Rx for Writers

Transcripts

Thursday, November 14, 2002

Moderator: is Mel Boring, web editor for this site and author of 8 books and 25 stories and articles. He also taught writing for children for 18 years.

Kristi is Kristi Holl. Kristi was the starter of this web site, and the editor for its first four years. It's a joyous reunion for us this evening as Kristi returns for the first time--but not the last--since leaving her job as ICL web editor to write full-time. She is a children’s writer with 24 books on her byline list, many of them mysteries, including the award-winning THE HAUNTING OF CABIN 13. She has also written an adult nonfiction book, FIRST AID FOR WRITERS. It was written out of her vast experience in helping hundreds of children’s writers get started as well as keep on in the business of writing for children. Both Kristi and her helpful book can be seen at her web site: www.KristiHoll.com

Moderator: Hello to you all, and WELCOME! Tonight we welcome a GOOD friend of all of us, Kristi Holl, speaking about mysteries. Good evening, Kristi:, and WELCOME BACK to the chat room. I'm VERY pleased you could come!

Kristi: I'm glad I could be here too, Mel, and hello, everyone!

Moderator: What have you been up to since leaving the web editing jobs?

Kristi: I can't believe it's been six weeks already since I left!. It's been rather a whirlwind--not quite the sitting around and reading I had envisioned, but after the holidays things will settle down, I think. (I hope!) We first spent ten days in England, kind of a belated honeymoon, and that was the best trip! I'd never been out of the country at all, so getting to see the places I'd only read about (or seen in Jane Austen movies like PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) was (to use an over-used word) truly awesome. We saw castles and cathedrals and abbeys and the Tower of London--lots of historical stuff--and the Jane Austen Centre in Bath.

Moderator: CONGRATULATIONS and BEST WISHES from ALL of us to you and your husband, Kristi!

Kristi: Thank you!

Moderator: Do you still manage to keep in touch with writing friends?

Kristi: Yes, but not as much as I had expected, at least not yet. But things are slowing down and I'll be able to hang out in the chat rooms before long. I had looked forward to that when I quit web editing. But I do email people, and I started a newsletter November 1 that I mail to about 500 subscribers and I am keeping in touch that way. It's free, and you can see a sample copy at my website www.KristiHoll.com if anyone would like to subscribe. The information on how to do it is there. I still receive my Iowa SCBWI newsletter and email listings so that I can keep up with friends. I have also reached out down here in Florida and connected with a local writers group and one on the coast--they both meet monthly. I also have a writer friend here now and we meet weekly and critique for an hour, just the two of us. It has been WONDERFUL to have the time for this!

Moderator: Kristi, here are some well wishes from a friend of ours who couldn't be here tonight.

dianna: I wish I could have been there for the interview. Oh well, I will have fun taking my Shiatsu final exam tonight. Have a great evening Mel and Kristi!

Kristi: Thank you!

suesunflower: The English are famous for their mysteries and haunted castles. Were you inspired while you were there?

Kristi: Oh absolutely! For some reason, the half-demolished abbeys are what drew my attention the most.

Moderator: What kinds of mysteries have you written?

Kristi: Basically, I've written the kind of mysteries I liked to read as a child and the kind I wanted my own kids to read. They tend to be the puzzle type, one with clues to follow and something dire that will happen if the puzzle isn't solved in time. I would still love to be Nancy Drew when I grow up. I don't dabble in the occult, and any hauntings or ghostly happenings in my stories have a real basis to them in the end. I don't like violence either, not even in the adult mysteries I read, so any violence in my books tends to happen off-stage and is merely reported, not shown in graphic detail. Or the crime that is being investigated happened before the story even started. Kids tell me that my mysteries are scary, but it's more because of their own imagination and what they bring to the story than what I "show".

Moderator: Kristi, Why do you like to write mysteries?

Kristi: Well, I'm not really sure, except I love to READ mysteries because something is always happening in them. As a child, when I picked up a mystery, I knew the story would go somewhere, that I wouldn't be wasting my time. I like to write mysteries because I have fun trying to figure things out. I enjoy the mental challenge of planting clues that lead readers astray, yet also planting all the necessary clues that an astute reader could use to figure out the solution. I have written more serious mainstream stories, some dealing with things like divorce, death, abandonment issues and the like, so I enjoy writing mysteries sometimes just for the pure fun and entertainment of it, just taking a break from the heavier stuff.

Moderator: It sounds like YOU love mysteries for the same reasons so many kids love them! Is plotting a short mystery story the same process as plotting a book-length mystery?

