Robyn loves her friends, enjoys her youth group, and looks forward to meeting cute Caleb Montague. But when a caustic news reporter challenges her school’s prayer team, Robyn must choose: defend their right to meet on campus and pray for whomever they wish or back down at the principal’s request.

Now she must learn what God wants her to do. And she had better learn fast, because there’s a supernatural enemy in town whose sole mission is to stop her—no matter the cost.

Then Shellie and I both became part of an online critique group for middle grade stories. Her latest book, The Wishing Ring, is for a younger audience – more middle grades than YA/teen.  It’s just been released, so check it out:

The King’s castle stands alone atop Grand Ur Mountain, but even that does not match the solitude surrounding Princess Ally. With a carrot-shaped nose, she trudges through her princess duties with the most unfortunate face. With her pet greybar (a creature with the head of a greyhound, body of a polar bear, and wings of an eagle) as her only friend, Ally dreams of becoming a beautiful princess.

When Cory, a ninja-in-training, drops through the royal chimney, he does not intend to enlist the help of anyone, much less a girl, but she holds the key to the Creator’s map. The ancient map marks the secret hiding place of the magic Wishing Ring, a ring that grants the wearer one wish.

Cory’s mysterious need for the ring and Ally’s dream of beauty send the pair to a forgotten land. Only the war ravaged clan of Odana can translate the map’s key. But even if they manage to find a translator, the question remains—can they beat the Ogre who guards the ring?

One cool fact about The Wishing Ring is that Shellie’s children helped her think out and plan the storyline. So, you see? Kids of any age can write a book!

Shellie’s now working on the sequel, The King’s Scribe. That’s the manuscript we have the pleasure of reading in our critique group. I’ll be selfish and say it’s a great experience for me to be in a critique group with a published author – someone who knows the business and can help me learn so much. I’m enjoying reading The King’s Scribe, and bet you’ll enjoy The Wishing Ring.

Learn more at Shellie’s website. Then check out her books at Amazon.com or ask your school librarian about them. Enjoy!

The gray mare stepped with ease onto a narrow dirt trail, and Horizon followed in her footsteps through the sunny stand of white birch, across a speckled meadow of gold and green, and over a sloping hill. At the foot of the hill, a slender creek burbled its way over shiny stones.

Only 2 sentences — 52 words. But, wow, what a picture she gives us. We know that:

• The riders are on a narrow dirt trail.
• It’s a sunny day.
• They ride through a patch of trees (where it’s shady) and across a meadow (where they’re back in the sunshine).
• They cross over a small hill and see a creek bubbling over and around stones — stones that are shiny from the water splashing along.

What a clear picture of where the characters are and what they’re doing! How do you do that yourself? By putting yourself into your own story world and seeing it so clearly in your own mind that you can help your reader see it, too.

Easy? No. But worth it? Yes!

Start by deciding where your characters are — the time of day, the place, what kinds of things are around them. Think about what’s happening in this part of your story and how the time, place, and objects can affect what’s happening. For example, let’s say your character is outside at night. You might ask yourself questions like:

• Is it pitch-black dark? Is there a full moon? Are clouds blowing across the sky and making the moon appear and reappear? Are shadows distinct  or fuzzy-edged?
• What time of year is it? Are the tree limbs bare, or are they overloaded with leaves and flowers?
• What objects are around your character? Is it bright enough for your character to see some colors or other details? If so, what little bits can he see? Or does everything look like a black blob against the night?

Now, don’t worry, you don’t have to include all your ideas or descriptions in your story. That would be a case of information overload, and your reader would get so bogged down by the details that they might miss the point of the story. Once you get a good picture of the scene in your mind, pick the best parts — the parts that will help your reader see things most clearly — and stick with those. Your reader will start to see the story world just like you do, which is just where you want him to be. Because once he’s in your story world, he’ll keep reading.

What’s one of the best ways to pull your reader into your story world? Details.

Imagine if you went through every day only seeing things in shades of gray. If you couldn’t hear your favorite song. If you couldn’t smell the burgers Dad grills for supper, or taste them when they’re on your plate.

Sound crazy? Maybe for going through everyday life, but that’s exactly how your readers feel if you just tell a basic story and don’t try to take your writing to the next level of “wow.” Just thinking through things and adding a few extra words (details!) can take us from:

The dog ran.

to

The shaggy black dog ran into the woods.

There’s nothing technically wrong with “the dog ran,” but “the shaggy black dog ran into the woods” tells us a lot more. With only 5 extra words, we learn what the dog looks like (shaggy and black) and where he ran (into the woods). That helps your reader picture the scene a lot better and get pulled deeper into the story.

Remember those 5 senses you learned about years ago? That’s the first place to look for details:

• Sight
• Smell
• Sound
• Touch
• Taste

Now, saying you should include all 5 senses doesn’t mean you include something for every sense in every little paragraph. That would be serious sensory overload! Instead, look for ways you can include a few little things to pull your reader in.

