Writing Great Endings - Quick #Writing tips for #KidLit or any #amwriting

I hope these quick writing tips helps you jumpstart your writing!

This series on Developing Ideas  is excerpted from You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers. Get the book if you want to see all the info at once. The book addresses writing stories for children, but if you want to write for adults, simply do the exercises ignoring the "as a child" part.

I've been talked about “Building a Story in Four Parts.” We discussed developing the middle and writing a strong climax. Now on to…

Happy Endings

The climax ends with the resolution. You could say that the resolution finishes the climax, but it comes from the situation: it’s how the main character finally meets that original challenge.

In almost all cases the main character should resolve the situation himself. No cavalry to the rescue! We’ve been rooting for the main character to succeed, so if someone else steals the climax away from him or her, it robs the story of tension and feels unfair.

Here’s where many beginning children’s writers fail. It’s tempting to have an adult – a parent, grandparent, or teacher, or even a fairy, ghost, or other supernatural creature – step in to save the child or tell him what to do. But kids are inspired by reading about other children who tackle and resolve problems. It helps them believe they can meet their challenges, too. When adults take over, it shows kids as powerless and dependent on grownups.

Dianne K. Salerni, author of The Eighth Day series, says, “To be a writer of children’s books, you need to be a child inside. You need to write like a child would write (except with the skill of an adult), and you need to read what your child-self wants to read. ... The best children’s literature is written by adults who think they are still children, not by adults who want to ‘help’ children grow up.”

Regardless of your character’s age, let your main character control the story all the way to the end (though others may assist). 

For example, Sam Bond’s Cousins in Action series is an ensemble featuring five cousins who have international adventures. The children take turns at being the hero throughout each book. In Operation Golden Llama, three of the young protagonists find themselves kidnapped on a mountainside in Peru. Their eleven-year-old cousin outwits the adults and treks through the jungle to come to their rescue. That may not be entirely realistic in real life, but it’s great entertainment for young readers!

Although your main character should be responsible for the resolution, she doesn’t necessarily have to succeed. She might, instead, realize that her goals have changed. The happy ending then comes from her new understanding of her real needs and wants. Some stories may even have an unhappy ending, where the main character’s failure acts as a warning to readers. This is more common in literary novels than in genre fiction.

A Quick Ending Tip:

·   How the main character resolves the situation – whether she succeeds or fails, and what rewards or punishments she receives – will determine the theme. For example, a story with the theme “Love conquers all” would have a different resolution than a story with the theme “Love cannot always survive great hardship.” Learn more about Theme in You Can Write for Children, Chapter 13.

The next time you have a great idea but can’t figure out what to do with it, check if you have all four parts of the story. If not, see if you can develop that idea into a complete, dramatic story or novel by expanding your idea, complications, climax, or resolution, as needed. Then readers will be asking you, “Where did you get that fabulous idea?”

 Get More Writing Advice

Chris Eboch is the author of over 60 books for children, including nonfiction and fiction, early reader through teen. 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.

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.

Making Money from Writing #amwriting

Handout for Earning a Living as a Writer, with Chris Eboch

Trade Book Advances: $2000-$30,000 and up. May take several years to receive all payments. Difficult to control or predict sales. Some small publishers do not pay advances.

Royalties: Passive income that can last for years. Requires a royalty agreement that earns out. May take years after the book sale. Difficult to control or predict sales.

Work-for-Hire Books: Flat fee (usually), quick turnaround time, assigned topics. Pays from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. Good for building a resume. Can be steady income.

Self-Publishing: Upfront costs, especially with images. Potential income for years. A way to make use of unsold manuscripts. Very tough market, especially for middle grade and younger. Create something unique and in demand.  Know how you’ll reach readers. Invest in ads.

Magazine Articles: 5 cents - $2 per word. Target niche mags. You can build a resume and show expertise. Make use of your research from other projects.

Educational Test Passages/Assessment: Can be good pay for small jobs ($60-$400 for less than 1000 words; $10+ for each question). Requires ability to write a variety of genres, topics, and targeted grade levels. Mainly seasonal work. Good for those with teaching experience.

Teaching: Community colleges, senior centers, summer programs, etc. Online: correspondence schools, webinars. One-on-one mentoring. Often low pay but builds resume/authority.

Critiques: Requires experience as an editor/teacher as well as a writer. Reputation counts. Pay can be $25-$50 an hour or more.

Copyediting/Proofreading: Requires specific expertise and training. Can be excellent money.

School Visits: Pay varies greatly ($100-$3000 per day). Helps market your books. If you’re not a well-known author, focus on what you’ll teach kids – help them do better on tests, foster love of reading, tie in to science or social studies curriculum.

