How to Turn an Idea into a Great Story: Making Muscular Action! #writing #amwriting #NaNoWriMo

Are you doing National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)? You may wonder how you can possibly develop your novel enough to get 50,000 words. Here's some help on how to expand a story by increasing the action for a strong middle 

“I love it,” the editor said. “I want to buy it.”

Words every writer wants to hear. But such joy does not come without a price. In this case, the editor followed those lovely phrases with “It needs to be twice as long.”

But I already had a plot that worked, and a nice fast pace! All in ... uh ... just over 80 pages. So yeah, that was short, even for a children’s novel. And since I was pitching The Ghost on the Stairs as the first in a series, it had to match Aladdin’s series guidelines for ages 9 to 12. So I had to add 70 pages, while keeping the story fast and active.

Some of you are going, “Yeah, right—I always need to cut, not expand.” That’s a common problem for many, but filling out a story with exciting, dramatic material can cause challenges as well—especially in the middle, where plots can sag and slow. I also see a lot of beginning children’s writers with manuscript in the 5000- to 20,000-word range, a tough sell unless you are doing leveled readers—which often have a very specific word count for each age level. Adult novelists may wind up with novellas, where a full-length novel would have better market opportunities.

So how do you build a bigger manuscript, while keeping it lean and muscular, not padded with fat descriptions or flabby repetition? I studied books on plotting, including Elements of Fiction Writing - Beginnings, Middles & Ends (Nancy Kress, Writers Digest Books) and came up with the several literary “protein shakes” to feed my novel. 

Add More Plot

In my Haunted series, siblings Jon and Tania travel with their mother and stepfather’s ghost hunter TV show, and discover Tania can see ghosts. In each book, they have to figure out what’s keeping the ghost here, then try to help her or him move on. In the version of The Ghost on the Stairs I sent to the editor, people already knew the ghost’s name and why she’s stuck here grieving. To expand the manuscript, I made the ghost story more vague. Jon and Tania have to do detective work to discover her name and background.

Exercise: Make a plot outline of your manuscript, with a sentence or two describing what happens in each scene. How easily does your main character solve his problems? Can you make it more difficult, by requiring more steps or adding complications? Can you add complications to your complications, turning small steps into big challenges?

Example: In Haunted Book 2: The Riverboat Phantom, a ghost grabs Jon.

    I felt the cold first on my arms, like icy vice grips squeezing my biceps. Then waves of cold flowed down to my hands, up to my shoulders, all through my body.

    I tried to breathe, but my chest felt too tight.

    My vision blurred, darkened. The last thing I saw was Tania’s horrified face.

    And I fell.

That’s dramatic enough for a chapter ending. So what’s next? It would be easiest—for Jon and the writer—if Tania is still the only one there when he recovers, and no one else notices his collapse. But if everyone notices, and Jon has to convince his worried mother that he’s not sick, you get complications.

See the "plotting" label to the right for more advice.

Advanced Plotting has tons of advice on building strong plots. Get Advanced Plottingon Amazon in print or e-book. 

You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers is available for the Kindle, in paperback, or in Large Print paperback.

Chris Eboch is the author of over 100 books for children, including nonfiction and fiction, early reader through teen. Her novels for ages nine and up include The Eyes of Pharaoh, a mystery in ancient Egypt; The Well of Sacrifice, a Mayan adventure; The Genie’s Gift, a middle eastern fantasy; and the Haunted series, about kids who travel with a ghost hunter TV show, which starts with The Ghost on the Stairs. Learn more or read excerpts at 

www.chriseboch.com or visit her page on Amazon or Amazon UK (For other countries click here.)

Chris also writes for adults under the name Kris Bock. She writes a series with her brother, scriptwriter Douglas J Eboch, who wrote the original screenplay for the movie Sweet Home Alabama. The Felony Melanie series follows the crazy antics of Melanie, Jake, and their friends a decade before the events of the movie. Sign up for the romantic comedy newsletter to get a short story preview, or find the books at Amazon US or All E-book retailers.

Kris's Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the employees and customers at a cat café. Watch as they fall in love with each other and shelter cats. Get a free 10,000-word story set in the world of the Furrever Friends cat café when you sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter. Learn more at www.krisbock.com or visit Kris Bock’s Amazon US page or Amazon UK page. (For other countries click here.)

