a pity that they can't be considered for publication.

My feelings entirely, John.

And mine.

And mine!

I remember when we had Anne Digby at an Enid Blyton Day talking about the Naughtiest Girl sequels that she wrote, where she said that she was determined to do them in her own style and did not want to attempt to copy Enid's style. She was of course the author of the Trebizon school series, recently re-issued by Egmont.

I see that a recent book in Pamela Butchart's 'Baby Aliens' series has the title To Wee or not to Wee!

My expectations weren't very high before, but now...

Personally I think that if you're going to do a Blyton Continuation series, then it should be just that, Blyton based.

If you want to do it without the Blyton feel, then you may as well just write your own story altogether, without using Enid's characters. Just my humble opinion of course.

yes, exactly my opinion too! That's why, when publishers choose an already-established writer to write a continuation book, I always feel its cynical. They aren't choosing them because they are the best for the job - they are choosing them because they are well-known. A well-known writer will already have a recognisable style of their own - so its unlikely they would be following Blyton's style in any way. Even the title isn't correct!

Can't argue with that, Rob and Julie.

If you want to do it without the Blyton feel, then you may as well just write your own story altogether, without using Enid's characters. Just my humble opinion of course.

And an opinion with which I completely share.

And me. If publishers are interested in continuation books they might want to consider someone who writes in the Blyton style loved by so many. Such as Julie, Daisy or Rob.