I mentioned I would be mostly reviewing action/adventure fiction books on this blog (and I will be); but today I am doing something slightly different and reviewing a poem by Mark Twain, the famous author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Note: I will have a review up of the latter shortly).

How I Found It

It is a very unknown poem and I am guessing the vast majority of you have never heard about it. Everyone I’ve mentioned it to also didn’t know of its existence.

Perhaps ironically, that is why I found it. I had read where someone mentioned that a lot of people don’t learn the full truth. They read Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, but not “The War Prayer,” so I decided to see what “The War Prayer” is about.

Note: If you have any suggestions of your own for books/poems/short stories/etc. for me to review; please let me know in the comments below. I’d really appreciate it.

Description

So what is The War Prayer about? The War Prayer espouses Twain’s anti-war and anti-imperialist views by depicting religious demagogues enthusiastically encouraging people into war. Mothers and sisters of soliders cheer them, and those that did not have a male member of the family that could go to war were saddened.

The community was gathered together at church and were praying for victory in the war. But, in the middle of all this, a man steps in and points out that they shouldn’t just go into a war based on blind faith and pride. No, they should realize that it will be a very costly and bloody war, and they should carefully consider the facts and consequences in order so that they don’t go to war in error.

Not surprisingly, the people, in their ferver, discard him as a lunatic. The poem has clear anti-war undertones. It was not published before Twain’s death. As to why, he said, “No, I have told the whole truth in that, and only dead men can tell the truth in this world. It can be published after I am dead.” It is reported he was worried that it would ruin his career and cause him to be thought of as crazy. His family, his publisher, and many of his friends all urged him not to put it into publication

The Message

As to whether I agree with the political view of the poem I don’t want to get into here-this is not a political blog. However, it is very reminiscent of our society today. For example, with the recent war in Libya; people were saying it was going to help the Libyans greatly and we’d be home in days. They said we were helping people get out from a brutal dictatorship. Of course, not mentioning the Al Qaeda presence among the rebels, the tens of thousands of civilizan deaths, and the great expense of the war. And we’re still there!

I’m not saying you need to be against the war. But at least consider the possibilities, and don’t make a decision based on fabrications and lies! That is what Twain was saying.

The Negatives

The problem with the story is that Twain’s writing is not at its best here. As I mentioned previously, it was never published, so it never went through the final stages of editing, where it would have been further polished. It is not impossible to understand by any means, but the meaning of the story is not expressed in a totally clear fashion, and it was not immediately apparent to me what Twain was communicating. It was dictated by Mark Twain instead of written, which may have contributed to the relatively poor writing (I have had a similar problem with dictating myself, as well).

It is also only 1298 words, so it is fairly short. It should not take too much time to move through, even with the ambiguous way in which it was written. You can find it in several places online for free by merely searching, “Mark Twain War Prayer,” in Google. I won’t include the actual poem here because of possible copyright infringement.

The Verdict

So do I recommend it? It is definitely a very interesting piece, and shows more clearly Mark Twain’s political views (which he only hints at in his most popular novels). While it is not exactly like the current society and wars today (at least in the Untied States), which are not much motivated by religious reasons as much as political, it casts an interesting light on ideas like, “The United States must be the Policemen of the World,” American exceptionalism (the idea that America is so great it can boss the other countries around), and other similar notions; which begin to look more irrational and silly than carefully thought out, sound views. Again, even if you do believe in those concepts, it is a good challenge for the open minded.

It’s free and takes little time, so there’s not much reason not to read it. Overall, I give it a 3.5/5. I would give it a 4.5/5, but had to dock a point because of the relatively poor and unclear writing.

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Yesterday, I created a totally new About Page.

With relaunching the site (or at least putting it in a new direction), the old About Page didn’t do a good job of explaining what the site is about. The focus of this site used to be mainly on writing; but now it’s going to be mainly on reading.

Also; that was written about two years ago, and I’m a completely different person than then, so the personal stuff just wasn’t accurate anymore.