You Can Write Strong Stories: The Best Ways to Raise the Stakes for your #NaNoWriMo Novel - #amwriting #Writing

Get Advanced Plotting from Amazon in print or ebook.

Are you doing #NaNoWriMo? You may worry about hitting a slump. What happens next? How can you keep the story going strong? Let’s talk about the stakes – and how to raise them.

Look at your main story problem. What are the stakes? Do you have positive stakes (what the main character will get if he succeeds), negative stakes (what the MC will suffer if he fails), or both? Could the penalty for failure be worse? Your MC should not be able to walk away without penalty. Otherwise the problem was obviously not that important or difficult. The penalty can be anything from personal humiliation to losing the love interest to the destruction of the world – depending on the length of story and audience age – so long as you have set up how important that is for your MC.

Are things worse at page 200?

Note that those complications should also be both Difficult and Important. Say you have a character who needs to get somewhere by a specific time, and you want to increase tension by causing delays. If she simply runs into a series of chatty neighbors, it’s quickly going to get boring (unless you can push it to the point of comedy). 

Instead, find delays that are dramatic and important to the main character. Her dog slips out of the house while she’s distracted, and she’s worried that he’ll get hit by a car if she doesn’t get him back inside... Her best friend shows up and insists that they talk about something important NOW or she won’t be friends anymore.... 

Ideally, these complications also relate to the main problem or a subplot. The best friend’s delay will have more impact if it’s tied into a subplot involving tension between the two friends rather than coming out nowhere.

Here’s another important point -- you must keep raising the stakes, making each encounter different and more dramatic. You move the story forward by moving the main character farther back from her goal, according to Jack M. Bickham in his writing instruction book Scene and Structure:

        “Well-planned scenes end with disasters that tighten the noose around the lead character’s neck; they make things worse, not better; they eliminate hoped-for avenues of progress; they increase the lead character’s worry, sense of possible failure, and desperation – so that in all these ways the main character in a novel of 400 pages will be in far worse shape by page 200 than he seemed to be at the outset.” 

If the tension is always high, but at the same height, you still have a flat line. Instead, think of your plot as going in waves. Each scene is a mini-story, building to its own climax -- the peak of the wave. You may have a breather, a calmer moment, after that climax. But each scene should lead to the next, and drive the story forward, so all scenes connect and ultimately drive toward the final story climax.

Example: In the Haunted books, the kids have a time limit for helping the ghosts, because their parents’ ghost hunter TV show is only shooting for a few days. But the stakes also rise as the kids get more involved with the ghosts, and understand their tragic plights. Complications come from human meddlers – the fake psychic who wants to take credit, the mean assistant who thinks kids are troublemakers, and Mom, who worries and wants to keep the kids away from anything dangerous.

Exercise: take one of your story ideas. Outline a plot that escalates the problem.

Advanced Plotting has tons of advice on building strong plots. Advanced Plotting is available from Amazon (paperback or Kindle, free in KU) or Barnes & Noble (paperback). 

You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers is available for the Kindle, in paperback, or in Large Print paperback.

Chris Eboch is the author of over 100 books for children, including nonfiction and fiction, early reader through teen. Her novels for ages nine and up include The Eyes of Pharaoh, a mystery in ancient Egypt; The Well of Sacrifice, a Mayan adventure; The Genie’s Gift, a middle eastern fantasy; and the Haunted series, about kids who travel with a ghost hunter TV show, which starts with The Ghost on the Stairs. Learn more at https://chriseboch.com/ or her Amazon page.

Chris also writes for adults under the name Kris Bock. Kris Bock novels are action-packed romantic adventures set in Southwestern landscapes. Fans of Mary Stewart, Barbara Michaels, and Terry Odell will want to check out Kris Bock’s romantic adventures. “Counterfeits is the kind of romantic suspense novel I have enjoyed since I first read Mary Stewart’s Moonspinners.” 5 Stars – Roberta at Sensuous Reviews blog

Read excerpts at www.krisbock.com or visit her Amazon page. Sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter for announcements of new books, sales, and more.

