The Nuts and Bolts of Writing MG & YA Mysteries, with Fleur Bradley

Beth McMullen Hi friends, I'm Beth McMullen

Lisa Schmid I'm Lisa Schmid!

Beth McMullen And we're the co-hosts of Writers with Wrinkles This is Season 5, Episode 6, and today we're excited to welcome Fleur Bradley… Fleur Bradley to the show 

Beth McMullen Fleur writes short crime fiction and novel-length mysteries for kids, including award-winning Daybreak on Raven Island and Midnight at the Barclay Hotel 

Beth McMullen and the Double Vision trilogy from HarperCollins Recently, she compiled her process for writing mysteries for tweens and teens in her released book, Get a Clue, How to Plot, Write, and Sell Your Middle Grade or YA Mystery 

Beth McMullen Fleur is a literacy advocate and speaks at educator conventions on reaching reluctant readers She lives in a cottage in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies, where she likes to foster rescue animals Find Fleur online at FleurBradleycom 

Beth McMullen So, welcome, Fleur, thank you for being here We are excited to have you back on the show You were one of our first guests way back in Season 1 

Fleur Bradley Yeah, thanks for having me 

Beth McMullen So, can I… can we just talk about the kittens for a second? Is that okay? I know this is a 

Fleur Bradley Good morning 

Beth McMullen Podcast 

Fleur Bradley Oh, goodness, if I start talking about the 

Beth McMullen So cute Fleur Foster's kittens, and if you want joy in your life, please follow her on Instagram, because these kittens… 

Beth McMullen They just make my heart sing, honestly, and the world is a pretty dark place right now, and this is, like, a spot of shining light and joy 

Fleur Bradley That's why I started doing it It was just… it's just such a nice way to make a concrete difference in the world that's kind of tough to be in right now, and kittens make everything better 

Beth McMullen Oh my gosh, they are just… they are so cute They are so cute I mean, I'm literally constantly, like, sending Lisa clips of the kittens I'm like, look, I need this in my life! Oh my goodness 

Fleur Bradley They are adorable 

Beth McMullen It is so wonderful 

Lisa Schmid Can I ask a question? Yes Do you, Flora, do you go around smelling your cats like Beth does? She always tells me that she's the one having… when she's having a bad day, she picks up her cat and just, like, inhales 

Fleur Bradley That's it 

Fleur Bradley You know, kittens, you want to be careful, because they can be stinky still But most of them, you know, this last batch I had came with the mom, so then the mom keeps them really… the kitten moms, or cat moms, are really amazing They just do all the work 

Fleur Bradley And they're… they're just adorable, and they even… they were even smelling good, so yeah, it was hard to let this one… these ones go I get it completely, sniffing cats 

Beth McMullen Lisa thinks I'm weird, but I'm telling you, it's like, it's better than therapy, it's a lot cheaper, and, you know, they're just right here, so I can just access my cats anytime for sniffing 

Beth McMullen Okay, we are here to talk about writing, I know, I know, I know So… 

Beth McMullen We are, we are excited about this Get a Clear book Lisa and I have both had a chance to read it 

Beth McMullen Before we jump into the questions, there was something in the book that I thought was really interesting, and that was the stats you had about reader retention I know this is one of your areas of expertise, so it said something about the big drop-off between 3rd grade and, I think, junior high, like 8th grade 

Beth McMullen And you said that mystery can kind of help, you know, help prevent that… that drop-off Can you just talk to us for a little bit about that before we jump into the questions? Because I think it's really a useful thing for certainly people who are writing in this space to hear about 

Fleur Bradley Yeah, absolutely So the statistics, they shift sometimes, so I won't… I won't use exact numbers at the moment, but basically what happens is 

Fleur Bradley Kids read for fun, right? In 3rd, 4th grade, you can still give them a book, and they'll… and that's getting harder, too, but you can still give them a book, and they'll still read for fun, so they'll go home and read 

Fleur Bradley And then when you get to, sort of, 5th grade, it's just… 

Fleur Bradley almost gone or obliterated, and I think part of the problem, is what's being published and what's being suggested to read 

Fleur Bradley Now, there's been an improvement where, librarians, teachers, they're more open to giving graphic novels, novels in verse, and mysteries I think genre fiction has a major… 

