Tag Archives: #writetip

Yet More Short Story Words of Wisdom

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Despite all the changes in publishing, new short stories are still appearing in print and digitally. Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen magazines continue to publish short stories, as do various anthologies, and of course they are also an option for indie authors.

Short stories can also be a proven way to level up your writing, helping you improve existing skills and forge new ones in just a few thousand words. Typically much less writing time is at stake with short stories versus novels, and even if your latest story doesn’t work, it can teach you something in the process.

Today’s Words of Wisdom reaches into the archives for insights on writing short fiction from posts by James Scott Bell, Reavis Wortham, and John Gilstrap.

As you know, we’ve been celebrating the release of Fresh Kills here on TKZ. It’s been a pleasure working with my blogmates, pros all, to bring you these new stories, at an attractive price. Look for Fresh Kills at amazon, scribd or smashwords.

My contribution to the anthology is “Laughing Matters,” a title that has more than one meaning, as you’ll find out. And that’s sort of what the best short stories do; they work on at least a couple of levels.

Certainly, the literary short story is like that. In college I got to take a writing workshop with Raymond Carver, and that’s what his stories are famous for. They have something going on up top, on the surface, but when you finish you realize there’s a rich layer underneath that you’ve missed (and I have to confess, I usually did, and would have to re-read each one a couple of times).

In the suspense or mystery category, you need to deliver a story that has a surprise in it somewhere, to keep the reader guessing. Jeffery Deaver has written two volumes of such tales in his Twisted series, and even challenges the reader to try to outguess him. It’s cool when it works, but it’s hard to do. Which is why this kind of story is every bit as challenging as the literary sort.

The germ of “Laughing Matters” came one day when I was thinking about all the standup comics in LA who never make it. I must have just seen some clip of a comedian doing post-Seinfeld observational humor (one of thousands) and just thought, this is dull. This is derivative. This guy’s not going to go very far.

Which reminded me of a time when I was living and acting in New York, and went to a comedy club for “open mike.” There were some funny guys, and then there was this one kid who was obviously onstage for the first time. The sort whose grandmother must have told him, “Sonny, you are so funny! You should go tell your jokes on television!”

Anyway, the kid comes out, he’s nervous, and tells a joke. It fell to the ground with a thud that echoed through the club. He got rattled. And you know what happens when you get rattled in front of the 11 p.m. crowd in New York City on open mike night? It was brutal. The kid made it through maybe two more jokes, neither of which worked, and then froze. As the crowd piled on with jeers and snorts, he stood there, choking the mike stand, unable to move or speak.

The emcee, noting what was going on, jumped in from the wings with his big smile, clapping his hands, shouting “Let’s hear it for _____ !” and then took the guy’s arm and guided him off the stage.

There must have been public hangings easier to watch.

So all of that came to me as I wrote the opening lines:

He died. 

Pete Harvey, “The Harv” as he billed himself, just flat out died in front of the 11 p.m. crowd at the Comedy Zone. 

Then I have Pete sitting at the bar afterward, drowning his sorrows, when a most interesting gent sits down next to him. And the story came to me in a flash, twists and all. This is, I’d wager, how the best short stories usually appear. But then you write, re-write and polish, and hopefully come up with something that works.

I’ve reclaimed my love of the short story, and have decided to keep writing them. Maybe I’ll put out my own collection sometime. It’s nice to have a market for stories again. Because short stories matter, it seems to me. A good story can deliver a hugely satisfying reading experience in small span of time.

FWIW, here are some of my favorite short stories, based on the wallop I felt at the end:

“Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway

“Soldier’s Home,” Ernest Hemingway

“The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze,” William Saroyan

“A Word to Scoffers,” William Saroyan

“A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” J.D. Salinger

“The End of the Tiger,” John D. MacDonald

“Chapter and Verse,” Jeffery Deaver

James Scott Bell—February 7, 2010

Joe laughed and took a sip of iced tea. “There’s your short story.”

I came home thinking about it, but haven’t yet written it down. But it’s there, perking along until the day I write the first sentence, “The boys finished their Schlitz beers and decided they were going to meet Elvis Presley, come hell or high water,” or something like that.

Those stories come easier than I expected. Maybe it’s because I write mini-stories every week for my newspaper columns in The Paris News, Country World, and now for Saddlebag Dispatches magazine. They come to mind as a single sentence, and then I watched as my fingers type out 950 words in one sitting that will “go to press” the next day. They’re mini-short stories, a snippet of time or experience, in which I give readers a quick glimpse into the view from my own hill.

When we’re working on novels, authors create whole new fictional worlds and can revel in taking their time to describe these worlds and establish character backgrounds and settings. In a short story, we create a can of condensed soup in a sense that, if we wanted to, could sometimes expand into a novel.

I think of them as that tiny world inside a globe, those glass spheres containing a tiny piece of a mythical world. In this case, these miniature scenes don’t always have snow, unless it’s essential to the plot.

Essential to the plot. In short stories, every element, word, character, and bit of dialogue has to be informative, moving the story forward, and must relate to everything else. The logic of the narrative has to be short and concise.

To me, it’s like flipping through the pages of a novel and picking out the necessary bits and pieces to write a book report. A quick read of what could be more, but isn’t.

There’s no room for sweeping descriptions and extensive development. In my view, the author has to know the character’s entire backstory at the outset, and the setting’s history that’s revealed by bits of information dropped in a sentence or two, or as action dialogue tags.

Readers must be swept into these juicy stories with the right words, phrases, and pacing. I suppose it’s like satisfying our need for immediate satisfaction these days. In other words you have about 6,000 words to set up the story arc, very short Acts 1 and 2, before that last couple of pages in which the bombshell drops. In fact, some authors set off that climax bomb in a couple of paragraphs, or even one breathtaking sentence.

Writing short stories is an excellent way to warm up, to refill the creative basket between novels, and to achieve the personal satisfaction of a job well done.

Reavis Wortham—April 12, 2025

 

“All Revved . . .” is, hands down, the darkest story I’ve ever written. You can find it in the recently published anthology, Bat Out Of Hell, edited by Don Bruns, and the story is inspired by the title of one of the songs on the famous Meat Loaf album from the 1970s. The story tells the tale of Ace Spade, an off-duty firefighter and search and rescue operator who’s trying to impress a young lady with his four-wheeling skills in the back woods of West Virginia when things go terribly wrong. After he wrecks his Jeep in the middle of nowhere, the man who they think is there to lend assistance turns out to be a killer who wants to hunt them down and kill them.

As regular Killzoners know, I don’t outline, so even I was surprised by the lengths to which our characters would go to stay alive. I don’t want to give to much away, but let’s just say that in the end, everyone acts in his or her best interests.

As a writer who’s carved a niche for myself by writing stories with moral clarity where good triumphs over evil, it was kind of refreshing to clean the creative pipes with a story where there really are no good guys–just . . . survivors.