I modeled the new about page after advice from Derek Haplan from http://socialtriggers.com.

So, if you haven’t already; check it out, and tell me what you think in the comments below.

A new book review is coming Monday, so to get it went in first comes out, either get the RSS Feed, or enter your email below.

As you may have noticed; I have not updated this site in quite a while. In fact, it’s been almost a year and a half since the last time I posted on this site.

The reason is mainly because I decided to go start another site, now at TechKidHelp.com. And I just sort of abandoned this one.

Coming Back

I’ve been an avid reader most of my life, and a writer much of it. At some point, though, I lost interest in writing a fiction book, which is sort of why this site died. I’ve never lost interest in books, though. In fact, I’m probably reading more books than ever before!

So I’ve decided to rebrand the site. Now this is a place strictly to talk about books and give book reviews. At first, it will be only my content; but anyone’s free to submit a guest post.

What Genre will this be In?

I read in a good many genres; religion, spirituality, politics, economics; and I could write on any of those easily. However, I definitely don’t want to alienate my audience with my views on those subjects, and so I’ll be writing only in the fiction realm-and perhaps in biographies and such, too. As usual, I won’t be including fantasy fiction, but instead action/adventure to a large degree.

What will the Age Categories Be?

As the tagline of the site says, “Young and old.” However, my current age is fourteen, and I can’t help but read a certain group of books. I read many books for younger kids, and older people, too; so it should be a mix. I really want to make this a community site and to have people of all ages submitting their reviews.

How Often will the Posts be?

Ideally, I’d like to have the posts be every two or three days; but I know I won’t be able to be fully consistent with that. We’ll start out once or twice a week, and add as we go along.

What Else?

I’ll also have sections of the site for political and economic books; but only for the search engines. I won’t link to them from the main page. I’m really looking forward to writing reviews and to hearing your reviews, too; so please get this feed to get the future content.

For those of you who don’t know, yesterday was my birthday. Not only did I get The Writers Market 2010 (which I’m going to review at a later time), my aunt, who happens to be a fairly big editor, also gave me a black journal; almost empty.

At first glance, it may seem like nothing, but upon further examination, it’s actually extremely valuable.

What she did was buy a journal, and write the first paragraph of a story (78 words, to be exact). In return, I wrote 85 words, and in the next day or two, she’ll write the next paragraph and so on.

It may seem like we’re going pretty slowly, but actually, at this rate, we should be done in about six months. That’s less than the average novel, and this should be about 60,000 words.

We also don’t tell each other the plot or where we’re going with the story, so we really have to make it up as we go along. That normally wouldn’t be a good idea, as the story wouldn’t hold itself together and it would be very difficult to continue the story, however, as we’re only writing a paragraph at a time, it’s pretty easy to move forward, even without planning.

This can be really great practice for a writer, because it’s easy to write; not only because you’re writing only a paragraph at a time, but because you don’t have to come up with all the ideas–only half. You also definitely don’t want to let down the other writer and not continue the story.

Writing a book like this with a writing partner can keepy you motivated, keep writing fun, and make it easy to finish a book.

What I’m also doing with this is I’m typing it up and editing it as we go along. Because we’re only writing a paragraph each, we tend to leave out a lot of detail’s that could be included. It’s easy to edit two paragraph’s at a time very carefully, so it’s very possible to publish the book.

In the coming week’s and month’s, I’ll be posting the chapter’s of the book as they come. I can’t wait to share with you how it end’s up, and I highly encourage you to do the same. In my opinion, for five or ten minutes a day, it’s well worth it.

It’s not a secret that almost everyone wants to write a book. According to a recent survey, around 79% of people want to write a book. 40% of them want to write fiction.

It’s also no secret that pretty much nobody actually gets there. While most want to write a book, the truth is that only around 2% (or even less) of people actually do sit down and attempt to work on their book.

The people who do that are already way ahead of most of the game. However, there is one crucial step that most people fail at.

