Complete Stories
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"Children need to read about ‘heroic legends."
JRR Tolkien, author of The Hobbits and Lord of the Rings
WHAT’S YOUR END GAME?
BOOKS
Fun: Share with family & friends in a “rough draft” form (minimal revising & editing)
Private Publishing: Create informal printed copies for family & friends (moderate revising & editing)
Self Publishing: Make a commercial book (maximal revising & editing)
​TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING/MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT PROJECT
Idea: Submit TV show/movie script or proposal for board/video game or graphic novel (maximal revising & editing)—either directly or via intermediary, e.g., agent
CREATIVE PROCESS
Plan: Generate new idea or concept
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Organize: Move into action
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Implement: Make it happen
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Complete: Finish, submit, or publish
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Personal copy for family, & friends
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Proposal for media/gaming companies; also likely will include storyboard
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Manuscript for “family & friends” private book
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Synopsis + Query Letter + manuscript for literary agent, e.g., fiction book
REMINDER
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Prioritize
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Focus
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Complete
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TOP 3
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Wake up thinking, “What are the Top 3 things I must accomplish today to advance my story project?”
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Start with #1 on your ACTION LIST—such as write, revise, or verify consistency—and try not to do anything else until you get that done
EXAMPLES
Road MapÂ
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​Star Life Keepers: Roadmap to Track Act 1 Chapters and Point of View
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SLK binders vs single printed SLK book
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Star Life Keepers: An Example of Competing a Book Project​
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Started with notebooks for brainstorming (left)
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Created binders to develop project (center)
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Organized complimentary computer files
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Ended up with 354-page Star Life Keepers book (right)
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Studied & followed writing books (bottom shelf)
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TIPS & TRAPS
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Perfection is the enemy of good
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Pareto Principle: 80% of a project’s impact comes from 20% of what we do
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Parkinson’s Principle: The project will expand to the time allotted
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Close out project for review or submission unless it’s a fun project to pursue indefinitely
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Avoid "Fantasy Worldbuilding-itis"
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A common problem with building new fantasy worlds — and new sci fi worlds — is to fall in love with the project and work on it……endlessly
IF WE CAN DO IT, SO CAN YOU!
LEARNING & DOING
When my grandson Brady and I embarked on our fantasy kidlit journey, we knew nothing about fantasy story development, worldbuilding, Hero’s Journey, etc.
We studied comparable successful books and used those as a catalyst to establish our own model
Fantasy writing is learned through trial & error just like coding, painting, music, etc
ORIGINALITY
It takes a lot of time to be “original” or, as Brandon Sanderson says, “familiar but different.” We must strive to be the best we can be; not a poor copy of someone else.
ROLE MODELS & RESILIENCE
We need pathfinders like Brandon Sanderson who have gone before us to slash through the rainforest and carve out a trail we can follow.
“Overnight successes” are usually people who worked for years and failed. Brandon had a drawer full of rejected manuscripts before publishing of Elantris in 2005.
OUR JOURNEY
On this website, we’ve shared details about how we developed/completed a creative project— such as Star Life Keepers—plus some resources for you to consider using. In the back of Star Life Keepers, we included a list of comparable books/series that motivated and activated us.
Feel free to contact us with your questions: team@storymakingwithkids.com