Here’s my take on short stories: They’re not really part of an author’s permanent record, in the sense that I think they don’t necessarily reflect their true storytelling sensibilities. In a short story, I can feel free to kill a cat or cavort with vampires. I could even write a romance–even though I don’t think I’m actually capable of doing that.

This is why I cringe when I hear writerly advice given to newbies that they should cut their teeth writing short stories before they take on the burden of a novel. To me, that’s like telling a budding cook that they need to perfect the art of scrambling eggs before they bake Thanksgiving turkey. One has nothing to do with the other–or where the skill cross, the intersection is so tangential as to be meaningless.

It’s equally important to note that novel-writing skills can get you in trouble when crafting a short story. I was fortunate that submission rules asked for an approximate submission length of 8,000 words for Bat Out of Hell. If I’d had to turn in flash fiction, or anything under, say, 3,000 words, I would have considered myself unqualified from the start.

John Gilstrap—August 20, 2025

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There you have it, three more insights on writing short stories and why short fiction matters.

Here are links to the two previous Words of Wisdom on Short stories: https://killzoneblog.com/2024/01/words-of-wisdom-short-stories.html and https://killzoneblog.com/2025/05/more-short-story-words-of-wisdom.html

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Do short stories matter to you, and if so, how?

If you write short fiction, have you ever started from an event you witnessed or experienced personally?

Do you agree with John Gilstrap short stories don’t count on your “permanent record?”

Your Antagonist’s Response to Fear

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When we think of fear as a response, we often think of the protagonist. Well-rounded villain’s also feel fear. Rarely discussed but equally important. Please help me welcome back our friend, Becca Puglisi, to discuss just that. And look — a new book in the Emotional Thesaurus series! This series rocks. IMO, it belongs on every writer’s bookshelf. Welcome, Becca!

When we talk about debilitating fears in storytelling, the focus is mostly on how it impacts the protagonist. We build stories around their fear—the way it binds and constricts them, how they gradually become aware of it, and their journey to eventually facing and defeating it. This process is essentially a change arc, and it applies to most protagonists.

But we don’t often talk about fear’s impact on antagonists. And we should, because fear is also limiting, motivating, and transformative for these characters.

What’s interesting, though, is the antagonist’s relationship with and response to fear isn’t like a protagonist’s at all. Villains and other adversaries will claim they’re impervious to fear, but this just isn’t true. Everyone feels fear, and characters who deny it are wearing a mask that shows them as strong, powerful, and in control. It’s often their refusal to remove that mask that ultimately leads to their undoing.

So let’s look at how protagonists and antagonists differ in their treatment of this universal emotion.

The Protagonist’s Fear Arc

These characters are often aware of their greatest fear because it’s kept close via emotional shielding, like a thick cloak they pull around themselves. The material is heavy and restrictive but functions as a constant reminder that threats are always near and something to be wary of.

At some point in the story, though, the protagonist’s shoulders begin to ache. They feel encumbered and overheated. They’re limited by the cloak’s weight, forced to give up opportunities too difficult or risky to tackle in their state.

One day it hits them that they’re unhappy, and if they didn’t have this burden, they might feel lighter and find it easier to get around. It’s not easy, but they make the choice to let the cloak fall, even though it exposes them. They understand that while life contains danger and emotional risk, letting go of fear leads to freedom, self-empowerment, and joy.

The fear pattern for protagonists: Fear starts as protection, but the character soon learns it’s also limiting. Deep unhappiness from unmet needs forces awareness. The character chooses to be vulnerable and cast aside fear so growth can occur.

The Antagonist’s Fear Arc

For antagonists, much is the same. The weight of their fear is just as heavy, and they wear the cloak for the same reason their counterparts do. But when their unhappiness surfaces, they become resentful and angry that what they want is out of reach. Rather than remove their cloak, they cinch it tighter and continue to manipulate situations, control people, and steal power to achieve their goals. Their inability to let go of their fear and accept emotional risk as a part of life ultimately destroys them.

The fear pattern for antagonists: Fear begins as protection, but it also limits. Unhappiness and unmet needs spark resentment. The character clings to fear for a sense of control, but it makes them weaker and imprisons them, resulting in failure.

This is how fear causes an antagonist to perceive events and people differently than a protagonist, leading to vastly disparate actions and choices. We see this at work when we compare the hero and villain from Stephen King’s Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (spoilers ahead).

In 1947, banker Andy Dufresne is framed for his wife’s murder and lands in Shawshank State Prison. Everyone and everything there is controlled by Samuel Norton, a corrupt religious fanatic who believes harsh discipline is the way to inmate salvation. The irony is that the warden uses his position to commit a host of crimes. He takes a shine to Andy for his banking and accounting knowledge and uses him to embezzle money and commit tax fraud. As warden, he’s the king, and his greatest fear is losing his power and control.

Andy is determined to prove his innocence, but he’s repeatedly victimized in the brutal prison system. He earns protection when the warden realizes what Andy can do for him, but this means trading one form of pain for another, since Andy’s fate now depends on protecting the warden and hiding his criminal activities. Along the way, Andy’s greatest fear develops: becoming institutionalized and losing all sense of himself and the will to fight for his innocence.

Andy and the warden handle their fear in different ways. Andy pushes against fear by holding onto hope that he will eventually be free. He finds small joys to sustain him—reading, carving, building a library for the inmates, encouraging higher education, and planning his escape. The warden feeds his own fear by using intimidation and violence to run the prison and force Andy to help hide his crimes. From his position of authority, he consolidates power and deploys cruelty, even murder, to neutralize threats.

Andy is innocent, and the warden knows it. But once he declares that he’ll never let Andy go, Andy knows it’s time to “get busy living or get busy dying.” If he doesn’t escape, he’ll never leave Shawshank, and his hope will die with him.

Andy uses the tunnel he’s been digging for over a decade to get away, but not before stealing the warden’s ledger. Once free, he sends evidence of the warden’s activities to the authorities, who come for him at Shawshank. Rather than face accountability for his crimes, the warden ends his life.

These two characters are bookends, one using the fear of hopelessness to push him to risk everything and gain freedom, and the other using a fear of exposure to push him to do anything to hoard power and control. Fear impacts both characters the same way, but they respond to it differently.

Common Antagonistic Responses to Fear

Just like every protagonist is unique, the same is true of villains, which means they each will react to fear in their own way. Here are some ways an antagonist driven by a deep fear may respond.

· Never becoming aware of it

· Actively refusing to acknowledge it

· Accepting it as something beneficial that should be nurtured

· Using unacceptable or unethical methods to keep their biggest fear from being realized

· Redefining their moral code as needed to keep their worst fear from happening

· Weaponizing other people’s fears against them

A hero is only as strong as the antagonist standing in their way. To make that adversary truly formidable, ask yourself: What’s motivating them? Why do they do the things they do? How will they respond to fear in general but also when confronted with a deeply personal fear? The answers to questions like these will help you build an antagonist who is powerful and authentic, requiring the hero to be strong enough to face and overcome them.