How to Turn an Idea into a Great Story: Building a Strong Middle #writing #NaNoWriMo #amwriting

Get Advanced Plotting from Amazon in print or ebook.

Get some help as you prepare to dive into your story if you are doing National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) - or any time.

The middle of a story is a trouble spot for many writers. Maybe it feels slow, maybe it feels boring, maybe you can't even figure out what happens next.

A good middle should be filled with complications.

If a character solves his problem or reaches his goal easily, the story is boring. To keep tension high, you need complications. For short stories, try the “rule of three” and have the main character try to solve the problem three times. The first two times, he fails and the situation worsens.

Remember: the situation should worsen. If things stay the same, he still has a problem, but the tension is flat. If his first attempts make things worse, tension rises.

For novels, you may have even more attempts and failures. In my first Haunted book, The Ghost on the Stairs, I made sure each ghost encounter felt more dangerous. As Tania tries to get closer to the ghost in order to help her, Jon worries that she will go too far and be injured or even killed. With enough variety, you can sustain this kind of tension indefinitely (witness the ongoing battle between Harry and Voldemort in the seven-book Harry Potter series).

Worse and Worser

You can worsen the situation in several ways. The main character’s actions could make the challenge more difficult. In my children’s mystery set in ancient Egypt, The Eyes of Pharaoh, a young temple dancer searches for her missing friend. But when she asks questions at the barracks where he was a soldier, she attracts dangerous attention from his enemies.

The villain may also raise the stakes. In my Mayan historical drama, The Well of Sacrifice, the main character escapes a power-hungry high priest. He threatens to kill her entire family, forcing her to return to captivity.

Secondary characters can cause complications, too, even if they are not “bad guys.” In The Ghost on the Stairs, the kids’ mother decides to spend the day with them, forcing them to come up with creative ways to investigate the ghost while under her watchful eyes.

Finally, the main character may simply run out of time. At her first attempt, she had a week. At her second attempt, she had a day. Those two attempts have failed, and now she has only an hour! That creates tension.

• For each turning point in the story, brainstorm 10 things that could happen next. Then pick the one that is the worst or most unexpected, so long as it is still believable for the story.

See the "middles" tab to the right for more advice on building an exciting and dramatic middle. 

Chris Eboch is the author of over 100 books for children, including nonfiction and fiction, early reader through teen. Her novels for ages nine and up include The Eyes of Pharaoh, a mystery in ancient Egypt; The Well of Sacrifice, a Mayan adventure; The Genie’s Gift, a middle eastern fantasy; and the Haunted series, about kids who travel with a ghost hunter TV show, which starts with The Ghost on the Stairs. 

As Kris Bock, she writes mystery, suspense, and romance. In the Accidental Detective series, a witty journalist solves mysteries in Arizona and tackles the challenges of turning fifty. This humorous series starts with Something Shady at Sunshine Haven.

Her writing craft books include Advanced Plotting and You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers. You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers is available for the Kindle, in paperback, or in Large Print paperback. Advanced Plotting is available from Amazon (paperback or Kindle, free in KU) or Barnes & Noble (paperback). 

Learn more at www.chriseboch.com or her Amazon page.

Why You Must Be Cruel to Your Characters - #Writing a Strong Plot - #amwriting for #NaNoWriMo

Are you doing National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)? This challenge is designed to get people moving quickly through a first draft of a novel. Here's some help as you prepare for the challenge.

For a strong plot, you need plenty of dramatic action. (This doesn't necessarily mean fights and car chases. The drama can come from interpersonal relationships or even a person's own thoughts. But dramatic things should happen.) But it's not enough just to have dramatic things happening. It's not just What but also Who.

Your main character needs to be able to overcome the challenge you set for him – but just barely. We don't want to watch superheroes fight weaklings. We want to watch superheroes fight supervillains – or even better, weaklings fight supervillains, and barely win, through courage and ingenuity that overcome the stronger foe.

Conflict comes from the interaction between character and plot. You can create conflict by setting up situations which force a person to confront their fears. If someone is afraid of heights, make them go someplace high. If they're afraid of taking responsibility, force them to be in charge.

You can also create conflict by setting up situations which oppose a person’s desires. If they crave safety, put them in danger. But if they crave danger, keep them out of it.

