Simon Rose's Blog, page 35

Writing Fiction for Children and Youth

Writing Fiction for Children and Youth – October 17 to November 30, 2023

Writing for children and youth is a rich and vibrant global market. Focus on writing fiction for readers aged 8 to 12 years. This online course at the University of Calgary examines the writing process from initial concept to finished work including turning ideas into stories, story structure, developing characters, creating outlines, and the importance of editing and revision.

Students will also explore market and publishing opportunities in this interactive and supportive online course.

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Flashback

“Right from the very first sentence I was engaged, and I could not wait to find out what happened next. The book was thrilling and it kept me on the edge of my seat.”

Lots of kids have an imaginary friend. Max certainly did. Then one day, Max’s friend said something that scared him. Max never saw his friend again. Several years later, Max’s imaginary childhood friend returns – older, wiser, and disturbingly real. He tells Max of events concealed for over twenty years, events that someone will go to deadly lengths to keep that way. Max must journey into his friend’s past, not knowing how his actions will affect what he knows as reality.

Flashback, along with the other novels in the series, Twisted Fate and Parallel Destiny, is available as a paperback and ebook. Flashback is also available as an audiobook. Learn more here on my website.

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What’s it all about? An excerpt from The Time Traveler’s Guide

“The Time Traveler’s Guide is a great resource for any writer wanting to improve their craft.”

 

Chapter One: What is time travel?

Time travel is defined as taking place when there is movement between specific points in time. This is achieved in the same way that objects and living things move through space. In fiction, this kind of travel is made possible by the use of a time machine, device, or method. While nothing is carved in stone, I tend to think that time travel involving machinery or some kind of technology should be defined as science fiction while time travel that makes use of magic or similar methods is probably best classified as fantasy. However, these genres frequently overlap, particularly with time travel stories.

Over the years, novels, movies, and TV shows featuring time travel have included methods involving highly sophisticated machinery, scientific laboratories, various items of jewelry, wearable technology, vehicles, ancient artifacts, books, portals and doorways, dreaming, food and drink, and so many more. Time travel stories have featured journeys to the past, the future, and to alternative timelines created when previous events were changed so that they occurred differently, thus affecting what happened next in various different ways. Time travel has long been a theme in books, short stories, TV shows, and movies and shows no signs of declining in popularity anytime soon, although of course only time will tell.

A common theme in time travel tales involves someone being sent into the past by accident. When they arrive at an earlier point in history, the device or machine is somehow broken, fails to operate properly, runs out of power, is misplaced, or is stolen by the story’s villain. The reader is thus left in suspense, wondering if the heroes will be able to return safely to their own time. Of course, the reader most likely believes that the heroes will eventually escape from danger. However, the plot still has to imply that the lead characters might be marooned in the past permanently or that their lives are in jeopardy. In my time travel novels, the main characters always face serious challenges from the moment that they appear to be trapped in a dangerous historical era.

Some time travel stories simply feature an adventure in a different period in order for the characters to experience what life was like. Perhaps the character discovers an old piece of jewelry that sends them back in time when they wear it or adjust it some way. The characters then witness historical events or meet famous people. Many time travel stories concern the consequences of traveling either backward or forward through time. The idea of changing the past, either intentionally or by accident, is a common theme in science fiction and fantasy. When events that have already taken place are altered in some way, what the time traveler knew as the present day has changed when they return home. This might lead to a further adventure to restore things to what’s perceived as normal, depending on the nature of the alterations to the timeline. As you’re probably thinking already, time travel can sometimes be very complicated but the creators of these kinds of stories are aware of the potential issues at the outset and work hard to make their story entertaining, plausible, and realistic. Some stories in the genre concentrate on the paradoxes involved in time travel, such as the well-known grandfather paradox. This is when the time traveler is responsible for the death of his or her own grandfather, meaning that the traveler was never born. If this is the case then how could they have gone back in time to cause their grandfather’s death in the first place? Time travel has lots of issues like this, some of which I examine in Chapter Nine.

Time travel stories involving journeys into the past overlap with the genre of historical fiction. This kind of fiction involves stories that are set in the past. There are no firm rules, but the setting is usually at least fifty years earlier than when the story is written. The setting is a particular period in history and often includes real historical personalities. The story’s main characters are usually fictional, although the social and other conditions of the time are presented accurately. Historical fiction stories usually take place during a significant period in history. In some stories the characters are part of the events taking place but in others the events merely serve as the background to the story. In The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, the story takes place in 1483 and features the aftermath of the Wars of the Roses and the mystery of Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, known as the Princes in the Tower. The princes appear in the story, as does their uncle, King Richard III, along with some other historical characters. In The Heretic’s Tomb, the story takes place during the period of the Black Death in England in the mid fourteenth century. The novel features imaginary characters but also refers to the effects of the Black Death on society, medieval medicine, and living conditions, and to some of the personalities and events of the era. In The Alchemist’s Portrait, Matthew’s time travel adventures take him to Amsterdam in 1666, the French Revolution in 1792, the American Civil War in 1865, and the Russian Revolution in 1917, all of which needed to be portrayed accurately. The Doomsday Mask has scenes that take place in Berlin in May 1945 and the characters needed to fit into that world. In Flashback, Max finds himself in the mid 1990s, not too long ago perhaps, but he still needed to inhabit an environment that’s correctly portrayed. Next, we’ll look at some of the many time travel stories that have appeared in printed form and on screen over the years.