For more information about the universal nature of fear and its individual impact on characters, check out The Fear Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to What Holds Characters Back.

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and best-selling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and other resources for writers. Her books have sold over 1.4 million copies and are available in multiple languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online resource for authors that’s home to the Character Builder and Storyteller’s Roadmap tools.

Descriptive Words of Wisdom

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If plot is the muscle of your fiction and structure is the bones, description is the skin. Today’s Words of Wisdom takes a look at the “skin” of your story, presenting two superb, longer excerpts from the TKZ archives dealing with description. The first, by James Scott Bell, gives advice on how to help the reader feel your description. The second, by Terry Odell, looks at how to handle character descriptions in both first person and deep third POVs.

You describe a scene not so the reader can see it, but so the reader can feel it. And the way they feel it is by knowing how the point-of -view character feels about it.

That’s why I’ve developed a seven-step checklist for myself for writing a setting description. It takes a little extra time, but I’ve determined that the stylistic ROI (return on investment) is worth it. Here we go:

  1. How do you want your character to feel about the setting?

This is the crucial first step, and it’s a strategic one. You know where you are in your story and what the character’s attitudes and emotional landscape are. You know what’s going to happen in the scene (note to pantsers: you’ve at least got some idea). Now you’re going to set the scene through the character’s perceptions about it. Your decision can be as simple as: I want my character to feel intimidated. 

Note that you don’t have to name the emotion when you write the scene. In fact, it’s better not to. Let the setting itself create the feeling.

  1. Using the sense of sight, describe the things the character notices.

The items that come into your mind will now be filtered through the POV character. If you want to locate a picture via the Internet, go ahead. But as you look at it, pretend you are the character and try to feel what she feels. Make a list of the items your character doesn’t just see, but notices. This is a crucial distinction. We focus on different things depending on our mood. If you’re unhappy and you walk into a sunny hotel foyer, you might ignore the fancy art and notice instead a droopy plant.

Do a little voice journaling. Have the character talk to you in her own voice, expressing her feelings about what she notices.

  1. Use the other senses to add to the feeling.

Imagine what the character might hear, smell, touch, or even in some cases taste. Make a list.

  1. Look at the items from Steps 2 & 3 and highlight the ones that work best.

That didn’t take long, did it? Five to ten minutes. But if you’re having fun, do more!

  1. Bonus Supercharger: What is the character’s personal interpretation of the place?

Here is a powerful technique used by some of our best writers: when the character offers his own interpretation of the setting, it not only creates a sense of place, but also deepens the character for the reader. Double score!

Here are a couple of examples. This is from Robert B. Parker’s first Spenser novel, The Godwulf Manuscript:

The Homicide Division was third floor rear, with a view of the Fryalator vent from the coffee shop in the alley and the soft perfume of griddle and grease mixing with the indigenous smell of cigar smoke and sweat and something else, maybe generations of scared people. 

Parker uses sight and smell, but also adds generations of scared people. That’s from inside Spenser. That’s his own impression of the place. It tells me as much about Spenser as it does the setting.

Here’s a longer impressionistic description from John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee mystery, The Quick Red Fox. These are McGee’s feelings about San Francisco. (I apologize to all my friends in the City by the Bay!)

And so we drove back to the heart of the city. San Francisco is the most depressing city in America. The comelatelys might not think so. They may be enchanted by the steep streets up Nob and Russian and Telegraph, by the sea mystery of the Bridge over to redwood country on a foggy night, by the urban compartmentalization of Chinese, Spanish, Greek, Japanese, by the smartness of the women and the city’s iron clutch on culture. It might look just fine to the new ones.

But there are too many of us who used to love her. She was like a wild classy kook of a gal, one of those rain-walkers, laughing gray eyes, tousle of dark hair –– sea misty, a little and lively lady, who could laugh at you or with you, and at herself when needs be. A sayer of strange and lovely things. A girl to be in love with, with love like a heady magic.

But she had lost it, boy. She used to give it away, and now she sells it to the tourists. She imitates herself … The things she says now are mechanical and memorized. She overcharges for cynical services.

I think it’s fair to say we know how McGee feels about San Francisco! One of the things that made this series so popular was passages like the above, where McGee riffs on such matters as setting, social mores and current events.

  1. Write the description using active verbs and concrete images.

At this point, let me advise you to overwrite the description. Don’t try to get this perfect the first time through. Feel it first.

  1. Let the scene rest, then edit.

I don’t do heavy edits as I’m writing a first draft. But I do go over my previous day’s work for style and obvious fixes. So come back to your scene the next day, or at least after a time away from it, and keep the following in mind as you edit

James Scott Bell—August 7, 2016

Today’s focus is on dealing with character descriptions in First Person or Deep/Close/Intimate Third (which are almost the same thing.)

I am a deep point of view person. I prefer everything to come from inside the character’s head, However, I will read—and enjoy—books written with a shallower point of view. It all comes down to the way the author handles things.

What are authors trying to convey to their readers with physical character descriptions? The obvious: hair color, length, style to some extent. Eye color. Height, weight, skin color. Moving forward, odds are the character is dressed, so there’s clothing to describe. This is all easier in a distant third POV. Using that POV, you can stop the story for a brief paragraph or two of description, a technique used by John Sandford. In a workshop, he said he didn’t like going into a lot of detail, and listed the basics that he conveys in each book, usually in a single paragraph. Here’s how he describes Lucas Davenport in Chapter 2 of Eyes of Prey, one of his early Davenport books:

Lucas wore a leather bomber jacket over a cashmere sweater, and  khaki slacks and cowboy boots. His dark hair was uncombed and fell forward over a square, hard face, pale with the departing winter. The pallor almost hid the white scar that slashed across his eyebrow and cheek; it became visible only when he clenched his jaw. When he did, it puckered, a groove, whiter on white.

But what if you want to write in deep point of view? Staying inside the character’s head for descriptions is a challenge. Is the following realistic?

Sally rushed down the avenue, her green-and-yellow silk skirt swirling in the breeze, floral chiffon scarf trailing behind her. She adjusted her Oakley sunglasses over her emerald-green eyes. When she reached the door of the office building, she finger combed her short-cropped auburn hair. Her full, red lips curved upward in a smile. 

You’ve covered most of the “I want my readers to see Sally” bases, but be honest. Do you really think of yourself in those terms?

There are other ways to convey that information. First, trust that your reader will be willing to wait for descriptions. Make sure there’s a reason for the character to think about her clothes, or her hair. Maybe she just had a total makeover and isn’t used to the feel of short hair, or the new color, or the makeup job. Catching a glimpse of herself as she passes a mirror and doing a double-take is one of the few times the “Mirror” description could work for me.