In The Well of Sacrifice, Eveningstar never dreams of being a leader or a rebel. But when her family, the government, and even the gods fail to stop the evil high priest, she's forced to act. In the Haunted series, Jon would like to be an ordinary kid and stay out of trouble. But his sister is determined to help ghosts without letting the grown-ups know what she and Jon are doing, and is constantly getting him into trouble. The reluctant hero is a staple of books and movies because it's fun to watch someone forced into a heroic role when they don't want it. (Think of Harrison Ford as Han Solo.)

Even with nonfiction, you can create tension by focusing on the challenges that make a person's accomplishments more impressive. In my book Jesse Owens: Young Record Breaker, written under the name M.M. Eboch, I made this incredible athlete’s story more powerful by focusing on all the things he had to overcome – childhood health problems, poverty, a poor education. In Milton Hershey: Young Chocolatier (also written as M.M. Eboch) the story of the man who founded Hershey's chocolate is more dramatic because he started with little business experience, and had an unfortunate habit of trusting his overzealous father.

Exercise:  Ask yourself these questions. They may lead to new story ideas, or you can use them to further develop characters in your current work.

What are you afraid of?

What's the hardest thing you have had to do or overcome?

What's the hardest thing you've done by choice?

Ask other people the same questions, for more ideas.

Get You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers for the Kindle, in paperback, or in Large Print paperback.

Advanced Plotting is designed for the intermediate and advanced writer: you’ve finished a few manuscripts, read books and articles on writing, taken some classes, attended conferences. But you still struggle with plot or suspect that your plotting needs work. This book can help.

Chris has published over 60 books for children, including nonfiction and fiction, early reader through teen. Her novels for ages nine and up include The Eyes of Pharaoh, a mystery in ancient Egypt; The Well of Sacrifice, a Mayan adventure; The Genie’s Gift, a middle eastern fantasy; and the Haunted series, about kids who travel with a ghost hunter TV show, which starts with The Ghost on the Stairs. Her writing craft books include You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers, and Advanced Plotting.

Learn more at https://chriseboch.com/ or her Amazon page.

Chris also writes for adults under the name Kris Bock. Her Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the employees and customers at a cat café. Watch as they fall in love with each other and shelter cats. Get a free 10,000-word story set in the world of the Furrever Friends cat café when you sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter. Learn more at www.krisbock.com or visit Kris Bock’s Amazon US page or Amazon UK page. (For other countries click here.)

Writing Humor: let’s look at observational humor! #Writingtip #amwriting #writing #Comedy

In writing the humorous mystery series, The Accidental Detective, I explored different types of humor in writing. My previous posts addressed physical comedy, quirky characters, and wordplay, including puns. Today let’s explore my favorite: observational humor, such as comments about the oddity of life.

This kind of humor is the hardest – or maybe the easiest. It really depends on whether you make these kinds of wry observations yourself. If so, you merely need to let your inner snark out. I don’t really think of myself as a funny person, because I don’t tell jokes or funny stories. I’m not the “life of the party.” The idea of stand-up comedy terrifies me.

And yet, both my agent and my editor said they laughed a lot when reading Something Shady at Sunshine Haven. It’s not that I use a lot of jokes and slapstick, but rather that Kate makes witty observations about life, the way I do. I tend to keep those thoughts in my mind, or else drop a quiet comment in a group chat. Then, chances are one person will catch my eye with the amused look that says, “I saw what you did there.” Everyone else will keep on talking.

But in a book, the reader is right there in the character’s head, at least if you’re in first person POV or close third person viewpoint. That gives your audience a better chance to catch those subtle humorous comments.

Here are a few examples from Something Shady. They probably work better in context, but hopefully you can see why my editor flagged them as places that made her chuckle. Then keep reading for some examples written in third person POV.

I put my free hand on her arm. “I understand. We’ll find the truth.”

Heather nodded and opened the door. I felt her watching as I limped down the hall. I must look more like one of her patients than like a source of answers.

Stop it. It’s not all about you.

Most of the people in this building had it worse than I did. Unfortunately, I didn’t take comfort in knowing other people were suffering too.