General Info on Making Money from Writing

Making a Living from Writing? – Chris on sources of income

How to Be a Healthy, Happy Freelancer/Writer – Marlo Garnsworthy shares practical advice on running your own business: time management, organizations, clerical work, accountability.

Laura Purdie Salas shares her 2014 income and sources.

For children’s book writers, the SCBWI discussion boards have sections on work for hire, self-publishing, magazines, contracts, taxes, and more

Upod: “a place for freelancers to support, inspire, amuse, inform, advise, celebrate and hire each other.” (I have not tried it.) https://www.facebook.com/groups/1722043024712301/

From Self-Publishing to Blogging: 7 Solid Ways to Make Money Writing, by Blake Atwood (editing, teaching, freelance articles): https://thewritelife.com/7-ways-to-make-money-writing/

Freedom With Writing newsletter: writing jobs and articles to help you be a freelance writer: https://www.freedomwithwriting.com/

Kelly James-Enger “Dollars and Deadlines” blog on ghostwriting, articles, etc.

The Well Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman

Secrets of a Freelance Writer by Bob Bly

Make Money from Trade Publishing

Editorial Anonymous’ Publishing Dictionary posts – definitions of royalties, advances, earning out and more: http://tinyurl.com/ajesxl

Curriculum tie-ins: Next Generation Science Standards,  National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies, Curriculum: National and State Standards | Education World

 

Make Money from Self-Publishing

Indie publishing worksheet – are you ready/what you need: https://chriseboch.com/for-writers/

What Defines “Traditional” Publishing? Anne R. Allen: http://tinyurl.com/n35mofq  

Jane Friedman details different paths to publishing: http://tinyurl.com/k3ay9bw  

Go regional or tie to curriculum (such as NextGen Science Standards). Go for awards. List w/educational distributors. Resources & distributors: www.darcypattison.com/scbwi/

Darcy Pattison on indie publishing nonfiction for kids: https://www.darcypattison.com/

Writing Work for Hire/Test Passages

Yes! You Can Learn How to Write Children’s Books, Get Them Published, and Build a Successful Writing Career, by Nancy Sanders

Writing Children’s Nonfiction Books for the Educational Market, by Laura Purdie Salas

Evelyn Christensen’s list of Educational Markets

PARCC Samples of test passages: under the Assessments tab, see "practice tests" and "released items"

Get Curriculum Development Jobs: job postings in curriculum development

Education Writers Association has job listings, mainly full-time in-person

Linked In has a freelance job search site now. 

Kirsten Larson has posts on work for hire, writing for children's magazines, and writing routines: https://kirsten-w-larson.com/for-writers/

Education Writers Association has jobs, mainly full-time in-person: http://www.ewa.org/career-center

Chris on Getting Started In Educational Publishing Work for Hire

Checking Grade Levels: ATOS or Lexile

Lexile: http://www.lexile.com/analyzer/

Lexile highlighting the more difficult words: http://www.lextutor.ca/vp/eng/
Typical Lexile Reader Measures by Grade: http://tinyurl.com/yaalxkqg

ATOS http://www.renlearn.com/atos/

Writing Magazine Articles

Get magazine samples at your library, school, or house of worship; requests sample copies from the publisher; visit publishers’ web sites – many have online samples.

Writer’s Digest books on freelance writing and magazines: https://www.writersdigestshop.com/writing-genre/freelance-writing

Writers Market site from Writer’s Digest: http://www.writersmarket.com/cms/open/nonfiction

Market directory from All Freelance Writing: https://allfreelancewriting.com/writers-markets/

Markets from FundsforWriters: https://fundsforwriters.com/markets/

List of Magazines for Children with links to websites from the Monroe County Public Library

School Visits

Skype An Author Network for online visits: http://skypeanauthor.wikifoundry.com/

School Visit Experts – advice on programs and biz tips: schoolvisitexperts.com

Time management:

Programs such as Slimtimer track your hours per project (I have not tried it.)

Chris Eboch writes fiction and nonfiction for all ages, with over 60 traditionally published books for children and six novels for adults. Advanced Plotting helps writers fine-tune their plots. To explore writing for children, try 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. See her writing blog at chriseboch.blogspot.com/.

Chris also writes for adults under the name Kris Bock. Kris Bock writes action-packed romantic suspense involving outdoor adventures and Southwestern landscapes. Her work has been called “smart romance with an Indiana Jones feel” and “like Nancy drew for grown-ups.”

Sign up for a manuscript critique with Chris! Get detailed editorial comments to help you improve your story. See her website’s “for writers” page for details.

Developing Your Story Climax: Quick #Writing tips for #KidLit or any #amwriting

I hope these quick writing tips helps you jumpstart your writing!

This series on Developing Ideas  is excerpted from You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers. Get the book if you want to see all the info at once. The book addresses writing stories for children, but if you want to write for adults, simply do the exercises ignoring the "as a child" part.

