**BOOK GIVEAWAY FOR AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF THE DRAGON OF DOOM**
Last spring, I had the pleasure of hearing children’s book great Bruce Coville speak at a writer’s conference. One piece of advice he emphasized over and over again was that a writer should never throw away anything they’ve written. He used his book The Dragon of Doom as a good example of why writers should retain their work. The Dragon of Doom was published in 2003, the first of Mr. Coville’s Moongobble and Me series. But the idea for The Dragon of Doom came about much earlier, back when Mr. Coville was in his twenties. He started a story about a fumbling magician named Moongobble. Years later, after he became an established children’s writer, he pulled out his old Moongobble manuscript when he needed inspiration for a new book.
I, for one, am thrilled he never threw away that original Moongobble story, as The Dragon of Doom is one of my favorite Bruce Coville books. (Go figure—dragons, lol.) It’s such a fun story, about a young boy named Edward, who, seeking excitement in his life, apprentices himself to a magician named Moongobble. But Moongobble isn’t so great at magic, which leads to all sorts of mishaps and fun. Besides being a great story, The Dragon of Doom is amazingly illustrated by Mr. Coville’s wife, Katherine Coville.
I also like to think of the example of Pride and Prejudice, one of my favorite books of all time. The first draft sat around for some 15 years before Jane Austen decided to revise, turning it into the masterpiece of English literature that it is today.
Do you keep your old manuscripts and writings? Comment below to win an autographed copy of The Dragon of Doom by Bruce Coville. (And yes, while The Dragon of Doom is technically a chapter book, the recommended age range is 6 -10, so it crosses into early middle grade. And trust me, it's a lot of fun no matter what your age.)Random drawing for the winner in one week.
Oh my goodness, yes please!! I love the Magic Shop books by BC. His books are exactly what I love to sink into, and I would love to nab The Dragon of Doom. That's so cool that Moongobble is an older idea! I'm all for being green and recycling when it comes to older manuscripts. From names to snippets of dialogue, there's a lot lying around my Word documents. I could do some file cleaning, but I think I'll hang onto everything :) Great post, Dawn!
ReplyDeletesounds great. feel free to close the contest right now!
ReplyDelete-- Tom
I hold on to everything. Even deleted scenes. It's hard to keep them organized, or come up with names for all the files, but it helps reduce the feeling of loss you get when cutting something if you can tell yourself "I'm not cutting it completely."
ReplyDeleteWow - I didn't know his wife was an illustrator. Cool! I admit I have thrown some old writing away (nothing I thought had a glimmer of hope, though). I have to make space for the new stuff.
ReplyDeleteI love Bruce Coville, but, if you can believe it, I already have a signed copy of this! I cherish it!
ReplyDeleteI keep everything. If I'm tinkering with a story, I have a 'deleted scenes' folder; and if the whole story is abandoned, well that's safe somewhere too :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a chronic Thrower-Awayer, but recently I've seen the light with my writing. Most of my manuscripts have undergone such big changes from first to current draft; it's really encouraging to be able to look back and see how far I've come as a writer, so I'm keeping everything now.
ReplyDeleteBecca @ The Bookshelf Muse
I'd love to win. I met Bruce at a SCBWI conference with Bruce Hale and Michael Stearns. They were so funny. And I'm reading his Land of the Unicorns series right now.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I find it wildly unfair that I can't be a part of this!!
ReplyDeleteNatalie, I love that series, BTW!
I have stuff saved written before you were born, Dawn! My grandson would love the Bruce Coville book. He is a big fan and I am as well.
ReplyDeleteI save everything novel length, but not every draft. There are two that I'm pretty sure will never see the light of day, but I have an old one that I dusted off a few weeks ago, and I had a flash of inspiration on how to rewrite the old boy.
ReplyDeleteIf nothing else, it can be interesting to see how my writing has developed in the last few years!
I save just about everything I’ve written and I have gone back to my old works for inspiration. As a matter of fact, I stole the characters from one of my first works for the middle grade ghost story I’m currently writing.
ReplyDeleteI had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Coville at a writer’s conference. He’s a wonderful person. I’d love a signed copy of The Dragon of Doom.
I've still got some old stories I wrote a few years back (at least I think I've still got them...).I love the cover art for Dragon of Doom!
ReplyDelete