Still, I could help Heather, and the patients, by uncovering the truth. If Heather’s suspicious were right, I might even save a life or two, if only to give them a few more months of dying slowly.

What a heroic job I had.

 ***

I lifted the mug and simply inhaled the scent for a minute. The whole ‘breathe in and out’ part of meditation was more interesting with a delicious smell.

  ***

I described the strange phone call from Henry Wilson.

Heather frowned. “I can’t believe Henry would do that. It’s totally inappropriate for any board member to call you like that. He could get in a lot of trouble. He could get us in a lot of trouble. And Henry is one of the good ones. There are board members I . . . have mixed feelings about, but Henry isn’t one of them.”

“Maybe I’ll go see him in person tomorrow,” I said. “If he’s hiding something, a direct assault might push him to do something stupid and reveal himself.”

“When you say it that way, it sounds dangerous.”

I shrugged. “I’ve interviewed warlords. I think I can handle one . . . what is he, in his regular life?”

“He owns a chain of local grocery stores.”

Sure, war criminal, drug lord, grocer. All dangerous people one should avoid.

  ***

“Honestly, I wouldn’t gossip!” June lowered her voice. “Please don’t get me in trouble. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt anyone here, honestly.”

I didn’t entirely trust anyone who felt the need to use “honestly” that often, but if she had mentioned my meeting to someone, she was too frightened to admit it. Maybe I should have tried a gentler approach. After all, she was a young American office worker, not a suspected terrorist or military commander.

Did I know any gentler approaches? None came to mind.

Something Shady at Sunshine Haven: War correspondent Kate Tessler has followed the most dangerous news stories around the world. But can she survive going home?

Find the book: Tule Publishing        Amazon Kindle           Amazon Kindle UK
B&N Nook     Apple Books   Kobo   Google Play
GoodReads     BookBub

Get a free Accidental Detective short story and bonus material when you sign up for my newsletter.

What about writing in third person? 

My brother and I are writing a romantic comedy series featuring teen “Felony Melanie” before the events of the movie Sweet Home Alabama. In Felony Melanie in Pageant Pandemonium, Melanie wants to qualify for the Miss Alabama Princess Pageant, because the prize could be her ticket out of Pigeon Creek. These first brief excerpts are the morning of the qualifying pageant, after Melanie has had a late and eventful night:

Melanie had to rally. She forced herself out of bed with one big heave. Stumbled to the bathroom. Her teeth felt fuzzy as peach skin. Her eyes were red-veined marbles in sooty sockets, and her tangled hair could be hiding any number of bird’s nests. She stuck out her tongue at her reflection. Some beauty queen. No doubt about it, the bill from yesterday had come due.

[Later]

Melanie took a deep breath to clear her head and set to work on her makeup. She added one more application of eye drops that promised to reduce redness. She blotted her eyes with tissues, gently pulled down her bottom lashes, and ran white eyeliner along the inner rim. That was supposed to make eyes look “radiant.” She was hoping for “awake and sober.”

 And during the pageant:

Melanie shifted into her pageant voice – a hint of southern lilt but proper grammar and precise diction. “I’m Melanie Smooter, sixteen years old, from Pigeon Creek, Alabama.”

As if y’all didn’t already know that. The next part was harder. She had to say something about herself – and she couldn’t fudge it since everybody knew her. She and Lurlynn had worked for hours on this, giggling the whole time, but in the end even Melanie’s mama approved it.

“I’m always a girl on the go, working my hardest to leave my mark on my community.”

A few chuckles came from the audience.

What? Her statement was the honest to God truth.

“I love fashion, football –” and one football player in particular – “and I aim to make my hometown proud one day.”

By getting the heck out of there and showing what a Pigeon Creek girl could do in the real world.

As you can see, even in third person, staying close to the character’s point of view lets you add their humorous way of seeing the world to your story.

Visit the Amazon series page for Felony Melanie: Sweet Home Alabama romantic comedy novels. Sign up for our Rom-Com newsletter and get Felony Melanie Destroys the Moonshiner’s Cabin. These first two chapters from the novel Felony Melanie in Pageant Pandemonium stand alone as a short story

Advanced Plotting now free via Kindle Unlimited!

“The Plot Outline Exercise is a great tool!”

