Meredith Sue Willis

Writing Exercises

New: Questions and Answers

Go Directly to Current Exercise

Dear Visitor,
    I am a veteran teacher of writing to everyone from university level to little kids. I offer these writing exercises in the spirit of the Internet as a place for a new kind of community of sharing and exchange. I call them "exercises" rather than "prompts" or "lessons" because I think of them as ways to strengthen the writing muscles that you already have and as ways to expand your range of techniques. The execises are free, but if you want to give something back, please read some of my online fiction or take a look at my books. I also offer suggestions for small and tiny press books that you might want to read or purchase as gifts: see giftbooks. I also teach private classes online as well as public classes at New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies, and, finally, I have a free newsletter you can get by sending an e-mail to:  Readerbooks-subscribe@topica.com . You may also read it at Books for Readers .  I appreciate feedback-- which exercises were useful to you? Do have suggestions for me to share with others on this site?

                                    -- Meredith Sue Willis

Current Exercise

Pick an event from history, perhaps one you lived through, and write about what you (or some characters) were doing at the time. Where were you (if you're old enough) when Kennedy was shot? How about when the World Trade Center went down? What was happening in your life (or your characters' lives)? Was it influenced by the historic event or in contrast to it?

You might also try an event from before you were born, and imagine what it would have been like to be there-- or just to be alive at the time.

Writing Hints

I'm typing in final corrections to a manuscript, and I decided to do it in reverse order, or at least Chapter 21 followed by Chapter 20 followed by Chapter 19 etc. It feels uncomfortable, but keeps my focus on the sentences and words. To read in order is to get swept up in story-- ideal for a reader and for the writer as she drafts!-- but it means you tend to skip little rough spots and even outright errors. So even though this isn't the most fun, it is a good technique, IMHO.

Check out Jessica Murphy's piece on avoiding Gawking Characters at Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

The biggest hint of all is to find a time in your life for regular writing. It doesn't matter if it's every day or every week-end or six weeks in the summer-- you need a period of time you can depend on. You may also occasionally get an inspiration that sends you rushing off to your notebook or computer, and that is great, but it is an extra-- a gift from the universe! To edit and revise and continue and finish work, you'll need that regular place and time.

Separate your critical brain from your drafting brain. Try writing at least three paragraphs (or even better, three pages) before you go back and fiddle with the words. If possible, don't read over what you wrote today until tomorrow or at least after lunch. It will be much easier to make changes.

Questions and Answers

Q: What do you do when you've written different endings and like none of them? I keep telling myself something will come, something I haven't thought about, but so far it hasn't.

A:I usually think in terms of hypothetical endings. I'll do a whole draft of a book and know that the end is weak, but at least I've had the satisfaction of writing “The End.” Then I'll lay it aside for perhaps a couple of months, then go over it from the beginning, and plunge on through. Of course, I may end up with another imperfect ending, but when I've finally made enough drafts, I usually have finally found the "real" ending, or at least the real stopping place.

Q: How do I create realistic characters? I'm not striving to write great literature. I want to write a thriller, and I'm best at action and suspense.

A: People who take my writing classes tend to fall into one of two categories. Some start with characters and have trouble finding stories for them; and some start with plots and have trouble with characters! It sounds like you are one of the second group. One good trick is to write back stories for your main characters-- mini biographies (or even a resumé!). Try to figure out the person's age, where they grew up, education level, ethnic background, what they want out of life, what their favorite food is-- all kinds of details, that might be useful in your story, too. Here's a list to get you started.

Also check out this advice from Writer's Digest about motivation and the arc of change in a character.

Q. What about verb tense? The present tense is so much more dynamic. I am using past tense as in a story telling mode. Which is better in fiction?

A. I use the present tense sometimes, but it isn't my favorite. I like it best for very short pieces. In general, especially for longer works, I prefer the plain old story teller’s past myself. There are plenty of good books and good writers, though, that use the present tense extremely well. So, on the one hand, good writers make anything work. On the other hand, a lot of younger writers use the present tense because it is something of a fad. Take a look at http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#presenttense for some thoughts on pros and cons.

Q. What about working on two novels simultaneously?

A. This, like many other things, depends on you. When I get stuck, I go on to a new project, so I often have two or even more books and a couple of stories and articles going at once. I also trust that I'll be able to get back to the things I've left.

