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Getting Started
It occurred to me one day that a number of my stories had young adult or child protagonists. There had never been a conscious decision to do that, it just happened that way. I began to wonder if I should concentrate on that, and write something specifically for young readers.But what to write? I wanted to challenge myself with something new and different, yet I wanted to keep the fantasy element. So I decided to write a fantasy children's book.
But for what reading level? I needed to do some research. I perused my own collection, and visited the public library. I reread books I'd enjoyed as a youngster, and sampled more recent offerings. During this time, two complementary ideas began to gel in my mind. First, that I was really leaning toward very young readers, and second, that there was a distinct shortage of fantasy adventure stories for that audience.
While I started brainstorming ideas for the book, I continued my research. I learned about the different reading levels, and decided to tackle a number of projects on two levels, the first being easy readers (a step up from picture books), and the other being chapter books (the next step up, but shorter than mid-grade novels).
Developing the Ideas
I began brainstorming ideas for these books, and went through many false starts before I finally settled on my two basic ideas.My easy reader is about a boy who finds a magical artifact that transports him to a magical realm called Altarran. While there, he must find the artifact's rightful owner, and return it. Meanwhile, the story's antagonist shows up and wants the artifact for herself. This book, titled Jimmy Sterling and the Witch of Altarran, is complete and looking for a publisher. Should I find someone interested in developing this as a series, I have written a draft of a second book and an outline for a third. Further work will likely wait until I find someone who's interested. For now, I'm concentrating on selling the first as a stand-alone.
My first chapter book is about a boy who has recently moved to a new house in the country at the edge of an isolated valley surrounded by impassable mountains. He soon discovers that the valley is home to many magical creatures, some friendly, and some not so. He has many exciting adventures here, as he learns to use his mundane skills to overcome magical challenges. This book is complete, and, as for my easy reader, I've begun work on sequels. However, I've come to the realization that the plot of the second book is far superior to that of the first, so I may need to do some substantial rethinking (i.e. rewriting). This project is simmering nicely on the back burner at the moment, though I'm sure I'll pull it out again before too long.