Madeline Smoot's Blog, page 3

Why did your character do that?

I need you to ask yourself a question: why does my character in my children’s book act the way they do?

Because if you don’t know this, then I need you to go figure it out.

Put yourself in their shoes and look deep. A part of you is actually in every character, so you have something in common. If you were in their shoes, at that age, given their personality and backstory – what would you want and why?

You see, characters don’t just do things on a whim (or more specifically on your whim), even if it appears that way. Just like real people, characters in children’s books have reasons for the things they do. In other words, they have motivations. 

And as a reader, we need to see those motivations. I mean, it’s great that you know what they are as the author, but it’s equally important for us readers to know them too. 

But why? 

Because motivations add richness and complexity to your work. They keep your characters from looking like they’re only doing something because it’s convenient for the story.And they make your story feel real, more real than having stock characters do stock things.

I know I harp on motivation (especially for antagonists) a lot, but that’s just how important it is both for your specific story and your overall writing.

In short, figure out what makes your characters tick. And then make it hard for them to get it to keep your readers engaged!

How Old Is Your Main Character?

Does it matter how old your main character is?

Absolutely. This isn’t adult fiction where your main character can be just any old age. We are writing children’s books, and children’s books have very specific age ranges for specific types of novels. They are:

Chapter Book: 

Reader: Age 6 or 7 or 8

Character age: The same as the reader (usually). So, a six year old reader would read a book about a six year old character. (There are of course exceptions to this, but this is the general rule.)

The reason for this is that kids this age are very ego-centric. They want to read about kids just like themselves. (It’s also why diverse representation is so important— not just for this age but for all of them.) So, kids this age don’t really want to read about older or younger kids.

Middle Grade:

Reader: Ages 9-14

Character age: 10-12 (with a few 13 or 14 year olds in the upper, upper middle grade books)

At this point, kids typically don’t want to read about kids like themselves anymore. They want to read more aspirational stuff. In other words they want to read about characters they would want to be, which in character age, translates to older characters. It’s one of the reasons you don’t see many nine year old main characters. The eight year olds don’t want to read about them because they are too old, and the nine year olds (and up) don’t want to read about them because they are too young.

Young Adult (aka YA):

Reader: Ages 13-18 (There are some books that cater to adult women, and there are some kids as young as 11 that read YA regularly. But in theory, these books are supposed to be for teens ages 13-18.)

Character Age: 15-18 (usually. Sometimes you see a 13 or 14 year old or a 19 year old. The cut off is really the summer after high school.)

Like with middle graders, teens generally prefer to read about other teens that are older, but they aren’t quite the same sticklers. You do find older teens (and adults) enjoying YA books with a sixteen year old. You have a little more flexibility here, but the main character should still be a teen.

If you are writing a book for one of these markets and your main character does NOT fall in that range, take a hard look and consider WHY that’s the case. And then decide if that reason is one you want to defend, because you will have to defend it. There can be very good reasons to be an outlier to these general rules, but if you are, you will need to justify it.

How Purple Is Your Prose?

Everyone wants to craft the perfect sentence and then the perfect paragraph, page, and book. 

And to do that, you want to use evocative, colorful language. At least, you want to use colorful language as long as it doesn’t bleed into purple prose.

What is purple prose? It’s that overly complicated and ornate language that you find in older writing or in newer authors. It’s the superfluous, dramatic, even overwrought way to deliver a declaration that is meant to elucidate when more often it obscures the author’s meaning. (See what I did there?) In other words, purple prose is when you take a normal sentence and exchange most of the words for ones that mostly live in a thesaurus. It’s using a dollar word when a nickel one would do. It’s cramming your text full of SAT words instead of using the sort of language we all use in everyday life.

Purple prose is never exactly great, but in a children’s book, it’s downright deadly. One of the things purple prose does is to increase the reading level of the text, sometimes dramatically. I was working on a middle grade once where the overall work averaged an overall score of a ninth grade reading level. Not great, since this was middle grade and a 7th or 8th grade reading level would have been better. But ninth isn’t that far off from eighth, so ninth grade overall wasn’t a big deal.

But then I started running individual sentences that were leaning more towards a purple prose style of writing. The reading level for those sentences were hitting college levels, and not first year of college either. 

And this was all due to the vocabulary. The sentence structure wasn’t more advance or complex than the rest of the work. The word choice was just so elevated, it was unrealistic to think that the average middle grader would have been able to read the book without a dictionary sitting close at hand.

Now, this isn’t to say that you can’t use advanced vocabulary in your children’s book. You can, and you don’t have to define every word in the text. Kids know how to figure out words using context clues. But the thing is, you have to give them enough other words they know for them to have enough context to give them clues. 