Q. I'm writing a novel and having a hard time with technology. Do I include cell phones? IM? Facebook? Twitter?

A. That's a tough one. The clearest way to deal with it in my opinion is to consider every novel a historical novel, even if it is set in 2009. Make sure you have the right technology for the year. There are also lots of tricks-- your character can be the kind of person who always misplaces her cell phone or lets it run down, for example.

Q: I have my first paid writing gig. It's for an online travel website. Do you think it's unusual or bad that they own all future rights to the article, or is this standard? From their website: Publication Rights: We are only interested in articles that aren’t yet published, and we own all future rights to the paid pieces you publish through us. If you prefer to maintain future rights, please submit your article through unpaid articles program.

A: Writing for Hire (which is what you're describing-- the publisher owns the rights) is not great, but it's totally common. In other words, it's done a lot, especially with nonfiction, but also with some things like popular series books for kids that have different authors for each volume. It's not a scam, just not ideal. What I have done in such circumstances is to write a separate version of the piece, longer or shorter, maybe fiction instead of nonfiction, or using different examples to make the same point, or whatever, if I want to use it again. They can't buy your ideas and experience, just the words you've written.

Words to avoid

There are certain words and phrases, all perfectly good English, that I avoid in my writing. I find that I have in the past overused them, probably because I actually like them. One word I have sworn off is “shard.” "Shard" sounds like what it is, a broken piece of something, but I’ve come to over-use it. It seemed like every time a glass broke or sun was refracted through a window in my prose, I would call it “shards of glass” or, metaphorically, “shards of light.” I also avoid “smirk” except in really particular circumstances, preferring the more neutral “grin” or “sneer.”“Smirk” has an almost comic book quality for me, so I have to really careful of it. I also avoid certain phrases I used to love as a beginning writer: "visibly shaken" was one I used to look for excuses to use, as in "When she heard him say her name, she was visibly shaken." When I was a child, I adored "gathered up her skirts!" That's got to be what Cinderella did when she fled the Ball, and I was always looking for excuses to have someone gather up her skirts and run away. Do you have such words and phrases on your personal Avoid list?

More

Try not to do just one thing if you can do more than one. Don't give the information that he ate a steak, rather, show both that he ate a steak and that he was angry when he was eating it: "He stabbed his fork into the slab of sirloin and and slashed off a piece with his knife."

After you've written your draft, go through it looking to see if all the essential conflicts have been dramatized. This is an especially good technique if you feel that your dialogue is flat or boring. Put the dramatized conflicts into the dialogue.

Put thinking, contemplation, and dramatized flashback scenes at a point in your story where it would be natural in real life too: riding a train, lying awake at night when the character can’t sleep, etc.

Click here for hints from writers, editors, and agents.

And here for what some writers have to say about writing and literature.

More Free Writing Exercises below and here :

Exercises 1- 20

Exercises 21- 40

Exercses 41 - 60

Exercises 61-80

Exercises 81-100

Exercises 101 - 120

Exercises 121 - 140

Here's something new that looks like fun: Snapfiction.com offers a writing exercise "challenge" every week--give it a try!

Here's something especially for teachers-- a free writing prompt of the month: http://www.unr.edu/educ/nnwp/Mini_Lesson_of_the_Month_Club.htm

Looking for Poetry Writing Exercises? Writenet at Teachers & Writers has some good ones originally planned for young people, but they would make great starters for anyone

For writing exercises for children, click here. Teens can use the ones on this page, or look at my page for teens.

Here's a link to a really interesting haiku exercise from Timothy Russell.

And then there is making fun of writing prompts:McSweeney's has a fairly funny take-off called "Thirteen Writing Prompts" by Dan Wienceck

Rita Marie Keller has a blog called Buried Treasures that is full of writing prompts and links to more writing prompts. " Essays and writing exercises to help you uncover the great writing ideas you already have."

Exercise # 181

I never used to admit that I like to write things related to holidays. Here are a couple of valentine exercises:

What is the daily life of Cupid like? In this case I mean the little Cupid who appears in advertisements and commercials, not the one from mythology.

Write a monologue poem for your Cupid.
Write a personification-- that is, describe an individual or creature called "Love." Try something other than the little chubby toddler above with the wings too small for use, and be sure and include objects Love has, Love's clothes, etc.

Exercise # 182

Here's something different to try. Can you find the original poem in this wordy version? For prose writers like me, learning to tighten and cut can be one of the great challenges of revision.

