Writing For Children
When I first started reading mysteries, it was all about Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and their uncanny ability to get out of any small-town scrape that came their way. They didn’t need rescuing and neither do the kids in the books I like to write. Or the adults, for that matter.
Although I didn’t realize it at the time, letting the kids solve their own problems was the secret, for me, to a good read. In a world dominated by adults, those stories were a refuge. They helped shape my sense of self as I moved through my teen years, and ultimately, my choice of career.
One of the first books I wrote was for eight to 12-year-olds.
The Mysterious Mr. Moon follows the adventures of Peter and Allison Martindale as they adjust to life in the small town of Maple Bay. Their parents, as the new owners of the Coach House Inn, are struggling to make ends meet. Especially during the off-season.
So when a mysterious stranger comes to stay, they welcome him with open arms. But Peter and Allison are not so sure Mr. Moon is who he appears to be. For one thing, his interest in Mrs. Gruger, the town’s wealthy widow, is decidedly suspect, and he refuses to have anyone enter his room — even to change the sheets!
After tracking his every move, by Chapter Ten, Peter and Allison are convinced Mr. Moon’s about to bump off Mrs. Gruger, And they have the “hard evidence” to prove it…
“Oh, by the way,” Mr. Moon said to Mr. Martindale. “You are still serving beef stroganoff tomorrow night, aren’t you? I’ve asked Mr. Gruger to join me for dinner.”
Peter froze in the doorway. Beef stroganoff! Of course! Why hadn’t he thought of it before?
Allison lay in bed listening to the wind. The shutters rattled and the old maples creaked with each new gust. The waves would be crashing against the cliff, carving out giant scoops of earth and carrying them away. A perfect night for a murder. She shivered and pulled the covers up to her chin.
There was a rap on the door.
Allison sat up, the blankets clenched in her fists. “Who’s there?” she called in a squeaky voice.
“Peter, your brother! Remember me?” The door swung open and Peter’s shadow entered the room. He stood in the doorway, his lean figure illuminated by the hall light.
“I’ve figured out how he’s going to do it,” he announced, striding into the room. “Beef stroganoff!”
“Beef stroganoff? Peter, what are you talking about?”
Peter plunked himself down on the edge of Allison’s bed. “What is it,” he said patiently, “that you don’t like about beef stroganoff?”
“Mushrooms,” his sister replied automatically. “You know that.” Her hand flew to her mouth. “There’s mushrooms in beef stroganoff.”
“And guess who Mr. Moon has invited to have dinner with him tomorrow night?”
“Mrs. Gruger!”
“Exactly.” Peter hopped off the bed and began to stride around the room. “Mom is always saying you can hardly taste the mushrooms in beef stroganoff, right?”
Allison nodded.
“So all he has to do is slip the Angel of Death into the beef stroganoff, and presto! No more Mrs. Gruger!” Peter stopped dead in his tracks. “I just thought of something. What if everybody thinks it’s food poisoning?”
“Then Mr. Moon will get off scot-free and nobody will ever come to the Coach House Inn again,” cried Allison. “Then we’ll really be poor!”
Needless to say, the kids and their friends saved the day in Chapter Twelve, The Deadly Dinner, with the added bonus that Mr. Moon wasn’t such a bad guy after all….
Now available in paperback on Amazon
Why I still make cold calls…
Picking up the phone and calling someone you have never met before, and likely has no idea who you are, can be daunting, especially if you’re interviewing an expert in a field of which you know very little. Like agriculture or mining. Who knew, for example, that triticale was a cross between Durham wheat and rye or that kimberlite pipes, those unique, carrot-shaped rock formations, could indicate a cache of diamonds thousands of feet below the surface!
I certainly didn’t, but, for a few years, this was my life. I was a freelancer, working for a small communications firm in Ottawa. They had a contract to produce a monthly publication on research and development in Canada. I wrote the copy.
It was fascinating, once I grew more comfortable making those calls, and I came away from that job with a greater assurance, and an idea for juvenile mystery involving an abandoned gold mine, an enterprising thirteen-year-old with a nose for crime, and one cranky old guy named Weirdo who refused to sell his shares.
Great concept, one small problem: I knew little about reopening dormant mines other than the fact that, thanks to new technology and better processing methods, getting the gold out of the ground was now easier and more cost effective.
So I phoned a company I knew was in the process of acquiring an old mining concern. I’d done my homework; I knew they needed to control at least fifty-one percent of the shares before they could proceed, and I knew exactly who I wanted to speak with; what I didn’t know was how complicated it would be to track down the original shareholders, many of whom would either be quite elderly or have already died.