Fleur Bradley Role in trying to keep kids reading 

Fleur Bradley Because if you look at the statistics among adults, what do adults like to read? They like to read romance, they like to read mystery, crime, so why aren't we putting that equivalent, number of… 

Fleur Bradley genre books out for kids I don't… I don't get that disparity, and I think it's important that we keep mysteries 

Fleur Bradley around, because kids love a puzzle, they'll enjoy the deductive reasoning, and, I get kind of on my soapbox, because I do literacy talks, but if you can keep kids reading, it's just… 

Fleur Bradley it opens up a whole world They'll be more successful in school, they'll be more successful adults, they're more likely to go to college, finish high school, in some cases So, yeah, I think mysteries are really important in that 

Fleur Bradley realm, and they're not advocated enough for, I think, sometimes 

Fleur Bradley And they could be a major tool 

Lisa Schmid Mysteries are so… I mean, and also, it just encourages this critical thinking, you know, they're trying to piece things together, and that's so important, because you're just like, oh, I just want to figure this out, and you're… they're looking for clues, they're looking for red herrings, and it's so, you know, something… 

Lisa Schmid I keep seeing really heavy-handed books come out in middle grade 

Lisa Schmid And all I can think of is, who is reading this? This is so heavy-handed, and I just… and thick 

Fleur Bradley Like, it's just heavy with text 

Lisa Schmid And they wonder why… I mean, there is a place for those, sure thing, absolutely, absolutely, but I'm not seeing enough of light adventures, mysteries, funny, just… 

Lisa Schmid I think they're missing the boat, and it's really frustrating 

Fleur Bradley Yes, it is And I think that that doesn't help with… because I hear that from friends, where they're like, yeah, my son just doesn't like to read anymore, because there just aren't any books for him, you know, and that's… 

Fleur Bradley And that's kind of sad, you know, to hear that sort of… it's anecdotal, but I do see that across the board in the industry If you look what's being put out there, again, those books are important, the issue books, or the books that tackle maybe difficult things 

Fleur Bradley But we're not all going home reading War and Peace, or watching the greatest, whatever movie is out We're going home, and we're watching something that is entertaining, and that, that, gives us joy So, why are we not… 

Fleur Bradley giving kids the same thing, and why are we then surprised that they don't like to read? So I do a lot of talking, at literacy conventions about that I do think that genre fiction is really important 

Beth McMullen Well, and I think, I mean, you said this, that adults, romance, mystery, those are really the top two genres when it comes to book sales, and if you're not, why would you think that 

Beth McMullen just because these readers are younger, they're not going to appreciate the same type of genre fiction that is so popular when they're older I mean, it seems like a disconnect between your young reader and your adult reader 

Beth McMullen that shouldn't be there, it's… these are the same people, essentially 

Fleur Bradley I think 

Beth McMullen And there's… 

Fleur Bradley there should be more books out there, more mysteries, which is why I'm kind of like, okay, I'm gonna write about how to write them, so I can at least help the people that ask me all the time 

Beth McMullen Yeah, absolutely, and you know, we're living in this attention economy, so it has to be something that catches them, and mysteries are really good at hooking readers, and I think that's so essential to keeping kids, especially, who are like, I could just go on TikTok 

Fleur Bradley Exactly, exactly, yeah 

Beth McMullen Okay, let's jump into our questions We are kind of trying to get down into some of the stuff you discuss in your book, and again, we'll have a link to purchase the book on the podcast notes for those of you who want to do that after you listen to this episode 

Beth McMullen So, I love how you come right out and say in the book that it is a practical look at how to plot mystery, like the nuts and bolts of it, rather than some sort of high-level philosophical 

Fleur Bradley Philosophical discussion of, of mystery 

Beth McMullen So what inspired you to write a true craft book, specifically about middle grade and young adult mystery? 

