It can get mighty crowded in that tree

Characters in Moon Tree Brothers

There are currently fourteen teachers. One is a rare Izzet, others are a Bengali Fairy, a Dwarf, an Apache Mountain Spirit, a water Spirit, a Sylph, a Wood Elf, and several mixes of Pixie, Fairies and Elves.

The Counselor is a Black Dragon man, with scales, wings, smoking nostrils and glowing eyes. The Forest Survival teacher has a secret which will play a part in book one.

It can get mighty crowded in that tree.

Twenty-four students, out of more than two hundred and forty students total, have a part in the first book in the series. Their heritage is as diverse as our country is: European, Ugandan, Japanese, Native American, and arabic, to name a few. But, the heroes of our story are three brothers.

 Twelve-year-old Austin is the youngest brother. He has a house fairy on his shoulder, but she has been dropped from book one and, I'm sure, appearing somewhere else.


Cody is the middle brother. At fourteen, he finds his powers difficult to control and immediately begins growing wing buds, but just cannot become an animal with wings. His first shift is to a worm; with wings.

Jesse is the eldest, at sixteen, and he is the scholar of the bunch. His favorite books is The Art of War and he is beginning training to be a General.

Austin, Cody and Jesse Vilness have accepted the invitation of Hino, Thunderer of the Iroquoise Nation, to live in the Realm of Yellowwood. They will receive an education and be schooled in battle tactics.

What they do not know, is that Hino suspects they are the "Saddest Brothers" fortold by the Katchina - a fire elemental named, Masaw, who will help to save their world.

There are currently fourteen teachers. One is a rare Izzet, others are a Bengali Fairy, a Dwarf, an Apache Mountain Spirit, a water Spirit, a Sylph, a Wood Elf, and several mixes of Pixie, Fairies and Elves.

The Counselor is a Black Dragon man, with scales, wings, smoking nostrils and glowing eyes. The Forest Survival teacher has a secret which will play a part in book one. 

My Writing Process

My writing methods are not complicated. It is not in my makeup to do extensive outlines and have it all plotted out ahead of time. Sometimes, I wish I could work that way, but I simply sit down and write the story in my head. I start at the beginning and end at the end.

Then, I go back and fix it. While I am fixing it, I fuss and grumble and tell myself I am going to buckle down and learn to plot things out ahead of time. Then, I wake up in the middle of the night and the beginning of the next story is rumbling around in my brain and I am off again on the next adventure.

I do massive editing. For the first four or five chapters, I will start each morning at the beginning and, edit as I read. Then, I will continue my story. When that begins to take too long, I start at the last chapter or two I have written. This gets me in the book's world and reminds me of what I need to do next. By the time I am at the end of the book, I would imagine the first chapter has been edited a hundred times. I work seven days a week, unless life intrudes. Sometimes for ten hours, sometimes for two.

I do eventually get around to organizing my plot. I found some great plotting help online at http://ticket2write.tripod.com/mysplot.html.

I found this when I was writing a Mystery and having a problem with plotting, but I find it works well for this Middle Grade Story also.  The Link is The Classic 12-Chapter Mystery Formula I am currently working on the plot for book two, as I am also writing it, from the start of my story.

More than anything, I love the adventure of writing. I love waking up in the middle of the night, with a great idea, and I love waking up in the morning, not knowing where the next adventure is heading. I love doing research and finding a new character, object or landmark, I just have to add to the book. I even loved the day I realized a character, that I was very fond of, would have to die and I sat there writing his life, with tears in my eyes.

Keep the questions in your head.

What if you were offered a chance to live with a group of mythical people who are in the beginning phase of war? Would you join them if it meant trading technology for magic?

What if you were being abused and it meant leaving some of your siblings behind, would you have the strength and determination to help fight their battle to save your siblings?

These are the questions twelve-year-old, Austin Vilness, and his two brothers must ask themselves in Moon Tree Magic.

Moon Tree Magic a/k/a Moon Tree Brothers is a stand-alone book that will appeal to youths living in a multi-cultured society as they question the size of man's footprint on earth and the consequences of that print.

This is not from my query but is definitely questions I asked myself as I wrote Moon Tree Brothers: Magic.