So, unless you are writing a historical fiction children’s book, dial back the advanced vocabulary to a more realistic level. After all, we want our kid characters to sound like kids, and using ordinary language — even if we use it in extraordinary ways — is how we’ll accomplish that.

Write Fan Fiction — for your own stuff

You are your biggest fan. Without a doubt, no one will ever admire your children’s books quite the way you do. 

Don’t get me wrong, you’ll get those rabid fans that read every word you write and remember details you don’t even remember coming up with. 

But when it comes to quiet appreciation, you are your biggest fan. 

Of course, this means you get to do some of the fun things fans do like create fan art or fan fiction. 

Sure, when you do it, it’s called “sequels” or “companion stories” or “research into your world.” But that doesn’t make it any less of an appreciation of what you’ve written before, for the children’s book that inspired it all. 

And the best part is that you can do these pieces of fan fiction even before you finish the first draft. Fan fiction is a great way to power through a mid-book or mid-revision slump. It can reinvigorate a narrative that might have begun to feel stale by injecting something new. 

So, write that character backstory. Develop that throw away line into a full short story. Writing can be work, so interject that moment of fun. And then finish the novel that will inspire others to create works of their own. 

Enter the Trickle Down Theory of Revision.

This is absolutely one of the worst moments of revising. This is where you discover you need to make a change (usually a major change) to your story. You know that you need to make this change. Making this change will make your story stronger and take it to new heights.

But this change is going to trickle down and affect every single bit of your children’s book.

Every. Single. Bit.

Scenes that were working, scenes that were good in and of themselves, will have to be reworked, sometimes from scratch.

It can be one of the most disheartening moments of writing when the Trickle Down Theory strikes.

The thing is, we still have to make that change even though it creates more work. Perhaps especially because it creates more work.

Because that work is going to be worth it in the amazing children’s book it’s going to produce.

So, take a deep breath, go for a walk, complain vigorously to every writer within your circle of friends, and then get back to work.

You have an amazing book there ready to appear on the screen.

Is Your Main Character Ready for the Big Time?

So, you’ve written a children’s book and now you’re wondering:

Is my main character ready to publish?

Well, don’t worry, I’ve got you covered! Here are some questions to ask yourself to determine if your character is ready for publication.

First, let’s focus on the character:

·  Likeable: Is your main character likeable? Readers need to care about your main character and want to root for them.

·  Relatable: Is your main character relatable? Your readers need to be able to see themselves in your main character and understand their struggles.

·  Clear goal: Does your main character have at least one clear goal that you can articulate? Your main character needs to have a purpose and a goal that drives the story.

·  Motivation: Does your main character have clear motivations for their goals? Your readers need to understand why your main character wants to achieve their goal.

·  Age appropriate: Is your main character age appropriate for your manuscript’s target market? Make sure your character’s age and behavior match your intended audience.

Next, consider your main character’s arc:

Do they have a character arc? (Need at least one from below)

·  Positive: Does your character show positive growth throughout the story? This is the most commonly published type of character arc.

·  Negative: Does your character show negative growth throughout the story?

·  Flat: Does your character show no growth because the other characters grow to meet them instead?

If you can answer yes to all of the character questions and yes to them having an arc, then congratulations! Your main character is ready for you to start querying or to be sent to your freelance developmental editor.

But don’t forget that there is a lot more to publishing a book than just having a great main character. You also need to consider the rest of the story.

So, is your whole book ready for publication? 

That’s a lot trickier. But I do have different tools for that. You can use my submission checklist, or if you’d rather talk with me directly, take a few minutes to fill out my pub diagnostic.

Remember, writing a children’s book is a complex process, but taking the time to create a strong main character is a great first step. Keep in mind that even the best authors revise and edit their work, so don’t be afraid to make changes if needed.

With dedication and hard work, you can create a book that will capture the hearts and minds of your readers. Good luck on your publishing journey!

Brainstorming a Bingeable Series

I was talking with one of my authors today, and we were discussing ways an indie (or self-published) author can be successful. And one of the things I mentioned was to have a Binge Worthy Series.

You know the kind. The one where you read book after book. The kind where you finish one and immediately go order the next.

Those kinds.

There are lots of things that make a series bingeable:

·  Compelling characters

·  Exciting plots

·  Unresolved threads that can be addressed in the next book (but not major plot threads)

·  A Style of story or writing the reader just really loves

But in order to do these things, it does require a little bit of planning. Even the most ardent pantser needs to have some idea what they want their series to be before they start. So, here are some ideas for brainstorming.