Two weeks ago I talked about “Building a Story in Four Parts.” Last week we discussed developing the middle in more detail. Now let's explore the climax and ending.

Can She Do It?! – The Story Climax

Your character has faced complications through the middle of the story. Finally, at the climax, the main character must succeed or fail. Time is running out. The race is near the end. The girl is about to date another guy. The villain is starting the battle. 

One way or another, your complications have set up a situation where it’s now or never. However you get there, the climax will be strongest if it is truly the last chance. You lose tension if the reader believes the main character could fail this time, and simply try again tomorrow.

Writing Tips for The Climax

• Don’t rush the climax. Take the time to write the scene out in vivid detail, even if the action is happening fast. Think of how movies switch to slow motion, or use multiple shots of the same explosion, in order to give maximum impact to the climax. Use plenty of dramatic detail and your main character’s thoughts and feelings to pull every bit of emotion out of the scene.

• To make the climax feel fast-paced, use mainly short sentences and short paragraphs. The reader’s eyes move more quickly down the page, giving a sense of breathless speed. (This is a useful technique for cliffhanger chapter endings as well.)

Stop back next week for advice on Happy Endings.

Get More Writing Advice

Chris Eboch is the author of over 60 books for children, including nonfiction and fiction, early reader through teen. 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.

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.

Building the Middle of Your Story or Novel: Quick #Writing tips for the #Writerslife

I hope these quick writing tips helps you jumpstart your writing!

This series on Developing Ideas  is excerpted from You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers. Get the book if you want to see all the info at once. The book addresses writing stories for children, but if you want to write for adults, simply do the exercises ignoring the "as a child" part. Or grab Advanced Plotting instead, for all the advice you need about writing great plots!

Last week I talked about “Building a Story in Four Parts.” Now let's explore the middle more.

Developing the Middle of a Story

If a character solves 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 in different ways. 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).

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.

Advanced Plotting

Tip:

• 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.

Get More Writing Advice

Chris Eboch is the author of over 60 books for children, including nonfiction and fiction, early reader through teen. 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

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.

Building a Story in Four Parts - Quick #Writing tips for #KidLit or any Writing

I hope these quick writing tips helps you jumpstart your writing!

This series on Developing Ideas is excerpted from You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers. Get the book if you want to see all the info at once. The book addresses writing stories for children, but if you want to write for adults, simply do the exercises ignoring the "as a child" part.

A Story in Four Parts

Last week I talked about how a story should have a beginning, middle, and end.

If “beginning, middle, and end” doesn’t really help you, here’s another way to think of story structure. A story has four main parts: situation, complications, climax, and resolution. You need all of them to make your story work. (This is really the same as beginning, middle, and end, with the end broken into two parts, but the terms may be clearer.)

The situation should involve an interesting main character with a challenging problem or goal. Even this takes development. Maybe you have a great challenge, but aren’t sure why a character would have that goal. Or maybe your situation is interesting, but it doesn’t actually involve a problem.

For example, I wanted to write about a brother and sister who travel with a ghost hunter TV show. The girl can see ghosts, but the boy can’t. That gave me the characters and situation, but no problem or goal. Goals come from need or desire. What did they want that could sustain a series?

Tania feels sorry for the ghosts and wants to help them, while keeping her gift a secret from everyone but her brother. Jon wants to help and protect his sister, but sometimes he feels overwhelmed by the responsibility. Now we have characters with problems and goals. The story is off to a good start. (This became the four-book Haunted series.)

Tips for Great Story Goals and Stakes:

• Make sure your idea is specific and narrow. Focus on an individual person and situation, not a universal concept. For example, don’t try to write about “racism.” Instead, write about one character facing racism in a particular situation.
• The longer the story, the higher the stakes needed to sustain it. A short story character might want to win a contest; a novel character might need to save the world.
• Ask why the goal is important to the character. Why does this particular individual desperately want to succeed in this challenge?
• Ask why this goal is difficult. If reaching the goal is too easy, there is little tension and the story is too short. The goal should be possible, but just barely. It might even seem impossible. The reader should believe that the main character could fail. (More on this in in You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers, Chapter 5: Characters.)
• Even if your main problem is external, try giving the character an internal flaw that contributes to the difficulty. This adds complications and also makes your character seem more real. For some internal flaws, see the seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride.
• Test the idea. Change the character’s age, gender, or looks. Change the point of view, setting, external conflict, or internal conflict. Choose the combination that has the most dramatic potential.

Stop back next week (or follow the blog) and we'll go into more detail on building the middle of your story.

Get More Writing Advice

Chris Eboch is the author of over 60 books for children, including nonfiction and fiction, early reader through teen. 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.

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.