Kristi: By and large, it is. You just have everything on a smaller scale. A short story has one plot, but no subplots. You have smaller puzzles to solve. Also, with short stories, the solution to the mystery is more often a misunderstanding or a plot trick or device or twist or surprise. (The "ghost" stealing Heather's sandwich each day turns out to be a chipmunk, or the missing money from James' jacket is found in the lining of his coat.)

These kinds of solutions will be accepted in short stories, but usually not in books where you have more room to lay plots and clues and develop various suspects. Short stories also have fewer characters and suspects, and perhaps only three scenes instead of thirty or forty, as you might have in a book. Whether writing a story or a book, mystery writers tend to know the solution to the crime or puzzle before anything else, which really helps you plot. You know your destination, much like setting out across country, knowing your goal.

oma: How do you do it? Plant the clues, I mean. Do you write the basic plot and then go back and insert?

Kristi: Yes, I do make the basic plot first. Until you know the crime and how you're going to bring it about and who is going to do it, it’s pretty much impossible to plant the clues (either true or false clues). A bit later in the chat, I will get into the specifics of just how to plant those clues so they aren't spotted.

mbvoelker: Could you clarify the difference between a mystery proper and a suspense story?

Kristi: There is a lot of "bleed over" in the definitions that I have read, but the most basic definitions I have read separated the two this way: A mystery has a crime (like a dead body) right in the first chapter, and the rest of the book is spent solving the crime. On the other hand, a suspense story tends to have the crime or mystery happening later in the story, sometimes even near the end, but the reader is aware that perhaps a psychotic is on the loose, or someone is plotting something horrible and the reader sits on the edge of his seat wondering if the hero is going to be able to stop the villain in time. These are definitions I have heard most often.

Moderator: Excellently distinguishing definitions, Kristi!

Kristi: Wish I could take credit for them!

Moderator: In making a story mysterious, you have to start with an idea. Where can writers find "mysterious" ideas for mysterious plots?

Kristi: From the mysteries I've read, I think a good writer can probably make any idea mysterious. However, certain places and characters lend themselves to mysteries easier. It's easier to find mysterious ideas on vacation on a remote island than in the football locker room, but I've read fine mysteries with sports heroes (girls or boys) as the main characters. Places like old castles and abbeys I found in England give you all KINDS of mystery ideas, but places like shipyards and beaches on a sunny day can work too. At the beach, all KINDS of things get washed up on shore!

Moderator: It sounds like you've been spending time at the beach, with beach mystery ideas, lucky you! (-:}

Kristi: Certain kinds of characters seem to be more mysterious too, especially ones with handicaps, for some reason. Kids won't particularly like a mean-looking man walking toward them, but for some reason, they will be much more scared of the sour-looking man rolling toward them in a wheelchair, his legs twisted or shriveled, or peering at them with only one eye. Obviously, don't overdo this and have every character having a handicap. Hmm, is this showing up? My words just changed to purple!

Moderator: ROYAL words, Kristi! Is it enough just to have "mysterious happenings" in stories and books to qualify for a mystery?

Kristi: I suppose so, at least technically. Mysteries for young people are certainly plot driven, or centered mostly around the mysterious action, but the stories will be much more engrossing (and salable in today's market) if the main characters are also fully developed. I recommend that you give your hero a personal problem to solve apart from mystery. Make them seem more like real kids who have lives apart from solving the mystery. My heroes have had problems at home with parents and siblings, personal fear problems, etc. Also, be sure the hero has something at stake in your plot--make the plot personal. WHY does he want to solve the crime or mystery? If your hero can't solve the mystery, there should be dire consequences. Something bad should happen to him (or to a close friend or family member) if he isn't successful in time. Making sure the hero has a big stake in the outcome doesn't take much extra plotting effort, but pays big dividends in keeping your reader interested. It also keeps reviewers from saying your plot is "slight."

suesunflower: Is there an age group you prefer to write for?

Kristi: I have always loved the middle graders (ages 8-12) and felt most comfortable there. My vocabulary seems to just naturally match that age group, and I read a LOT when I was 10 to 13, so I remember pretty well what interested me then.

Moderator: How can you use settings to make a mystery eerie or spooky?