Now here’s the thing about cold calls. No matter how well prepared you are, or how well you know your subject; whether you’re trying to interest someone in your work or simply looking for information, finding a personal connection really is worth its weight in gold.
Well didn’t the chairman of the company I was calling, have a daughter who just happened to have lived in the building next to me at university. I wouldn’t 
have known her if I fell over her, nor she, me, after all this time, but that didn’t matter. My cold call just got a little warmer.
I got the information I needed, pitched my story idea to my publisher and two years later, the book was in print.
I called it Paper Treasure.
The reviews were good. Paper Treasure was picked up by Polish publisher Tajemnica (as was The Mysterious Mr. Moon, an earlier title also published by General Paperbacks) and then a Toronto producer acquired the rights and hired me to write the script.
Although the film never did get made, I was able to write and develop other projects for television. All because of that first cold call twenty-odd years ago.
Why your back-cover blurb matters…
Like a pitch, or a synopsis, writing a blurb for the back cover of a book is one of those incredibly-challenging “extras” that go with the job. And it’s not just the words you write, it’s how they look on the page.
My co-author, Susan Brown, and I drive ourselves crazy trying to get it right.
Every time.
And it has paid off in unexpected ways. Last year, we entered Making Up is Hard to Do, our third romance writing as Stephanie Browning, in GSRWA’s first-ever “Open the Book” Back Blurb Contest — all one hundred and eighty-six words worth! Not only did we get to pitch to agents and editors, as finalists we were invited to share the excitement with our fellow authors, members of the general public, local and regional librarians, and book club members at ECWC’s Passport2Romance!
Here’s how we broke it down:
From the author of
OUTBID BY THE BOSS and UNDONE BY THE STAR
Thirteen words above the title to let our readers know we have two other books “on the shelves.” We used upper case, “block” lettering to echo the font which appears on their cover pages.
Making Up is Hard to Do
Six words for the title, the same font as the front cover and centred to match the text above.
One hundred and forty-nine words of text. Three paragraphs in which to grab a reader’s interest with the set-up, character, setting, background and end with a flourish, because who wouldn’t want to know what happens next!
If she’d known Jack Rutherford would walk back into her life, more ruggedly handsome than the day he left, Nicki Hamilton would never have agreed to run the small-town accounting firm of Gammage & Associates for the summer. She would have stayed in Toronto and left the past where it belonged.
A committed loner at thirty-four, Jack is finding everything about the lakeside community of Bedford County tantalizingly familiar. Including the pithy Miss Hamilton…but the timing isn’t right. The Bedford Inn, once owned by his grandfather, is now Jack’s, and what he really needs is an accountant.
Resisting the urge to throw Jack out of her office when he doesn’t immediately recognize her, Nicki hides her fury and takes the job. Jack’s plan to refurbish the Inn intrigues her. Besides, he owes her. Big time. For fifteen years of silence, a dozen unanswered letters, and one broken teenaged heart.
And finally, right-justified so that it sits just above the barcode, a lovely eighteen-word quote from reader and reviewer, Alice Best Jackson.
“The rest of the world can wait when you’re reading a Stephanie Browning romance!”
Alice Best Jackson
Pirates & Prowlers Treasure & Gold…
Send your kids on a summer adventure with three exciting mysteries!
Something’s Fishy at Ash Lake; Paper Treasure, and Pirates, Prowlers and Cherry Pie
School’s out and no matter what your plans are for the summer, it’s always good to have some quiet time whether you’re in the car, at the beach or at home. And with the advent of ebooks, it’s even easier.
With that in mind, we’ve put together a box set for kids and teens with all the elements that made us lifelong readers. From 
Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys to The Goonies and more, reading and then writing for our own children allowed our imaginations to soar.
We hope yours will, too!
Pirates & Prowlers, Treasure & Gold
Available on Kobo Kindle iBooks et al…with three books inside!
SOMETHING’S FISHY AT ASH LAKE Part time detectives and full time mischief-makers Liz Elliot & Amber Mitchell get themselves in way over their heads when an evil prankster threatens their summer vacation! They should be roasting marshmallows, not risking their lives!
PAPER TREASURE When someone steals his late grandfather’s shares in The Treasure Creek Gold Mine, Charlie Bradford is furious! Joining forces with new friend Lisa Kirby, Charlie tracks down his grandfather’s old partners only to find a thief who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the gold!
PIRATES, PROWLERS, AND CHERRY PIE Fiona Smith is having a terrible summer. Despite being bullied by her nasty cousins, she abandons her plans for revenge when a robber targets their wealthy neighbours. Intrigued by the mystery, she makes a pact with her cousins and together they solve the crime.