1. Come up with your main character—This needs to be someone you and your readers will love because you’re both going to be with this character for many books

2. Come up with some titles for your series—These do not need to be the titles your books will eventually use. These are guideposts for major things you want to see happen in your series. So for a YA romance series set in a retail store I might have titles like Love’s Lost and Found, Love’s Returns, and Love’s Bargains for a second chance, return to hometown, and fake girlfriend to real girlfriend stories. Actually, I think I’m actually going to work out this series.

3. Write one paragraph summaries for those titles—These don’t have to be long or elaborate. They simply need to give you a general idea of where the story should go.

From there, you can flesh out as much or as little as you want. But you have a vague idea of what you are aiming for and what you’ll want to write.

Play with ideas for series. I can’t wait to binge yours.

The REAL Hero of the Story

Who is the real hero of your children’s book? The one that should triumph because their motivations are so just and pure. The one character that is usually so sure of themselves, nothing and no one can change their minds.

I’m of course talking about your villain.

Now, you and I both know that the villain of your work is not actually the hero. The villain is probably not going to learn and grow and solve the problem at the end of the day. Ten to one, the villain is the whole reason there is a problem in the first place.

But (and I’m sure you’ve heard this before), in the villain’s eyes, they ARE the hero of the piece. A tragic hero, yes, possibly even with a tragic flaw, but the hero striving from the purest of intentions.

And that motivation, that belief that they are in the right, THAT is what creates a compelling three-dimensional antagonist in a children’s book – one that is more than a maniacally laughing buffoon twirling his mustache while he revels in the chaos he’s wrought.

How do we do this? We give our antagonists the same thing we gave our main characters:

GOALS + MOTIVATIONS = THE CONFLICT

In fact, the conflict often occurs when the antagonist and the main character have diametrically opposite goals. Think Sauron and Frodo in the Lord of the Rings. One of them wants to possess and use the ring of power, the other wants to destroy it. Opposite goals that cause conflict.

So, when you start revising your children’s book, don’t forget to look at your antagonist’s goals and motivations when you are evaluating your main character’s.

·  Do they both have compelling goals and motivations?

·  Do they both have something at stake?

Because you can write the richest, most moving three-dimensional main character, but if you pit them against a two-dimensional caricature, the story will fall flat, something none of us wants to read.

Give those antagonists goals and motivations.

Make them the tragic hero of the story they tell themselves.

And watch your children’s book evolve from a simple story to a binge-worthy tale.

Communal Writing for the Win!

Back in the BP (Before Pandemic) several of my writing friends and I used to get together once or twice a week to write. We’d meet in a coffee shop or some other public place and set an egg timer for 45 minutes or so. And then we’d write. And write. No talking. Just write.

Those were some of my most productive writing times. There’s nothing like knowing others are watching (and rooting for you) to hold you accountable. Turns out a little peer pressure can help you get the words down on the page.

After the pandemic hit, we figured out how to move these writing times online. We would get together in someone’s Zoom room, set a timer, and write. And then, when the time is up, we come back together and discuss our projects. Sometimes we brainstorm. Sometimes we commiserate. Sometimes we celebrate.

The point is that for that small sliver of our day or week, we are focused on writing and writing alone. And it can be a liberating experience.

That’s why I started doing this for my clients too. Every week at the same time, we meet up to write. We spend 50 minutes writing, and then at the end we report back on what we did. It’s an incredibly productive time for everyone involved.

So, consider creating something (either online or in-person) with your writing community. Writing can be a very solitary activity. But we don’t have to let it be.

There’s no such thing as a truly low stakes book.

I recently came across the idea of Low Stakes Fiction. These are books where what’s at stake isn’t saving the whole world or even saving the town. These are stories where the stakes are more personal. I feel like Romance novels often fall in this category. Many bildungsroman (the fancy word for Coming of Age children’s books) would also be this kind of book. Think Little Women. They don’t save the country in that book, just live the lives of four girls during and just after the American Civil War.

And I get why people would call these low stakes. Trying to survive in your day-to-day life doesn’t seem as exciting as saving the world from an Extinction Level Event comet.

Except …

To the person (or character) living that life, those stakes aren’t all that low.

Emotional stakes, especially, can be very high for the character. Whether or not a particular character in your YA book finds love might not be life or death to the book’s society, but it might be for the actual character.

And that’s why, I think calling something a Low Stakes book is actually a misnomer. Because to the characters in your children’s books, the stakes are going to be high. If they aren’t, then why are we reading about them?

Because let’s face it. Just like a conflict-free life, a low stakes life might be very pleasant to live, but it’s boring to read about. You need escalating stakes to keep your reader invested in your story. Whether those stakes are physical or emotional, they still need to be high for your character.

In the end, does the character in your children’s book or YA  need to be The Chosen One? No, but they will have something at stake, something they are risking. And that will make us root for them even more.