Several years ago, a reader posted a question for author Sands Hetherington. “How does your main characters’ friendship develop throughout the series?” Sands shared the story of John and Crosley’s friendship. For starters, Crosley picked out John to be his Night Buddy. There must have been a lot of reasons, but the only one Crosley […]
Welcome to Part IV in my Q&A series, where I answer questions you’ve asked through social media here on the blog! This week, I was asked, “How does your main characters’ friendship develop throughout the series?” For starters, Crosley picked out John to be his Night Buddy. There must have been a lot of reasons, but […]
Hi all! Welcome to Part III of my Q&A series, where I use this blog to answer the questions you have for me! Just a reminder, you can send your questions my way via commenting on my blog, or through my Facebook and Twitter pages. This week I’ve decided to answer a question I’ve gotten […]
One question authors get asked all the time is, “What advice do you have for someone who wants to write a book?” or “How do I get a book published?” So for today’s Q&A, I thought I’d share my answers with any of you aspiring authors out there! The really true, and absurdly simple, answer […]
First off, I have some exciting news! At the most recent American Library Association Conference, all three of my Night Buddies books were proudly on display! You can see them there at the bottom of the shelf. Just want to say a MAJOR thank you to ALA for that amazing moment and photo opp! I […]
Hello all! I want to start by saying a massive thank you to those who made it out to Scuppernong Books this past Saturday for my Night Buddies reading. It was a blast! As you all know, the holidays are coming up, and whatever you celebrate, gifts are likely to be involved. As a father […]
You can call me old school, but I don’t do the e-reading thing. I like to sit down with a book in my hands, flip through the pages, write in the margins, and keep all the screens at bay even if for just a few hours. Reading, to me, is an escape from the world. […]
After spending the past month at the Bookmarks Book Festival and SIBA 2015 (pictured above), I’ve walked away with a whole lot of inspiration and ideas about what makes a book a success, what people love to read, and what constitutes good writing. So today I wanted to share some of my thoughts on that […]
When my son, John, was born, I didn’t embark to be a stay-at-home father. I didn’t know any other dads who stayed at home to take care of their kids full-time, I didn’t grow up with a stay-at-home father, and the concept of being a man who changed his job description from a solid 9-5 […]
There are two main elements to a story: plot and character. There is debate amongst writers whether one of these aspects is more important than the other, which is why some books are plot-driven while others are character-driven, but the reality is that your book will not succeed if your characters feel inauthentic. This is […]
I’ve written one blog post before about making the decision to write a children’s book, (link to that post here) but I didn’t mention that the decision to write a series of children’s books was actually a separate decision. You see, most authors don’t take on writing a series the way J.K. Rowling did with […]
So you’ve decided you want to tell a story to your child every night before they go to bed, but you’ve read every book in your house over and over, and the only thing you can think of on your own is, “Once upon a time . . .” But as someone who created a […]