Fleur Bradley So for me, it was… I started off, my… my… 

Fleur Bradley career as a writer came from writing short mysteries and being on the genre side I kind of fell into writing for kids, and then I found that so many people who write for kids don't really know how to write a mystery 

Fleur Bradley So those two things combined, were things that I was teaching on all the time So I was teaching a class on how to write a mystery, how to write 

Fleur Bradley And one for middle grade, Ray A, chapter book 

Fleur Bradley And then what… the other thing I found is that when people were asking… they wanted more People would come to a class, because the class is an hour, and then they want more information, more… and then I was recommending other people's books, but they were never really covering this particular subject I'm like, there is nothing out there 

Fleur Bradley I think you had a previous guest who was also talking about that, where you get sort of to the point where you're like, this book does not exist I would like that book to be out there, so I'm going to then write it But I knew that I didn't want to write something, 

Fleur Bradley You know, like you said, philosophical, or something that there's really great books that are more about being inspired as a writer, sort of the whole craft, and… 

Fleur Bradley kind of waxing poetic a little bit there And that's just not how I'm wired, and that's not what I wanted this book to be I wanted it to be a book where you can sit down, go through it, and you have an outline for your own mystery That's it It's very practical 

Fleur Bradley Very much… 

Fleur Bradley You know, a useful book that you can put to work and get it… get your own mystery out there 

Lisa Schmid Love this book Okay, first of all, I have to say, the title of the book, Get a Clue, is so clever So clever And, also, there's a… it's just… it's a very… and I'm… I'm somebody who has a short attention span, so to me, sometimes when I pick up a craft book, and I'm like, too much information in it… 

Fleur Bradley paragraphs 

Lisa Schmid It really… I will be the first person to put it down, so what I loved about your book is that it's very, it's a light read, but packed with information, and at the end of each chapter, you have a Your Turn, and it… it's… you talk… and now it's their turn to implement what you've 

Fleur Bradley just talk 

Lisa Schmid them, which I absolutely loved, and I think people, especially people who are starting out writing, are going to appreciate that, because sometimes with craft books, there's too much information It's just… it's an information overload, and you almost shut down So I just… I really appreciated that about your book 

Fleur Bradley Got a clue 

Beth McMullen I think, also, when I was looking at it, I think it would be really useful if you're… say you've written a mystery, and you're in that revision, phase of the work I think it would be really helpful to just have it next to you, so you're checking to make sure that 

Beth McMullen you are hitting these appropriate beats for the type of genre that you're creating, and I think for a lot of people, that revision is difficult, because they don't know, right? 

Beth McMullen they've never done it, they're not sure about what it's supposed to have, what are the genre expectations I think for revising, it would be great to just have it next to you, so you're checking your work and adjusting as you go 

Fleur Bradley It's a method that I think you can superimpose over a manuscript that maybe you got lost on, or if you… I've had that happen, where 

Fleur Bradley you know, particularly earlier in my career, I'd write a whole book, and I'm like, whoa, it's a lot of words, I don't know, did I do it right? Am I… I don't even know where to begin to revise this thing And you could use this method just as much as you can at the beginning of a book, when you're having all the good ideas and everything is still sparkly and new, and also when, you know, you're sort of like, ugh, I don't know what to do with this stuff 

Lisa Schmid Yeah, it's, it's just, it's good stuff, and Beth is right about using it even after you've written the whole story 

Fleur Bradley Yeah, yeah, I hope so I hope people find it useful on both sides 

Lisa Schmid Now jumping into the next question 

Lisa Schmid You talk about picking the crime, and what… what makes a crime appropriate for MG versus YA? And there is a big difference 

Fleur Bradley there is a big difference So, when I, I had written the Double Vision trilogy, which is kind of like Spy Kids, 

Fleur Bradley And, was working on what am I going to write next? And what I wanted to do was really write 

Fleur Bradley an Agatha Christie-style mystery for kids, with a murder mystery in it, because a librarian came up to me at one of the literacy conventions, and she's like, my kids want a murder mystery! And at the time, it was very much like a no-no to put a murder in the book 

Fleur Bradley And I'm like, I'm gonna do that I'm gonna write a murder mystery, because I think it can be done, and it can be done For middle grade, I think it's important that the 

Fleur Bradley focuses on the puzzle, and the focus is on solving the crime, or solving the mystery that you have You don't want… if you have a murder mystery, having it on screen or on scene, you really want to have it almost like a cozy mystery So if you're familiar with cozy mysteries, or, you know, the Agatha Christie mysteries, or… 

