Humor in the Details

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Photo by Valeria Boltneva on Pexels.com

When I was a brand new writer, I was at a conference and one of the speakers was explaining to us how to write humor for young readers. His method was to take something and twist a detail or two to make it funny. The exercise he gave us what to describe what was in our character’s school backpack. We should include several normal things and one or two that were unexpected. I’ve never been great at this kind of exercise and I had completely forgotten it until a friend brought a banoffee pie to dinner.

For those who have never had a banoffee pie, it is a British treat. Biscuit or graham cracker crust is topped with a layer of dulce de leche. Next comes a layer of banana slices and then whipped cream flavored with expresso powder. Banana, caramel, and coffee just seemed like one flavor too many but a lot of recipes seem this way to me. So what would really put it over the top? Dulce de leche, banana, coffee flavored whipped cream and olives. Or maybe anchovies. The thought of either one makes me cringe.

So when you come up with your character’s favorite food, don’t stop with the expected. Throw in a cringe-worthy ingredient. My dad’s favorite sandwich was peanut butter, mayo, bologna, an onion slice, and pickles. I kid you not. So if your character loves PB and J, what else could you throw into the mix? Jalapeno slices?

How do you do this with something other than food? What about a museum? Maybe your character’s mother works at the Museum of Art, Architecture, and Sardines. I was going to say Aardvarks but I think I like it better when I break the alliteration. The Museum of Modern Artificialness. Did you see what I did with that one? I took the Museum of Modern Art and twisted it.

Don’t be afraid to play with some of the ideas in your story to add a bit of humor. Not that it would work with every story but if you are trying to make your readers laugh, don’t be afraid to play.

–SueBE

Picture Book, Early Reader and Chapter Book

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My book recommendation this week is an early chapter book, HENRY’S PICTURE-PERFECT DAY by Jenn Bailey. If you’ve never encountered Henry, check out this early chapter book. Bailey captures the experience of an on-spectrum child and also the chaos of the classroom. Most of us can identify at least a little bit with Henry as he works to be comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. Me? When he talked about how much he had his fake-photo smile, I got it!

Bailey’s first book about Henry (A Friend for Henry) was a picture book. This one is #3 in a 4 book early chapter book series. Like me, you will have to wait another few months for book #4 (HENRY UPSIDE DOWN).

So what is it that made the first book a picture book on these later books chapter books? Read on to find out. I did this before when I discussed Henry so I want to take the opportunity to do it again. What makes one Henry book a picture book and the others chapter books?

Picture Books

  • For children preschool through 8 years old. That said, a picture book is unlikely to appeal to both a 3 year-old and an 8 year-old. They have very different needs. Most picture books appeal to only part of this market.
  • Fully illustrated.
  • Text and illustrations work together to tell the story. This means that the illustrations tell part and the text tells part.
  • Most often 32 pages long but this includes end papers.
  • Meant to be read aloud thus the text may be too advanced for the young reader.
  • Many picture books have aha! or twist endings that surprise the reader.

Early/Beginning Readers

Henry books do not include early or beginning readers. Still I want to include them in the discussion because many people confuse them with both picture books and chapter books.

  • Fully illustrated but the illustrations do not expand on the story. Instead, illustrations enable the reader to decode the text. When they aren’t sure what the text says, they look to the illustrations to see what is happening.
  • For children just learning to read.
  • Text is easier than that of a picture book.
  • Smaller trim size than a picture book so that they look more “novel-sized,” like big kid books vs little kid books.
  • Employ a lot of repetition.
  • No subplots.

Chapter Books

  • Still no subplots.
  • For those who are comfortable reading independently. Chapters and paragraphs are still often short but these readers do not need constant adult help. The ending can still be a surprise as it is in this book.
  • Traditionally, these books have some black and white illustrations but no longer fully illustrated. This particular book is fully illustrated using black and white and one spot color (violet).
  • The reader is not ready for something as long as a middle grade novel, but ready for something longer than an early reader.

