MO Day #14 Lynne Marie Explores Double Jeopardy

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Registration Post Hello March On With Mentor Texts!

As the owner and administrator of RateYourStory.org and ThePictureBookMechanic.com, I often review manuscripts where there are two competing main characters. This often doesn't work to the story's benefit and now there are two characters vying for attention from the reader, two characters who need to be fleshed out, two characters who need to be active and change, and there's not a lot of room to do this.

It's a challenging choice, and it's especially challenging if a writer is new and/or hasn't learned the rules. Writers truly need to learn the rules before they try to and break them.

Since I come from a legal background of twenty years as a Paralegal, I thought it would be fun to use that to portray a point. So let's discuss double jeopardy -- a secondary meaning of this legal term can be defined as a risk or disadvantage incurred from two sources simultaneously. This often happens when writers don't focus on their one main character and its story problem or goal.

As I often say, "if you are going to do something, do it well." So here are some Mentor texts who feature two main characters and work!

Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathman. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1995. In this humorous, beloved picture book, Officer Buckle shares safety tips at local school. And when the Police Department buys a dog named Gloria, Officer Buckle decides to bring her to these presentations. Here, Gloria steals the show by engaging in funny actions behind Officer Buckle's back. While this is something you wouldn't really want to happen, it's the whole point of the story, so it works, PERFECTLY. Two lovable main characters (a surrogate for a child and a childlike adult), a fun premise, humor and a great message with takeaway value, this book is a must-read!

Officer Katz and Houndini by Maria Gianferrari, illustrated by Danny Chatzikonstantionou (Aladdin / Simon & Schuster, 2016). When Officer Katz embarks on his last chance to catch escape artist Houndini, antics ensue. This book portrays a nice balance of characterization for both the protagonist and the antagonist, and features many blended scenes with humor and tension as their game of "cat and mouse" unfolds. It even includes a satisfying ending for all to enjoy!

Much like Officer Katz and Houndini, Boris and Bella, written by Caroline Crimi and illustrated by Gris Grimly (Harcourt 2004), features two characters who are both protagonist and antagonists in their own right. As neighbors who the other finds extremely annoying and bicker all the time, but they have a mutual problem. And when they are the only creatures in the neighborhood not invited to Harry Beastie's Halloween Party, they have the same problem. Having a similar problem after it is set up that they have problems with each other makes for a fun premise that unfolds with both tension and anticipation. Like the previous books there is wonderful writing and both balancing and blending of the character's wants/needs and/or actions.

In Zombie in Love by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Scott Campbell (Atheneum / Simon and Schuster, 2011), Kelly chooses not to focus on two characters, but one. I have included it nonetheless, as an example of how much more room she has to develop the main character's personality, problem, and character arc.

Examine this side-by-side with Boris and Bella and consider which one you feel is more effective and why. I honestly feel like they both work, but can also see the benefit to giving a character its own story. Of course, in the next book, Zombie in Love 2 + 1 (Atheneum / Simon & Schuster 2014), Mortimer shares the spotlight, plus one, in another on-point Mentor Text.

Another two-for-one that works -- note that there aren't all that many -- is The Tooth Fairy vs. Santa by Jamie L. B. Deenihan and illustrated by Erin Hunting (Penguin Workshop 2019). This one veers a bit, with the Main Character, a Fairy named Blue getting four spreads to set up his problem / goal, rather than the usual three. And then, when the stakes are high, Blue runs into Santa. A challenge ensues and it is Tooth Fairy vs. Santa for the bulk of the book until Blue returns to his ordinary fairy world at the end, for a spread and a half. I think this works because Santa, his character and objectives don't need to be set up. When Santa is on the scene it's Christmas and the toy business. So again, it works!

Last but not least, is my absolute favorite book with two characters, Unicorn and Horse by David Miles, with art by Hollie Mengert.

Like many of the other books with two main characters, this one creates a balance of focus on the characters, and their problem is co-existing. Well, at least for horse. Unicorn is, well, a unicorn, so what problems could he really have being so wonderful? But being so wonderful does become a problem as his unicorn-iness unwillingly gets him into trouble. I won't spoil the ending, but it's a good one.

Use these Mentor texts as guidelines when writing your book with to main, competing characters. Is your story as good, if not better than these? If yes, GREAT! If not, either give one main character the reigns or, keep writing, revising, reading, reading craft books and doing your homework.

BIO: Lynne Marie has never experienced double jeopardy, but she has dabbled in threes with The Three Little Pigs and The Three Scares! She is the author of Hedgehog Goes to Kindergarten - art by Anne Kennedy (Scholastic 2011), Hedgehog's 100th Day of School – art by Lorna Hussey (Scholastic 2017),The Star of the Christmas Play-- art by Lorna Hussey (Beaming Books 2018),Moldilocks and the 3 Scares -- art by David Rodriguez Lorenzo (Sterling 2019 and Scholastic 2019),Let’s Eat! Mealtime Around the World -- art by Parwinder Singh (Beaming Books 2019),The Three Little Pigs and the Rocket Project (Mac and Cheese Press 2022),The Three Little Pigs and the Rocket Project Coloring Book (Mac and Cheese Press 2022), American Pie (Dancing Flamingo Press Spring 2022), and There Was a Blue Whale Who Tangled with Plastic (Dancing Flamingo Press Spring 2023). She’s also the Owner and Administrator of RateYourStory.org and a Travel Agent. She currently lives on a lake in South Florida with her family, a Schipperke named Anakin, where she can be found daydreaming and fracturing fairy tales. Visit her at www.LiterallyLynneMarie.com. Lynne Marie is represented by Marisa Cleveland of www.theseymouragency.com Follow her on Facebook here and on Twitter here.