Fleur Bradley something like a Miss Marple, where it's not… there's no gore, there isn't a lot of darkness, that would be my recommendation Now, that said, there is a lot more There are some older middle grades that are coming out now, where they're inching into a little bit darker territory, and particularly middle grade horror can sometimes end up there 

Fleur Bradley But my recommendation would be just to think about your reader, and some of that comes from… 

Fleur Bradley Reading a lot of middle grade and understanding the genre and the category 

Fleur Bradley For YA, I think you can do whatever you want, pretty much, but understand always, I say that with the caveat that 

Fleur Bradley If you want librarians, teachers, schools to carry your book, think about what you're putting in there, and that you are responsible with your choices as far as what you're telling kids, because you are speaking to a younger audience 

Fleur Bradley And they will, you know, read your book and, 

Fleur Bradley You know, much like if you sat next to a 10-year-old, you would have a different conversation than you would if you're sitting next to a 16-year-old, so you have to think about that 

Fleur Bradley Aspect of it 

Fleur Bradley That said, I think it can be really fun You know, I think middle grade mysteries, anytime I'm working on one, anytime I'm writing one, I'm smiling and I'm happy because it's fun to write 

Fleur Bradley So, but as far as the crime goes, it can be pretty much, you know, whatever you'd like to write about You can look at history, you can look at local things, you can think about what you're trying to say, or what might be interesting to the kids 

Fleur Bradley And work on that For midnight at the Barclay Hotel and Daybreak on Raven Island, I looked at history and my setting and my location for mining information for what would be an interesting crime 

Fleur Bradley So, that's a good jumping off point, if you're starting to work on a new middle grade, or YA, or a chapter book mystery 

Beth McMullen It's funny how things that used to be… 

Beth McMullen sort of unacceptable have become so acceptable 

Fleur Bradley Absolutely! 

Beth McMullen Obviously, you know, culture changes 

Fleur Bradley Yes, and more willingness to… to be, to work outside the category, or to blend… 

Fleur Bradley to blend things I think the hardest part sometimes for writing on the middle grade or YA side is that it's middle grade or YA first, and not genre first So a lot of the time, if you're working with an editor or, if you're even developing the book 

Fleur Bradley A lot of the time, the focus is on that, so the genre elements, you have to push a little bit to get 

Fleur Bradley editors interested and go, hey, you know what? This is how a mystery works This is how, you know, this is… kids will like this It… there's… let… you have to… 

Fleur Bradley have… there's a little less room, for some of the character work, or some of the slower scenes that you might see in a contemporary middle grade, for instance If it's a mystery, it needs to keep moving, and it needs… the focus needs to be on the clues and the solving of the mystery 

Beth McMullen Momentum 

Fleur Bradley Yeah, exactly 

Beth McMullen creates its momentum I think that's a really good point, the idea that it's middle grade first, genre second 

Beth McMullen I think that's probably something that, if you're working on a genre-type piece of fiction for a middle-grade audience, to keep front of mind as you're going through 

Beth McMullen So… 

Beth McMullen Obviously, mysteries, clues, red herrings, all of these things that make them fun How do you plant clues without making them too obvious or too invisible? You talk about the eight-sequence method in this book for revealing clues in red herrings, if you can just walk us through a little bit of that 

Fleur Bradley Yeah, I can actually combine that a little bit, talking about both the clues and sort of that framing method Now, for me, I came from… when I started writing Middle Grade Mystery, I came from a background of short fiction, so I had written short stories, mysteries, for a long time 

Fleur Bradley without dragging on my answer too much, but I… my middle grade was contracted without me writing it, so it was sold on proposal, so I had never written a full-length mystery when I was under contract to write one 

Fleur Bradley So that was slightly terrifying for me And at the time, I was kind of lucky I went to a presentation by a scriptwriter, I don't remember her name, but she talked about how scriptwriters plot 

Fleur Bradley Their script, and that it goes through 8 to 12 sequences 

Fleur Bradley And if you think about it, so I did a little bit more digging into this, because I'm nerdy and I like to research stuff, so I went and looked into, so what is the story behind this 8-sequence, 12-sequence method? And it basically comes from 

Fleur Bradley back when scriptwriting was, kind of structured around the fact that you had these film roles that had to go on, right? 

