Posts exploring the craft of writing middle-grade fiction.
I’ve been working on Hairy Squatter the past couple days. I have a good sense of who the narrator is, as well as the protagonist. I also started drafting the first chapter. I’ve decided to take a different tack from the initial idea. Here’s the old version of the beginning: Mr. and Mrs. Worsely, of … Read more
I’m happy to announce that I finished the second draft of Confessions of a Hallway Hustler. I’ve started in on the third draft. My goal is to publish the ebook on Amazon by the end of December. I’m on pace to accomplish this. There are 41 chapters and almost 30,000 words. Here’s a rough version … Read more
In my last post, I shared a revision of the outline for Part 1 of Kingdom of Fief. I realized I needed to make Aliyah’s desire line stronger — what she wants both as an internal motivation and as an immediate, concrete goal. She wants to be a knight-errant. Her immediate goal is to go … Read more
I realized while drafting Part 1 of Kingdom of Fief, a medieval comedy-fantasy I’ve been working on for the past few months, that the protagonist’s desire line isn’t strong enough to propel the story forward. So this week, I revised it. I wanted to make her immediate goal more clear and to cut the timeline … Read more
I got this idea for a little side project — a Wimpy Kid-style retelling of Oliver Stone & Brian De Palma’s version of Scarface (1983). One of the constraints I’ll be putting on myself is to see if I can finish a rough draft in a weekend — this weekend. So to prepare, last weekend … Read more
You see, my mom was going on a trip with her new boyfriend. She wouldn’t say for how long. His name is Ponce. The new boyfriend. I guess he’s okay. He’s nice to me, I guess.While Mom was gone, she arranged to send me to my aunt’s house. Aunt Fatima lived in Merrymount, which was … Read more
I’ve been revising what is now the Prologue, as well as Chapters 1 & 2. As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m doing what I can to keep the Delay bugbear at bay. I shared the most recent Prologue with my Discord writers’ group. I was planning to share it with Scott Dikkers and … Read more
For the past couple weeks, I’ve been working on a second draft. It’s going slower than hoped. Part of it is that the first draft — which I dictated and transcribed — is a mess. I can live with that. I’m just glad the first draft exists. It took me only two weekends to produce. … Read more
What follows is a raw version of fairly recent thinking on how to settle on the best narrative frame for the story. Maybe have Lester be a motormouth — who admits that he “talks a lot” when he gets nervous. Right there, I have the seeds of a running joke. Whenever he starts monologuing, the … Read more
Here are the characters, along with their comic archetype: Sir Aliyah Abdullah — Royal/Fighter/Know-It-All (about chivalry)Lester [needs a last name] (Sir Aliyah’s Page) — Nerd Who Thinks He’s Clever/HedonistMo & Fadwa Abdullah (Aliyah’s parents)Mr. Quaggy (school counselor/homeroom teacher)Principal Regina Regis (middle school principal)Skippy (Med Faire joust opponent)King Courtois of Fief — Bumbling Authority/Showbiz TypeQueen Gwennifer … Read more
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