Even better, use another character. Some examples of how I’ve handled it:

Here,  an ex-boyfriend has walked into Sarah’s shop and says to her:

“You look like you haven’t slept in a month. And your hair. Why did you cut it?”

“Well, thanks for making my morning.” Sarah fluffed her cropped do-it-yourself haircut. “It’s easier this way.”

Note: there’s no mention of the color. Someone else can bring it up later. Neither of these characters would be thinking of it in the context of the situation.

Later, Sarah is opening the door to Detective Detweiler. We’re still in her POV, but now we can see more about her as well as a description of the detective, and since it’s from her POV, there’s none of that ‘self-assessment’ going on.

She unlocked the door to a tall, lanky man dressed in black denim pants and a gray sweater, gripping several bulky plastic bags. At five-four, Sarah didn’t consider herself exceptionally short, but she had to tilt her head to meet his eyes.

Sometimes, there are compromises. My editor knows I don’t like stopping the story, especially at the beginning to describe characters, but she knows readers might want at least a hint.

This was the original opening paragraph I sent to my editor:

Cecily Cooper’s heart pounded as she stood in the judge’s chambers, awaiting the appearance of Grady Fenton, the first subject in her pilot program, Helping Through Horses. She’d spent months working out the details, hustling endorsements, groveling for grant monies, and had done everything in her power to convince her brother, Derek, to give Grady a job at Derek’s Triple-D Ranch.

This was my editor’s comment to that opening: Can you add a personal physical tag for Cecily somewhere on the first page—hair, what she’s wearing? There’s a lot of detail that comes later, but there should be something here to help the reader connect with her right away.

So, I figured there’s a good reason I’m paying her, and added a bit more.

Shuffling footfalls announced Grady’s arrival. Cecily ran her damp palms along her denim skirt, wishing she could have worn jeans so she’d have pockets to hide the way her hands trembled.

My reasoning: I mentioned the skirt was denim, because the fabric helps set the “cowboy” theme for the book, but there’s no more detail than that. Not how many buttons, or whether it’s got lace trim at the hem. Now, let’s say she was wearing Sally’s “girly” skirt. For Cecily, that would be far enough out of character  for her to think about it, BUT, I’d make sure to show the reader her thoughts. Perhaps,

“She hated wearing this stupid yellow-and-green silk skirt—jeans were her thing—but Sabrina told her that skirt would impress the judge.”

See the difference between that and Sally’s self description earlier?

Terry Odell—May 12, 2021

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How do you help the reader feel your scene descriptions? If you write in first person or deep third, any additional advice on character description?

What Are You Reading in 2026?

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“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” ― Stephen King

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Most writers are avid readers. An article on medium.com sums it up this way:

In a nutshell, reading and writing are inseparable. The better writers tend to be exceptional readers, and better readers can produce exceptional writing. A writer who doesn’t read is like a musician who doesn’t listen to music or a filmmaker who doesn’t watch films. It is demoralizingly hard to do good work without experiencing the good work that has been done before.

A well-read writer has better verbal skills, discerns the nuances of language, and distinguishes between poor and quality writing, so read more, read widely, and learn from other people who do what you are aiming at with the facility and the skill level you would love to cultivate.

 

I’ve been reading an eclectic variety of books in 2026. Here are some of them:

On Desperate Ground by Hampton Sides

The story of the battles around Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War. I’m writing a novel with Korean War veterans and I wanted to get details of the actual battles.

 

 

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty

A book club pick. It’s an interesting novel that explores aspects of the fear of death, the art of fortune telling, and the power of suggestion. Most authors will appreciate the first chapter which almost guarantees readers will turn the page.

 

 

Over the Edge of the World by Laurence Bergreen

A fascinating look at the expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan that resulted in the first circumnavigation of the Earth. It’s one of the books that fuels my fascination with the early explorers.

 

 

Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey

Time to saddle up and read about the cowboys. Although I skimmed the long, descriptive sections, I liked the story and found myself eager to get back to it each evening.

 

 

Balancing Life’s Roles by Jarrell Gibbs

This common sense guide to handling all the different roles we play in life was written by a friend of ours. Very useful advice especially for young people.

 

 

Satan’s Subway by Steve Hooley

Our very own Steve Hooley authored this middle grade fantasy. Once again, Steve tackles a serious issue through the eyes of a the Mad River Magic gang.

 

 

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

This was also a book club pick. I read just a few chapters before it had to be returned to the library. The book is wildly popular, and I’d be interested to know if any of you have read it and what you think about it.

 

 

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Just started this one. I imagine it would be interesting to many authors.

 

 

Now I’m looking for a good mystery. Any recommendations?

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So TKZers: What books are you reading in 2026?

* * *

 

A missing person. A trail of secrets. Private pilot Cassie Deakin reluctantly follows a mystery that refuses to stay buried—uncovering truths that shine brighter, and more dangerously, with every step.

Click the image to go to the Amazon book detail page.

Research Words of Wisdom

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Today’s Words of Wisdom is a follow-up to my post from two weeks ago, this time focusing on advice on doing research for your writing. We have excerpts from posts by Kathleen Pickering, Linda Castillo and James Scott Bell. As always, the full posts are worth reading in full and each is date-linked at the bottom of its excerpt.

Personally, I prefer on-site research for my stories, and so far have been able to use that tool successfully. However, I do rely on the Internet for facts. Ironic as it sounds, I searched the Internet to find guidelines for researching reliable sources on-line. I found the most reliable tips from websites for university libraries. Since the first tip was to check the authority of a source, I thought colleges would offer the most unbiased tools for determining reliable information.

I found when choosing an article, blog, website, government document, historical journal or any resource posted online five key areas should be considered:

  1. The Authority of the author/publisher of information.

You should be able to identify the author of the work/site, his/her credentials, relevant affiliations, and past writings. The article itself should offer information, or sources like Who’s Who, the  author’s home page, or Google search the publishers/author’s name to see what other works support their credentials.

  1. The Objectivity of the author.

What is the motive for your source’s article, blog, website? Does your source admit to a particular bias? Offer historical, medical or industry facts and not opinions, or affiliation viewpoints? Can you compare the information to other independent sites/articles to verify facts?

  1. The Quality of the information:

Do the facts agree with your own knowledge of the subject? Can you insure information is complete and accurate by comparing with other specialists in the field? Does this author list other sources for his/her information, as well? And, believe it or not, check the site, article or blog for grammatical and spelling errors, typos. These usually indicate a non-professional delivery of information, making the facts suspect.

  1. Evaluate Date of information:

When was the information published?  Check the date on the web page for publication date and revision dates. Is the information current? Does it update old facts? Substantiate other materials you’ve read?