For the original poem, a translation from the Japanese, click here.

Hey, sparrow!

It is a beautiful morning
The sun is shining
The sky is blue
At my grandmother’s farm
in the country.
I see a little small tiny
brown and black sparrow
chirping and pecking.
He is in the road
Suddenly I see danger!
Hey, sparrow, I say,
Quick! Quick! Move fast! Hurry!
Move out of the way,
A huge white Horse with big feet
And a long rough mane
Is coming right at you!

Exercise # 183

Write the address of an apartment or house where you once lived. Close your eyes and put yourself back there, experiencing it with all your senses, not neglecting smell, touch and sound. Walk through it. Write in detail a description of the place.

Now write something that happened there once...

Exercise # 184

Describe a person you have seen, or a character in something you are writing, in the form an introduction. Have the character speak to the reader, describing himself or herself directly. This is a good way to explore a character's perception of self. Model your writing on these opening lines of Par Lagerkvist’s novel The Dwarf:

I am twenty-six inches tall, shapely and well proportioned, my head perhaps a trifle too large. My hair is not black like the others, but reddish, very stiff and thick, drawn back from my temples and the broad but not especially lofty brow. My face is beardless, but otherwise just like that of other men. My eyebrows meet. My bodily strength is considerable, particularly if I am annoyed. When the wrestling match was arranged between Jehosophat and myself I forced him onto his back after twenty minutes and strangled him. Since then I have been the only dwarf in this court.

(Opening lines of Par Lagerkvist's 1944 novel,The Dwarf as it appeared in the 1958 Hill and Wang translation.)

Exercise # 185

I am writing this latest exercise on May Day, which was for many, many centuries a celebration of spring, and then, for many more years, a holiday celebrating labor called International Workers' Day.

Write a passage of prose or perhaps a poem celebrating work. This could be a detailed description of the beauty of someone gardening or making tortillas or running a piece of heavy equipment. Focus on the beauty of the physical act of labor.

If you are engaged in a novel or memoir, try to make this have a place in your work.

Exercise # 186

There's an amazing webcam trained on an Allen's Hummingbird somewhere in Orange County, California. People have gotten totally fascinated by this tiny bird's life, her frequent egg laying and babies, the occasional attacks by lizards and crows.

Visit the website, then write

(a) a description of what you see

(b) an ode to Phoebe Allen

(c) a revision and improvement on the annoying chat dialogue running alongside the webcam image. Can you make more sense of it? This in itself would be an interesting experiment in the difference between boring reality and sharp, presumably meaningful fiction.

Exercise # 187

Write a scene in which someone (you, if you're working on memoir) attends a religious observance that is unfamiliar. Begin with the concrete observations that the individual makes, and then move into the reactions, which can range from admiring to frightened to critical with a million variations. Then try to have the character make some generalization, correct or off-base.

Here is a sample from the prologue to my novel Trespassers about a very small difference in the translation of a prayer in two Protestant sects:

That week-end, her friend...invited her to sleep over on Saturday night and to go to the Methodist church on Sunday morning. Our girl, a Baptist, had never been to a Methodist church. She hoped they wouldn't think she had switched sides. Everything went smoothly until they said the Lord's Prayer.

She had been taught to say, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” but at the Methodist church, they said, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

She went cold and sucked in her breath.

She vowed she would never say those wrong words, not even if it offended the strange Methodist God, who owned everything and knew what she had done that afternoon up on the hill.

Exercise # 188

Here is an interesting writing prompt, courtesty of Suzanne McConnell. Her response to the prompt follows.

The exercise is simply to write for ten minutes beginning with this sentence:

You better not never tell nobody but God.

“You better not never tell nobody but God.”

“And he ain’t listening,” Grady said.

“He listening all right,” his mother said. “You b’lieve me, he can listen. He seeing you right now.”

“I done spect he is. But even He cain’t do nothing about it now.”

“Someone can,” his mother said. “Your girlfriend. The po-lice. “

“I ain’t telling them. “

“I said, you better not never tell nobody. You get to drinkin, you get to thinking, you prone to talking. Better quit drinking. Better go somewheres. Get your jaw wired tight.”

“I gonna light out at the end of the day. Shouldn’t a even tole you.”

“I’m your Mama. Not telling you to git, just telling you not to tell nobody else, son.”