My next few posts on writing tips will focus on each of the senses, and how you can work them into your writing. I’ll be using a lot of examples from a novel I read a few months ago, Aurelia by Anne Osterlund. It was the first of her stories I’ve read, and I fell in love with her descriptions. Here’s a sample to get you thinking about how to help readers see the scene (just FYI, Horizon is a horse):

The gray mare stepped with ease onto a narrow dirt trail, and Horizon followed in her footsteps through the sunny stand of white birch, across a speckled meadow of gold and green, and over a sloping hill. At the foot of the hill, a slender creek burbled its way over shiny stones. (Aurelia, pg. 156)

Can’t you see it in your mind (even without the photo I included)? The trail, the trees, the meadow and creek? I’m betting you can. Next time we’ll look at some ways you can do the same for your own readers.

When you’re writing a novel, you must make your antagonist likeable … at least in some way.

Are you surprised to see that? Maybe so, considering the antagonist is usually the bad guy who keeps messing everything up for the main character. The antagonist is the one who spoils the fun, bullies others around, plots to kill and destroy the hero. So why do we want to like him?

Because even if your antagonist seems to be bad to the bone, he (or she) needs to have something nice about him or something decent that can help your readers relate to him. Every antagonist/bad guy believes he’s doing the right thing by trying to destroy whatever the hero is working for. But why? Once you’ve figured that out and can hint at it in your story, you’ve made that antagonist even more real to your readers.

Two classic examples from the movies:

Do you know why Joker from Batman fame looks so hideous? Because his wife (yes, he was actually married at some point) was in some type of horrible accident and her face was terribly disfigured. I don’t remember exactly what happened to her, so bear with me for a minute. The Joker (who I guess wasn’t really the Joker at that point), stuck a switchblade in his mouth and cut himself all up. He tells Batman it was to show his wife he didn’t care that she wasn’t beautiful anymore — he loved her no matter how she looked. But she couldn’t handle it and things went downhill from there. That one quick scene with Batman shows us that Joker wasn’t always an awful guy, and that he willingly disfigured himself because of someone he loved. Hmmm … maybe he has a heart after all, somewhere deep down under the wickedness.

And let’s not forget Darth Vader. I’ll admit my age and say that Star Wars first came out when I was in about 4th or 5th grade. After years of movies and always seeing Darth Vader as the ultimate villain, I was completely unprepared for something in Revenge of the Sith — I almost cried for Darth Vader.

What?! Cry for Darth Vader? Yes, I almost did.

He was well on his way to be sucked over to the dark side, but was also still human enough to care for Amidala. Her pregnancy and her life were at risk, and Anakin was frantic with worry over her. The Sith Lord promised that if Anakin came to their side, Anakin would have power over death and that Amidala would be OK. Anakin’s love for Amidala and his desperation to save her pushed him right over the edge.

So why did I almost cry? Because it was the first time I saw Anakin’s move to the dark side through his eyes — and he believed he did it to help someone he loved. Most of us can relate to loving someone and probably know what it’s like to give up something to help someone else. Did knowing that side of Darth Vader turn me into a Dark Force fan or make me cheer for him in the other movies when he battled Rebel forces? No, it didn’t. But it did help me connect with him, even if it was only for a few minutes — and that’s exactly what the writers wanted.

The more you can learn to do that with your own stories, the more real your antagonist will be — and the more your readers will relate to him, whether they want to or not. And being able to create characters that make people keep reading is is what it’s all about.

If you look up the definition in Webster’s, protagonist means “the main character in a drama, novel, or story, around whom the action centers.” Does it say the protagonist is “the good guy everyone roots for”? Nope. Of course, he can be, but the true definition is that the protagonist is the main character of the story. Usually, that main character is a good person we want to win in the end. But sometimes the protagonist might not be so good or might not act like a hero, especially in the beginning. Hopefully, that character will learn and change and be better (or nicer) by the end of the book. (That process of growing and changing is called the “hero’s journey,” which I’ll cover in another post.)

Now let’s take a quick look at the antagonist. Going back to Webster’s, you’ll find “the person who opposes or competes with another; adversary; opponent.” The antagonist is the bad guy who makes the protagonist’s life hard and who keeps the protagonist from reaching his or her goals. There are all sorts of reasons why an antagonist does that. Maybe he wants the same thing as the protagonist, but only one can have it. Maybe there’s some type of “history” between the two characters and the antagonist is trying to get revenge for something that happened long ago. Maybe the antagonist doesn’t have a direct connection with the protagonist, but is just wacko and the protagonist becomes the focus of the craziness. And the list could go on …

Does the antagonist always have to be a person? You usually see it that way, but it doesn’t always have to be like that. Sometimes you’ll read stories where a terrible event (like the Black Plague) or nature (think, tsunami) or other non-human things might be an antagonist. If it’s something big and important to the story and can cause lots of problems for the protagonist, it just might be an antagonist.

