Bud Barkin, Private Eye

Howie's Writing Journal Okay, fine. My last book didn't win the Newbony Award. Who cares? My readers liked it, that's all that matters. Now that I've written four books, I get letters from my readers all the time. That is so cool! I got one just the other day from this girl named Krystel, who said I'm her favorite author! "Dear Howie Monroe," she wrote, "you are my favorite author. I haven't read any of your books, but if I have time someday, maybe I will."That is so cool!Then this boy named Jayson wrote, "I like your stories. They sure are funny. The only problem is that there aren't any pigs in your stories. Why don't you write about pigs? Don't you like pigs? Other than not having any pigs, I think your stories are good."I like pigs. Who said I didn't like pigs?I tried writing a story about a pig once. It was about a pig that was turned into a monster by a mad scientist. It was called Frankenswine. The problem was, it ended up sounding too much like a book Uncle Harold wrote about our rabbit. Uncle Harold said that was okay, that there are lots of books that are kind of like other books. He mentioned a certain book of mine (see Book #3: Howie Monroe and the Doghouse of Doom ), but that was different. I don't know why, but it was. The thing is, I don't want to write the same kinds of stories as Uncle Harold.Except, I wouldn't mind writing a mystery, even if Uncle Harold has already written some. I mean, lots of authors have written mysteries. Uncle Harold didn't invent them. (At least, I don't think he did. I'll have to ask.)Uncle Harold says that mysteries are hard to write. He says even though he usually doesn't outline his books first, with mysteries he needs to because mysteries are like puzzles and you have to know where all the pieces fit.That sounds like way too much work.I'm going to go take a nap. Howie's Writing Journal Outline for mystery story I. Mysterious thing happensII. Detective called in to investigateIII. Detective checks it outIV. Detective solves the caseI don't know what Uncle Harold is talking about. That wasn't hard at all! Howie's Writing Journal I let Uncle Harold read my outline. Well, that was a mistake. He said I need more details. "Like what?" I asked."Like the crime," he told me. "With a mystery, always start with the crime and work backward."Backward? It's hard enough writing forward!He said I need to figure out who committed the crime and why they did it, and then I need to make other characters seem suspicious so the reader will think one of them did it instead of the real criminal.He said something about red herrings, which I didn't understand at all. (I know Uncle Harold has food on the brain, but I didn't think he liked fish.)He suggested I read some mysteries before trying to write one. That's easy enough to do. Mr. Monroe is a big mystery reader. I'll just sneak into his study after everybody's asleep. I'll read all the mysteries I can get my paws on. If I read enough of them, I'll have all the details I need.Maybe I'll even have an idea! Bud Barkin, Private Eye By Howie Monroe Chapter 1:"The Mysterious Dame" I was working late. It was past my bedtime, but I didn't care because twenty out of twenty-four hours is my bedtime. I'm a dog. I'm a detective. The name's Bud Barkin.The light from the sign outside my window was blinking like a firefly with a bad case of the hiccups. I was used to it. The sign for the Big Slice Pizzeria had been there as long as I had. I'd just finished off a pepperoni and mushroom pizza -- dinner alone, as usual -- when I heard a knock on my door. My ears popped up like a couple of prairie dogs.Who would come knocking on my door at this hour? IHowe, James is the author of 'Bud Barkin, Private Eye', published 2003 under ISBN 9780689856327 and ISBN 0689856326.