“Reckon you are. All I done was seen it. Thas all I done.”

“You tell your loudmouth girlfriend, she go tell that preacher. Word gets out, them hoses will come around, and a cross will burn right on my lawn, you know that. One life, a couple of lifes gone. No need for another one, yours or mine. Jes’ keep what you saw in the dark to yourself.”

“I doan know, Mama, if I can do that.” He heard himself say it so softly, as softly as he’d ever heard anything, and the kitchen floor creaked, creaked all by itself. He’d seen that big white man, and the skinny one, in the dark dead of the night, going down the Ozark road, and he’d seen who they were dragging behind, that body bouncing along the dirt road, and he’d brought her the headline in the paper. He knew who those men were, even knew their names, and now he felt the burden of knowledge in a way he’d never known.

He looked around the kitchen. The tin pot on the stove, the yellow flowered potholder she’d made, the dishtowel from flour sack. He knew this kitchen, man he knew it. Lineoleum beat up, tore up near the icebox. Light green squares. The dishes, Sears Roebuck, with the red wheat pattern in the middle, the red line circling the edge. Fake bone-handled silverware, Sears too. The curtains she’d sewed, the hems ready-made from the hems of the sack, now a little ragged, and how his Pa liked to tease her about her corn bread made with too much white flour just so she could get her hands on those flour sacks. The window and outside the blue bottle tree.

Exercise # 189

Take an old passage of your writing-- something you haven't looked at for months or years, or a passage you've been having trouble with. Try revising it in some particular genre: that is to say, try giving it a tone or romance or some of the suspense of a thriller. Imagine it is being prepared to be read by young adults or even children. Could it be a cowboy story or a fantasy? I'm not so much suggesting a parody here (although that could be fun) as a new way of looking at the material: what if there were a mystery? Would this still work without the sex? Give it a try, and see if anything comes out that you might use...

Exercise # 190

Does your main character change during the course of your story or novel? Where does the character start? Where does she or he end? Write a one paragraph report just on this change. "As the novel begins, Lester is a typical thoughtless vampire who finds himself as the story goes on, falling in love with one of his victims. He doesn't like the feeling of responsibility that comes with this. By the end..."

Exercise # 191

Here is an interesting writing prompt, courtesty of Suzanne McConnell. Her response to the prompt follows.
This prompt was visual. Suzanne used this image: Girl looking in a window from outside. Inside there’s a lamp shade turned oddly up, the other way, over the end of a couch.

What’s in here, Louise thought. She’d stopped because she saw that no one was home, it seemed. She wasn’t prone to peering into people’s windows. But there was no car in the driveway, no lights on in any other room but this, and she could see from the outside that there was something awry. Or she sensed it, maybe, because really, she told herself, she hadn’t seen the shade until she’d already peered in. There was a pile of pages on the couch, typed pages. Part of it was neatly stacked, part turned over and fanned out, like someone had been reading them.
    “Hello,” a voice said. She turned around but no one was there. She heard it. She swear she did. Then a woman came into the room, a woman about her age, and sat down on the couch and picked up the stack. She looked as if she were going to read, but suddenly looked straight out at Louise.
    I know she can’t see me, it’s dark out here, Louise thought. But the woman continued to look straight at her. She had quite piercing eyes, a frank, pointed stare. What are you staring at, Louise stopped herself from saying aloud.
    “You are the audience,” the voice said. Now it seemed the voice of the woman. “You are unknown. I am the one in the light, exposed. These pages expose. You are staring in, staying outside in the darkness, with nothing to lose, or be judged by.”     Louise knocked on the door. It was a front porch, in the front of the house. She’d had to go around. She didn’t hear anyone coming. She knocked louder. Still, the woman did not stir. “Let me in,” Louise said. She began banging, banging, banging on that door.

Exercise # 192

Urban Dictionary is an interesting resource online where people put in their own definitions of current slang and catch phrases. Most of the contributors also give examples of usage to show what they mean-- and a lot of these are really funny bits of dialogue. For example, Chris G. writes that "violent agreement " means when two people think they are arguing, but fail to realize they actually agree. His example is

Ross: This arena is bigger than the old one.
Morgan: Not much bigger.
Ross: It is bigger.
Morgan: Barely, hardly enough to notice.
Ross: It's definitely bigger!
Morgan: But NOT MUCH bigger!
Chris: Uhhh, guys? You're in violent agreement.

