Storystorm 2020 Day 16: Troy Cummings Writes a Letter

Dear fellow kidlit book creators,

A few years ago, my writing partner gave me a challenge. She dared me to write an epistolary book—the entire manuscript could only be letters between characters.

So I gave it a shot. I decided the main character would be a dog—my old dog!

(BACKSTORY: One day, in about second grade, a scruffy mutt showed up in my front yard. He was dirty, and hungry, and stinky—and he was ours. We fed him, cleaned him up, and named him Auggie. I miss that dog, and still dream about him!)

Initially, my book was a series of letters between two characters: a scruffy dog looking for a home, and the cranky guy he was writing to.

But the story quickly evolved. In my second draft, the dog (named Arfy) was writing letters to every house/business on the street. Each person replied, and they all said “no.” For different reasons. Until the end of the book, where Arfy finally DID find a home.

This book ended up becoming a picture book called CAN I BE YOUR DOG?. And I didn’t realize it at the time, but that prompt from my friend was actually an exercise in writing voice.

In the early drafts, each of the letters sounded really same-y. The butcher sounded like the fire chief, who sounded like the junkyard guy. (Really, they all sounded like me. No good!) So I started playing with the letters, to make each character’s voice sound as different as possible.

Here are some of the parameters I tweaked for each character:

VOCABULARY/GRAMMAR: The word choices the character makes, and how they string those words together. How does the butcher sound different from the fire chief?
VOLUME: Is this character loud or quiet? And HOW are they loud/quiet? Are they boisterous? Overbearing? Timid? Soothing?
RHYTHM: Does this character speak in long, flowing singsongy sentences? Or short, clipped bursts? Or a droning monotone? Or some other pattern?
HANDWRITING: Do they write in loopy cursive with a purple pen? Or with a scribbly pencil, with crossed-out mistakes? Or do they type their letter? And what kind of paper do they write on? These things are all still part of that character’s “voice.”

I think the great thing about letter-writing is that it’s all about voice. We get to leave out the narration entirely, and have the entire text focus on the voice of the characters who are speaking. I mean, writing.

So now, I’m going to pass that challenge along to you!

CHALLENGE #1

Write a letter (or series of letters) between two characters. These characters should be as different from one other as possible.

For instance:

The giant is writing a letter to Jack about this beanstalk ruining the resale value of his castle. (What’s the giant’s handwriting like? And imagine the size of his postage stamp!)
The hare is writing to the tortoise demanding a rematch. (What’s the hare’s writing-rhythm like, vs. the tortoise’s?)
A professional baseball coach is writing to the world’s greatest pitcher, who happens to be a second grade little-leaguer. But the second grader is NOT interested.

OR: design two characters of your choice. They can be people, animals, or fairy tale characters, but try to make them as opposite as possible. In the way they look, the way they sound, and their individual “goals.”

CHALLENGE #2 (BONUS!)

If you’re feeling warmed up, repeat the above exercise, but make the two characters as similar as possible. At least, on the surface. Maybe they’re both eighth-graders passing notes in science class. Or they’re two goldfish stuck in the same bowl. They can have the same age, interests, etc. but their voices should still be absolutely distinct.

Your pal,

Troy

P.S. I love postcripts. A cool way to sneak in one last surprise. And in this case, the surprise is a peek at my next book! Here it is:

I FOUND A KITTY! is the follow-up to my NY Times Bestseller CAN I BE YOUR DOG?. This time, Arfy finds a teeny kitten in a drain pipe. He writes letters to more people in town, hoping to find a home for the poor little cat.

As a kid, Troy Cummings spent all his time writing stories, drawing pictures, and keeping an eye out for monsters. As a grown-up, he pretty much does the same thing. Except now his bed time is 9:15.

Troy has written and illustrated more than forty children’s books, including THE NOTEBOOK OF DOOM series, THE BINDER OF DOOM series, CAN I BE YOUR DOG?, and THE EENSY WEENSY SPIDER FREAKS OUT (BIG-TIME!) He was also lucky enough to team up with the amazing, hilarious Tara Lazar on LITTLE RED GLIDING HOOD.

Troy Cummings lives in Indiana, where he steals jokes from his wife, kids, cats, and goldfish.

Visit Troy at troycummings.net and follow him on Twitter at @troycummings.