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On Writing Mysteries for Young People
Mysteries were my favorite books to read when I was a child, so it was natural that when I began to write professionally I would turn to
mystery/suspense. My first thirty-five books were all for adults, and The View From the Cherry Tree was intended for the same audience, but my publishers didn't know what to do with it. It's about an
eleven-year-old boy who sees a murder committed, but because of his reputation as a teller of tall tales, no one believes him when he tries to report this.
Eventually my agent persuaded me to let her show this to an editor of children's books, where it made a great hit. It has been in print now
for the past 23 years, and is now being published in a new hardcover as a "timeless classic" It created a demand for more books for kids.
I wrote for young people the same way I write for adults. I like to start the suspense as close to the first paragraph as I can, and to
maintain it to the very end. I write about characters who are well rounded, who have problems and flaws, who make mistakes. I remember clearly what it was like to be ten or eleven or fourteen years old and have
little control over my own life. The kids who write to me often comment on how "real" my characters are, like themselves. And they love the "cliff hanger" chapter endings. My advice is Never
end a chapter in a place where it's easy to stop reading—end on a note where the reader is going to be compelled to turn the page and go into the next chapter to see what happens next. I love it when teachers
report that their students beg them to continue reading on through recess time because they don't want to stop at the end of a chapter!
I use real crimes in my mystery novels for young people. I didn't know, when I started, that many writers of juvenile suspense do not write
about murders and extortion and kidnapping. By the time I found that out, my books were winning awards and generating bushels of fan mail. I saw no reason to change.
Do not make the mistake of thinking that writing for children is easier than writing for adults. It is actually far more challenging. Unlike
adults, children will not continue to read a story that does not maintain a high interest level. And I never write down to young people. I assume that my readers are intelligent, that they either know
"big" words or are willing to learn new ones. They are clever at figuring out plots, so I try to write ones that will keep them guessing and be wonderfully surprised at the end when they didn't come up
with the right answers themselves.
Remember, there must be logical reasons for what characters do. The main character, or protagonist, must have a goal to reach, or a problem
to solve, which is stated at the very beginning. And the reader must be kept in suspense, uncertain of the outcome, until the very last page, if possible.
Reading mysteries should be fun. Writing them certainly is! •
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About the Author:
Willo Davis Roberts grew up in Michigan and now lives in Washington State with her husband, David, who is also a writer/photographer.
She has four adult sons and daughters and twelve grandchildren whose activities have often contributed to her ideas for stories. She has published 92 books, 29 of them for young people. Her books have won many
state awards, and she is a three time winner of the Edgar Allen Poe Award. She has traveled extensively in the U.S.
Willo Davis Roberts' most recent books include:
Pawns (Atheneum 1998)
The Kidnappers (Atheneum 1998)
Secrets at Hidden Valley (Atheneum 1997)
*Twisted Summer (Atheneum 1994)
*The Absolute True Story. . . . How I Traveled to Yellowstone Park With the Terrible Rupes (Atheneum 1994)
*Megan's Island (Atheneum 1990) *Edgar Winner
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