Plot vs. Idea

Sure, people who want to write something usually have an idea. The problem is that just an idea on it’s own isn’t a book. That would be called the plot. The plot is when you actually bring all of those ideas together into a series of events that make up a book.

A plot is probably the hardest part about writing a book; if you have a good plot but bad writing, editors often will accept you anyways. The reason for this is that good writing doesn’t sell books; the actual events in the story do. You can be the best writer in the world; the next Shakespeare, King, Grisham, etc. all boiled into one.

But if what you’re writing about isn’t interesting, people won’t care.

I have seen several authors who are awful at writing published because they have great ideas. Even I still buy their books, because they’re fun to read. In the important step of the plot, everything is decided.

My Plots

Over the past few years, I’ve worked on developing well over thirty plots for different ideas. Some, I’ve discarded. Others, I’m working on currently. For every plot, I’ve developed it and gotten the idea in a different way.

So I want to share what I’ve done you. Later today, expect my first piece of advice in just an hour or two.

In The 39 Clues Book 8: The Emperor’s Code, a lot more is revealed about the secretive Nellie Gomez: She has a “secret mission,” a powerful “boss” or “uncle,” she’s reporting to an unknown source (“In Russia they ran ahead of me on purpose. This is different. Dan knew we were in the square, waiting for him, and he didn’t come back.”), and can pick locks. This fully confirms my long running suspicion that Nellie Gomez is not what she seems. Although the book doesn’t give many details, the few they did give could be crucial in the hunt.

Specifically, I’m talking about the whole fiasco with Nellie’s boss/uncle:

Nellie indicated the satellite phone on the corner of the workbench. “Let me call my boss. Maybe we can work something out…”

“Listen to what my boss has to say,” Nellie went on. “I really think it will be worth your while.”

He looked aggrieved but gestured toward the sat phone. She punched in the numbers and waited for the satellite connection to be made.

“Sorry to wake you up, sir. Yes, I do know what time it is there.” Quickly, she outlined their situation and the passed the handset to the Frenchman. “He wants to talk to you.”

Amy and Dan watched intently as the pilot listened to the voice many thousands of miles away. His eyes widened; his expression grew increasingly awed. He did not say a single word; just handed the phone back to Nellie and announced, “We depart in ten minutes!”

As the man set about the preflight preparations, Amy sidled up to the au pair. “Who did you call?”

Nellie shrugged. “My uncle. He’s a pretty persuasive person.”

Clearly, more is going on here than Nellie admits to the Young Cahill’s. Amy and Dan think Nellie is lying (“Obviously not Nellie’s uncle), and for good reason; who can call up their uncle and persuade a pilot to take her and two children to the summit of Mount Everest?! However, I actually have a sneaking suspicion that Nellie is telling the truth.

Quite some time ago, on one of the many 39 clues forums, I saw a theory that Nellie was actually another child of either Hope and Arthur or Grace and she had been taken away to train.

While she obviously is not the daughter of Grace (Grace was born in 1928, and Nellie is only in her 20’s), it makes a lot of sense, especially with this, that she is another daughter of Hope (maybe even with a different man than Arthur).

Fiske Cahill/The Man In Black

The reason why this would work is because of one key person: The Man In Black, otherwise known as Fiske Cahill.

As we see above, Nellie even admits that she has a secret agenda and secret employer. Many cards have said the Madrigal’s are following Amy and Dan everywhere they go. Nellie is not in any of the four branches, because all four are trying to figure out who she is. That leaves only one possible group: The Madrigal’s.

Therefore, I think Nellie is working for The Man In Black; that makes sense, as well as in one of the cards (can’t remember which one it was at the moment), it revealed Nellie was having interactions with Mr. McIntyre, and in Book 5: The Black Circle, Amy and Dan catch a message on Nellie’s phone from a man in a whispery and cold voice: “Call in for a status report. We haven’t heard from you.”