  1. Establish Relevance of the information:

Are these facts popular vs. scholarly? (Huffington Post vs. Wall Street Journal)Does the information use raw data, photographs, first-hand accounts, reviews or research reports? Has the information been analyzed and the resources cited? Are footnotes, endnotes or bibliographies listed?

Remember, Wikipedia is no the end-all of resources, since anyone can edit it. And, a rule of thumb is to ensure you tap at least five different sources to verify your facts before accepting your information as usable.

Kathleen Pickering—August 30, 2011

Nothing gets a writer’s creative juices flowing like research. Okay, that’s not exactly true for everyone, but the importance of solid research should never be underestimated.

There are three camps when it comes to that aspect of writing. First, there are the writers who love it. The obsessive-compulsive types who spend days or weeks or even months completely and happily immersed in whatever subject matter they’re about to embark upon.

Then there are writers like me, who walk a center line (not necessarily a straight line.) I research the central external theme of my book. For example, if the story involves a cold case and there’s a dead body in the mix, I’ll read everything I can get my hands on about decomp, forensics, and police procedure regarding old cases. For the smaller details, I research as I write.

And, finally, there are those writers who detest research. Writers who would rather . . . well . . . write than bury their noses in tomes of seemingly extraneous information for weeks on end. They want to get to the story already, and who can blame them if said story is burning—or a tight deadline beckons? Well, slow down, Mr. Type A, because in the end, solid research can save you hours of re-writing—and maybe even save the book.

One thing is certain: A writer can never know too much about his or her subject matter. That is an indisputable fact. Do your research and take the time to do it right. Thorough research will help you write the book. It can help you find that brilliant twist your story is begging for. It adds confidence to your voice. It adds power and credibility to your writing. In the long run, it can save you time. Knowledge and/or expertise cannot be faked, no matter how good a liar you are. If a writer tries to write about a subject he or she doesn’t know squat about, it will show. Readers will know.

A couple of quick caveats:

While it’s true that a writer can never do too much research, keep these two points in mind. Your research should never show. And you shouldn’t hide behind your research because you’re afraid to write the book. Writers, you know what I mean.

Linda Castillo—October 15, 2015

 

Some significant fakery occurs in the classic film, Casablanca. One of the screenwriters, Julius Epstein, once admitted:

There never were Letters of Transit. Germans never wore uniforms in Casablanca, that was part of the Vichy agreement. But we didn’t know what was going on in Casablanca. We didn’t even know where Casablanca was!

But Letters of Transit sounds real. Which is, of course, the key to fakery!

In the 1960s Lawrence Block wrote a paperback series about a world-roaming secret agent named Tanner. When he got the galleys for one of the books he saw an odd term in the text: tobbo shop. What? He checked his own manuscript and saw that he had written tobacco shop. The typesetter had made a mistake. But Block sat back and mused that tobbo shop had a realistic ring to it and besides, how many readers would have been to Bangkok? (I believe he even got some letters from readers who had been there, and did remember those “quaint tobbo shops.”)

Harlan Coben issues a warning about research:

“I think it’s actually a negative for writers sometimes when they’re writing contemporary novels to know too much. First of all, doing research is more fun than writing, so you start getting into the research and you forget to tell your story. And, second, which is on a very parallel track … sometimes you learn all kinds of cute factoids you think are so interesting that you include them in the book, but you weigh the story down. I try not to do that.”

One method I’ve used when writing hot (and not wanting to stop) and I get to a spot where I know I’ll need research, I’ll put in a placeholder (***) and keep writing. I’ll make my best guess about how the scene should go, then do any additions or corrections later.

On the other hand, when writing historical fiction, which demands detail precision, I have to do a lot of research up front. For my series about a young woman lawyer in turn-of-the-century Los Angeles, I spent many, many hours in the downtown L.A. library, poring over microfilm of the newspapers of the day. I have two huge binders full of this research, and I’m really proud of the results. But man, it’s hard work (am I right, Clare?)

But it’s worth it. When the first book came out almost twenty years ago it sold great and got uniformly positive reviews, several mentioning the historical accuracy. I did, however, get a physical letter (remember those?) from the curator of a telephone museum! He said he enjoyed the book, but there was one little detail about my lead, Kit Shannon, using a wall telephone, that I got wrong. The one guy in the United States who would have noticed this happened to read my book!

Naturally, it was not plausible to dump all the books in the warehouse to change that teeny, tiny thing. And who else was going to notice? But it rankled me, nonetheless.

When I got the rights back to the series, that was the only thing I wanted to change. All those years later I was still mad about it! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the letter from the museum guy. I decided to try to find him online. Instead I found another museum and emailed somebody there, explaining the detail. In return, I got a nice email back telling me there was a model of telephone that operated exactly like I had it. It would have been used only by very wealthy people.

Which is how it was in my book. Kit lives with her wealthy great aunt in the posh section of town known as Angeleno Heights.

***

Today, there are areas in your fiction that you’d better get right or you’ll hear about it, boy howdy. Perhaps the biggest of these is weapons. If you have your hero cocking the hammer of his Glock, expect a flood of abuse letting you know that a Glock has no hammer. (And if Gilstrap reads your book, duck, because he’ll be throwing it at you.) If you have your hero shoving another clip into his Beretta, you’ll have an irate horde telling you to shove … never mind, just note that a clip is not a magazine.

If you’re not accurate about a place, you’ll hear from people who live there. This is partly why I base most of my books in my hometown of Los Angeles. I grew up here. I know it. That it also happens to be the greatest crime-noir city is a bonus.

But sometimes I want to venture forth. In some instances, to save me from a cumbersome research trip, I simply make up a town and slap it down somewhere. If people want to take the time to look it up and find out it doesn’t exist, they’ll know I made it up and accept it. Ross Macdonald and Sue Grafton set their series in Santa Teresa, a stand-in for Santa Barbara that allowed them plenty of leeway to make up locations within. No one’s complaining.

James Scott Bell—May 10, 2020

***

  1. What’s your approach to researching a subject for your own writing? Do you do a deep dive beforehand, or leave that for after?
  2. How do you verify your research?
  3. Have you ever fallen down a research rabbit hole?
  4. Do you invent places such as letters of transit or the wonderfully accidentally “Tobo shop?” If so, any advice?

I’m at my annual Rainforest writer’s retreat this weekend, so my internet access will be spotty, but I’ll try and pop in when I can. In the meantime, please comment on your own approach to research.

What Writers Can Learn from Hugh Hefner

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Regardless of your views on Playboy magazine or its brand, Hugh Hefner was a trailblazer, an inspirational creator who wasn’t afraid of shattering societal norms. Writers can learn a lot from him.

Hefner didn’t only compete with existing magazines like Esquire or GQ — he created a new market by combining intellectual, serious journalism with adult entertainment. He created the magazine he wanted to read.

Lesson: Rather than follow trends, bring your vision to life. Write the book you want to read.

