Unpublished Middle Grade Fiction
Ann Meier
At the 2017 Royal Palm Literary Award Banquet, author Ann Meier won First Place for her unpublished Middle-Grade book, Buddy and the Big Stinking Box of Revenge, now retitled, Buddy and the Bacon Cupcake. A kid detective, hoping to gain early entry into the police teen academy, faces off with a rat-killing revenge-seeker in a theme park based on horror films and disasters. Each year at the RPLA Banquet, authors experience the joy of earning accolades for all the hard work that is often done in the privacy of the home with little to no recognition. We’re showcasing the best of the best with our First Place winners spotlight. Not only does RPLA recognize extraordinary talent, but we’re giving readers an opportunity to sample excerpts from the winning stories.
Click here to read an excerpt from Buddy and the Bacon Cupcake.
Ann Meier writes adult and middle-grade mysteries set in fictional Orlando theme parks. She was a manager on Universal’s opening team, and she’s received five RPLA awards.
An interview with Ann:
Q: Where do you get your story ideas?
A: My middle-grade mysteries grow from both my settings and my protagonist. My stories are set in fictional Orlando theme parks. I worked as a trainer for new employees at Walt Disney World and was part of the opening management team at Universal. The onstage and behind the scenes worlds provide great fodder for stories ideas. My protagonist is an eleven-year-old boy inspired by my one of my grandsons. I drop him into one of the parks and imagine what can go wrong.
Q: Anything in particular about your award-winning RPLA entry that you’d like to share?
A: I believe the charm of middle-grade mysteries comes from the voice of the protagonist and seeing the world through his optimism. In this particular story, he deals with a mom on a healthy eating kick while solving a mystery in a setting filled with bad, for him, food. What could possibly go wrong?
Q: Who do you credit with inspiring your writing?
A: I am so fortunate to have multi-published author Janice Hardy as a long time critique partner. I was busy writing cozy mysteries for adults, but Janice kept urging me to try writing for kids. She was certain I had the voice for it. I doubted her, but I added a family with two kids to what I was working on to see if I could write kids at all. I loved my kid character, so much that when I finished the story, I rewrote it from the point of view of the eleven-year-old. It was the most fun manuscript to work on ever.
Q: Any tips for new writers?
A: Read the type of book you want to write. Find resources like FWA, Fiction University and Writers Digest. Go to conferences. Join a writing group and learn to thoughtfully accept feedback.