The audiences for these types of books overlap considerably. A child may enjoy a picture book with an adult or younger sibling and then pick up an early reader or chapter book. The key is to deliver a story that works in that format and for a reader of that ability.

Sometimes you do this by aging the character. When they are new to school, they feature in a picture book. An experienced student might star in a chapter book. That’s what Henry does. Check out his story. You’ll be glad that you did!

–SueBE

Today’s Post

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For today’s post, head on over the my newsletter. Just click HERE. The most recent issue is the one at the top of the page but click on through to read as many as you like.

This time, I do something that is a little unusual for me. I share my reservations about a book. Generally I only write about books that I recommend wholeheartedly. But I felt the need to finish this book because it is for book club. Do you ever review books that you have concerns about?

–SueBE

Populating Your Speculative Fiction

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I’ve been taking a MasterClass with N. K. Jemisin on writing science fiction and fantasy. I just listened to a really interesting session on world building. One of the things that she concerns herself with is creating the “people” that populate the world.

I say “people” because they might be actual Homo sapiens but they don’t have to be. They may be H. sapiens with a twist. She describes characters she has created that have an organ in their brain that allows them to sense impending seismic activity. H. sapiens plus. If you read a lot of speculative fiction, you may have encountered peoples that are more avian or are aquatic.

The tricky bit comes when you create their culture. Something that Jemisin recommends when you are world building is to study our own world. Why? Because this is a world that readers understand. Start with what you and they both know and then shape it. If your story world is mountainous, study weather and ecosystems in our own mountains. Study the cultures that live there as well.

But the warning that she gives is that we, as authors, must not simply plagiarize a culture. That’s my term. I think what she said is that we shouldn’t file off a culture’s serial numbers. However you want to call it, do not appropriate a culture in its entirety. Do not start with a culture and then tweak two or three things.

People will know. And if they can identify one culture that you’ve copied, they will attempt to do it with other cultures. This is especially serious when one culture is the antagonist or enemy in the story. I’ve actually seen book contracts cancelled because an author is accused of taking one group of people, say Puebloan peoples, and making them the primitive enemy in the story.

To avoid this, you study multiple cultural groups. Say your story is set in a rainforest. You could study a culture from the Pacific Northwest, another from the Amazon, and yet another from Borneo. How do all of these people culturally adapt to living in the rainforest? Use this knowledge to shape your imagined culture vs copying a single culture.

It is definitely a lot to think about!

–SueBE

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

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Monkey on a front porch.

Where don’t I get ideas? I get them from the things I’m reading, science and history emails, and even the local news.

That said, every once in a while, I see a news story and think that editors would say it was too unrealistic. Currently, animal control officers are out and about in St. Louis looking for a group of vervet monkeys. How many? At first, the reports said four. Now they say “number unknown.” The monkeys have been loose for almost a week now.

I honestly didn’t believe it at first. The last time this happened, my son was about nine years-old. We got a message from the school that the kids were being kept inside because of a loose baboon. I turned to a news channel and there was a reporter talking to the alleged owner. She was calling for her monkey and shaking a bag of potato chips. Then she showed them a photo. It was a drill. Drill are related to baboons and I had just seen the photo on a zoo website while doing research.

So this time I did a quick search and found that the story about loose monkeys was being covered by the major networks and the BBC. I guess it is better when the story isn’t a hoax. Maybe.

The question is, would an editor take a story based on this seriously. Or would they think it was too bizarre to be believed? We haven’t even gotten to the cherry on top yet. Two days ago, a goat was spotted trotting through the same neighborhood. I don’t know. Maybe the owner of the monkeys thought they might follow the goat home?

And I’m left wondering if this is something that I could work into a story. Naturally, you’d want to start with the loose goat and then escalate to four escaped monkeys. And now I find myself wondering what is going to be next?

