Posts Tagged “writing for children”

Five Ways MUF’s Updated “For Writers” Page Is NOT Like a Large Umbrella

By on September 15, 2013   /   Book Lists  

I have a confession to make: I’m a habitual list maker. I suppose that explains my frequent use of numbered lists in my MUF posts—posts like “Top 10 Deep (& Stolen) Thoughts about Writing” and “Three Ways Middle-grade Writing Is Like a Bowl of Lucky Charms.” Such perpetual numbering might make you think, Hey, T. P., escape your list-making rut. EXPAND YOUR BLOGGING HORIZONS!

My response? . . . “You didn’t need to use an exclamation point at the end of that thought, and the ALL-CAPS thing was definite overkill. Now get off my case. If lists work, I’m going to roll with them.”

Good. I’m glad we understand each other. Let’s dispense with the bickering and get this blog post underway. Here’s the latest list:

  umbrella

FIVE WAYS MUF’S UPDATED “FOR WRITERS” PAGE IS NOT   LIKE A LARGE UMBRELLA
  1. I had to take an umbrella along while walking my son to school this morning. That kept our book dry for our walk-and-read-aloud routine. The “For Writers” page is just bunch of Internet links to useful middle-grade writing resources, which would make it completely useless for that keeping-books-dry thing.
  2. The “For Writers-The Craft” page provides access to plenty of insights and information that can help you create stronger characters, strengthen your story’s plot, and become an all-around better writer. This will help your writing take flight. Unless you’re Mary Poppins, don’t expect an umbrella to have any such flight-granting effect.
  3. The “For Writers-The Process” page can help you move from idea to draft to revision and onward. No way can an umbrella do that. Unless maybe you get one with an ink pen mounted in the tip. But even then I think the subsequent writer’s cramp would kill your progress.
  4. The “For Writers-The Writing Life” page can inspire you and help you learn how to carve writing time from your overwhelmingly busy schedule. If you think an umbrella can do that, you probably need professional help that has nothing to do with writing or umbrellas.
  5. I think you should visit MUF’s updated “For Writers” page. Conversely, I really don’t care about your umbrella use. Sorry.

Of course, before you click over to “For Writers,” feel free to share your own umbrella-inspired insights below. Happy writing! 🙂

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Three Ways Middle-grade Writing Is Like a Bowl of Lucky Charms

By on August 14, 2013   /   Book Lists  

Inspiration can come from the strangest places. Like from a bowl of cereal that doesn’t exist.

Lucky Charms BoxI just watched my wife clear cereal boxes off the breakfast table. This got me thinking about my kids’ favorite morning repast, Lucky Charms, which we hardly ever have in the house because I’m a tightwad who only buys name-brand cereal when it’s on sale plus it’s double-coupon week plus the box includes “20% MORE FREE!” Yeah, that pretty much means my kids eat Lucky Charms like once every five years. But I digress. Let me explain what all this has to do with today’s blog post.

Although Lucky Charms are currently nonexistent in our home, I got to thinking about how a middle-grade novel is like a bowl of Lucky Charms. Here are my thoughts:

First, the mini-marshmallows are the sweeteners of your writing—the specific details that make a setting come alive and the descriptions of your characters that help your readers form their mental images. The important thing to remember is that these marshmallows must be distributed with care. If I chowed down on a bowl of pure mini-marshmallows every morning, I might get a sugar buzz, but I sure wouldn’t be very satisfied. Similarly, we have to be careful that the details and descriptions we provide don’t overwhelm our readers. They probably don’t need to know how many freckles Bobby has or where Lucy bought her underwear. Each “bite” of our stories must provide balance.

Lucky Charms Box-1964Lucky Charms Box-ChocolateSecond, change is good, but it’s also okay to stick with what works. Lucky Charms have been sugar-loading kids since 1964. The marshmallows get tweaked around to keep things new (blue diamonds added in 1975, purple horseshoes in 1984, etc.). In 2005, they began making Chocolate Lucky Charms. And sometimes you’ll see special-edition versions, such as Winter Lucky Charms. But still . . . they’re Lucky Charms. If I went out and bought a box today, the cereal would pretty much taste the same as what I begged my mom to buy when I was a kid. General Mills has a recipe, and it works. And writing a novel has a recipe, too: some form of conflict that will move each scene forward, the inclusion of a character arc that reflects a protagonist’s growth throughout the story, and so on. Play with the recipe. Tweak it to make your story unique. But don’t lose sight of the basic ingredients that every story needs. It isn’t formulaic writing. It’s good writing.

And now, since I need to wrap up this blog post and go have a cereal break, here’s a final, simple thought: Like a bowl of Lucky Charms, a well-written middle-grade novel can be enjoyed just as much by an adult as by a child.

Now go. Write. Create a story that’s “magically delicious.” And feel free to munch some cereal while you’re at it.

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Dry Eyeballs, Loose Heads & Dental Hygiene

By on June 19, 2013   /   Book Lists  

Imagine my surprise when I was revising a manuscript for approximately the eighty billionth time (rounding to the nearest eighty billion) and discovered far too many characters with dry eyeballs, loose heads, and preoccupations with advertising their dental hygiene. Yeah, it was quite a shock. Here’s how it happened….

I was minding my own business, polishing my manuscript for submission, when I made the fateful move. I used Word’s “Find” function (CTRL+F) to hunt for stare and staring. Those two words weren’t just spicing up my manuscript. They were drying out my characters’ eyes and quite possibly giving them somewhat psychotic appearances. I mean, jeez, do characters really need to stare 60 different times in a 50,000-word story?

Delete. Revise. Administer eye drops.

Next I checked their heads. CTRL+F. Nod. Thirty-one times!?!?

Delete. Revise. Send characters to chiropractor.

I sat back and breathed a satisfied sigh. My story was tighter. Stronger. Ready for—

What’s the deal with Grandpa Willy’s teeth?

Sure, my story has a quirky step-grandpa whose default facial expression is a smile. But do I always have to tell the reader about it? How many smiles and grins can there be before someone notices a piece of spinach stuck between my character’s front teeth? (When I discovered three characters combining for five smiles on a single page, I knew I had a problem.)

Delete. Revise. Floss.

I found myself on Wordle (www.wordle.net), which highlights frequently used words by creating a “word cloud” for a section of text. The more often a word is used, the larger it appears in the cloud. I pasted in all 50,000 words of my story.


Wordle: smile & nod[Wordle “word cloud” for this blog post.]

The next thing I knew, overused words and descriptions flew from my manuscript like chickens fleeing a feather-pillow factory. Good-bye then (minus 47). Adios just (minus 46). Ciao look (minus 22) and glance (minus 40).

Five days and about 12 hours of revising later, I was done. And you know that 50,000-word story I mentioned? It’s down to less than 49,000. And those words that got deleted? Haven’t missed a single one. It’s enough to make a guy smile and nod. But now I might not tell you that’s what I’m doing.

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So…any overused words or descriptions you’ve uncovered in your own writing? Any tricks you’ve found useful in dealing with them? Share your thoughts and insights below.

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