Fleur Bradley And those could only hold about 10 to 12 minutes worth of material 

Fleur Bradley So, we have as… movie, TV watchers, and 

Fleur Bradley In a way, readers now of books, because those two genres, or those two elements are so… 

Fleur Bradley connected as entertainment We're used to a certain flow of a story, and you can use the same method as scriptwriters use to plot your novel, and I found that kind of nice, because that I could wrap my brain around at the time Like, it's basically just 8 to 12 short stories that are linked 

Fleur Bradley So I'm like, I can do that 

Fleur Bradley So that has helped me a lot, that method has helped me a lot to try to gain a sense of control over the massive amount of words that you're talking about when it comes to writing or plotting a novel 

Fleur Bradley And you can use it to plant your clues So at the end of one of these sequences, when, say, you have an introduction, let's say the first sequence of a mystery novel, you'll introduce your character, you'll introduce your setting, you'll introduce your conflict, so whatever is the conflict of the story, and the mystery 

Fleur Bradley In theory, so that will be your first clue Now, each subsequent sequence builds on the other as your detective investigates 

Fleur Bradley And you can place a clue in each one of them and surround them with false clues So, those are red herrings So, something where an investigation, say, would naturally go after a certain suspect or follow a certain clue that ends up being a dead end, and then your detective ends up 

Fleur Bradley Back at the real clue So, when it comes to writing, you can use that, or plotting, you can use that as part of your revelation, and I would argue almost 

Fleur Bradley Sorry 

Fleur Bradley I would argue that you can use it for any novel Like, we talk about mysteries, and people go, oh, I haven't written a mystery, I don't think I can write a mystery Like, everybody has written a mystery 

Fleur Bradley You just don't necessarily have a… 

Fleur Bradley A mystery in the traditional sense that there are, 

Fleur Bradley that's a murder mystery, or that there's a crime, but there's still revelation in the same way So if you have a good and well-plotted novel, there's still revelation in the same way that a mystery does 

Beth McMullen I love that you're talking about screenwriting as a… 

Beth McMullen as a way to understand plotting better, I took a… this was actually during COVID I took a, 

Beth McMullen screenwriting class, and I found… 

Beth McMullen the insights into plotting and structure for writing fiction to be, like, amazing I… it just… I hadn't thought about… 

Beth McMullen the way that you're lining things up, the way that you're looking at things is if you're looking through a camera, what does the camera see? That's all that you can see 

Beth McMullen I thought it was enormously helpful, and I… I know there's a Save the Cat Writes a Novel, and Save the Cat is kind of an old-school screenwriting, craft book Save the Cat Writes a Novel 

Beth McMullen is the novel version I don't like it as much, I feel like it's missing some of the cool stuff that you get from screenwriting 

Fleur Bradley But I love that you're talking about that, because I think it's… 

Beth McMullen it's really relevant There's a lot of crossover that's helpful for novel writers 

Fleur Bradley Yeah 

Beth McMullen place in the screenwriting world 

Fleur Bradley And I think Save the Cat is a little bit restrictive One of the things that I don't… the way I write is sometimes I just need to write my way through it and discover the story as I go, but I still need something to hang my hat on 

Fleur Bradley And what I like about this sequence method is that there's a lot of flexibility in how you tell the story Not every story is the same, not every… don't all need the same character, we don't all need them to be quite so… 

Fleur Bradley You know, canned or, or, or… 

Fleur Bradley stereotypical, sometimes you just want to see where the story goes, and what bubbles to the surface, and I think the sequence method helps with that, because you can… when you go back to edit, and you have that giant pile of words, you have something to go, okay, this goes in this box, and this goes in that box, and now I'm revising this 

Fleur Bradley So you can… 

Fleur Bradley you know, keep a handle on everything, but still have lots of room for those magical moments that happen when you're writing, because I don't like to be too restricted when I'm working on something, particularly a first draft I want to be able to just sort of have fun 

Fleur Bradley And I think this method helps with that, while still giving you something, sort of like guardrails 

Beth McMullen Yeah, that's pretty great I think that's pretty great, because I… I can't write to… I can't write to anybody else's structure, or suggestions, or any of that I gotta just bomb through my first draft, and… 