Kristi: Some uses are obvious. You have things happen during storms (when the lights go out), you have your hero shoved into and locked in a dark closet. Your hero escapes to the mountains and hides out in a cave (full of bats, cobwebs, giant spiders). You use a swamp setting with poisonous snakes and alligators like Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings did, etc. Darkness is spooky. So are tiny enclosed spaces. Storms can be eerie--storms of all kinds. Foreign settings where people have odd customs or villages beyond civilization can provide suspenseful settings. Do pay close attention to your settings when you are revising! For example, your plot might call for your heroine to come around the corner of the house and run into your villain. It will be startling on a sunny afternoon, but it will be terrifying at midnight when your heroine sneaks out of her room with the moon under the clouds and a cold drizzle soaking her sweater. Same plot step--running into the villain--but definitely scarier when you use the second setting.

Moderator: How does your description (choice of words) make a mystery mysterious?

Kristi: It has to do with your figures of speech as well as your choice of words. For example, in the book I'm currently working on, my hero is down on all fours hiding in a dark cemetery, and when he stands, a newspaper stuck in his back pocket crackles, sounding like a gunshot. I could have said it sounded like crunching fall leaves, or eating crackers, or Fourth of July fireworks. But the effect wouldn't be the same as the word gunshot. So during your revisions when you have time to play with the effect of your words, change things like "she yelled" to "her horror exploded in a scream," or "his soft voice" to "his voice was a raspy whisper," or "she breathed heavily" to "her breath came out in a long shudder," or "he shivered with fear" to "fear trickled down his backbone like drops of icy water." These were all actual examples of revised descriptions. When you make changes like this, your mildly tense paragraphs can become very suspenseful.

Moderator: As (other) kids would say, "COOL plotting, Kristi:!"

Kristi: You're my biggest fan, Mel!

suesunflower: Do you ever incorporate humor into your mysteries?

Kristi: Yes, I do, and I think humor can be a terrific way to have some comic relief, some kind of break from the tension. In my HAUNTING OF CABIN 13 I had the kids in the cabin doing all kinds of funny things, things my own kids had actually done on vacation there and it made a nice rhythm to the tension/funny/suspense/ comic relief. And usually my "sidekick" character in a mystery is the funny guy.

Moderator: Kristi, do you find yourself using authorial voice in order to explain to the reader what’s going on with your character's conflict?

Kristi: No, because my editor always took an ax to places like that. Certainly it's a temptation to explain to the reader what's going on. My editor said it didn't give readers enough credit for being smarter than I thought. Don’t worry about this when doing your rough draft. Just get the story down first, and then you can go back and find those authorial voice explanations and see how you can better show instead of tell what's going on. More detailed narration? Some dialogue between characters? How can you show instead of tell?

karishma: Does a mystery have to be resolved completely by the end?

Kristi: In children's mysteries, I would say yes. Kids want things wrapped up and loose ends accounted for. In adult mysteries, you'll see more loose ends and things not entirely resolved. I don't particularly enjoy that, even as an adult reader but it seems to be more acceptable in adult fiction. Kids seem to need to have things completely resolved and understood to find your ending satisfying. And you WANT your ending to be satisfying so that they recommend your book to their friends and so they go back and ask for more of your books.

mbvoelker: Is it a good idea to include a mystery subplot in a book of a different genre--say an adventure story? If so, how can we do this effectively?

Kristi: Actually, a mystery subplot can work well in any kind of genre, romantic/suspense is popular, and mystery/sci-fi is popular, and humorous mysteries are popular. Sometimes the trick is in keeping the mystery a subplot without taking over the story, since mysteries are plot-driven stories and they can tend to take over the characters, like in a romantic suspense. So before you add any mystery elements to your genre, be sure you have a solid genre plot by itself first and then you begin examining your characters. What’s in their past that they are trying to hide? what secrets do they have? Where did your characters come from? Do they have something unresolved from the past that they want resolved and settled now? You start poking around in their lives and their setting to find the kinds of mystery ideas we talked about earlier, and then you begin to weave that subplot into your main genre story.

jim: If you send a mystery outline to a publisher, do you reveal all, including the true culprit?

Kristi: When they ask for a complete outline, yes, you tell the whole thing, including the ending and the villain. If you are just writing a query to spark their interest, you don't have to "reveal all," but if they want to see the whole outline, they need to know that you have a good ending, a plausible ending that is a surprise, yet believable.

oma: What is a story board?

Kristi: To be honest, I've heard it used in so many ways I'm not sure. It’s a way of outlining a story, using note cards sometimes and cartoon-like drawings sometimes, but I don't know which--if either one--is the true definition.

Moderator: Maybe I can add here, if I may?

Kristi: Yes, please.