The Time Traveler’s Guide is available as an ebook and as a paperback on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Smashwords and many other locations.

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When Words Collide

On August 4, 5, and 6, I’ll be at the When Words Collide festival for readers and writers in Calgary. I’ll be hosting a number of blue pencil sessions for several writers during the event.

Check out When Words Collide at https://www.whenwordscollide.org/

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Copywriting for Business

I offer a number of writer services for business. The way in which you communicate with your customers is a vital component of your business and well written content can be the difference between success and failure.

I have extensive experience in writing for a wide range of industries and market segments. I offer a variety of copywriting services including website content, blogs and newsletters, social media including Facebook and Twitter, brochures, direct mail, sales letters, press releases, newspaper and magazine advertising and more.

Learn more about my range of writing services here.

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Writing Workshops and Study Guides

Writing Workshops and Study Guides 

My writing guide entitled Where Do Ideas Come From? examines how my novels The Alchemist’s Portrait, The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, The Clone Conspiracy, The Emerald Curse, The Heretic’s Tomb, The Doomsday Mask, The Time Camera, and The Sphere of Septimus can be used to create workshops and creative writing exercises for the classroom.

These include writing time travel stories, creating superheroes and comic books, inventing imaginary worlds and fantasy kingdoms, exploring fascinating historical eras, imagining future technological developments, and examining ancient mysteries and civilizations.

Where Do Ideas Come From? is available as a paperback and as an ebook and provides suggestions and recommendations for teachers developing classroom projects based on the books.

Please contact me directly if you have any questions or require further information.

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The Benefits of a Writing Coach

A professional writing coach is someone with whom you can consult, ask questions and receive constructive feedback. They act as a guide as you build your career as a professional writer. A coach can help you conquer a stumbling block, regain momentum or make a start on a new project.

My program helps you progress as a writer. You decide what you want to work on during a personalized, one on one relationship. I can be your coach for just one month or we can establish a month-to-month arrangement, depending on your schedule and expectations.

I’m very flexible regarding your own unique requirements in areas where you feel that you need the most help, but examples of topics that can be covered include character development, dialogue and format, editing and revision, story structure and plot, pacing your story, realistic settings, dramatic beginnings,  and cliffhanger endings. We can also examine submitting work, the publishing world,  and marketing and promotion.

You can also learn more about the writing and publishing process, including where ideas come from and how writers turn them into stories, choosing names for characters, the importance of historical research if your novel is set in a different era, the role of editing and revision, marketing and promotion, and more, in The Children’s Writer’s Guide, The Working Writer’s Guide, The Children’s Writer’s Guide 2, and School & Library Visits for Authors & Illustrators.

The writing of time travel stories and historical fiction is covered in The Time Traveler’s Guide, and fantasy and magic in Exploring the Fantasy Realm. The study guides for my novels are featured in Where do Ideas Come From?

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Black Dawn – “After finishing book one and two, I was not disappointed.”

“This is the third book in the “ShadowZone” series written by one of my favourite young adult authors. After finishing book one and two, I could not wait to start this one, I was not disappointed.”

In a dark parallel world, following attacks by its most determined opponents, the Ministry has been forced to change its plans. Yet the ruthless Director-General is prepared to sacrifice anyone to achieve an entirely new beginning, no matter what the cost. In a deadly race against time, as events spiral out of control, Ben and Charlie must risk their lives in a desperate attempt to save two worlds from destruction.

Black Dawn, along with the other novels in the series, Shadowzone and Into The Web, is available as a paperback and ebook. Learn more here on my website.

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Into the Web – “I could not wait to start this one.”

“This is the second book of this series written by one of my favourite young adult authors. After finishing book one, I could not wait to start this one, I was not disappointed a great story with good character structure and as usual well written. The storyline kept me focused until the very end where it left me wanting to read the next book in the series.”

On a doomed version of Earth, the sinister schemes of the Ministry are moving ever closer to completion, with dire consequences for the inhabitants of two worlds. For Ben and Charlie, an unlikely alliance, unexpected reunions, and the mysterious prophecy of the Chosen One offer a glimmer of hope, with the ever-present prospect of betrayal, as they embark on an unpredictable journey into the unknown.

Into The Web, along with the other novels in the series, Shadowzone and Black Dawn, is available as a paperback and ebook. Learn more here on my website.

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Shadowzone – “A great read …. Highly recommend this series!”

“Time travel, alternate worlds, and societal sub-cultures are blended into a great plot, and a gripping and relevant read. The environmental stewardship aspect of this story echoes our current day challenges, as do the almost prescient references to a dangerous virus. Characters were well drawn and the reader is cheering for their success. The three books in the series flow smoothly together. A great read for middle school ages and up, to both engage interest and build vocabulary. Highly recommend this series!”

While watching intense flashes of lightning during a violent storm, Ben experiences mysterious and disturbing visions of another world, one very different from his own. In the chain of events that follow, Ben encounters Charlie, a girl from a dark version of Earth, a planet doomed by the effects of environmental catastrophe, where the leaders will stop at nothing to complete their deadly mission.

Shadowzone, along with the other novels in the series, Into The Web and Black Dawn, is available as a paperback and ebook. Learn more here on my website.

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