Malamander (An Eerie-on-Sea Mystery)

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Always look out for surprising things to say, or ways to say ordinary things in a surprising manner. This is important for keeping the reader engaged. How are the main characters Herbert and Violet similar? How are they different? Which one are you more like?

Damned is used occasionally. For example, Eels says, “I’ll be damned if I’m going to let that bleeding-heart Peter stand in my way, even from beyond the grave.” The malamander resurfaces. “In its claws it is holding the broken body of Boat Hook Man.” Herbie recognizes Boat Hook Man is not dead, but “he has clearly lost the fight with the monster” as his “face is white and awful”. This book introduces a diverse new detective duo in Herbie and Violet, and is told with such neat storytelling and surprising phrases it would be a joy to read aloud Boat Hook Man corners Herbie and Violet in the fish shed. They try to escape using a rope, by jumping from the window to a suspended fishing net. Herbie misses the first opportunity for release and is left “dangling, four stories up.” He thinks, “At this point, I can let go of the rope and probably break both my legs, or I can stay dangling where I am and be filleted like a small lemon-flavored herring in a Lost-and-Foundery’s cap.” Herbie explains that the rumor is that the diner owner “came here as a young man and saw a mermaid from the end of the pier. Heard her sing. No one ever recovers from that.”

There are lots of twists and turns throughout the story. How did you manage and plan all the various plots and characters? Herbie often internally describes the museum owner as having a “Julius Caesar nose” or a “beaky nose.” After his encounter with the malamander, the captain is described as becoming “a ruin of a man, ranting and raving.”

When you first write a story, don’t worry too much about it being good, just worry about finishing it. Then you can go through afterwards and cut/add/change things to make it good. No one knows what happened to Violet Parma's parents twelve years ago, and when she engages Herbie to help her find them, the pair discover that their disappearance might have something to do with the legendary sea-monster, the Malamander. Eerie-on-Sea has always been a mysteriously chilling place, where strange stories seem to wash up. And it just got stranger... About This Edition ISBN: A man has a “large iron boat hook, ending in a long gleaming spike” for a hand. He is called “Boat Hook Man.” Eels uses the egg to replace Captain K’s hook with a “red crab pincer” and then turns the malamander body into multiple sea creatures. “Captain Kraken’s body trembles and ripples, then collapses into a mass of squid and jellyfish and sea slime.”While eating at the diner, Herbie notes, “Outside, where the sea mist is gathering, someone screams.” Herbie and Violet see Boat Hook Man head for the beach, “his long, hooked spike dangling like a weapon.” However, they never find out where he was going, because instead they find Mrs. Fossil, a townsperson, “clutching one arm and sobbing with pain.” Her clothes are “torn to shreds” and “there are angry red marks on her skin.” She had been bit by something with what she calls “teeth like needles.” She passes out.