Arroah and her dragon

My nine-year-old granddaughter and I are writing a fantasy book. We started January, 2015 and plan to be finished in March, 2016. The time spent together has added depth and meaning to our relationship while creating a memory-maker for both of us.

This book was her idea, and I knew I was headed for an adventure when she told me about the story.
“I also have a name for the girl. It’s spelled A-r-r-o-a-h but sounds like Arrow.”

She and I are close and much alike. Sometimes stubborn and sometimes drama queens, and that makes for lots of fun. But the process of planning and plotting a book during our face-to-face and online sessions has been priceless.

While allowing her to freely express her ideas about character, plot, setting, and dialogue, I’ve encouraged her imagination to soar. We’ve developed a glossary for our fantasy world using words derived from Celtic, Roman, and Greek mythology. We pour over meanings until just the right one surfaces.

No boxed-in thinking for her.

And she definitely has her own ideas.

I wonder if she realizes how much she knows about the art of writing fiction.

Feedback from her is priceless . . .

“Mimi, there’s a question mark at the end of the sentence. So we don’t need the ‘she asked.’”
“The scene isn’t what’s in my mind.”
“The boy should be good in his heart, not how he looks.”
“This can’t be easy for her. She has to work hard.”
“We want to show what happened not tell it, right?”
“Every chapter has to end a little scary so kids will keep reading.”
“That is not a kid-friendly word. Let’s look at your book with the different meanings.” (thesaurus)
“You’re right, Mimi. Short chapters are the easiest to read.”

We have a pact: she’s not to reveal the contents to anyone but her parents. No friends. The story will be a surprise. Her friends doubt she’s writing a book, but their observations couldn’t be farther from the truth. We are doing this together. No matter how long it takes.

March will be here soon. My granddaughter understands a professional will edit the book, we’ll make changes, then we’ll see what method of publishing.

Did I mention it’s about a little girl who finds a forbidden dragon egg? When the dragon shatters its shell, he persuades the girl to begin a quest.