Try a passage of dialogue that makes clear some slang term that has always amused you-- either with or without a definition. Or, get a term from Urban Dictionary and use that.

Exercise # 193

Read the scene below in which an ill-matched but very rich couple is passing time on their yacht on the Mediterranean. We are, of course, in Victorian England where the rules are different from now. Try writing a scene in which a modern ill-matched couple is subtly acting out their bad relationship.

From Chapter 54 of George Eliot's Daniel Deronda:

For their behavior to each other scandalized no observer--not even the foreign maid, warranted against sea-sickness; nor Grandcourt's own experienced valet: still less the picturesque crew, who regarded them as a model couple in high life. Their companionship consisted chiefly in a well-bred silence. Grandcourt had no humorous observations at which Gwendolen could refuse to smile, no chit-chat to make small occasions of dispute. He was perfectly polite in arranging an additional garment over her when needful, and in handing her any object that he perceived her to need, and she could not fall into the vulgarity of accepting or rejecting such politeness rudely.

Grandcourt put up his telescope and said, "There's a plantation of sugar-canes at the foot of that rock; should you like to look?"

Gwendolen said, "Yes, please," remembering that she must try and interest herself in sugar-canes as something outside her personal affairs. Then Grandcourt would walk up and down and smoke for a long while, pausing occasionally to point out a sail on the horizon, and at last would seat himself and look at Gwendolen with his narrow immovable gaze, as if she were part of the complete yacht; while she, conscious of being looked at was exerting her ingenuity not to meet his eyes. At dinner he would remark that the fruit was getting stale, and they must put in somewhere for more; or, observing that she did not drink the wine, he asked her if she would like any other kind better. A lady was obliged to respond to these things suitably; and even if she had not shrunk from quarrelling on other grounds, quarreling with Grandcourt was impossible; she might as well have made angry remarks to a dangerous serpent ornamentally coiled in her cabin without invitation. And what sort of dispute could a woman of any pride and dignity begin on a yacht?

Hey, sparrow!

Hey, sparrow!
out of the way,
Horse is coming!
By Kobayashi Issa
Translated by Robert Hass

.

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Writing Exercises

-- Meredith Sue Willis

Current Exercise

Writing Hints

Check out Jessica Murphy's piece on avoiding Gawking Characters at Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

Separate your critical brain from your drafting brain. Try writing at least three paragraphs (or even better, three pages) before you go back and fiddle with the words. If possible, don't read over what you wrote today until tomorrow or at least after lunch. It will be much easier to make changes.

Questions and Answers

Words to avoid

More

Try not to do just one thing if you can do more than one. Don't give the information that he ate a steak, rather, show both that he ate a steak and that he was angry when he was eating it: "He stabbed his fork into the slab of sirloin and and slashed off a piece with his knife."

After you've written your draft, go through it looking to see if all the essential conflicts have been dramatized. This is an especially good technique if you feel that your dialogue is flat or boring. Put the dramatized conflicts into the dialogue.

Put thinking, contemplation, and dramatized flashback scenes at a point in your story where it would be natural in real life too: riding a train, lying awake at night when the character can’t sleep, etc.

Click here for hints from writers, editors, and agents.

And here for what some writers have to say about writing and literature.

More Free Writing Exercises below and here :

Exercises 1- 20

Exercises 21- 40

Exercses 41 - 60

Exercises 61-80

Exercises 81-100

Exercises 101 - 120

Exercises 121 - 140

Here's something new that looks like fun: Snapfiction.com offers a writing exercise "challenge" every week--give it a try!

Here's something especially for teachers-- a free writing prompt of the month: http://www.unr.edu/educ/nnwp/Mini_Lesson_of_the_Month_Club.htm

Looking for Poetry Writing Exercises? Writenet at Teachers & Writers has some good ones originally planned for young people, but they would make great starters for anyone

For writing exercises for children, click here. Teens can use the ones on this page, or look at my page for teens.

Here's a link to a really interesting haiku exercise from Timothy Russell.

And then there is making fun of writing prompts:McSweeney's has a fairly funny take-off called "Thirteen Writing Prompts" by Dan Wienceck

Rita Marie Keller has a blog called Buried Treasures that is full of writing prompts and links to more writing prompts. " Essays and writing exercises to help you uncover the great writing ideas you already have."