Moderator: At a publishing house, a story board also is--or used to be before computers--a large board standing on the floor. In the case of a picture book, EVERY page of that book would be pasted up in LARGE size for everyone to see and discuss while the book is being put together. Kristi, when you get plot ideas from settings, are there any restrictions there?

Kristi: Well, you must always ask yourself, "Does the crime fit the setting?" Writers of children's mysteries should keep in mind certain basic facts: Young kids are usually confined to their neighborhoods. They get around on their bicycles, they have limited physical strength, and for the most part are under the watchful eyes of adults, both at school and at home. Even when you change the setting (on a Disney cruise with the family, at a mountain cabin on vacation, riding the subway) your young hero is likely to be with parents or grandparents and limited in mobility. So keep your setting in mind when choosing your crime to be sure your hero can work there within his restrictions.

cbrodtrick: How do you decide what happens in each chapter?

Kristi: That comes at the end of the planning, actually. I still write each scene on a 3X5 card, and I will have 30-40 cards in a book. When I get them laid out on the floor in the right order, then I go through and divide the cards, usually into 3-scene groups and those three scenes go in one chapter. Occasionally I will have an extra long scene, so I might have only 2 scene cards per chapter.

Moderator: Kristi:, you NICEly answered a question that came up at a recent Open Forum. That was about how many scenes should there be in a usual chapter. Thanks from many of us who wondered!

Kristi: You're welcome! Just be aware that this is only the way I happen to do it. One thing I have noticed in recently published books, though, is that they are less picky than they used to be about chapter lengths. I've read many books with extra, extra long chapters, alternating with chapters only one scene long at the most. So the hard and fast rule may not be as hard and fast as it used to be!

Moderator: A related question from butterflywng:

butterflywng: How many chapters should a children’s mystery have?

Kristi: If you mean middle grade for 8-12, usually you will have ten to twelve chapters. If you're talking about younger children, maybe 6-9, you might have 6 or 7 chapters, and they would be quite short. For young adult books, you may have up to 20 chapters, and some of them can be quite long.

karishma: Will a mystery based on the occult be accepted in the U.S. market?

Kristi: Oh, yes, they have been for years now. I am reading an excellent book right now that was just published by a friend that uses ghosts and some time travel to unravel a murder done at an Indian school. And it was published by a major publisher in hardcover just a couple of months ago. I don't personally write about the occult, but readers and publishers in the U.S. have enjoyed them for years now.

Moderator: What about characters--what kinds are best for making your mystery mysterious?

Kristi: As I said before about settings, I think a good writer can also make any character mysterious and useful in a mystery plot. And some of the least likely suspects (like innocent-looking old ladies) can make the best kinds. But some characters DO lend themselves more easily to mysteries, like the recluse who lives in the house on the hill or who tends the lighthouse. The slightly odd character works well--like the child who does nothing after school except work in his vegetable garden, digging, digging, digging. Or the person who never speaks or makes noise, but shows up unexpectedly in all kinds of strange places. Anyone with a secret to hide, something from their past that they don't want revealed, makes a great mystery character (either the villain or a suspect).

Moderator: How many suspects should you have in a middle-grade mystery?

Kristi: I personally like to have four. By lots of experimenting, I have found that I can handle and develop that many in the 25,000-30,000 words you're limited to and one of those four suspects is the villain.

Moderator: Do you create your hero first? Or do you create your plot first, and then create a hero that will match your plot?

Kristi: In mysteries, most of the time the basic plot comes first. Mysteries are essentially about plot, so that's natural. But the action involved in solving the mystery must fit your hero. Can your character actually DO what will be required of him or her, and be believable? Solving the crime or puzzle will need to be compatible with his age, health, and size. It can be challenging and difficult, but it has to still be believable--there is sometimes kind of a fine line there! For example, in The Haunting of Cabin 13, the boy confined to a wheelchair helped catch the villain when he rolled downhill after him, knocking him over. The boy had previously shown his skill in handling his wheelchair, so it was believable, although the rough ground and the villain's size still made it a challenge. Just be sure you don't go overboard. If solving the mystery is so challenging that it's rendered unbelievable, you'll lose your reader in disgust. For example, had I chosen instead to have the young paraplegic throw himself from the wheelchair into the lake, then swim across using only his arms, the readers would have snorted and closed the book.

Moderator: What about adults in a mystery, like parents or teachers? Is it necessary to find ways to get them out of the way?

