Stories Behind the Story: The Case of the Marshmallow Monster
Sunday, August 15th, 2010 Posted in Jigsaw Jones, the writing process | No Comments »I turn your attention to Jigsaw Jones #11: The Case of the Marshmallow Monster (still in stock!). The idea for this one can be traced to Rockville Centre, New York, home of my third-favorite brother, Al. (Just kidding, bro.) He mentioned ...
The Point of Diving Into a Lake: To Be in the Lake
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 Posted in the writing process | 1 Comment »A while back I saw and enjoyed the film, "Bright Star," written and directed by Jane Campion, based on the life of poet John Keats. During the early stages of Keats's relationship with Fanny Brawne, she lamented that she still didn't ...
Building Character
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 Posted in the writing process | No Comments »There are a million ways to create a well-rounded character, and all of them crystallize with concrete details. Today I'd like to share one small example. I was reading an interview with a young actress, Elisabeth Moss, and a couple of ...
Guest Blogger at Mackids
Monday, July 26th, 2010 Posted in A Pirates Guide to First Grade, the writing process | No Comments »I contributed to the cyber-clutter by posting over at the Mackids blog. Kathryn Hurley had asked me to write something about A Pirate's Guide to First Grade. I mulled that over for a week or so, and came up with ...
Jack’s Mustache
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 Posted in Justin Fisher Declares War!, the writing process | No Comments »Does anyone read Acknowledgments? I mean, I know that some folks do, but I doubt there are many young readers among that number. We knew that the Acknowledgments section was a useless body part, a pretentious sixth digit, folderol to ...
Fan Mail Wednesday #92 (Monday Edition: Writing Tips!)
Monday, July 19th, 2010 Posted in Fan Mail, the writing process | No Comments »I've been bad with the fan mail lately. Here's one from a young writer: Hi Mr. Preller, I hope you remember me. You wrote a message in one of my jigsaw Jones books saying that I have talent and that I should ...
Cue the Inspiration: Hey Jude
Thursday, July 15th, 2010 Posted in Music, the writing process | 2 Comments »Two days ago I handed in the first draft for my next book, an untitled Young Adult novel. Actually, the working title has been Jude, Adrift, but I wonder about the commercial appeal of that title. Does it sound like ...
Absent Parents in Children’s Literature
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 Posted in Bystander, Jigsaw Jones, Six Innings, the writing process | 2 Comments »A friend of mine, author David Klein -- whose debut novel, Stash, is due out later this month -- alerted me to a recent interweb discussion about absentee parents in children's literature. Literary agent Nathan Bransford summarized the debate here, while ...
This Feels Like an Amazing Clue from a Supernatural Mystery
Friday, July 9th, 2010 Posted in Fun Clips, the writing process | 1 Comment »I love this. Not only the creative inspiration -- that someone saw those birds on the wire and made the imaginative leap to note them as musical symbols -- but also that he, Jarbas Agnelli, had the energy and enthusiasm ...
Lois Lowry & Me
Thursday, July 8th, 2010 Posted in Around the Web, the writing process | 1 Comment »I've never met Lois Lowry and I doubt she has any idea how terrific I am. But for my money time, she writes one of the few truly excellent blogs out there by authors. I mean to say, it's not ...