Category: Uncategorized

Middle Grade Ninja: GUEST POST: “Annihilation Day” by Alex Flynn

While The Misshapes: The Coming Storm, and The Misshapes: Annihilation Day, may be part one and two of a three-part trilogy, the writing process between the two books couldn’t have been more different. The Coming Storm had a long process to wrestle with the divine flash of inspiration, the initial charge of realizing that you […]

Middle Grade Ninja: GUEST POST: “How to Hook a Reluctant Reader” by Laurie B. Arnold

I write for kids, many of whom aren’t avid readers. You probably know the ones. They’d rather eat raw liver and overcooked lima beans than pick up a book for fun. It’s not that I don’t love the fact that die-hard readers like reading my books too, but it’s the kids who have a hard […]

Middle Grade Ninja: GUEST POST: “On Hearing Voices and Improvising Relationships” by Gary Schwartz

My bio states that I’m an actor who began as a mime and ended up doing voices in film, animation and video games. I’d written material for myself and my partner as part of the comedy team of Schwartz and Chung. I also wrote some screenplays and teleplays too, but it is only recently I […]

Middle Grade Ninja: GUEST POST: “The Story Detective (Where do Story Ideas Come From?)” by James R. Hannibal

With the mystery and magic of The Lost Property Office now revealed, I’m starting to see a lot of questions from young writers. Probably the most common is “Where do your ideas come from?” I’m often tempted to respond, “Why, the stork, of course.” But the truth is, ideas don’t come to writers out of […]

Middle Grade Ninja: GUEST POST: “Writing the Truth (and making it funny)” by Lori Ann Stephens

Pierre François: 5th Grade Mishaps wasn’t a stroke of inspiration from la Muse (my writing goddess). When my younger son was in fifth grade, he developed a strange habit: each day, he’d come home from school complaining about recess, about boys, about girls, about teachers, about noises and smells and tastes. To Julien, fifth grade was […]

Middle Grade Ninja: Children of Blood and Bone

Tomi Adeyemi is a Nigerian-American writer and creative writing coach based in San Diego, California. After graduating Harvard University with an honors degree in English literature, she received a fellowship that allowed her to study West African mythology and culture in Salvador, Brazil. When she’s not working on her novels or watching Scandal, she can […]

Middle Grade Ninja: NINJA BOOK CLUB: Chapter 11: ABOARD THE HOGWARTS EXPRESSS

First Paragraph: There was a definite end-of-the-holidays gloom in the air when Harry awoke next morning. Heavy rain was still splattering against the window as he got dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt; they would change into their school robes on the Hogwarts Express. Esteemed Reader, at 11 chapters in, I’m as crazy about Harry Potter […]