12 Great Resources for Writing (and Selling!) Middle Grade Fiction

Today's post features a blogroll of fabulous resources for middle grade writers. I've included a few notes, but be sure to click on those you links you want to dig into a little deeper!

Basics of Middle Grade

Middle Grade Novel Structure - Identifying the middle grade target audience and more!

Developing a compelling Middle Grade Fiction Premise - Remember what it was like to be 12 :)

3 Key Components of Middle Grade Novels - Characters on a mission, facing challenges, and growing!

Middle Grade Character Development

21 Characteristics of a Perfect Middle Grade Protagonist - Evokes sympathy, has a strong motivation, is complex....the list goes on!

Writing Your Middle Grade Character

Tropes & Tips for Middle Grade Fiction Writers: Great resource for ideas and for avoiding cliches.

The MG Voice

Marketing Middle Grade Books

Author-Tested Middle Grade Marketing Tips

How to Market Your Kidlit Book to Actual Kids and Their Gatekeepers

How to Learn the Market for Middle Grade Fiction - Read relevant middle grade literature, engage in complexity, make room for diversity, and remember what kids are reading for.

Darn Good Writing Advice

Dramatic Arc Archives from Kidlit - This website is chock-full of information, useful for any writer, but specifically targeting middle grade authors.

30 Tips to Make Writing Easier

Happy Writing!

Writing Mentors

As 2020 comes to a close, I've been thinking a lot about the people in my life who have mentored me in my writing life.

2020 has been a rough year. 

To get myself through some of the darkest days, I have tried hard to count my blessings.

And in terms of my writing life, those blessings are about the people who've mentored me. 

Some of them know they have, others may suspect they have, and some have no idea, but they have all had a positive impact on my writing life, either through their support, how they inspire me, or by telling me the truth about how things could be better. 

It's important to reflect on those people who've helped us along the way, for it reminds us that we can mentor others in the same way.

So here's my list. I'd love to hear about yours!

My family

My mother and sister and cousins encouraged me to write, even when I forced them to read such amazing books as BlueTop Orphanag. Where is the e? Who knows? I was nine years old!

We need our families to support us on this journey, and the family I was born into, and my current family (a husband and two kids) surely do that for me!

Teachers/Librarians

I must have tortured my poor language arts teacher, Mrs. Garnett.

Every day I showed up with a new story, a new poem, a book I wanted to talk to her about.

And every day, she listened patiently, gave me constructive criticism, and told me to keep going.

I did.

Meanwhile, down the hallway, our school librarian, Mrs. Smythe, allowed me to bring way more books home with me than should have been allowed. The town librarian did the same. I was a voracious reader, and tried to write a version of almost every book I read.

The magic of encouragement by someone who isn't your family is invaluable to a budding writer, and Mrs. Garnett was so important to me that I made her a character (with her permission) in my first book, It's a Mystery, Pig Face!

Other Writers

Every book I read influences me in some way.

And the books I love best, inspire me to up my game.

I've been fortunate to get to know many writers over my writing journey and every single one of them has made a huge difference in my writing.

These authors may not know that they've mentored me, but their kindness, and great books, have taught me SO much about writing! This isn't an exhaustive list, but contains some special people who often go above and beyond.

Agents and Editors

How would I describe my agent? She is the VOICE OF REASON. She helps me cull ridiculous ideas and build on those that are worthwhile, all while being stunningly optimistic. Everyone should have such a wonderful being in their writing life!

On the other hand, editors are the voyageurs, the intrepid adventurers who guide you and your book through hostile territories, pushing you onwards until you reach the real essence of the story. Miracle workers, really, they are equal parts Drill Sergeant and Truth-Teller, the kick in the pants you don't want but are lucky to get.

My agent and my editors have taught me so much, and have lead me through the jungle on MANY occasions!

via GIPHY

Readers

Finally, some of my greatest writing mentors have been the children who read my books.

Their enthusiasm, and their truth-telling, makes me want to improve every day!

My happiest moment is when they come up with a suggestion or question that blows me away. 

They are the giver of ideas, and my inspiration!

Writing often feels like such a solitary pursuit, but when I think of my mentors, I am reminded that every book is lifted up by a whole team of supporters who inspire, guide, cajole, and ultimately celebrate my writing journey.

Oprah Winfrey once said: "A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.”

I wish you the best in 2021 and that you find the hope you need to keep going on YOUR writing journey!

Creative Work in Stressful Times (or, It's Not Just Me, Right?)