Fiske is Grace’s brother, so if Nellie was a daughter of Hope and working for The Man In Black, that makes perfect sense.

What do you think about Nellie? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

A few days ago, the title and cover for The 39 Clues Book 9: Storm Warning. The description is something I’ll talk about a little later, as the information it reveals isn’t even close to other sources. However, the cover reveals many pieces of information which could be crucial to the quest and certainly shows that many theories that I have been throwing around for quite some time are becoming a reality. Check out the cover to the left.

Madeleine Cahill

Back in book five, you may remember a code on the inner cover (both front and back) with the name “Madeleine Cahill” spelled backwards, as well as a code reading “Olivia had another.” As introduced in book three, Olivia is Gideon’s wife, the original Cahill, and the mother of the founders of the four respective branches: Ekaterina, Lucian, Janus, and Tomas. These codes can also be found in the second card pack’s (Branch vs. Branch) Madrigal handbook. These two codes imply that Olivia had another child named Madeleine. For obvious reasons, it makes sense that Madeliene would have invented the Madrigal branch.

She had disappeared from the action for a while, but the cover is a certain sign that she will appear in the next book, and the Madrigal secrets will finally be revealed. It’s on the wooden dagger type thing in the middle of the boat. If you enlarge the picture to the fullest extent, it should be easy to spot: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0545060494/ref=dp_image_z_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books.

Fiske Cahill

Most of you will probably remember Fiske; Grace’s long lost brother who disappeared in 1962. Even though many pronounce him dead, a vast number of clue hunters have long suspected that the mysterious Man In Black is actually Fiske, due in large part to the fact that the Man In Black always signs his messages to Mr. McIntyre with “F.”

On the boat, if you look very carefully, you will see the initials “FC.” This almost certainly stands for “Fiske Cahill.” So Fiske will be in the book.

If these two secrets already revealed are any indication, The 39 Clues Book 9: Storm Warning, is going to be, by far, the best one yet.

Yesterday, March 6th, 2010, was a big day for the readers here on The Readers and Writers Paradise: Book 8: The Emperor’s Code was released. I was especially excited for this book, because it was written by Gordon Korman, who is, as most of you probably know by now, my favorite author.

And I have to say this was by far by favorite book in the series as of right now. In a live webcast back on December 2nd, 2008 (seems like it was just yesterday), Gordon said that with as the series is multi-author, with everyone’s creativity piling up on top of each other, by the eighth or ninth book, it would be awesome.

Certainly, his predication came true. As for writing style, this book was clearly written in a different writing style than his other books (I know; I’ve read all of them). It wasn’t just Korman writing the book; the writing style of Rick all the way back from September 2008 is still showing in this piece. I really love the writing style—I think it’s the perfect way to write The 39 Clues series. I don’t really like book three or seven, because of the writing style of Peter Lerangis, but really everyone else has followed suite from Rick and Gordon back in the first and second books.

The plot? Well, at the end of the seventh book, Amy and Dan discover the secret of their family branch: Madrigal (read my branch predication three days before The Viper’s Nest was released). As you can expect, much of the book is centered around that topic.

First, Amy, Dan, and Nellie travel to China in search of the old Janus clue (yep, Jonah Wizard makes his long awaited rebirth into the series). In the Forbidden City, Dan finds a sheet with an equation of the different branch symbols in bottles added together equals the Cahill symbol, along with a Chinese message that later proved important. Unfortunately, Amy starts voicing her thoughts that maybe their parents deserved to die, and Dan storms off. Then, he was captured by the Kabra children, Ian and Natalie. They dump him in a pile of trash, where he is found by Jonah.

Jonah claims he’s making phone calls to Amy and Nellie and trying to track them down. However, when Amy and Nellie ask him if Dan is with him, he lies and says he isn’t, and was never making calls. When Dan meets Jonah’s mom, Cora Wizard (the leader of the Janus branch), it becomes apparent that the Wizard family is just trying to use him. They even claim Dan is from the Janus branch! Unfortunately, that prompts Dan to respond with the following:

“Janus? I’m no Janus! I know exactly what branch I am!”