Here’s the last thing to keep in mind when you’re writing: A good story will have a protagonist and at least one antagonist. Why? Because they balance each other out. It’s boring to read about a character who gets everything he wants the first time around, without any twists or challenges along the way. By the same token, it’s also not fun to read about an antagonist creating problems, problems, problems — without ever getting a break from the bad stuff. One needs the other before you have a truly balanced story that readers will keep enjoying.

If you have a favorite protagonist or antagonist from something you’ve read lately, share about it in the comments. Be sure to let us know why they’re your favorites,too.

Happy writing!

The books tackle lots of issues facing girls today – cheating, purity, taking dares, dealing with parents or teachers, and more. Each story has you  “along for the ride” with the main character until she reaches the point of needing to make an important, life-changing decision. The main story stops, and readers are asked to decide how they would handle the situation in the exact same circumstances. Then you continue the story, depending on how you answer. Better yet, you can read both endings to see how things might play out in the real world for both options. It’s a great way to help girls think through situations and the potential outcomes before they find themselves in the same predicament. Once a girl finishes reading the book, she has the chance to make a written commitment to implement the lessons she’s learned from the story. A parent or other trusted adult can witness her commitment and help her with accountability.

The stories I read were from Swept Away, which includes two of the Scenarios books – High Stakes and Essence of Lilly. I haven’t read others in the series, but love the whole concept. The stories themselves are interesting and right on target for today’s girls. Letting them become a part of how the story ends will hopefully help girls remember the story and its message, long after the book goes back on the shelf. I applaud O’Dell for writing for these girls in such a real way, and I’ll be passing Swept Away onto some of the girls at church. With Christmas shopping time right around the corner, you might want to look for Swept Away or the other Scenarios for Girls books for a special middle or high school girl in your life.

Ages and reading levels: Swept Away and the other Scenarios for Girls books are marketed as young adult fiction, which means they’re targeting kids in the 13-17 age range (or so). The characters in the books I read are in high school. Some of the topics might be a little more geared toward older readers, but the writing itself is fine for middle school girls and I would be fine letting a middle schooler read Swept Away. It might even be OK for some fifth graders, but I wouldn’t recommend it for girls younger than that because some of the situations might be too old for them.

For more info on Nicole O’Dell and her books and Teen Talk radio program, visit her online.

But what about stories about make believe people and places? You know, things like the Wimpy Kid books or Nancy Drew mysteries or Sponge Bob. Parts of the stories might be true — Greg and Rowley might do the same kinds of crazy things you and your friends try, or a lighthouse might really be on that island someone in the story visits. But the story itself — the characters, what they do and what happens — all comes from the author’s imagination. Those kinds of stories are fiction.

Basically, fiction is make believe, and non-fiction is factual. And if you hear someone talking about a novel, they’re talking about fiction. Here’s a quick lesson people always seem to teach at writers’ conferences:

Fiction = Novel. Novel = Fiction.

So, you don’t ever have to say that you’re reading (or writing!) a fictional novel. The two words mean the same thing, so you can either say that you’re reading fiction or that you’re reading a novel. No need to say both.

Neither one — fiction or non-fiction — is better than the other, and lots of people — kids and adults — like to read both. That’s OK, because it helps you learn more (because, yes, you can learn things from fiction, even if it’s a made-up story). Maybe your teacher or librarian at school tells you to get a fiction and non-fiction book each week when you get to take something home. That’s a good idea, because it keeps you from locking in to only reading about a couple of favorite things and nothing else.

When you look at things from your favorite authors, does it look like they focus on fiction, or non-fiction? Or, they might write both. Mary Pope Osborn (one of my favorite authors for kids, BTW) wrote fiction for years — the Magic Tree House series. Then she started working with her husband (and later her sister) to write non-fiction books that went along with some of the novels. They’re called the Magic Tree House Fact Trackers and help explain some of the things in Jack and Annie’s MTH adventures. Pretty cool stuff.

So — here’s the question of the week. Do you like reading fiction or non-fiction better, and why? Leave a comment to share!

So … I’ve decided to start with a weekly post, probably on either Tuesday or Wednesday. Here’s how it will look:

• First week of the month — Writing tip

• Second week of the month — Book review

• Third week of the month — Writing tip

• Fourth week of the month — Author spotlight (which might just be letting you know about a great author, or might be an author interview)

• Fifth week of the month — Writing trivia or something else fun related to writing

The official schedule will kick off the first week in September. I’m looking forward to it and hope you’ll join me!

For those of you who love to read, you’ll find reviews of books you might want to think about reading. And if you’ve read the book I’m writing about, you can share what you liked about it too.

For the writers out there, I’ll be sharing ways you can make your writing better. Your teachers do a great job of that at school, but they’re teaching you about so many things that they can’t cover everything. I make my living as a writer and editor so have learned a few things along the way. I love helping kids become better writers, and am excited about helping you learn. We might even have some writing contests you can be part of!

Thanks for visiting, and come back soon. I’m excited about sharing some things with you and hearing what you have to say!