–SueBE

A Variety of Projects

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Look what arrived in the mail! My latest batch of author’s copies — Spider-Man, The Moon (Early Space Encyclopedia), and Ariana Grande. This photo was wicked hard to take because Ariana is determined to reflect all the light.

I love getting to work on a wide variety of books like this. Whenever I write a book, I learn a lot about the topic. Researching Spider-Man, I learned about the early comics. I knew a lot about space exploration, but with The Moon (Early Space Encyclopedia) my focus was on lunar science. That was a real challenge because at one point my editor said that I had too much geology but I needed more science. So I pulled in more information on what is required for life, water on the moon, and weather. In researching Ariana Grande, I learned about the music industry and how rap artists present themselves differently, a pattern that Grande has adapted for herself.

One of the reasons that I gladly take on so many types of topics is that we expect young learners to welcome a variety of topics. They have to study spelling, grammar, math, music, art, and a variety of sciences. Don’t like it? That’s too bad because you are going to study it.

Don’t think that this means I will take just anything. I love music and pop culture so both Spider-Man and Grande were a good fit for me. I listened to so much of her music while researching her book and read some of the earliest Spider-Man comics. My father briefly worked in aeronautics and I remember (just barely) when we landed on the moon. I was three. I was supposed to be taking a nap but the adults were all being loud – we were at my uncles. I stood quietly and watched this man in a huge white outfit slowly make his way down a ladder. It really wasn’t a very exciting day until my uncle lit the cherries jubilee. That I remember vividly! Flaming dessert! No, that didn’t make its way into the book. But I did remember how curious I was about an event I didn’t really understand.

Fortunately, I have another batch of intriguing books to work on in 2026. Stay tuned for more information!

–SueBE

Audio Books: The Pluses and Minuses

Fashion, Model, Beauty, Woman, People, Blonde, Portrait

On any given day, I have two books that I am reading, a print book and an audiobook. I read the print book before bed time. I listen to the audiobook throughout the day as I do chores or handwork like knitting. There are definite reasons for writers to listen to audiobooks.

So often we focus on how our writing looks but audio books shift that focus to how writing sounds. You get to experience the poetry of language.  There is definitely wordplay that comes through when you hear it but not when you read it in print.

Audiobooks are also a great way to experience voice. And I don’t mean the voice of the reader. I mean the voice of the writer. Does the writing sound formal? Casual? Chatty?

That said, there are negatives to audiobooks. Every once in a while, I attempt to listen to an audiobook only to discover that I cannot stand the voice of the reader. Whether it is the person’s tone or something else, it is somehow irritating and distracts me from the book. I tend not to finish these books.

But sometimes the problem is a particular aspect of the content. I can occassionally listen with my noise canceling headphones on but the problem is that the headphones get to warm. Ear buds are simply out of the question. They are just too uncomfortable.

Because of this, I am more or less sharing my audiobook with whoever is home. I recently finished listening to Roadtrip with a Vampire by Jenna Levine. It is a paranormal romance and I’m not sure how it ended up on my TBR list. I read very few romances. Not only was this a romance but it was somewhat explicit. Let’s just say that someone who didn’t have a clue would definitely have a clue after listening to this book.

Of course, this is when my husband walked into the room.  He didn’t say boo, he never does, but he gave me the look.  You know, the “what the heck” look.

Those moments are significantly more common when I’m listening to an adult novel but YA novels also have special moments like this.  I’m not saying that these parts should be cut or that the books are bad or inappropriate but . . . really?  Was that necessary in front of other people?

–SueBE

Why You Need Mentor Texts

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Earlier this week, I read Chapter 1 of a chapter book that a critique partner is working on. There was a lot of discussion about whether she should only use “she said” or if she should spice it up with “she asked,” “he answered,” or “he wondered.”

I grabbed a number of books off my desk and paged through them. All I saw was “he said” unless there was no tag at all. I recommended that she look at her favorite chapter books and use them as mentor texts.