“I’m a Madrigal!”

The secret kept on who the Madrigal’s were for the first time in hundreds of years is finally out, and people will be hunting Amy and Dan down even more.

Dan flees and leaves a message for Amy and Nellie. He did not give a location, as he would have to keep moving. Both decide the next clue is on Mount Everest, and meet each other in the hanger of a plane specially designed to go to the top of Everest. At first, the pilot refuses to take him, but Nellie puts her “boss” on the phone to talk to the pilot, who suddenly agrees to take them. Nellie later claims it’s her uncle; obviously not true. They also see Nellie pick a lock with masterful skill, and we get to see part of a phone conversation between her and her boss. In her thoughts, she also reveals she has a secret objective. From the Amazon product description of book nine, it looks like we’re about to find out more about Nellie. I’ve put it lower on the page.

When they get to the top of Everest, they see that Eisenhower and Ian are already near the top. Amy grabs a vial containing the clue at the peak, but it slips from her hand, as she tries to grab it, she realizes that Ian is about to fall two miles into death. Instead of saving the clue, she saves Ian. Luckily, it was hidden in the secret Chinese message:

“That which you seek, you hold in your hand,
Fixed forever in birth,
Where the Earth meets the sky.”

Because the paper they are holding is made out of silk, the first line means it’s silk. Fixed forever in birth means it’s frozen, which means its raw silkworm secretion, and where the earth meets the sky means it’s hidden on Mount Everest.

Dan also finds an impression of Anne Bonny, a famous woman pirate in the Caribbean. This tells them that’s where the next clue is located.

The secret code in this book is made from the coded letters:

“Madrigals are behind everything. They lay out the path the others will walk. The end is coming.”

What I make from that is the Madrigal’s plant the clues and leads for others to find, and obviously that the contest is coming to an end. There are numerous examples of the Madrigal’s making leads, such as Nellie “accidentally” placing them into secrets (she’s obviously not one of the four branches, the way they talk about her), and at the beginning of book eight, the Man In Black making sure Amy and Dan saw a certain movie which showed the Janus crest at their next destination. They certainly are the most powerful.

Here’s the Amazon product description for book nine:

“On the hunt for the 39 Clues, Amy and Dan Cahill uncovered shocking information about their past – from what happened the night their parents died to the shattering discovery about their family branch. But the biggest secret of all remains behind Grace Cahill’s alternate will. Now, Amy and Dan are about to discover a long-hidden secret of the Cahils – a secret so dangerous that people died to protect it. Will this be the end of them? Or just the end of everything they think they knew?”

To be honest, The Emperor’s Code was sort of like a filler; not as much as books two, three and four, because we at least got some info from this book, and not quite as much as book six, but more like book five. Certainly this book sets the stage for the outbreak of the series that we know is happening in books nine and ten. I hope to see you on the hunt.

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Here at The Readers and Writers Paradise, I give you advice on how to write a book. But why should you write one? What does it entitle?

Writing

Writing a fiction book is something which, in school, we’re never conditioned to do. Why? Sure, it’s partly that you do have to be a little crazy to put in all that work, but the real reason is that it’s not something teachable. There are no rules; not even the rules of grammar really apply to a novel. You either have it or you don’t.

Some people start writing books because they just want something to do and found they like writing (Dan Gutman; we’re looking at you!), but most people know they want to write one–something inspires them to do it.

Probably the number one reason is that they read a great book, and feel they can write one. Not everyone can write a book,  but it’s impossible to tell immediately. Your writing will progress as you go through the journey of writing.

If you enjoy writing short stories, then I’d recommend at least giving writing a book a whirl. They’re pretty similar.

