Writing a Children's Book

Lesson 7: Climax and Ending.

Supplement: Anatomy of a Specific Series.

Some series are open ended, while others have built-in boundaries. “The Orange Outlaw” is part of Ron Roy’s “A to Z Mysteries” series. The titles begin with “The Absent Author”, and “The Bald Bandit” and progress through “The Orange Outlaw” to “The School Skeleton” and “The Talking T-Rex”. A “Z” title would mark the end. To find out more about the titles in this series, visit Mr Roy’s home page and go to http://www.ronroy.com/book_list.htm .

Other series end when the initial challenge or goal is faced or achieved.

"The Reluctant Knight” series was always meant to be a trilogy. There is a specific storyline running through all three books, but each one has a self-contained plot as well. Each book is around 20,000 words, with Book #3 being a little longer. This series is a kind of hybrid; the idea of a trilogy about a young knight came from a publisher, but the plots and characters were author-generated.

The series is pitched to take in the top of JCB level as well as SCB. All three books have covers and internal illustrations by the same artist.

In Book #1, “Knightfall”, a man named Porter asks Simon Knight to exercise his pony, Traveller. Soon Simon finds himself galloping over a plain. He is wearing armour and a dragon is after him.

The dragon, Peggy, claims Simon’s appearance was foretold in a prophecy. She makes him promise to help her find Rifer, the lost dragon prince.

Later, Simon meets serving maid Becca, who can conjure pictures and lights out of nothing with a click of her fingers. Becca takes him to the old knight Sir Humphrey Bookerstaff, who also refers to a prophecy. Bookerstaff trains Simon to fight Fleamer, the terrible dragon king. Simon defeats Fleamer with Becca’s pepper pudding.

At the end of the book, Fleamer is no longer a menace, Simon has gained skills and confidence and proved himself a “proper knight”, but Prince Rifer is still missing… Traveller takes Simon home.

This book stands alone, but sets up Simon’s family, the world of Braveria, the uneasy truce between humans and dragons and the mystery of the missing prince. Peggy’s love/hate relationship with Simon is established. She needs his help, but she wants to eat him!

On the surface, this is a comedy fantasy adventure about knights, damsels and dragons, but concessions had to be made for the younger end of the readership.

Porter’s identity is never given, but he says (and proves) that he knows Simon’s dad. Simon doesn’t use traditional weapons to defeat Fleamer. He poisons him by accident, and then acts to cure him.

In Book #2, “Knight Protector”, Simon returns to Braveria where another prophecy has been found. This one warns that the Princess Elizabetha of Braveria needs a knight protector.

Simon is appointed to the position, but the Princess turns out to be his old friend, Becca. Simon and Bookerstaff escort Becca to boarding school, but along the way she is kidnapped. Now the dragon and human heirs of Braveria are both missing.

After many trials and adventures, Simon rescues the princess, escapes being eaten by Peggy and gets Becca to her school before returning home.

The series threads established or reiterated include – Becca’s powers, her reluctance to be a traditional princess, the missing dragon prince, Peggy’s dual interests in Simon, the prophecies, and Porter’s mysterious identity. Including all the existing threads plus supporting the new internal story meant it was a struggle to keep the book to the required length.

Book #3, “Knight Triumphant”, has Simon actively seeking Braveria. He joins Bookerstaff and other old friends on a quest to seek Prince Rifer.

Becca seems to have changed. Not only is she cold to Simon, but she denigrates her “click-picture” talents and claims her tutor says they are not worth bothering about.

Simon has to work out what is wrong with Becca, come to terms with the fact that he is the only character without special skills, and overcome the baleful influence that threatens to twist his nature as well as Becca’s.

By the end of the story, Prince Rifer is found, a final prophecy has been fulfilled, Becca is back to normal, Peggy has discovered that she cannot eat “a friend” and Porter’s identity and function are revealed. The prophecy book’s provenance and Traveller’s history are explained. Simon is faced with a problem that only he can solve, and he needs to do it by brains instead of force.

The series threads are drawn to a close in this third book, and Simon’s task is done. Again, it was difficult to keep the length down, and this was achieved only at the expense of not including some characters from the earlier two books. Conceiving the books as a trilogy rather than an open-ended series allowed the story arc of Rifer’s disappearance and Simon’s training to come to a controlled close rather than becoming attenuated through too many books.

Simon and Becca grow in experience, but the “real time” in our world is probably about six months.

Villains

No fantasy/adventure would be complete without a villain. "The Reluctant Knight" series introduces one for each book. King Fleamer is the menace in #1, but Simon's efforts turn him into a friend. Lord Perridan, the vengeful relative who kidnapped Becca, is the villain in #2. Simon and Becca short-circuit his ambitions and he winds up under house arrest. In #3 the villain is hinted at throughout the story but appears in person close to the end. He is the most powerful and most purely evil of the three, and is permanently banished from Braveria.

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