by Marcia T. Jones and Debbie Dadey Between the Internet, Nintendo and the TV remote how can “boring” books compete? Marcia T. Jones and Debbie Dadey explain what it takes to grab a kid’s attention and hold onto it from the beginning to “the end.” One chance. That’s all kids will give you before they toss…
Author: steve
Hook Your Readers With Tension
by Laura Backes Tension. Without it, life would be–let’s face it–boring. So would fiction. Tension works with conflict to raise the emotional level of the text to a boiling point. It forces the reader to become invested in the story. But many children’s book writersare afraid to apply too much tension to their plots. They…
9 Tips for Writing Stories
by Sid Fleishman Here are a few writing tips drawn from the pages of The Abracadabra Kid, A Writer’s Life. 1. It’s the job of the hero or heroine to solve the story problem: don’t leave it to a second-banana character like Uncle Harry. You’d know something was wrong if Watson solved the crime instead of Sherlock…
Three Act Structure Chart
This handy chart was created by Advanced Fiction Writing student David Lovelock, who explained: When constructing outlines for a novel, I like to create a one-page overview that allows me to visualize and move my ideas around. Attached is what I’ve created to help with creating the main points of a Three Act Structure. I…
Intensive Research Is Important for Children”s Nonfiction
by Donya Dickerson, from Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market Author Robie Harris” books It”s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health and It”s So Amazing!: A Book About Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families focus on sexual health for kids. Here, Harris talks about the process of doing extensive research as she prepared her manuscripts. Robie Harris never…
Staging is Murder: A Student Success Story
by Grace Topping Today marks the launch of my mystery, Staging is Murder. It’s been a long road to publication, and I honestly don’t think I would have succeeded without Steve Alcorn’s course on mystery writing. It gave me a solid foundation on which to build. Without that foundation, I probably would have given up….
Scene and Sequel
By Melinda Goodin Those who have read my work know that my stories tend to start with a bang — literally. If it’s not a space station exploding, it’s a church catching on fire or a laboratory or… And the pace gets faster from there. Critiquers have often commented that they ended up feeling breathless…
Writing Suspense: Fiction vs. Reality
By Michele Martinez As a federal prosecutor in New York City, I spent most of a decade locking up hardened criminals. Specializing in narcotics and gangs cases, I knew crime inside out. By the time I left that job, I’d done so many drug trials, listened in on so many wiretaps, and debriefed so many…
The Difference Between Middle Grade & Young Adult
by Laura Backes, Children’s Book Insider It’s often difficult for writers to know whether they’re creating a middle grade novel (ages 8-12), or a book for young adults (12 and up). Because many of the themes and situations are similar for the two age groups, authors go by the age of the main character: if…
Slang Dictionary
A note from Daniel White Hodge, the editor of this page: “This dictionary isn’t so you can try to talk like someone you’re not. But it is a good reference for those who are seeking to understand a piece of youth culture today. No … every kid doesn’t use all of these words. But this…