Fleur Bradley Mmm 

Beth McMullen Then, like, in the revision, I need these things to be brought to bear on the work, otherwise it's chaos But I do like the idea that you can have that front of mind as you're going through, so you can almost see the sequence structure You may not… you may be overflowing out of it as you're going along 

Beth McMullen But being aware that you can come back and kind of rearrange things and tidy things up later, but you've got at least that basic spine in your head as you're working through a mystery, because it can get… 

Beth McMullen quite complicated, and you can really get lost I've gotten lost in drafts, and it's a very sort of unnerving feeling when you're thinking, wait a minute, where am I… where am I going? I have no idea 

Fleur Bradley Yes, yes And it's, you know, and that's… particularly mystery requires a greater amount of structure and a greater amount of control over what you're revealing, because you need your reader to go back and go, oh yeah, that's the only way this could have been… 

Fleur Bradley The only way this could end, this is the only suspect who's left, and this must be the person who did it 

Fleur Bradley And then adding to that is if you want to add… I love a plot twist, so if you're going to add a plot twist, you have to make sure you've earned it, that you've done the work to set it up 

Fleur Bradley And that's, again, clue placement and pacing, and that's where this sort of structure of a sequence method is nice, because each sequence is its own little 

Fleur Bradley Little unit 

Lisa Schmid Yeah, I love… I'm like you, I love a good plot twist, and one of the things that I've seen that always bothers me is when there's a plot twist, but there's no clues leading up to it that justify that plot twist It's almost like the writer 

Fleur Bradley It's just like 

Lisa Schmid oh, you know, this is how I'm gonna finish it off, and it's so frustrating So that's my biggest thing that I see in some stories that I feel like is a mistake What do you think is the most common pitfall that you see in a mystery manuscript? 

Lisa Schmid what are your thoughts on that? Like, what are… what are you seeing? Like, I'm assuming that you critique 

Lisa Schmid manuscripts, and what do you see out there that you're like, ugh, don't do this, or… 

Fleur Bradley I think in the, in the, when it comes to middle grade and YA, like, on the mystery for adults, what we were just talking about, people who have not earned their, plot twist or their, their whodunit at the end 

Fleur Bradley On the middle grade and YA side, I think what I see the most is people who come from middle grade and YA and understand that segment really well, but don't understand the genre segment 

Fleur Bradley And I've fought editors on this, where, the pacing is just different on the mystery There's expectations of what is happening are different You can't have as many slow spots, or as many 

Fleur Bradley sort of introspective spots So you have to wrap those in an action sequence So if you want to explore, say, some kids having a conversation about something that is more your character arc, a deeper meaning sort of moment, you need to have it somewhere that also drives the plot forward 

Fleur Bradley So, I'm a very plot-driven writer, so I usually start with the plot, and then I add the language, the character arc moments, or things that I feel like need to be added What I see the most in manuscripts that are, middle grade or YA is that someone 

Fleur Bradley is not adhering… not pacing their story right And that's, again, where that plotting method comes in, but also just understanding that maybe you reframe that scene 

Fleur Bradley For instance, I had a scene in one of the Double Vision books 

Fleur Bradley Where the kids are kind of talking about, you know, being isolated and being lonely and needing friends, and they're having it while they're hiding from, you know, they broke into CIA headquarters, which is sort of over-the-top story, but… 

Fleur Bradley They're hiding out So they're… it's a quiet moment, but it's within the plot of something is happening, and it's… the story's being propelled forward So what… the mistake I see the most is not having enough momentum in the plot 

Beth McMullen I feel like middle grade books have gotten quite a bit shorter over the last, you know, decade, maybe We've gone from, like, average 40,000, down to, you know, editors seeking 30,000, word manuscripts 

Beth McMullen And that is not a lot of time, so you really need everything to do double duty, as you were just saying So you need to have the plot moving quickly, and somewhere in there, you are hitting on those, emotional beats for your character arc 

Beth McMullen And everything has to work hard, like, you can't have any dead space You can't have any moments that are not doing a heavy lift of some sort 

Fleur Bradley Yes, absolutely, and I think that some of the… and I say this a lot to people who are coming from the, sort of, books for grown-ups and want to write for kids, like, you have to be a better writer I think the best writing is being done on the kids' side, is because you have to be better, you have to be sharper, and you have to get your point across 

