Outside of the wonderful advice I often receive from fellow writers on-line, at chapter meetings, and at excellent events like the recent ANWA conference, I frequently refer to the advice of author, John Reynolds Gardiner.

Mr. Gardiner is the author of Stone Fox and two other chapter books for upper elementary and middle school children. He uses his original nine-question formula to test story ideas, keep his writing on track, and to polish manuscripts before he submits them to publishers.

He also teaches writing classes at a university in Southern California and has helped several of his students to publish books as well. These questions were created with fiction stories (at all levels) in mind, but can be adapted to non-fiction stories. Enjoy!

1. What does the main character want? If the writer doesn't know the answer to this question, neither will the reader. The reader will become bored and stop reading.
2. Why can't the main character have what he wants? If the main character is not facing a challenge or some stress, there will be no suspense and the reader will lose interest.
3. What happens if the main character doesn't get what he wants? The element of surprise keeps the reader hooked.
4. How does the main character struggle to get what he wants? Most well written stories have three major struggles.
5. What additional hardships does your character face? Additional hardships mean additional surprise. Do you ever wonder why the getaway car always seems to have trouble starting?
6. When does it appear hopeless? Bring your reader to the edge of their seats. Make it hard for the reader to believe that the main character will ever have what he wants.
7. Does your main character get what he wants? The answer to this question is simply yes or no. If the writer can't answer this, you will confuse the reader.
8. When is the stress alleviated? If by the end of the story the main character still wants what he wanted at the beginning, then the story doesn't have an ending, and the story without an ending is boring. In stories where the main character gets what he wants, the distress is obviously alleviated. However, stories where the main character doesn't get what he wants must still have a satisfying ending.
9. What is unexpected or surprising about the ending? If the reader can guess how the story ends, the reader finishes the book dissatisfied.

Epilogue: Many good stories may have both predictable, and yet, unexpected endings. It may be predictable that the main character will get what he wants, but unexpected in how he actually does it.

*This information came from notes taken at a John Reynolds Gardiner author school visit.