Saturday, April 28, 2012

Trying to write next chapter in kids' novel

I've written 6290 words over 6 chapters so far in my kids' novel but I'm still struggling with plot and subplot. There is nothing much at stake besides popularity and friendship for my main character which is pretty important for 11 and 12 year olds. But, I'd like to have an event coming up at the end of the summer which somehow would be like a time bomb like Family Fest Pigeon Shooting Day in Jerry Spinelli's Wringer. Or the end of summer in The Penderwicks with the threat of Jeffrey having to go to Pency Military Academy. Or the birthday party in There's a boy in the Girls Bathroom by Louis Sachar.

Other kids' novels that I love are about survival. This is not a book about survival, there is no escape from a prison for bad boys like in Sachar's Holes, no surviving a wreck and life on a unmapped island in the South Pacific like in Gordon Korman's Shipwreck or Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpugo.
I just want to write a quiet novel about life and friendship. Do I have to kill off a beloved character like in Bridge to Terabithia by Katherin Paterson? Or start off with a child being abducted and murdered like in The Egypt Game?

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