Fleur Bradley in fewer words, so that means you have to just… you have to hit that age group just right, and understand, you know, what's… what's playing among kids who are… remember what it's like to be 10 or 12, and what you were worried about, and what you were feeling at the time So yeah, those books… 

Fleur Bradley have to really work hard, and it's… I applaud it, I like the shorter books, because I know from teachers and librarians and kids themselves 

Fleur Bradley that want that You know, they don't want super long books, they're just not ready to read that And there are kids that are more, you know, ready for older middle grade, for longer books, and a different type of book 

Fleur Bradley But I'm grateful to see some of those more reluctant reader, friendly books come out 

Fleur Bradley I'm the same way Sometimes I pick up a book and I think to myself, that's just too long, I can't do it No, I know, even the stuff for adults, it's starting to become a thing, too, shorter 

Beth McMullen I know, I know, and shorter paragraphs, I mean, shorter chapters, so you can finish before you pass out at night, dead tired from your day No, it's… it's interesting I think it's, again, we're in that attention economy, competing for the eyeballs, and… 

Beth McMullen You've got to kind of meet the readers where they are 

Fleur Bradley Yeah, I think that's exactly it 

Beth McMullen So, our last question… 

Beth McMullen So, if there's somebody out there listening today who wants to start their mystery right now, what is their first step? What's the first thing you think they should do before they really start going on this new project? 

Fleur Bradley I think answering sort of your who, what, where, why, when, the… just sit down and very quickly write that down If you don't want to spend a lot of time, if you want to try to get to work and try to get your story going, think about your detective, what is the crime they're going to solve, where is it going to take place, why are they the person to solve it? 

Fleur Bradley And we haven't really gone into any of the sort of restrictions that come with particularly middle grade, like making your detective believable, and making sure that that doesn't seem like an unrealistic… because we're really trying to sell that the kids are the only ones to solve the mystery, which is, you all know 

Fleur Bradley It's, not easy 

Fleur Bradley So start with that, start with your detective, start with your crime 

Fleur Bradley Your setting, and then kind of draft it, and have some fun, and see where it goes Try a few scenes, you know, think about what you want it to feel like, sound like, the voice, all those things 

Fleur Bradley That would be a great place to sort of start quickly, not overthink it, and kind of see where your idea goes Sometimes just writing, you know, say 10, 20 pages 

Fleur Bradley kind of feeling it out, and see if you still want to write the rest You know, the investment, obviously, is long for a novel 

Fleur Bradley So, sometimes a short story is maybe the track So, if you want to start quick, just go and do it, and have fun, and try to remember what sort of lit the fire in the first place 

Beth McMullen That is very good advice This is a great place to end, because it's smart, you know? 

Fleur Bradley Enjoy it 

Beth McMullen mess around with it, you're not, you know, I think we tie ourselves up in knots before we start sometimes Just start and see what happens 

Fleur Bradley Yeah, yeah, exactly That was why you were doing it in the first place, so do that 

Beth McMullen The beautiful part is you never have to show it to anybody if you don't want to 

Fleur Bradley Exactly, exactly, and just have some fun with it And again, if that… you start with a short bit 

Fleur Bradley And kind of test your character out, and see if you like that kid, and take it from there, yeah 

Beth McMullen So, Fleur, thank you so much for being here and sharing all of your experience and wisdom with us We are grateful that you agreed to come back a second time 

Fleur Bradley Of course 

Beth McMullen And listeners, remember, you can find out more about Fleur by visiting our podcast notes and the blog at writerswithrinklesnet, and I said before that we'd throw a link in there to this new book, so you can check it out, so please do, because I think it would be… 

Beth McMullen Really valuable for anybody who is just starting out writing in this space, or has a draft, and, you know, needs to start that, that kind of 

Beth McMullen Terrifying revision process, so for sure look at that 

Beth McMullen And we will be back next time with an Ask Beth and Lisa episode, so if you have questions, please send them our way Also, we will have some new First Pages coming soon, so be on the lookout for that And submit yours if you're interested in being featured Remember, you remain fully anonymous with First Pages 

Beth McMullen So, until next time, happy reading, writing, and listening!