Kristi: Sometimes the hardest part of writing the mystery is getting the grown-ups out of the way so that the kids can carry the story. You don't want all orphaned heroes or ones with neglectful parents, so I've resorted to different things. Sometimes I have the parents so busy they don't notice stuff, like a mom who is taking night classes, leaving the 12-year-old home, in charge, baby-sitting. If you have the setting of your mystery in the child's hometown and neighborhood, they can usually take off on their bikes and go places without parents. Sometimes parents go away on trips, leaving the kids in the care of someone less observant, like a grandparent who doesn't watch them so carefully.

Moderator: What about getting authorities out of the way? How can you have a serious problem or crime without having more grown-ups involved?

Kristi: Actually, with amateur detectives, it's not that hard, especially with kids, because they are perceived as not knowing much or able to do much, so no one pays much attention to them. Amateur detectives can actually take more freedoms sometimes than private eyes or the police because they don't have licenses to protect. But in the case of kids solving mysteries, the clues that point the way to their solving the crime nearly always have to do with things they've spotted, odd ways people behaved, things that happened where you would not normally find any police hanging around. The Writer's Digest book called Amateur Detectives is a great tool for help with this question. It shows how kids of all ages and old ladies (who are sharply observant) can outsmart the police believably, how they can find out clues believably, and personality types that best fit the successful amateur detective.

suesunflower: Do you choose your characters names any differently for a mystery than other types of stories?

Kristi: No, I really don't. Although I know that some authors do, like Encyclopedia Brown, for instance. Since most of my heroes and heroines are the common boy or girl, they get common names.

wingwriter: For a children's book, do you try and make the solution to the mystery a little "obvious," or do you keep them guessing to the end?

Kristi: I try to keep them guessing till the very end, as much as possible, and if I don't, my editor makes me go back and weed out the "heavy-handed foreshadowing" I tend to use to make sure the reader "gets it." You DO have to plant all the necessary clues and make it fair to your reader, but you want to plant them in such a way that they are hidden well. On the other hand, if you don't reveal ANYTHING till the very end, and the whole story is totally foggy, and no suspects seem to be working out and no progress seems to be coming, then you will frustrate your reader into quitting. So I don't mean to give the impression that no progress is made in tracking down clues and eliminating suspects, but you don't want to reveal the solution till as close to the last page as you can possibly get. Wind up your subplots before the final big "hurrah" so there is little to do but resolve it and be finished.

Moderator: It looks like you do a very sensible thing in your books, Kristi, counting on kids to understand what isn't exactly spelled out.

Kristi: I'm still learning! All my editors have complained that I don't give kids enough credit for knowing more. It’s no surprise that my OWN children told me the same thing when growing up. 8-)

cosmo: Do you solve your mystery in the last chapter then?

Kristi: Yes, I do, and the last part of the last chapter. I have the climax scene, where it looks like the hero isn't going to make it, happening at the end of the second to the last chapter, and that carries the reader into the last chapter.

mbvoelker: Speaking of foreshadowing, as you were before, how do you make it seem natural? How do you keep it from being obvious?

Kristi: If you mean planting clues so they aren't obvious, I usually do it in three ways. Settle back, this might be a long answer, but it's important in mysteries. Be sure that you play fair with the reader. The clues have to be in plain enough sight that a good reader can find them. And you can't wait till the end to plant them, either. It takes no great writing to plot a mystery and keep the reader fooled if you don't give out any decent clues till the last few chapters! The reader wants to feel, as I did as a child, that he has a fair chance of solving the mystery right along with your hero or heroine. And since this is true, you must learn to plant them in such a way that they are "out there," yet hidden. You must plant false clues, or "red herrings," to take your hero off onto wrong paths, accusing the wrong people. Your villain often supplies these false clues. Your reader deserves a good hunt. There are some of the tricks of the trade for planting clues. Mystery writers use a variety of ways, and you'll want to use several ways, whether you're writing a short story or a book. I tend to use three main methods for planting clues. The first is that I hide them in plain sight. I put the clue right under the hero's--and the reader's--nose. In my The Haunting of Cabin 13 the heroine reads various things in the park brochure aloud to her parents in the car, revealing the main clue that will solve the mystery at the end.

Kristi: You can also hide clues in a list. Make the clue just one item of many in a long list. For example, in one mystery, an important clue to solving a poisoning was on the kitchen counter. When the heroine got ready to wash dishes, she pushed aside some stuff, and I listed four or five things she shoved to the side. One of those things was a clue, an object that shouldn't have been there. Sometimes you can't hide the clue in a list or in plain view. But if it's an important clue, you the author have to give it to the reader. When that happens, give the clue (like in a conversation between people), but then create a diversion quickly, some kind of emergency maybe. Perhaps that conversation is interrupted by a scream coming from upstairs or outside, or a frantic phone call. By the time the hero has attended to whatever emergency you created, he will have forgotten the clue, and so will your reader. Only later, when the solution is revealed, will the reader remember that clue.

cosmo: How hard is it to break into mystery chapter books?