I’ve been thinking about managing creative work in stressful times, and about the struggle to find creative focus, creative energy, creative purpose. (Surely I’m not the only one struggling?) I get snatches of focus from time to time, and dare to delight in feeling hopeful once again – I don’t mean hopeful in a whole existential or spiritual way… I haven’t lost that, by the grace of God. I mean simply feeling hopeful that I’ll be able to write, to do meaningful creative work once again. But you know, that hope keeps getting dashed.

As I finished my 12-hour shift at the hospital yesterday, I was hopeful – tired, but hopeful – because I have several days off ahead of me, and my work-in-progress is finally calling loudly enough again that I’m hearing it over the noise. The creative spark is there! Or, it was there. But then, news last night of a mass shooting, perhaps Canada’s worst ever. Such events are rare in Canada, and I’m far from numb to such horrors. (Does one ever become numb to such horrors? I hope not.) It shook me. So this morning, once again I’m looking for light, looking for focus, looking for the mental energy to create and the ability to believe creating is a worthwhile endeavour. So yeah, that’s my Monday morning so far…

I’ve no advice to offer, because what do I know about anyone’s struggles, but I thought I’d share what’s helping me lately, as I try to find my way back to reading and writing in these strange days. And so, a list! It’s all very specific to my own experience, and YMMV, but I offer it in the hope someone might relate to it or glean a little something helpful from it.

What I’ve Learned in 2020 So Far: A Personal List  

1. Lowering my expectations doesn’t mean giving up; it means adapting.
2. Change means stress, and stress takes energy; it’s okay to sleep late, to nap, to give in to insomnia and watch Doctor Who until four in the morning. See number 1 above.
3. Books are written one word at a time, one sentence at a time, one paragraph at a time. Small steps forward are still steps in the right direction.
4. Audiobooks and verse novels are portals back to my beloved habit of reading when I’ve been otherwise unable to focus long enough to engage with story.*
5. Mental meandering is essential for me. There’s a difference between “filling the creative well” and clogging up my thoughts with constant input (social media and news apps refreshed at alarming rates, podcasts, audiobooks, music). I need to turn things off sometimes, and make space to wander in the quiet.

I do wonder how you’re all doing. Have you found something that works for you right now? Have you found the support you need? Are you struggling? Are you coping well and managing to support others? Are you able to focus on creative work? Are you reading, or are you longing for the time when you’ll be able to focus on reading again?

Sending love to you all. Stay well, my friends.

*I just finished listening to the audio of Joy McCullough’s MG novel, A Field Guide to Getting Lost (delightful—I loved it!), and I’m currently reading K.A. Holt’s Redwood and Ponytail (so good, and the structure is brilliant).

Writing by Notecards

As a primary caregiver to seven school-age children, I often find it difficult to carve out the time I need to write. Luckily, I've found something that works for me. (Of course, what works for me may not work for you.) I'll share it, in the hopes that some of you might find it helpful for your drafting process.

Where once I would write in a pantsing only format and then figure the story stuff out in revision, I've changed that quite a bit - but not completely. I think I wasted quite a bit of time in my early years by only pantsing. I mean, I love pantsing, but revision was arduous, and often frustrating. I'd regularly cut, rearrange, or rewrite thousands of works in order to make a somewhat cohesive story. (Still working on that.)

With all my stories though, I now begin with a vague idea of a character and location. Who are they? What do they want? Why? What's stopping them? What will they learn? How will they grow?

Once I have those questions somewhat figured out, I take a stack of blank notecards and write a summary sentence or two on each. Then, I order and reorder them as I see fit for the story. I ask lots of "what if" questions as I fill out the cards and I don't always use each card. This process has helped me immensely.

It's so much easier for me to carry notecards and a pen (every retired educator carries a pen) and write bits here and there than it is to tote my laptop to the dance studio, or tennis practice, or piano lessons. I did that for several years. Sometimes I still do, but not nearly as frequently. When I have quiet time later (usually midnight) I can pants away with my notecards by my side!

Suffice it to say, if you have a busy life full of kids and all their activities and are trying to write a whole book, carry a few notecards and pen with you. I'll bet you can still feel attached to your manuscript and feel like you're making progress, and hopefully, you'll discover what I discovered.

Notecards keep me moving forward with the story, and the fun of "free-writing" within that notecard framework allows me to write fewer wasted words.

Good luck and keep writing!
Rob

Why it's okay to ease up now and then...

Remember that old saying: the teacher shows up when the student is ready?

Well my teacher showed up via a recent post here at Middle Grade Minded.