Despite being known for nude photographs, Playboy was a major platform for literary giants like Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, and Margaret Atwood.  

Lesson: Quality writing attracts a loyal, discerning audience. It also elevates the book, series, and your entire portfolio of publications.

Hefner was the audience for his own magazine. As a “child of popular culture,” he lived his brand (the robe, the mansion, the Playboy bunnies and playmates), making his persona integral to his success.

Lesson: When the writer is the brand, it builds deep audience connection and loyalty.

Hefner leveraged Playboy to fight censorship, obscenity laws, segregation, and many other injustices. During the times of segregation, Hefner invited Aretha Franklin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Ray Charles, Miles Davis, and Stevie Wonder to perform at his Playboy Club. One stipulation: Walk through the front door like everyone else. Most business owners made Black entertainers enter through the kitchen or back exit.

The mere mention of mixing races became such a controversy, the South threatened to ban Playboy from all newsstands if Hefner followed through with his plan. Nearly 80% of sales came from southern regions at that time, but the aforementioned entertainers were also Hefner’s close friends. Which put him in an impossible position.

Do you put profits above friendship? Most business owners did. As someone who opposed segregation and other injustices of the times, Hefner could not. So, he ignored the threat. Once he made the decision to stand up to “The Man,” he doubled down and invited all entertainers, regardless of skin color, to enjoy the club before and after their performances —  for the first time, Whites and Blacks socialized in public.

The South followed through with the ban, costing Hefner a hefty loss in revenue. Didn’t matter. He stood firm in his beliefs. Segregation was a barbaric act, and Hefner refused to fall in line.

This is just one example of a creator trusting in themselves enough to bet others felt the same.

Lesson: Stay true to your beliefs and values, even if they’re not the popular opinion. Please don’t misread that advice. I am not suggesting you should commit career suicide by screaming on social media about hot-button issues. Let readers learn who you are through the style, theme(s), voice, and tone of your books. No one needs or wants to be slammed over the head with your personal opinions.

Behind the partying playboy image, Hefner was a relentless workaholic who often slept at his office. Later, he moved his workspace into his bedroom, often working from his oversized circular, rotating bed.

Lesson: Success in competitive media requires dedication, a strong work ethic, and a never-say-die spirit.

Hefner often cited his restrictive, “Midwestern Puritan” upbringing as the catalyst for his liberating and revolutionary content. Though men enjoyed the visual stimulation, they also enjoyed the articles. Probably still do.

Lesson: Use your background and life experience — negative and positive — as fuel for your unique, compelling, emotion-infused writing.

Hugh Hefner scratched and crawled his way to the top.

He fought for free speech.

He fought for free choice.

He fought haters, religious groups, and feminists, who all vowed to take him down.

He fought the State of Illinois and the courts.

Hefner trusted his vision for a better, more inclusive and less sexually repressed tomorrow.

Through the years, he started multiple companies — all built around the Playboy brand.

Lesson: When people trust a brand, they’ll follow its creator anywhere if the new company or product delivers the same quality and standards. Readers fall in love with a writer’s voice and style. Stay true to your brand and you can write whatever you want, without the need for an alias. Step outside your brand, and you may encounter difficulties.

For example, a cozy mystery writer probably shouldn’t venture into smut and expect their audience to stick around. Some may stay. Most will not. Why? Because the writer veered too far off-brand.

Could a thriller author write narrative nonfiction or memoir? Absolutely. Could they sell a children’s series to their existing audience? Sure, if it aligns with their brand.

Allow me to use myself as the example. My environmental thrillers focus on wildlife conservation (Oh, how I love to kill poachers! 😉 ). The children’s book series I’m working on has the same focus, only geared toward young conservationists of the future — the children or grandchildren of my existing audience.

I’ve also written psychological thrillers/serial killer thrillers, mystery, and true crime. By the time I ventured into environmental thrillers (aka eco-thrillers), the new genre didn’t surprise my readers. No matter how grisly some of storylines are, my love of animals shines through my work. All the pets are fully fleshed characters that readers adore. The genre switch (in the middle of the series, no less) still delivers the type of books readers expect from me.

Staying true to audience expectations is also how Hefner expanded his brand worldwide.

Write the book you want to read.

Write the book that’ll resonate with your target audience.

Be genuine.

Dig deep into your well of emotional truth and touch lives.

Build, and keep building, a brand you’re proud of.

Be the Hugh Hefner of your generation.

Creative Quirk or Signature?

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When I first strolled through my new house with the realtor, I noticed a lot of unfinished work. For example, the previous owner painted the barn to match the house but left the tip of the peak untouched. Support posts on the covered porch were all painted, except the top of one. It baffled me. Why wouldn’t she paint those spots? Higher areas, she’d painted.

I could tell she’s creative. Painted butterflies, hummingbirds, and flowers dotted the landscape.

Did I buy the house from an emerging artist?

The support beam in the new addition (living room) has pallet wood wrapped around two sides, with the third side only painted. Gorgeous wood frames the back mudroom ceiling except for one tiny missing piece. The underside of an outside railing has new paint, one bare space, then continues to the barn loft. Four solar motion detectors line the back fence, with one blacked out with tape.

After I moved in, the closer I examined small details, the more my curiosity piqued. What’s going on here? The previous owner clearly has a fondness for 3s (as do I). Or maybe, she knows the importance of the number 3.

The number 3 often appears in nature and fundamental structures:

  • Atoms: protons, neutrons, electrons
  • Dimensions: length, width, height
  • Cycles: birth, life, death
  • Time: past, present, future
  • Essential survival needs: air, water, food
  • Geometric strength: The triangle is the simplest and most stable shape — it’s represented in everything from molecular structure to human-made architecture
  • Monocots: many flowering plants (monocots) have flower parts in multiples of three
  • Tree structure: roots, trunk, canopy
  • Primary colors of light: red, blue, yellow
  • States of matter: solid, liquid, gas
  • Layers of skin: epidermis, dermis, hypodermis
  • Types of muscle: skeletal, cardiac, smooth
  • Germ layers during development: ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm
  • Circulations: Systemic, Pulmonary, Portal
  • Trinity: Earth, sun, moon… body, mind, spirit
  • Genetic code: DNA instructions are read in triplets (codons) to build proteins
  • Sensory Perception: Human color vision is trichromatic, based on three types of cones in the eyes sensitive to red, green, and blue light
  • Survival “Rule of 3”: Humans can typically survive 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter in harsh environments, and 3 days without water
  • Geographic regions: land, sea, air
  • Insects: adult insects are characterized by a 3-part body: head, thorax, abdomen.
  • Dietary groups: herbivores, carnivores, omnivores

The number 3 represents universal patterns of stability and completeness.

Did the emerging artist find comfort in the power of 3? The mystery haunted me as I surveyed my new property.

