Despite a few setbacks, I’ve managed to keep up momentum on Story Tornado this last month. As a reminder, I’m trying to complete 30 full picture-book draft stories in around 7 months, and I’m posting the synopses as I go. Here’s the latest selection, featuring monsters, penguins and carefully restored statues.
A Dog’s Tail - Ruffles has just woken up to find a strange, wriggly thing attached to his bottom. It must be a snake! And if you have a snake on your bum, there’s only one thing to do – chase it!
Garden Fort - Danny and Cleo have built a fort, but it seems they aren’t the only ones wanting to fight in their back garden. If the children want to keep hold of their lawn, they’re going to have to find a battle they can win, and they’re going to need their space hoppers.
Heads - The problem with old statues is that most of them are broken, at least according to the children of Class 1B. With the help of the school art cupboard, Mia and her friends set out to restore the statues before the big exhibition, with hilarious consequences.
Penguin P.I. - It’s great to be out on the ice floes with your friends, but something fishy is going on, and it’s not just the dinner. When penguins start vanishing, can our hero solve the mystery before it’s too late?
No Monsters at School - Mum says there aren’t any monsters at school, but Dawn isn’t so sure. After all, her sister says there are, so it must be true. Can Dawn avoid the vampires and miss the mummies, or was Mum right all along?
Playground Power-Up – Sorry, this synopsis is top-secret…
So, we are 70% of the way there, and 21 story drafts in 3 and a half months is not too shabby. However, I have some issues that may yet derail my chances:
My day-job is likely to seriously get in the way for the next month, so I don’t expect to complete any more drafts for a while
I’ve only got one almost-complete draft left in reserve, plus around 5 decent concepts, meaning I’m a few short without coming up with some new ideas
I’m writing a lower-middle grade book. I’m 13,000 words into a 20,000-word story but I want to keep up the momentum and get the first draft finished before summer as well
But I bet the Synopsometer is looking good!