Wonderfully written by Rob Polk, it encourages writers and readers to be easy on ourselves in pursuit of our goals and to prioritize our physical and mental health.

I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since I read it.

I don't know about you, but I'm a goal setter.

This summer's goals:

1) finish revising my work in progress
2) read twenty-five books
3) write every day

These goals are a sub-set of my overall 2019 goals, which include revising another novel, researching a novel, finally writing that picture book I've been thinking about, and reading 125 books.

But then something happened after I read Rob's post.

I realized I was rushing my life, instead of savouring it.

I'd forgotten that downtime is crucial to creativity.

I'd forgotten that downtime is crucial for wellbeing.

Meeting my self-imposed deadlines was robbing me of the joy of DOING and BEING.

I was seeing other writers publishing and doing more and feeling like I needed to match their pace if I was to succeed.

I'd become a hamster on a wheel. And just like the little guy below, was in imminent danger of falling off...




via GIPHY

Something had to change.

Last Monday, I decided that my work in progress needed a more substantial rewrite. It will take how long it takes.

I decided that trying to meet an arbitrary number of books was not how I wanted to read.

I decided that tracking everything and writing to-do lists was NOT helping me any more.

I must meet my commitments, but I don't have to be a perpetual motion machine to get them done.

Mostly, I reminded myself that summer is fleeting.

I need to stare more at my garden.

I need to take more walks.

I need to nap in my Adirondack chair.

I don't have to be at my desk by 7 a.m. every day.

I hope that you'll reread Rob's post and think of what you can do for yourself that will fill up your creative and happiness reservoir.

The truth is, my books will get done. So will yours.

I'll read lots of books. So will you.

But I vow to enjoy the journey more.


My name is Wendy, and I am trying to learn to relax about this whole writing thing!




via GIPHY

Resolving Not to Set Writing Goals for Myself in 2019

Every new year I set writing goals for myself.

But not this year.

I had an a-ha moment at the end of 2018.

2018 was a great year for me writing-wise: I published my second novel, I received positive reviews, the book sold pretty well.

I created specific goals for myself: finish revisions, write and revise at least one new book, do tons of school visits, get to at least one conference.

So why did my writing life feel tortured?



via GIPHY


Then it hit me: I was trying too hard.

It's a wonderful thing to have goals, but not at the expense of enjoying the trip along the way.

Last year, when I didn't meet a goal—be it word count, finished product, whatever—I'd beat myself up.

My goals, which were supposed to move me forward, actually sucked the thrill of of writing from my life.

I forgot that to really succeed at anything, there must be joy.

And for me, a Capricorn who has a tendency to want to get things done, my goals impeded the joy.




via GIPHY


This morning, I'm in the throes of final revisions to my WIP. They're due next week. And guess what? I'm having fun.

Why? Because I'm not worried about anything but the task at hand.

Instead, I trust that other books will get written, schools will be visited, stuff will happen. People will love the book or they won't.

My only focus is to love what I'm doing right now. I trust that the rest will sort itself out.

For many of you, goal setting is the thing that will propel your work to publication. I salute you.

But promise me you won't beat yourself up if you miss a deadline or don't reach your goal within a certain time frame.

Promise that you'll focus on loving your work in progress and enjoying the journey. Because that love is what will propel your writing forward.

To every writer and reader out there: I wish you a 2019 filled with magic.

It is magic that we can conjure stories from thin air.

It is magic that the stories we read let us live a thousand lives during our short time on this wonderful planet.

I have no writing goals for 2019. But something tells me I'll find a lot of magic along the way!

Fine Tuning the Masterpiece

Have you ever written a masterpiece, forgotten about it for a few days, and come back to find it littered with discordant phrases or scenes? We’ve all had that experience. And when faced with our own less-than-stellar work, sometimes we’re tempted to throw it all away and start over, or worse, give up.

Let me tell you a story.

Recently I sat down at my piano after several weeks away. My fingers danced across the keys. I felt my shoulders relax and the tension of the day bleed away. But very soon I noticed a problem. Low D wasn’t working. No matter how hard or soft I pressed, no matter how I concentrated and bit my lip, no music came from Low D.

What could I do?

I could go ahead and play a symphony without Low D. I might pretend I didn’t notice or didn’t mind, like I wasn’t cringing every time the note didn’t play. I could improvise by adding in the even Lower D. That might make up for it. Sort of.

But after a few tries, I was ready to pull my hair out. 