Kristi: I don't think it's as hard as some other genres to break into because so many mysteries are published. And there are so many great "how to write mysteries" books available that you can start at a level of professionalism that is quite high. Kids who read chapter books have always loved mysteries--I suspect they always will.

Moderator: What a helpFUL answer, Kristi:, thank you!

Kristi: You're welcome, do you want any titles of those books?

Moderator: Yes, please.

Kristi: I have a shelf full, but I'll give you some of my favorites. First, I want to say that you don't have to read any reference books to write mysteries, especially if you have always loved to read them. You've absorbed a lot by osmosis about suspenseful writing that way. I sold four mysteries before I ever bought a craft book on writing mysteries. However, there's no need to re-invent the wheel either. Many fine books on the craft of mystery writing are available, and they can help you solve plot problems especially. From my own shelves I can recommend: Joan Lowery Nixon's Writing Mysteries for Young People, a book edited by Sue Grafton called Writing Mysteries and The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery by Robert Ray and Jack Remick. Many helpful books are in the Howdunit Series by Writer's Digest books, like Missing Persons, Rip-Off, Amateur Detectives, Modus Operandi, Deadly Doses. There’s also Mystery Writers Handbook, edited by Lawrence Treat and You Can Write a Mystery by Gillian Roberts, among others. All these books overflow with tricks of the trade!

Moderator: What a treasure for us wanna-be mystery writers!

jim: If you plant a false clue, is it better at the end of a chapter where the reader will reflect or at least take a potty break, rather than buried in the middle?

Kristi: I've never thought about that! If it's a false clue where you're trying to point the reader in the wrong direction, then you'd want to give the reader time to reflect rather than bury the clue. It’s the real clues pointing to the real villain that you want to bury or disguise as much as you can. I hope that makes sense.

lizr: Do you watch old mystery movies or TV shows to study techniques?

Kristi: No, I don't watch them for techniques--just for fun--but I dare say that years of watching "Murder She Wrote" or the one with Dick Van Dyke as the doctor--what is that?--probably didn't hurt. You get a lot by osmosis.

lizr: Do you read adult mysteries as well as children's? If so, who are some of your favorite mystery authors?

Kristi: Yes, I love adult mysteries, but not the gory Stephen King kind, but more what they call "cozies." Miss Marple is an old-fashioned kind of cozy mystery, and I love so many of today's women mystery writers--they've really come into their own. Sue Grafton's latest book was one of her best, for example.

Moderator: To make a mystery most mysterious, is a single viewpoint better than a multiple viewpoint, or does it matter?

Kristi: I've read great mysteries using both the single POV and a multiple POV. I personally prefer, as a reader, to read single viewpoint mysteries. Once I get involved in the action, I don't like getting jerked back into someone else's viewpoint. There is always that pause, that emotional break, when you are pulling OUT of one character and getting INTO the next character. I don't enjoy that, and it makes it easier for me to put the book down and go do something else. When I am reading a single viewpoint mystery or suspense book, it is easier to be swept along, chapter after chapter. However, having said that, there are certain mysteries that have plots that are best served by knowing what's going on within another character or at another location where the hero just can't be. In that case, a multiple POV would be necessary. Just be sure it's really necessary for your story, because multiple viewpoints have a special set of challenges.

Moderator: Kristi:, the time has gone too quickly, but I expected it would with a veteran chat roomer like you. Thanks to ALL of you for coming tonight! And thank YOU, Kristi, for returning this evening, and for the excitement you've created about writing mysteries for young readers. We are very thankFUL you came!

Kristi: This was such fun! And I'm amazed how fast the time went! It was great being back!

Moderator: We'll have you back again, early in 2003!

Kristi: Can't wait!

Moderator: There won't be a chat interview two weeks from tonight, because that's Thanksgiving. But on Thursday, December 12, Barbara Kramer will be here to talk about writing biographies for children. She will be sharing with us about "How to Write the Story of a Life" in biographies. Though biography is nonfiction, the story is crucial in order to create a book children will want to read. Barb Kramer has proved her ability to do this with 12 biographies. Please join us on December 12.

Moderator: Thanks again, Kristi:, for coming and sharing tonight! Good night, everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving!

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