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By Melissa Stoller www.MelissaStoller.com This November, navigate the story ideas that you organized last month. Here are some tips to help you get started:  Canva Image 1) Read through the idea categories that you organized in October, and hone in on one grouping…perhaps a theme like friendship, a category like food, or a group like summer vacations. 2) Choose three ideas that seem the most interesting to you. Perhaps they have been swirling and whirling around in your brain for a while. Maybe they have been marinating in the form of a draft manuscript or two. Brush them off and think about what makes these ideas stick with you and demand to be turned into a fully-formed story. 3) Choose one of the ideas and research marketability of that idea. Is there room in the market for your idea? Do you see any published books that are too close to your idea? And if so, is there any way to distinguish your idea so that it will sell? 4) Once you believe your idea has potential, read all the recently published books with similar themes that you can find. Use these books as mentor texts to help you with story construction and arc, plotting, page turns, and more. 5) Once you navigate this process with one idea, write a draft story! And then repeat! Enjoy the month of November, navigating your ideas to turn them into manuscripts. Let me know in the comments if these exercises helped. Happy writing and cheers to creativity this month!  MELISSA’S BIO: Melissa Stoller writes to bring heartfelt connection and joy to her readers. Her newest picture book, Hazel and Mabel: Two Hearts Apart, illustrated by Anita Bagdi, released from Gnome Road Publishing in September, 2025. Melissa’s next picture book, Stella’s Special Recipe: A Rosh Hashanah Story, illustrated by Valerya Milovanova, will release from Kar-Ben Publishing in Fall 2026. Melissa is also the author of the chapter book The Enchanted Snow Globe Collection - Return to Coney Island, and the picture books Scarlet’s Magic Paintbrush; Ready, Set, GOrilla!; Sadie’s Shabbat Stories; Planting Friendship: Peace, Salaam, Shalom; and Building Bridges: Peace, Salaam, Shalom (co-written). Melissa is a Blogger for the Children’s Book Academy, a Rate Your Story Judge, a volunteer with SCBWI/MetroNY, and a Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center Trustee. In other chapters of her life, Melissa has worked as a lawyer, legal writing instructor, freelance writer/editor, and early childhood educator. She lives in New York City with her family, and enjoys theatre, museums, and long walks in Central Park and at the beach. CONNECT WITH MELISSA: https://www.MelissaStoller.com https://www.MelissaStoller.com/blog http://www.facebook.com/MelissaStoller www.twitter.com/melissastoller www.instagram.com/Melissa_Stoller www.pinterest.com/melissa_Stoller @MelissaStoller.bsky.social  Many years ago, I had the privilege of teaming with a group of individuals representing disparate viewpoints. We lived on an island and needed to modernize aspects of the public schools. Though various plans were proposed, it seemed whatever met the needs of one group thwarted the interests of another. A process was devised to find a solution that balanced the diverse perspectives. A task team was created, comprised of individuals representing each group of stakeholders: labor, management, teacher, parent, etc. The team was charged with developing a solution ALL its members found agreeable. A plan would be approved only by100% consensus, not by majority vote. Our first step toward that goal was working together to discover beliefs and values with which we all agreed: to find our common ground. A glance at the CASEL SEL Framework reveals that the success of this approach (which was successful!) required team members with highly developed Relationship Skills.  In this month’s spotlighted story, THE FORT, two children lay claim to the same location: an old tree fort in their neighborhood woods. Will they each stand their ground, or find common ground?  Each child believes the fort to be their own special place. For the boy, it is a castle, and he is a prince. For the girl, it is a pirate ship, and she is captain. One day, prince leaves out his written plan for a royal feast. When he returns the next day, he finds a treasure map scribbled on the other side of it, and an eyepatch on the floor. A pirate has invaded his castle! The prince searches for more evidence of the pirate. Whatever he finds, he throws out of his castle. When the prince is gone, the pirate returns. She trips over a crown. A prince has raided her ship! She swabs the decks, getting rid of anything royal. Soon the prince and pirate encounter each other. The prince bans the pirate from the castle. “If you don’t stay out, I will put you in the dungeon!” The pirate refuses to abandon her ship. “If you don’t leave, I’ll make you walk the gangplank!” The story pivots when the angry prince mocks the idea of living on a “stinky” pirate ship. “I’d rather go to the moon!” Suddenly, the girl imagines exploring space, rather than the seven seas. The boy imagines commanding a mission, rather than a kingdom. They become fellow astronauts. Now the wooden boards that formed the castle’s “drawbridge” and the ship’s “gangplank” are their spacecraft’s “hatch.” Soon, they’ve gone through their preparations, strap in, and start the countdown. Which, meaningfully, ends not with division, but unity:   |
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