I could quit playing piano. People quit things all the time. They change their life direction. Reprioritize. And piano is hard work. There’s lots of practice to achieve any sort of mastery. And while there are rewards, there are also problems, like notes that don’t work. It wouldn’t be a big deal for me to give it up, would it?

The thing is, I love playing piano. I love the way it feels to have my fingers move as if by magic while beautiful music fills the room. I love how the songs I play elicit emotion in other people. It can comfort them, stir their spirits, or make them think.

Sounds a lot like writing, doesn’t it? Back to the broken piano...

Another option would be to open it up and try to figure out what’s going wrong. This is usually my first approach. Poke around, find what’s broken, and try to fix it. Sometimes I take the piano apart, piece by piece. Not an easy task and not for the fainthearted. Sometimes I even manage to solve the problem on my own.

But often, I need outside help, a piano tuner, who can spot problems I overlook and who knows how to make the piano sing.

Writing is a lot like that, too. When we come back to a project and find it in need of repair, there are vital steps to take to refine our story and make it sing.

Take some time away from your draft.  

Taking a break from what you’re writing and viewing it with fresh eyes is often an illuminating experience. You will see your work in new ways. You will spot areas that need a little polish or maybe a heavy rewrite. Don’t be afraid of this. The purpose of early drafts is to get the words on the page. Then you make them pretty.

Put on your editing hat

Do overall story editing first – plot, character, pacing, etc. There’s no point in refining sentences to perfection when you might end up throwing them out later to adjust for larger, overarching issues.

After you’re comfortable with your large-scale changes, then focus on perfecting imagery and sentence structure.

Don’t be afraid to share

One of the best ways to see if your story is working is to share it with friends, or better yet, a critique group. Put on your thick skin and be prepared for questions suggestions. If you get some, that’s a great thing. No one bothers making suggestions if the work is a disaster. Ask people what they liked and what they didn’t. This can help your story development as well as your writing overall.

Hire help

Even the best stories receive professional editing. A good editor has a pulse on the market and can help position your book to excel. They can help your story hit the emotional and plot points you’re shooting for and identify areas where you need to put in a little extra work.

Best of luck as you polish your masterpiece! 

As for me, I’ll be calling a piano tuner this afternoon.

Top Five Reasons We Love Being Writers

We all love to write. That's why we're here. So here's our top five reasons we love it so much. And if you haven't done so already pop over to our blogiversary post and enter to win free books and critiques!

Wendy Mcleod MacKnight

1. Telling stories has always bound us together 
2. The books I’ve read in my life have lifted me up when I needed lifting, filled me with hope when I was lost.
3. Books give me comfort when I'm sad. 
4. Stories help us make sense of the world. 
5. I love it!

Tom Torre 

1. I love being able to escape the confines of a poop-filled world and enter a world where I control the good and the bad.
2. Being part of the writing community is a reward by itself. I have gained some irreplaceable friendships and have teamed up with some amazing people over the years since becoming a writer. 
3. It's a way of venting out the excess creative goo that settles in my brain juices.
4. The feeling of finishing a book and saying "I did that." is amazing.
5. The constant struggle and challenge of the writing industry, while overwhelming at times, just makes me want to keep trying harder and harder. We'll each make it - one day. It's not a matter if, it's just when.

Jamie Krakover

1. I love exploring the what if.
2. I love the community writers have built, the people I've met, and the connections I've made.
3. It's a challenge that allows me to exercise the other side of my brain. It balances out my engineering side.
4. Because the more I write, the more I discover things about myself.
5. When you write, literally anything is possible. There are rules, but some are made to be broken.

Shari Green

1. Because stories connect us.
2. Because I love words/sentences/books, and writing lets me live in words/sentences/books, lol.
3. Because creating something that someday, somewhere, a child may read and either feel a little less alone or grow in empathy for someone else, or a child may read and think "this was written just for me"…well, how amazing would that be? the possibility both overwhelms and inspires me.
4. Because it’s fun (sometimes).
5. Because it’s hard (sometimes), and I do love a good challenge.

There's our reasons for loving to write, what are yours? 

 

Comparing Your Writing... to Yourself

As writers, we are constantly comparing our work to others despite being told time and time again to not do it. Comparing an early draft to someone's published book probably isn't the best ego boost, especially considering the amount of edits a published book has been through.

So when I jokingly said to a writing buddy that I was going to open up a first draft and take a look, I never expected it to be a great experience. I honestly didn't know what I would find. But what I ended up with was shocking... the biggest ego boost I didn't know that I needed.

While comparing your work to others usually has a negative impact, there is one comparison that I highly recommend you make... a comparison to yourself.

