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. 

How to Create Characters for Your Character-Driven Novel - C. Patrick Schulze – Author of "Born To Be Brothers"

I suffer insecurities. I come from a long line of Obssessive Compulsives who never found the 'just right' anything. It took me most of my life to realize that it was not me who was not 'good enough' it was everything. One thing I constantly work on is to improve my sense of self-worth.

My daughter, who has evaded these OC's problems, works on my reassurance too. She is one of my beta-editors and she will tell me honestly, when I have missed the mark in my writing.

The very first opening was so much better than any of the successive five
openings. Quit changing it and move on.

That makes it so much easier to beleive when she says, "It's great the way it is."

Since she is busy with her two teaching jobs, one a math and science public academy sixth grade class for the gifted, and three evening classes for a University and then there is Notre Dame in the summer, I try not to bother her too much.

So, last night, when I was wondering if I did not have to re-write my protagonist, I googled him. You know, there is that 'if you Google it they will come" thing going. And, I came across C. Patrick Schulze's article on Creating Characters for your Character-driven novel. And, trust me, they all should be character driven.

Check it out at: How to Create Characters for Your Character-Driven Novel - C. Patrick Schulze – Author of "Born To Be Brothers" It's a great article.

Brilliance in the night tugs at the back of my mind.

Well, we should not say brilliance exactly. Perhaps, awareness of stupidity would be more appropriate.

For all intents and purposes, after dozens of edits by me and three edits by two very intelligent, english oriented people, including a sixth grade teacher, I sent out my query, etc to my first agent.

Did you ever go back and have this sinking feeling? Darn, how did that get into the first page? I found a grammar error in the query and a book error in the first page of the book. What??? Do gremlins come in the night and change your words??? How did that get there?

I decided I better go through one more read, yet again, for errors. Then, in the middle of the night I woke up with the realization that I had to change my ending.

I've had this nagging thought that I was doing a "Oh and then the magic fairy whipped in and solved the problem." It was not exactly the major plot but it should have been.

So, now I shall go through, one more time out of a zillion, and do several things: make a definitive list of curriculum references, check for those gremlin errors, and make sure that my plot is resolved by my protagonist and not by any pesky fairies.

But first, I'm going to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving, with turkey or with vegetables. It's the friendship that counts.