[Amar]

Hey Gordon I'm a huge fan! I'm currently in middle school and I aspire to be a novelist (not an ideal job for the future but hey it's what I enjoy). I'm currently writing a book right now and wanted some advice. Here's the blurb and then questions:

Gracie Devereaux is an Insta-famous orphan with a sharp tongue, trust fund, and zero interest in however her infamous millionaire great-uncle Ambrose views her. To him, Gracie is just a minor inconvenience he has to take care of because his brother’s son died. Ambrose’s heir, Alex- already has the fortune on lockdown. Gracie is just biding her time until she can escape her uncle’s manor. 

But when Ambrose and Alex are brutally murdered, everything changes. And the inheritance doesn’t go to Gracie- it disappears from the banks with no trace As she starts to investigate with plenty of her own money at her side, a stranger arrives to shake up her world again: Kane Lemaire, a guy arriving claiming that he is Gracie’s half-brother.

 

Before Gracie can decide if she trusts Kane, danger strikes again. Someone isn’t settled with the terms that Gracie is the sole living Devereaux- and a few bodies don’t make a difference. With her life on the line and reluctant new family and friends, Gracie has to figure out who she can trust- but a conspiracy leaks underground greater than anyone has ever known.

1. Character development: Making a larger friend group. My characters are older and in high school. So far I have 3 in a friend group, but one of them will already be introduced as a new character, and the other 2 were best friends in the first place. I don't know how to introduce more new characters.

2. As authors, traumatizing characters is usually a core belief, haha (not ALL the time). And also sometimes major deaths. A lot of advice I've heard is that to "kill off the sunshine character". Elaboration on this and how I could kill one off without killing the sunshine character instead?

3. Events, world-building: World building is what I need help with the most. I don't want them to be stuck in the same town for AGES. Kind of want it to vary.

4: HOW TO MAKE BETTER CHARACTERS! Usually there's something with the character and that means it's their defining trait (ex. the sunshine character is just super silly, the MC will be sarcastic, and the half-brother will be broody and slightly depressed) and I don't want that, because it makes it boring.

5. Literally just how to make more interesting.

 

I love your books and hope you give me advice AND continue releasing them!

~Amar

Hi,Amar,

Thanks for posting and for trusting me with your plan/outline/characters/worries.

The trouble with your plan is that you seem to want to write off the cuff, and plan it as a surprise to yourself as you go along. It doesn't happen that way, at least not for me.

You need to have a place for Gracie, who is a high school kid who simply can't live on her own. The reality is that no one that age can. If you place her in a boarding school, the other kids can come from there, and their backgrounds can vary between fancy girl spending the old man's money to a family in straitened circumstances who are spending everything they have so that their youngest and brightest can go to a great school. And aside from the "brother," there is going to be a guy in there somewhere, a boyfriend/confidante/hero. But where she lives (with the family of her best friend, maybe?) will have everything to do with who she meets and trust, and mistrusts.

Characters: the half-brother thing is intriguing, except that it can be tested very easily by sneaking his toothbrush or drinking glass down to a lab. Plus now you have two close friends and a new one, and you have to admit that most people don't deal with their serious problems in committee. I can see one more person, but Gracie wouldn't be spreading her problems all over the school. (See? I put her in boarding school. Very high-handed of me. Sorry. But it IS reasonable, as she had only a guardian, and he's dead.)

As you can pretty well see, you're on your own. No one who isn't actually sharing the writing with you can really add or subtract material in this story. I've probably added more problems than you had before, and for that I apologize. But I think I've taught you one rule: writing is a lonely business, usually done alone, shared with one very close person who can be relied upon to tell you it's great/awful/so-so..

Good luck, Amar. I hope to be writing you a fan letter one day!                         -----Gordon Korman-----

[Amar]

Hey Gordon, thanks for responding quickly!

I was originally going to make Gracie keep living in her uncle's manor and possibly get emancipated, but now I see that at 16 years old I don't know how that would be legally possible. So maybe I'll elaborate on the boarding school idea or do something similar...

Writing can be a lonely business, especially when most people around me aren't the bookish types, haha.

Thanks for the advice and keep writing,

~Amar