The Steps of Writing a Book

1. Crafting the Plot

Some people just start writing out of ambition immediately once they have the idea. However, I don’t recommend this. Instead, you should take the time to craft a plot. If not, you will have trouble thinking of what to write, your ideas won’t be nearly as good, and unless you have a super memory that surpasses pretty much any other human, you’re story is bound to have some inconsistencies.

2. Research

Many people like to write without researching their story. I’ve made that mistake before, and it was a mistake. You obviously need to have a setting, and if you don’t know everything there is to know about that setting, exactly what it looks like, and tell them; how will they have an image of the book.

3. Writing

Writing the book is actually probably the easiest part–yeah, I know, ironic. You already basically know what you want to say, but have to say it. Anyone can do the first two steps, but this is what sets writers apart from non-writers; how well they’re able to tell the story to tell the story to the reader. This is the most enjoyable part (in my opinion), and if it isn’t then you probably shouldn’t be a writer.

4. Editing

A lot of first time authors naively think that when they’re done with the first draft, they’re done with the book. However, that’s just the beginning! Gordon Korman once said he goes through his books in full at least twenty-five times to edit the first draft. Gordon’s got around twenty-million copies of his books sold, so you don’t need to do that much, but definitely a fair amount; most of the time is spent on this phase.

Note: Editing while writing the book is also something you should do.

5. Send it Off!

I said the most time is spent editing, but I lied, because actually, most of the time is spent simply waiting around for the publishing company you send it off to read and either reject it (97%) or approve it (3%) (I don’t put those numbers there to discourage you, but those are the actual facts. Writing a book is hard, and if you do all these steps, you probably already have a pretty good chance, because most people just bumble around and put together awful books!). Most likely, you’ll have to send it off to multiple publishing companies. But don’t give up! Harry Potter was rejected multiple times before eventually published, and look at it now.

Note: It is possible to send publishing companies part of your book or just the idea, but if you don’t have any connections or aren’t an author already, I don’t recommend it, because they probably won’t even read it with the number of offers they’re getting these days. You will also probably need to get an agent. It is well publicized that books are not even looked at anymore if someone is agentless.

In two days I’ll give you some ways to get motivated to write; if you choose that route. So I ask you; what do you say to joining me in the journey of becoming an author?

When I finished two chapters of one of my current book projects a few weeks ago, I was worried at how short they were; around thirteen pages altogether, and the word count would be that of a novella, not a novel.

Recently, I discovered why.

I was very befuddled at this new turn into the problem-filled world that is writing. I already had the entire book idea and had planned it would be enough for a trilogy, but for some reason, it just wasn’t cutting it.

As I was laying in my bed, sick, a few days ago (don’t worry, I’m fine), as I was reading one of my favorite books, I knew that my story had a longer plot than the story I was reading, yet it was much shorter.

That’s because most (not all) third-person professional authors do something I like to call, stretching out your writing.

Stretching out your writing is simply making it longer, while actually increasing the reader value, and really not putting in any important information. It’s an important and difficult art to master. I’m not sure if professional writers do it on purpose or just automatically.

When people write, they usually tell what’s going on, emotions, surroundings, things like that. However, that’s not enough to look good in a paperback. So most people add things that aren’t important. Like, maybe, what it reminded him of.

We’ll do an experiment by transforming a sample paragraph (below), to a new, totally cool paragraph that would have a place in a great book.

“Dan glanced up excitedly, fascinated by who the new visitor might be. He was disappointed when he realized it was dreaded Aunt Beatrice; Aunt Beatrice was mean.”

My original first two chapters were something like that (except better written, and on a different topic), because I had forgotten the rules of what we’re learning. So let’s say Aunt Beatrice reminded Dan of something.

“Dan glanced up excitedly, fascinated by who the new visitor might be. He was disappointed when he realized it was dreaded Aunt Beatrice; Aunt Beatrice was mean. Her white teeth and jaws reminded Dan of a shark.”

A little better. Next is feeling. Of course, we always put what our character is feeling, but perhaps not their feelings about their own feelings.

