pauldavidmcdonald

Each of the Flaugherty Twins Mysteries includes black and white drawings within the pages that help tell the stories. Book 3 of the series, Lost on Black Mountain , continues that tradition. Jeff McKeever, the artist for the series, calls these little illustrations vignettes. They capture a particular moment in the story, focusing on the main action taking place at the time. The first vignette in Lost on   Black Mountain  takes place at the train station in Portageville, the town closest to...

Last time, I shared a little about the villain from my third novel in the Flaugherty Twins Mysteries series, Lost on Black Mountain . His name is Rodrigo. In order to make him a more well-rounded character, I gave him a backstory that could make him appear more sympathetic. But, I don’t think it’s a good idea to ever make our villains too sympathetic, especially if we are writing for middle-graders. In the middle grades, children are still forming ideas of who they are and how they fit into...

Villains are tricky characters to write. It is recommended that, if you don’t want a one-dimensional character, you should give them some redeeming qualities. Because of the nature of the stories I tell in the Flaugherty Twins Mysteries, it is not always practical or wise to give my villains much backstory, or any redeeming qualities either. That being said, I have created some characters who are more than just evil people. The “villain” in Book 3, Lost on Black Mountain , could be a good...