Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 19

Combating Writer’s Block: Meet Your Goal, Then Stop

I almost never have writer’s block. Sure, it happens every once in a while but it is pretty rare. I had to laugh today watching part of R.L. Stine’s MasterClass on writing fiction for young readers. We combat writer’s block in much the same way. Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll have 300 book in … Continue reading Combating Writer’s Block: Meet Your Goal, Then Stop →

Surprise! Take Time to Consider Your Options

I was leaving church with my family Sunday when the pastor stopped to shake my hand. “I hope you’ll seriously consider preaching March something-or-another.” I’m absolutely certain that he said a specific date, but I have no recollection what it was. And my response was brilliant. “What are you talking about?” Apparently he had suggested … Continue reading Surprise! Take Time to Consider Your Options →

Working Food Into Your Story

The other day we dropped into a local Chinese market. Everyone else in the family raved about it and I was the last to experience it. The first thing I saw were the pomelos. This is a photo of my pomelo and a mandarin. I absolutely adore pomelos but they are very seasonal at least … Continue reading Working Food Into Your Story →

3 Types of Story Stakes

The main character in the young middle grade novel that I’m preparing to revise is not human. Nope, he isn’t an elf or an orc either. He is a cat. One of the ways to make an animal character something that readers can identify with is to give the character the same types of stakes … Continue reading 3 Types of Story Stakes →

Research: When Two Sources Contradict Each Other

I’m outlining a new project this week. It is a fairly broad topic so I’m having to do a lot of research. I’m not doing deep, detailed research but I do have to do enough to outline 55 spreads. As so often happens, I found sources that contradict each other. How do I tell which … Continue reading Research: When Two Sources Contradict Each Other →

3 Reasons I Don’t Write Negative Reviews

I used to review books for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I only got to write about one review per month and almost all of them were roundups. That means that I reviewed 6 books in a single article. They might be “6 books coming out in January” or “6 brilliant nonfiction picture books.” And this … Continue reading 3 Reasons I Don’t Write Negative Reviews →

Idea Generation

About two weeks ago, I posted about Storystorm. You can see that post HERE. This is an idea generation challenge. The idea is to come up with 30 ideas throughout the month of January. I have to admit that I love Storystorm. I always finish up with at least 30 ideas. I’d love to say … Continue reading Idea Generation →

Writing Scary: It Is the Details, Not the Setting

I’ve been thinking a lot about something that R.L. Stine said about writing scary books. He explained that he didn’t set stories in European castles or other traditional horror locations that young readers wouldn’t know. Instead, he set stories at school and in their neighborhoods. He set them at home and the places they go … Continue reading Writing Scary: It Is the Details, Not the Setting →

Writing Photo Captions

Earlier this week, a book designer sent me the cover and interior layouts for one of my upcoming books. Working with this particular publisher was the first time I have ever had to caption photos in a book. My first thought was that I could do this. Right? You just say who is in the … Continue reading Writing Photo Captions →

8 Tips for Writing Scary

I have to say that one of the best investments I’ve made is signing up for Master Class. This is my second year and, not surprisingly, one of my favorite lists is Writing Classes. I’m almost done with R. L. Stine’s class on “Writing for Young Audiences.” Although his focus is on writing scary, a … Continue reading 8 Tips for Writing Scary →