This month, Fabulous Florida Writers is pleased to welcome guest
blogger Dorothy Francis. Her works include a series of animal stories
for children; "Captain Morgana Mason," a middle grade novel; and six cozy mysteries set in Key West. Dorothy was
our featured author on June 15, 2011.A sixth grade girl sent me a fan letter that made my day for a few moments.“I loved reading Captain Morgana Mason,” she wrote, “would you please tell me all you know about writing?” Her words flattered me until I looked inside the envelope she had sent. For my reply, she had enclosed a stamped self-addressed post card. My ego took a nosedive.
Creating children’s fiction was my favorite kind of
writing at that time, and Captain Morgana
Mason was also my favorite book. I
wondered why. Was it the story’s plot? Or was it the story’s characters? I’m convinced
it was the characters. Any writer could have used the plot idea to write a
book, but the characters in that plot were unique. I’m convinced that the characters led to the
story’s success.
And although many unfortunate things happened to Captain Morgana Mason, it survived. The
first good thing that happened was that it received the honor of being chosen
by the Florida State Historical Society the best children’s book of its year
with a Florida background. My editor was thrilled and said she’d have plenty of
books at the historical society’s meeting. I thanked her and gave her the
date and place of the meeting.
The book didn’t arrive. I called the editor. She said she
was sorry, but she had forgotten. So for
the several hundred potential buyers who were present, there were no books for me to sign. Later, when I met that editor in her New York office, neither
of us mentioned that meeting in Florida. She smiled and told me Captain Morgana Mason was doing fine and asked what I was currently
working on.
Had she been lying
to me? Perhaps. I was home only a few
weeks when her letter arrived saying Captain Morgana Mason was going out of
print. I asked why. She said the company suddenly had a shortage of storage
space for unsold copies. Soon I received
another letter offering me the 3000 unsold copies at a dollar each.
My husband suggested I buy those books and sell them
when I was making speeches at libraries and writer’s conferences. We bought the
books.
I soon learned from a Children’s Literature prof at a Missouri University that Captain Morgana Mason had been chosen
Children’s Book of the Year by Missouri school children. I smiled until he told
me they’d have to cancel their order because books chosen had to be readily
available to the schools. I was
devastated, but the professor bought 400 copies.
After many months, I’d sold enough copies to break even. Later,
I gave copies of Captain Morgana Mason to
every elementary school in the Florida Keys.
For years before my husband
and I started spending winters in Florida, people asked me when I was going to write books for grown- ups instead
of for children? And with the question I
heard the challenge—can you do it? Can
you really write for adults?
So I decided to give it a try.
After finishing my
first adult mystery, I learned that a literary agent was searching for
published books for teens. She was offering second rights to buyers in other
English-speaking countries. I wrote to
that agent, and she took on many of my teen books. Here was my chance. I showed
her my adult mystery. she took it on and it sold as The Conch Shell Murder. A few
years later, I had six Key West mysteries to my credit. They received good
reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus.
But now, several years later, I’m living full time in Iowa
and my heart is back with writing for children.
A friend helped me place Captain
Morgana Mason as an e-book on Amazon, and I’m ready to start writing a
book for children once again.
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