What is a mentor text? A mentor text is an exemplary piece of writing that you can study and learn how to do something. This might be how to craft dialogue, how to use dialogue tags, or characterization. It isn’t about copying the mentor text word-for-word. It is simply to learn how it might be done.

When we are discussing dialogue tags such as “he said” or “she asked,” a mentor text can show you what the expectation is for a chapter book. Is the tag always “said” or are other words sometimes used? These might include asked or replied. It can also show whether there is a dialogue on every line or dialogue or if they can sometimes be skipped. Here is an example that skips tags.

“What was that noise?” he asked.

“I didn’t hear anything,” she said.

“There it is again. It came from the back yard.”

The third line of dialogue in this example has no tag. But I reader who is experienced with tags will reason that the last line is spoken by “him.” Early readers tag every line of dialogue. Why? Because new readers are still learning the conventions of print text.

When you use mentor texts, it is often a good idea to read something published by your first choice publisher. A particular publisher may have conventions that differ from other publishers in the field. Mentor texts are a good way to learn about conventions and about how to write well. You can learn about dialogue, description, pacing and more. All you need to find is a good example.

–SueBE

Radical Revision

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Yesterday I saw a brief Instagram interview with screenwriter Taika Waititi. He talked about how he develops a screen play. After completing a draft, he puts it aside for as long as a year. Then he rereads it a time or two. Then, after saving it on a memory stick, he closes the file and starts again. He rewrites the whole thing from memory.

He said that when he does this, he recalls the essence of what works. The best parts are retained. The weak parts don’t make it back onto the page.

I’ve never done this with a screen play but I have to say that it has worked when I am writing nonfiction. Way back before we quit using diskettes to save our work, I would periodically sit down to open an article only to discover that the disk had corrupted. My file was no longer accessible.

Because I was working from interviews, and many people emailed their responses to my questions so that I would have their exact wording, I could reconstruct an article fairly quickly. That said, no one wants to reconstruct a 2100 word article that is due later that day. How is that even possible when the original article took me a week to write?

I knew which quotes I had used. And I knew what I had paraphrased. I started with those parts and then recreated the transitions that held everything together. It always came to gether much more smoothly than the original article.

I also did this several times when I would draft an article only to discover that it was close to double the allowed word count. Sure, I could pick through it and cut a sentence here and a word there. But cutting that much a bit at a time often yields a clunky, awkward feeling piece.

I discovered that it actually worked much better for me to start from scratch. The result was also tight and smooth and worked well.

This isn’t something that I do with every manuscript, but I’ve always been happy when I have done it. Why not give it a try?

–SueBE

When You Edit, First Create a Plan

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A friend and I have been joking today as we are both editing various projects. It makes texting difficult as one of us gets stuck as we try to find just the right word. When it is time to revise something that you’ve written, it is best to first come up with a plan. Why? Because more often than not, one pass just won’t fix everything and first you need to know what needs fixing.

There are different ways that you can do this. One is to list each scene. Briefly describe the scene as written. “Jackson submits his entry to the science fair but the teacher in charge won’t accept it. He is accused of cheating.” Once you have your scene list created, you can go back and look at what needs to change. Does something happen too soon? Too late? Maybe you need to add clues.

You can also examine your manuscript looking at one “item” at a time. How are your transitions? Are your descriptions solid? Or have you created infodumps? What about dialogue? Does one of your characters monologue? You can also check the balance between dialogue, description, and action.

As you prepare to work on the actual revision, remember that you should work from big to small. Why? The smallest changes you will make are individual words and punctuation. But there is no sense in looking at this before you fix the big things. What are big things? Story structure should be logical. Character goals need to be clearly stated. Then you fix the medium sized things. Check your transitions. Look for repetition and cut what you can. Then you can work on the small changes.

I generally work on one thing at a time. This means that in one pass I work on plot. On another I work on setting or character. If I am working on character and see a setting problem that will mean having to look something up, I don’t take the time to do that. Instead I make a note and keep moving forward on character.

How do you make revision manageable?

–SueBE