Then one morning, I was admiring the sunrise from the back mudroom, when I noticed she’d painted only three sides of a window frame. The floor she tiled, except for one square in the corner by the water heater.

A ha! It’s an intentional act. Her creative signature, if you will.

Kind of a pain for the new buyer (me) to touch up all these spots but I also respect her creativeness — she left her signature on every improvement she made. And helped create the quirkiness I love about the property.

To her credit, she also left the supplies to finish every project. Maybe I’ll leave one or two minuscule signatures in a corner that’s not visible to others, as an homage to her creative spirit. Not the living room beam — that blank side drives me crazy. What she probably never considered was that buyers deduct money from their offer for unfinished projects. It’s automatic. The more a buyer must do, the less they want to spend.

The same could be said for readers.

If a reader runs into too many writing tics, they’ll either:

  • Never read that author again
  • Deduct stars for the annoyance
  • Give the author one last chance; they better deliver in the next book

Writing tics could be seen as a creative signature of sorts, I suppose, but not in a good way. Readers don’t want to be yanked from the story. They want immersion. They want you to sweep them away, to transport them into the scene and hold them captive. Writing tics do the opposite.

Even in my new home, some might look at the unfinished spots in a negative way. Not me. Though I’ll complete most of the projects for continuity, I love the quirkiness of the understated ones. With the mystery of why she did it solved, I appreciate her creative spirit.

The same cannot be said for writing tics. If you made no other writing resolutions this year, add this: Tighten your prose, TKZers!

NATIONAL CLEAN OFF YOUR DESK DAY

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“Cleanliness is indeed next to godliness.” —John Wesley

* * *

Yes, that’s right. Today is National Clean Off Your Desk Day. Oh, great. I just finished putting away the holiday decorations and was working on tax info to turn over to our accountant, and now they tell me I have to clean off my desk. I don’t have time for this.

But I’m a good team player, and my desk definitely needs some reorganization, so I went to the National Clean Off Your Desk Day site to get some inspiration and advice on exactly how to proceed. Here’s what they say:

This day is an opportunity to begin your new year with a clean and organized workspace. Whether your desk is in a private or shared office, cubicle, home or a make-shift desk on the counter, having your workspace uncluttered and organized will help you work more efficiently. A clean workspace improves productivity and inspires us, too. It often gives us a sense of serenity. (My emphasis)

They go on to outline a step-by-step process:

  • Remove everything from your desk. Yes, everything.
  • Clean the surface. As you replace items, clean them with the appropriate cleaning supply. Usually, a damp cloth is sufficient, but other electrical items need specific care.
  • Get out the shredder and the garbage can. Shred, file, scan documents, business cards, recipes, photos as needed.
  • Place all documents and photos in the appropriate locations.
  • Shred and toss outdated documents, non-working pens, junk mail.

That’s good advice, and I was just getting ready to start on Step One when something occurred to me. Maybe there’s another way to look at this.

* * *

“Cleanliness is the scourge of art.” —Craig Brown

I don’t know if Craig Brown is correct, but since I place myself on the messier side of humanity, I want to believe it. Is it possible that creative people are messier than others?

I found evidence in an article on sciencedaily.com entitled “Tidy desk or messy desk? Each has its benefits.”

Working at a clean and prim desk may promote healthy eating, generosity, and conventionality, according to new research. But, the research also shows that a messy desk may confer its own benefits, promoting creative thinking and stimulating new ideas.

Well, that’s a relief. Maybe I can ignore the chaos for a while longer.

In an experiment overseen by psychological researcher Dr. Kathleen Vohs, 48 participants were asked to come up with novel uses for a ping pong ball. Half the participants worked in a messy room and half in a neat room. The result?

Overall, participants in the messy room generated the same number of ideas for new uses as their clean-room counterparts. But their ideas were rated as more interesting and creative when evaluated by impartial judges.

“Being in a messy room led to something that firms, industries, and societies want more of: Creativity,” says Vohs.

And we all know creativity is the lifeblood of good fiction.

So my desk isn’t messy. It’s simply a manifestation of my creativity. I like that.

Now where did I put that stapler?

* * *

So TKZers: What does your desk look like? Does a messy desk inhibit your work? Or does it inspire you?

* * *

 

My ten-year-old protagonist and aspiring novelist, Reen, understands the signs of creativity. When her 9-year-old cousin points out a smudge on Reen’s shirt, she replies, “No problem. Authors are supposed to be sloppy. That’s because we’re creatives.”

I like the way she thinks.

Click the image to go to the universal book link.

What a Difference a Day Makes

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Mindset, clarity, control, and/or opportunities can all change in a single day. Think of how many plot twists could occur in a 24-hour period. Characters run full force into danger, narrowly escape, and end the evening in a hot tub with a cocktail. Or they don’t escape. Imagine how grueling every second of captivity must feel?

Entire novels that take place in a single day include:

  • Saturday by Ian McEwan follows a neurosurgeon through his Saturday, dealing with personal and national anxieties.
  • The Hours by Michael Cunningham interweaves three women’s lives across different eras, all connected by Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, with events occurring in one day. Albeit in different years.
  • The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian is about a flight attendant who wakes with a dead man in a Dubai hotel. The MC must piece together the previous night before her next flight.
  • Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney: A couple’s anniversary trip to a remote Scottish castle turns sinister as secrets unravel in a single, stormy weekend (more than one day but still a condensed timeframe).
  • Supremely Tiny Acts by Sonya Huber explores the small moments of a single day in a woman’s life.
  • The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker focuses on a man’s lunch hour and his detailed observations of office life.
  • The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon is a romance novel that follows two teens who meet and fall in love in a single day in New York City.

The above list demonstrates this technique isn’t limited to thrillers. A condensed timeframe could work with almost any genre.

Movie Examples:

  • Collateral shows how a cab driver’s night turns deadly as he’s forced to drive a hitman around LA for one wild night of murder and mayhem.
  • Ambulance focuses on two robbers who hijack an ambulance, and leads to a city-wide chase.
  • Unstoppable is about a runaway train that threatens a city, with a veteran engineer and young conductor racing to stop it in hours.
  • The Taking of Pelham 123 shows how a subway dispatcher must outwit hijackers holding passengers hostage in a lone NYC subway car.

All these stories use the compressed timeframe to heighten tension and force characters to make immediate decisions, which often leads to more conflict and higher stakes. Compressed timeframe novels are almost impossible to put down. The movies? Forget about it. They demand your full attention — keep the pause button handy for bathroom breaks. You won’t want to miss a second!

Crafting a novel set within a 24-hour period requires tight plotting, a strong central conflict, and a heightened sense of urgency.

Tips to Write Compressed Timeline Novels

Use a chronological structure that follows the progression of the day, from sunrise to sunset or from the inciting incident through the next 24-hours. If you begin each chapter with a heading to mark the hour, it’ll emphasize the ticking clock and add even more intensity.