“Advanced Plotting is helping me to stop and ask the right questions, to dig deeper.”

“The essays really help you zero in on your own problems in your manuscript.”

You Can Write for Children: Write Great Stories, Articles, Books for Kids and Teenagers, is available in Kindle, in paperback, or in Large Print paperback.

“If you have thought of writing a book for children, this book will take you from the “idea” stage all the way through to the “finished” stage.”

“This is a terrific resource book for anyone who has considered writing for children. Each chapter has a tip section as well as specific resources, concrete examples, and easy to understand explanation of terms and topics. Excellent book!”

Writing Humor: Wordplay, jokes and puns #Writingtip #amwriting #writing #Comedy

In writing the humorous mystery series The Accidental Detective, I explored different types of humor writing. My previous posts addressed physical comedy and quirky characters. Today let’s explore wordplay, including puns, with one example from Something Shady at Sunshine Haven and another from Felony Melanie in the Big Smashup.

Wordplay is simply the manipulation of language with the intent to amuse. Types include Double Entendres ("I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.” (Mae West), Tongue Twisters, Malapropisms (the mistaken use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, to humorous effect, as in “A rolling stone gathers no moths.”) and Puns. While some of these forms of humor may be disparaged, they were good enough for Shakespeare.

 A pun is a joke that depends on a play on words. It typically involves a word that has several meanings or sounds like a different word. Some people love puns and some people hate them, but even those who love puns agree that the best ones get the audience to groan. Some books, like Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland are filled with puns. Cozy mysteries often have a pun in the title, as in Becky Clark’s Police Navidad and Punning with Scissors. Children often enjoy puns, so you’ll find books such as Bruce Hale’s Chet Gecko Series that are packed full of them.

For most of us, a few puns go a long way, but they can add a chuckle to any story. Here’s an example from Something Shady at Sunshine Haven. Kate has had to admit to her father that she’s investigating suspicious deaths at the nursing home where Kate’s mother now lives. He wants to help and thinks the other senior men in his coffee group would also help.

“If I . . . if we can reduce the list of people to investigate, we can focus on the most likely culprits,” I said. “That does mean more internet research but also talking to people or maybe following them.”

“I can help with that. In fact, all the fellows could help. They’d like to, I’m sure.”

Uh-oh, what had I started? “Dad, it has to be confidential.”

“We don’t have to tell them everything. We can ask them to follow specific people, find out certain things. They won’t ask why if we say it’s a secret. The men in my coffee group may be old retired guys, but we have a lot of life experience. And a lot of free time.”

Having a whole group of helpers might save time and effort, or it might turn the investigation into a Keystone Cops comedy. “I don’t want to put anyone in danger.”

“I’ll make sure they understand, but we’ve survived this long. Most of them will think it’s fun, being private detectives for a while.”

I pictured a bunch of seniors in trench coats and fedoras. “Sherlock Holmes had his Baker Street Irregulars, the ragtag kids who gathered information for him. I get an old guys brigade?”

“We could call ourselves the Coffee Shop Irregulars.” He chuckled. “Although at our age, we spend a lot of time trying to be ‘regular’!”

Men. No matter how old they got, they still loved a poop joke.

Something Shady at Sunshine Haven: War correspondent Kate Tessler has followed the most dangerous news stories around the world. But can she survive going home? Get a free Accidental Detective short story and bonus material when you sign up for my newsletter. Find the book:

Tule Publishing           Amazon Kindle           Amazon Kindle UK

B&N Nook     Apple Books   Kobo   Google Play    GoodReads     BookBub

The Teenage Adventures of Felony Melanie series is based on characters from the movie Sweet Home Alabama. People in the South enjoy a lot of humorous sayings, which means that my cowriter and I can draw on those sayings or make up our own.

Here’s an excerpt from Felony Melanie in the Big Smashup, where the girls are annoyed that sexism is keeping Melanie from participating in the junior demolition derby: 

Melanie glared back toward the cabin [at the junkyard]. The porch was empty, so either the boys had gone inside with Mr. Hopkins, or he’d taken them in another direction to find the parts they needed. “Grumpy old fart,” she muttered. “I’ll show them a thing or two.”