“Dan glanced up excitedly, fascinated by who the new visitor might be. He was disappointed when he realized it was dreaded Aunt Beatrice; Aunt Beatrice was mean. Her white teeth and jaws reminded Dan of a shark. That fact alone was usually enough to make him both laugh and recoil in horror, but now, he faced only one feeling: Dread.”

It’s obvious, but some people forget to put why the character’s think the way they do, or do it later, or not in depth. Let’s add that.

“Dan glanced up excitedly, fascinated by who the new visitor might be. He was disappointed when he realized it was dreaded Aunt Beatrice; Aunt Beatrice was mean. Her white teeth and jaws reminded Dan of a shark. That fact alone was usually enough to make him both laugh and recoil in horror, but now, he faced only one feeling: Dread. Aunt Beatrice was not a nice lady. Once, when he was six, she had confined him to his room; during Christmas!”

A prediction of sorts by the author at what might happen.

“Dan glanced up excitedly, fascinated by who the new visitor might be. He was disappointed when he realized it was dreaded Aunt Beatrice; Aunt Beatrice was mean. Her white teeth and jaws reminded Dan of a shark. That fact alone was usually enough to make him both laugh and recoil in horror, but now, he faced only one feeling: Dread. Aunt Beatrice was not a nice lady. Once, when he was six, she had confined him to his room; during Christmas! Who knew what dastardly plan she had cooked up this time?”

Looking back on relevant past events will tell us a lot about the character and length a paragraph.

“Dan glanced up excitedly, fascinated by who the new visitor might be. He was disappointed when he realized it was dreaded Aunt Beatrice; Aunt Beatrice was mean. Her white teeth and jaws reminded Dan of a shark. That fact alone was usually enough to make him both laugh and recoil in horror, but now, he faced only one feeling: Dread. Aunt Beatrice was not a nice lady. Once, when he was six, she had confined him to his room; during Christmas! Who knew what dastardly plan she had cooked up this time? It didn’t help that Dan had just broken into her glass cabinet while eying a pair of her antique nun-chucks.”

Add more detail about the actual main event.

“Dan looked up excitedly, craning his head so that it nearly popped straight out of it’s neck. His disappointment was total when he learned his surprise visitor was none other than Aunt Beatrice. Her white teeth and jaws reminded Dan of a shark. That fact alone was usually enough to make him both laugh and recoil in horror, but now, he faced only one feeling: Dread. Aunt Beatrice was not a nice lady. Once, when he was six, she had confined him to his room; during Christmas! Who knew what dastardly plan she had cooked up this time? It didn’t help that Dan had just broken into her glass cabinet while eying a pair of her antique nun-chucks.”

There are so many things you can do.

“Dan looked up excitedly, craning his head so that it nearly popped straight out of it’s neck, knocking him backwards. He scrambled to get up, moving so quickly he bumped into his inhaler. Old and dusty, it hadn’t been used for months, but his big-sister Amy insisted he keep it–just in case. What a worrier! His disappointment was total when he learned his surprise visitor was none other than Aunt Beatrice. Her white teeth and jaws reminded Dan of a shark. That fact alone was usually enough to make him both laugh and recoil in horror, but now, he faced only one feeling: Dread. Aunt Beatrice was not a nice lady. Once, when he was six, she had confined him to his room; during Christmas! Who knew what dastardly plan she had cooked up this time? It didn’t help that Dan had just broken into her glass cabinet while eying a pair of her antique nun-chucks.”

Not only does this help you fill the pages, but it gives added value about the characters and the story of what’s going on to the reader. It’s simple, but effective. But there’s a fine line of having too much. Because writing isn’t an exact science (or art), it’s impossible to say for sure, but make sure it doesn’t interrupt the main storyline and mix it up; don’t use a whole heap like we just did above often. Bestselling-authors have used them very non-exclusively all over the place, but I wouldn’t recommend it; most people won’t want to read it, because it just is too much.

What’s your favorite add-on to stretch out your writing?