And why did this comparison work? It's a good measure of how things are going, how you're progressing as a writer. Go ahead and look back at old manuscripts or even first drafts of your current work in progress and see how things have changed. Some things you can look for:

• Have you learned something?
• How has your writing grown and evolved?
• How is your worldbuilding?
• How is your voice?
• How's your grammar?
• How's your plot?
• How's your character development?

Looking at all of these items with respect to prior works can really show you how far you've come as a writer.

Take for example my first draft of the project I'm currently editing.
Note: This dates all the way back to February 2012, so try not to cringe too hard.

“Come on Kaya. Ladies first.” Troy grinned and held out the radio wave generator to me.

I rolled my eyes. “I’ll just watch for now.” Harlow’s friends are such idiots. I can’t believe they are doing this. If it weren’t for Lydia and her crush on Troy, I never would have agreed to come into the woods with my boyfriend and the goons he calls friends. The things I do for my best friend.

“You sure Kaya? It’s such a rush!” Troy waved the small box my face.

I shivered despite the blazing bonfire in front of us. “No I’m good thanks.” Ghosting was the dumbest thing kids did — the ultimate game of chicken. Harlow and his friends liked to see how long they could disrupt their tracker signal before they freaked out. If your tracker goes offline for more than five minutes, they dispatch the authorities to your last known location to check it out, hence the rush.

All right I'll spare you more than a couple paragraphs, because let's be honest, this is a complete mess. But it's a first draft so that's okay. Let's spot the issues.

1. I started with dialogue. This isn't always bad, but can be problematic because we don't know who is speaking or what their voice is.
2. There's a verb tense change.
3. The voice needs some work.
4. We don't know much about the main character off the bat or why we should follow her. Even worse we seem to know more about her friends than her.
5. The world is a little confusing
6. And holy info dump batman!

I'm sure I could go on and on about all the issues in this first draft, but that's why we edit.
Now let's take a look at my current draft.

Note: This is 11 major drafts and 6 years later.

    We were going to get caught. No question about it. Masking your tracker signal got you a date with the authorities at best, and at worst… I didn’t want to think about it. I wasn’t lucky enough to get away with this. I was never that lucky.

    Troy grinned and held out the radio wave generator. “Come on, Kaya. You know you want to.” The black box flirted with me like a bad boy, half thrill ride, half arrest warrant.

    I shook my head. The buzz from falling off the tracker grid—pure silence and vision devoid of popups and apps—wasn’t worth the risk of losing control. If the authorities showed up, brain probing us to check our chips for glitches would be the least of our problems.

    Troy waved the box in my face. “You sure? It’s such a rush!”

    I shivered despite the bonfire blazing in front of us. “I’m good. I don’t need a record.”

    “Wasn’t it just Yom Kippur or something? You should be good on the sin front for a while.”

    “That’s not how it works, jackass.”

    That little box was trouble. Worse than Pandora’s. My muscles tensed. At least if I refused to disrupt my tracker signal, I wouldn’t have to lie about breaking the law.

    Trekking into the woods at the edge of town to watch everyone attempt to beat the record for longest signal disruption was insanity. Why couldn’t we hang out at the fly-in theater instead? Anything other than pursuing a one-way ticket to tracker juvie.

    But they loved the thrill of tempting fate—the ultimate game of chicken. At best, they had about five minutes of interrupted tracker signals before the network alerted the authorities.

    I leaned into Harlow, and he put his arm around me. He’d never ditch me. But most of his friends wouldn’t hesitate to use me as authority bait if the agents showed up. Not if—when.

Let's dive into this draft a little deeper. The first thing you'll notice is the  core of the scene has stayed very much the same, but so much has improved around the outer shell. And the coverage of what is there has greatly expanded.

1. There's no more random verb tense changes
2. The language is so much stronger and more engaging.
3. Information is sprinkled throughout in an interesting way rather than dumped in one or two paragraphs.
4. We get a sense of who the main character is, what she wants/fears and what's at stake.
5. We get a sneak peek into this world, but it's not fully flushed out yet (there's more to come as the reader continues on)
6. And the voice? Well I'd say it's vastly improved. What do you think?

At any rate, I think you can see between the drafts that I've grown as a writer. And this exercise made me realize how far I've come. So if you have some time, I highly recommend you pull out an old first draft and compare it to a more recent one and see how far you've come. It might just be the writing boost you've been looking for.

And if you do this exercise let me know how it goes. Hopefully it helped you as much as it helped me.

Happy Writing!