“Don’t let it bother you,” Dorothea said. “As my grandpa would say, old man Hopkins is a turd in a punch bowl.”

“My mama likes to say folks like him have the personality of a dishrag,” Lurlynn said.

Melanie started to smile. “He’s as windy as a sack full of farts.”

“He’s so country he thinks a seven-­course meal is a possum and a six-pack,” Dorothea added.

Pretty soon, the girls were shrieking with laughter. Melanie hoped Jake heard it all the way to wherever he’d gone.

Visit the Amazon series page for Felony Melanie: Sweet Home Alabama romantic comedy novels. Sign up for our Rom-Com newsletter and get Felony Melanie Destroys the Moonshiner’s Cabin. These first two chapters from the novel Felony Melanie in Pageant Pandemonium stand alone as a short story

For most forms of writing, it’s probably best not to get carried away with puns. Still, puns and other wordplay can pump up the giggles in a humorous novel and add fun to any kind of writing. Once you start to tune into this kind of language play, opportunities may jump out at you. You can find more extensive articles on writing puns and other wordplay, such as this one from Masterclass.

Advanced Plotting now free via Kindle Unlimited!

“The Plot Outline Exercise is a great tool!”

“Advanced Plotting is helping me to stop and ask the right questions, to dig deeper.”

“The essays really help you zero in on your own problems in your manuscript.”

You Can Write for Children: Write Great Stories, Articles, Books for Kids and Teenagers, is available in Kindle, in paperback, or in Large Print paperback.

“If you have thought of writing a book for children, this book will take you from the “idea” stage all the way through to the “finished” stage.”

“This is a terrific resource book for anyone who has considered writing for children. Each chapter has a tip section as well as specific resources, concrete examples, and easy to understand explanation of terms and topics. Excellent book!”

Workshop alert! Revision Workout and Creating Exciting School Visits - in person or on Zoom on May 14, with two-part manuscript critique option #writing #amwriting #editing

Nonwriters seem to believe that authors just sit down to work, write a wonderful book, and when it’s published, everybody buys it. Maybe that has happened. In a fairytale. But first drafts usually need lots of revision. And once your book does get published you need to tell people about it, which for children’s authors means school visits.

Luckily, for those of us who do write, mentors like Suzanne Morgan Williams are happy to share their insights and give us tools to make the process less painful. Suzanne will be in Albuquerque, New Mexico on May 14 to teach two in-person or Zoom workshops, called Revision Workout and So You’re Not a Juggler-Creating Exciting School Visits.

Suzanne Morgan Williams wants you to know that revising your work doesn’t mean that your first draft failed. Suanne likens writing to the building process. “Your first draft is akin to gathering the materials and preparing the land so you can build. Revision is when you do the actual building.” In her workshops, Suzanne gives authors an assortment of revision tools. Everyone is different, but everyone should leave the workshop with at least one tool that resonates with them.

Once your book is available to readers, it’s like a building that needs to be inhabited. Invite readers in with school visits. Kids learn about your book(s) and the visits supplement your income. Suzanne says, “A successful school visit engages your audience in a way they won’t forget. You want to make them laugh, cry, and leave wanting to read more.” Teachers love school visits, especially if you ask them in advance what they’re teaching, so you can tie into their curriculum. However, they often don’t have money to pay authors. Suzanne sometimes receives grants that pay her to talk to kids. She’ll discuss how others might do the same.

Sign up for one or both of Suzanne’s workshops (in-person or online) here. You can also learn more about the extra two-part manuscript critique she’s offering with the revision workshop.

Suzanne Morgan Williams is the author of the middle grade novel Bull Rider and eleven nonfiction books for children. Bull Rider is a Junior Library Guild Selection, is on several state award lists and won a Western Heritage Award from the National Western Heritage and Cowboy Museum. Her nonfiction titles include Piñatas and Smiling Skeletons, The Inuit, and China’s Daughters. 

Suzanne has presented and taught writing workshops at dozens of schools, professional conferences, and literary events across the US and Canada. She is on the Nevada Arts Council Artist Roster of teaching artists and was Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Member of the Year, 2012. She is a founder of the Nevada SCBWI Mentorship program, and along with revising her own work, she has mentored near twenty novelists through their own revision processes.