Make it Worse

Make it Worse is the advice from one of the writing craft books I read. No one wants to read a book where nothing happens. I was thinking about this because I just rewatched Cast Away, the movie from 2000 starring Tom Hanks. As a reminder, he’s a passenger in a FedEx transport plane that goes down in the Pacific.

This movie is all about Make it Worse. It could be a very boring movie. You’d think there wasn’t much to do on an uninhabited island, but the writers came up with all kinds of things to make it worse. Injuries, weird things washing up, and using all the random things he pulls out of FedEx boxes. I can just imagine the writers sitting around thinking, okay, what can be in those boxes and how will Tom use them? Or was it, Tom needs to do this, what bizarre tool do we send him? Seriously. Who knew you could find so many uses for an ice skate?

I looked up the theme of Cast Away, Google helpfully supplied me with these three: Isolation, Human Resiliency and Overcoming Difficulties. To which I thought: Duh. But I should remember this. Since I write middle grade novels, one of the themes that comes up in almost every mg novel is growing up. The way to grow up is to experience things, usually negatively and there by having to grow from it. And the way to do that is to Make it Worse.

Sometimes it takes me a really long time to learn things.

In my current work in progress, I have an 11-year-old girl who needs to solve the murder that her father is accused of committing. An 11-year-old. They can’t drive, or use social media, or basically go anywhere alone. So how is she going to do it? How can I make it worse?

- The kids at school ostracize her

- She forgot about a big school project she needs to work on

- Her best friend thinks her dad did it

- She has some kind of injury – broken arm, leg

- One of brothers gets sick

- Her bike is stolen

- A grandparent moves in to help out and is very strict

- She has to help take care of her younger brothers limiting her time

And what about those FedEx boxes, or things that washed up on Tom’s desert island. How could I translate that to my book?

- One of my girl’s hobbies leads to a clue – what hobbies could she have? Artist? Theater? Sport?

- What about some old technology helping her out – a Walkman, walkie-talkies, an old party-line phone (are there any of those left?)

- A trinket the murder victim gave her before he died that takes on new significance – a locket, or diary, favorite book

Now is the time to sit down and brainstorm. Come up with some wild ideas and see where they could lead. I need to do it early so that I can work them into the timeline. Also, since this is a mystery, I need to figure out my clues to the ending and how to sprinkle them in along the way.

I hope you’re having a wonderful holiday season, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza or another holiday, I hope it’s great.

Until next time, Susan

What I’m making for dinner: I’m trying a new recipe: Shrimp Saganakik. Here’s a link: Shrimp Saganaki - Skinnytaste I figure it’s a safe bet because 1. I love this website, and 2. how could a recipe with shrimp, feta and kalamata olives be anything but yummy?

What I’m reading: Any Bitter Thing by Monica Wood. This is an engrossing book, another one by the author of last month’s review. I’ve just discovered her and she’s so good! This one is set in Maine, too. It involves family secrets, false accusations, and messed up families. On the middle grade side, Death by Whoopee Cushion by Vicki Grant. Halloween, pranks and a joke shop take center stage in this cozy mystery. It’s a lot of fun, and an antidote to any bitter thing.