HELLO!

Welcome to Chapter Nine of The Happy Book. In this chapter, I'll be chatting to friend and author Sheryl Gwyther about plotting and planning a middle grade novel. Sheryl has been writing children's fiction for around two decades, and this woman knows her stuff.

Sheryl will share her extensive experience in crafting a middle grade novel, her secrets to finding the right story and creating a protagonist who will capture your readers' hearts. And of course-she'll talk ALL about structure, which can be a real challenge for authors.

Fire up your device, cram in those earbuds and enjoy this foray into the magical world of kids' book creation. If you have any questions or comments, you can say hello at [email protected].

I'm Tania McCartney and I'm an author, illustrator and editor of children's books. I've always wanted to live inside a book, and now I practically do. Welcome to The Happy Book.

GUEST - SHERYL GWYTHER

Sheryl Gwyther's mango-gorging, tree-climbing, book-reading childhood in Queensland's tropical far north inevitably led to the best job ever-writing stories for the most important readers of all-children. Her work includes Secrets of Eromanga, an adventure novel set on an outback fossil dig; chapter books, and many short stories and plays in The School Magazine.

Sheryl's awards include two ASA Mentorships, two May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust Fellowship Residencies, and a 2013 Work-of-Outstanding-Progress Grant from SCBWI International (the first non-American to win) for her historical adventure, Sweet Adversity. This tale of courage and resilience is set in the Great Depression with hero, 12-year-old, Addie. Sheryl also coordinates the Queensland branch of the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

SHOW NOTES

00:35 Introduction

01:36 About Sheryl

02:31 A glass of kombucha (apple crisp flavour) and Darjeeling tea

03:20 What does a typical writing day look like for Sheryl?

05:41 Where does Middle Grade fit in the industry?

06:34 Creating multi-layered work

07:50 Word count

09:18 Themes for middle grade

10:08 The importance of humour

11:14 Writing and engaging middle grade novel

11:20 The main character

11:49 Main character drives the story

12:57 Adults in stories

14:16 The protagonist

14:42 Villains

16:03 What qualities does a good protagonist need? Sweet Adversity

18:03 Sub characters

20:24 Villains need to be humanised

22 :46 Obstacles

24:39 Chapter endings/cliff hangers

25:26 The story grid method

26:58 The plotter and the pantser

28:03 Do you know the ending in advance?

31:59 Can middle grade plots be quite sophisticated

35:08 When does middle grade slip into junior fiction or YA?

35:29 Violence in middle grade

36:36 Romance

36:52 The voice for middle grade

38:20 Writing in a way kids of this readership resonate with

38:40 Writing authentic children's voices

40:18 Writing style

40:40 Writers need to read and read a lot

41:20 Vocabulary in middle grade

44:08 The use of Shakespeare in Sweet Adversity

45:09 The ending of a story

46:38 An element of hope

48:12 What happens if you've written middle grade and it's too young or too old

49:42 Conflicting manuscript appraisal advice

50:11 The dreaded rewrite

50:29 What's coming up for Sheryl

52:00 You never stop learning

52:45 Advice from Sheryl

55:20 Rejection means you're sending your...