What is the daily life of Cupid like? In this case I mean the little Cupid who appears in advertisements and commercials, not the one from mythology.

Write a monologue poem for your Cupid.

Write a personification-- that is, describe an individual or creature called "Love." Try something other than the little chubby toddler above with the wings too small for use, and be sure and include objects Love has, Love's clothes, etc.

Here's something different to try. Can you find the original poem in this wordy version? For prose writers like me, learning to tighten and cut can be one of the great challenges of revision.

For the original poem, a translation from the Japanese, click here.

Hey, sparrow!

Exercise # 188

Ross: This arena is bigger than the old one. Morgan: Not much bigger. Ross: It is bigger. Morgan: Barely, hardly enough to notice. Ross: It's definitely bigger! Morgan: But NOT MUCH bigger! Chris: Uhhh, guys? You're in violent agreement.

Hey, sparrow!

Hey, sparrow! out of the way, Horse is coming! By Kobayashi Issa Translated by Robert Hass

Today's Deal

Buy one of Meredith Sue Willis's new books by mail from the order page (Ten Strategies to Write Your Novel or Out of the MountainsI) and get a second book of your choosingat half prioce. For information on books, see Commentary. To order by mail with special deal discount, go to Orders.

Subscribe to Meredith Sue Willis's Free Newsletter for Readers and Writers:

Photos found on the various pages of this web site may be used by anyone, but please attribute the source when it is specified.

Click on the book cover for more information.

In the Mountains of America (Appalachian Short Stories )

Dwight's House and Other Stories (Short Stories)

Oradell at Sea (Novel)

The City Built of Starships (Science Fiction)

Quilt Pieces (chapbook)

Higher Ground (Novel-- First book of the Blair Morgan Trilogy)

Only Great Changes (Novel-- Second book of the Blair Morgan Trilogy)

Trespassers (Novel-- Final book of the Blair Morgan Trilogy)

A Space Apart (MSW's First Novel-- reprint edition)

Billie of Fish House Lane (Novel for Children )

The Secret Super Powers of Marco (Novel for Children )

Marco's Monster (Novel for Children )

Blazing Pencils (How-to-Write Book for Students )

Personal Fiction Writing (How-to-Write for Teachers & Writers )

Deep Revision (How-to-Write for Teachers & Writers )

2009 Blog
2008 Blog
(More Archives, click here)
Blog Archives 1st half 2006
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Blog archives 2005
Blog Archives 2004

Latest Book for Kids
Billie of Fish House Lane
From Montemayor Press
Read a chapter:
Click on Catalogue,
Literature for Children

Reading Red
Maud Newton
Tayari Jones
Lit mob
Lux Lotus
MediaBistro/Galleycat
My newsletter: Books for Readers

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& Resources

Resources for writers
How Artists Get Paid
Int. Women's Writing Guild
Quotations about Writing
Resources for writers
Thunderburst
Edwards Bros. Printers

FamilyOriented Websites
Reading and Traveling with Kids

More
Jeremy Osner

Want some great graphics?
http://ann-s-thesia.com/

Ross: This arena is bigger than the old one.
Morgan: Not much bigger.
Ross: It is bigger.
Morgan: Barely, hardly enough to notice.
Ross: It's definitely bigger!
Morgan: But NOT MUCH bigger!
Chris: Uhhh, guys? You're in violent agreement.

Hey, sparrow!
out of the way,
Horse is coming!
By Kobayashi Issa
Translated by Robert Hass

Subscribe to Meredith Sue Willis's Free Newsletter
for Readers and Writers:

Dwight's House and Other Stories
(Short Stories)

Oradell at Sea
(Novel)

The City Built of Starships
(Science Fiction)

Higher Ground
(Novel-- First book of the Blair Morgan Trilogy)

Only Great Changes
(Novel-- Second book of the Blair Morgan Trilogy)

Trespassers
(Novel-- Final book of the Blair Morgan Trilogy)

A Space Apart
(MSW's First Novel-- reprint edition)

Billie of Fish
House Lane
(Novel for Children )

The Secret Super
Powers of Marco
(Novel for Children )

Marco's Monster
(Novel for Children )

Blazing Pencils
(How-to-Write
Book for Students )

Personal Fiction Writing
(How-to-Write for Teachers & Writers )

Deep Revision
(How-to-Write for Teachers & Writers )