Anchor the story around a major time-sensitive event, like a party, heist, or sudden disaster. The main character’s journey through this event provides a natural narrative arc. A strong inciting incident is a must. Whatever event kicks off the quest should happen early and be urgent enough to force the MC to act. For example, in Ian McEwan’s Saturday, the MC witnesses an accident that disrupts his peaceful day.

Use backstory strategically through dialogue, internal thoughts, or quick flashbacks. All must relate to the main storyline and reveal important tidbits and/or character traits. Since time is limited, be intentional with your dialogue. Conversations between characters can reveal relevant backstory and propel the plot forward.

Avoid unnecessary subplots. With such a tight window of time, every scene, conversation, and action should serve the storyline. You could weave in a subplot between dueling protagonists, like unreciprocated romantic feelings or a divorced couple forced to work together. Both would cause even more conflict and obstacles.

Word of caution: Don’t let the subplot destroy the pacing of the novel or detract from the main storyline. Let’s use my two quick suggestions as examples. The awkward moments of unreciprocated love could be used as comedy relief to give the reader a break from the tension. A divorced couple could also add hilarity if one spouse nitpicks the other at the worst possible time.

A countdown structure, where the plot builds toward the climax, heightens stakes, builds tension and conflict. Keep raising those stakes — challenge your characters! They cannot escape their fate by waiting for tomorrow, thus the pressure escalates throughout the day.

Use the setting to your advantage. Saturate the narrative with sensory details to create a strong sense of place, mood, and atmosphere. Take advantage of the time of day, traffic, weather, and location to reflect the characters’ changing moods and emotions.

Limit your cast. With less time to develop characters, a smaller cast allows for more intimate and detailed dynamics.

There isn’t much time for massive external changes, so trigger character flaws early and focus on internal changes to create a strong character arc. Show how the day’s events force them to change strategy, perspective, or arrive at a new understanding.

Also, the compressed timeline allows the perfect place to demonstrate the three dimensions of character through action and reaction under pressure. Give readers direct access to their inner lives with a deep POV. An omniscient narrator won’t be as effective.

Hope you all had a joyous holiday season, TKZers!

Have you written a story with a limited timeframe? What’s your favorite “crunch time” movie or novel? Why did the tight timeline work for you?

MG is for Middle Grade

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“Access to books and the encouragement of the habit of reading: these two things are the first and most necessary steps in education and librarians, teachers and parents all over the country know it. It is our children’s right and it is also our best hope and their best hope for the future.” –Michael Morpurgo

* * *

I’ve spent the better part of my writing time in 2025 writing and publishing Middle Grade novels, and Sue Coletta’s recent TKZ post on Writing for Children inspired me to share some of the things I’ve learned.

I asked my good friend and TKZ contributor emeritus Dr. Steve Hooley to help me. I had interviewed Steve on my blog earlier this year about his Middle Grade Fantasy series, The Mad River Magic Series. Steve’s thoughts about writing for the 8-12 year old level were so insightful, I asked his permission to quote from that interview and from later email exchanges. So here are some thoughts about Middle Grade books from both of us.

WHAT CONSTITUTES MIDDLE GRADE?

Steve:

Most authors define “middle grade fiction” as being written for ages 8 – 12 (third grade through sixth grade), and containing no sexual content or realistic violence. I think that another way to look at it is the intelligence and information processing skills of the reader. “Children” of this age are reaching the age where they can understand adult logic and reasoning. And they are not yet filled with the adolescent hormone-driven physical and sexual attraction that is found in young adult material, and that clouds their thinking.

They differ from books for younger readers in that they are more like adult books, longer, with plot and structure. And they differ from books for YA and adult in that they usually contain no profanity, sex, or overt violence.

Kay:

I like what Steve had to say about adult logic and reasoning. In my books, the two main characters solve mysteries by looking at things from multiple points of view. I believe this introduction to analytical logic and critical thinking skills will serve young readers well. (And I know Garry Rodgers will like that.)

 

WHY WRITE MIDDLE GRADE?

Steve:

In my opinion, the age group of readers of middle grade books is in the innocent age of transition to adulthood. This permits the reader to learn principles from the book that will prepare them for their adult life. And it gives the author a unique opportunity to present material which the reader can evaluate and consider regarding choices for their adult life.

Kay:

I had included two young girls, 10-year-old Reen and her 9-year-old cousin Joanie, in my third mystery novel, Time After Tyme. The girls were very popular with readers, and several people encouraged me to give them their own series. Although I hesitated for months while I worked on another novel, the idea of writing books that would contribute to a child’s intellectual growth appealed to me.  I decided to try to create an entertaining story that would have traces of problem-solving, teamwork, fair play, and persistence without preaching.

 

HOW MANY WORDS?

Steve commented on my blog that most of his Mad River Magic books are around 80K words, so I would put those books in the Older MG category.

Each of my books is around 30K words, so I think younger readers can handle the straightforward plotting and limited number of characters.

 

WHAT GENRES ARE ACCEPTABLE?

As we mentioned above, Steve’s books are in the Fantasy genre; mine are mysteries, but according to a recent post on Jenny Bowman’s site, MG books can cover a wide range of genres. She mentions mystery, fantasy, adventure, historical fiction, and even the re-telling of classic stories like Les Miserables.

In place of a romance genre, best friends and strong relationships are appropriate. And MG kids love to laugh, so humor is always welcome in Middle Grade fiction.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Steve included these thoughts in a recent email

  1. The name of genre (Middle Grade) makes no sense. It is not Middle “School” age.
  2. The wide discrepancy of reading skills in that age group. Some are reading adult books by the end of “middle grade”. Others (according to recent testing) are reading very poorly.
  3. Should there be two genres, a boys’ and a girls’ genre? Girls are always asking for romance by the 7th and 8th grade. While boys want adventure without all the icky girl stuff. (ex. Nancy Drew series vs. Hardy Boys)
  4. Marketing is difficult, unless you are trad published. Teachers want to recommend books that have won awards to their students.
  5. At that age, most readers are not buying their own books.
  6. At that age, readers can’t leave reviews on Amazon.
  7. Contact with students for beta reading must be handled with care. The best is to find a gifted and talented coordinator who will be the intermediary, because most teachers don’t have the time or the interest.

* * *

So TKZers: Have you written any Middle Grade Fiction? Have you read any MG novels? What are your thoughts about writing for children?

* * *

Whether they’re searching for hidden treasure in Bellevue or chasing tricky thieves through famous landmarks in Manhattan, Reen & Joanie are up to the job. Join the girls and make the world a better place.

Click the image to go to the Amazon series page.

* * *

A hero on crutches, flying barrel carts, Indian magic, and a glow-in-the-dark magic pond, Bolt and the Mad River Magic gang have it all, living in the enchanted forest with their grandparents and practicing light magic.

Click on the image to go to the Amazon series page.