Middle-Grade Fiction
Date Published: 03-10-2021
Publisher: Morgan Publishing
"Help!! My head is being lowered into the swirling vortex of a toilet!”
My name is Teddy, and I’m in the 6th grade. It’s my first day at a different school, and so far, the only person I know is Zane, the school bully. I was just your everyday kid trying to stay off everyone’s radar, but when I met my new best friend, Bud Wiper, everything changed.
Bud is a 6th grade millionaire from 60 years ago.
Yep, that’s right, Bud Wiper is a treasure hunter from the 1940’s who left behind his journal full of life and adventure, and even though we’ve never met, I think he might be the only thing that gets me through the 6th grade alive.
The Lost Journals of Bud Wiper is a fantastic story of bravery and friendship, perfect for kids, middle school students, and adults.
Interview with S.M. Morgan
How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
I currently have only one book finished, but I have so many half-baked ideas that I have scribbled in a notebook that I keep with me at all times. Honestly, my favorite has to be a book I haven't yet finished. It is still a work in progress.
If you're planning a sequel, can you share a tiny bit about your plans for it?
Absolutely! I do plan on having many more sequels to The Lost Journals of Bud Wiper, and the next installment will be a deeper focus on Bud's relationship with his dad and all of the pressure that comes with it. I plan on writing short novellas, which will be "snippets" from Bud Wiper's journal.
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
Each book will be connected in some way or another. Since the "hooking" format is loosely based on a journal, it made sense for me to connect the stories. I am not opposed to one-off books, but in this case, connecting the books will be the best choice.
How did you come up with the title for your book?
Every Thursday like clockwork, I spend a few hours on Skype chatting with my best friend, who lives across the country. Honestly, it had to have stemmed from one of our crazy conversations. Now, I recall my friend's son reading Diary of a Wimpy kid. And tons of journal/diary books started popping up, so I joined the bandwagon.
How long did it take you to write this book?
It took me about a month to write the first draft. That may seem slow to some, but I am constantly busy with life, work, and family, not to mention I am a world-class procrastinator. I also had a perfect rhythm, where I would plan my chapters or scenes, and then the next day, I would write it, then plan, then write, then plan. It worked out. My daughter would stay up late watching TV while I sat on the floor with the laptop at the end of her bed. I did that for about a month, and then it was finished, or at least round one was :).
What does the title mean?
The Lost Journals of Bud Wiper is the title of my book, and I am a little embarrassed to say this, but I find potty humor to be the best humor! With that being said, the title is really a play on words if you haven't already noticed, "Bud Wiper" = "Butt Wiper". As I said, I love potty humor. Funny story, I didn't share with my dad that I had finished a book and that it was on Amazon. When he found out, he told my sister that he didn't have the heart to tell me that "Bud Wiper" sounded like "Butt Wiper". I just laughed.
What did you learn when writing the book?
I love history and consider myself knowledgeable about our past, but I had to do a lot of research. I would want to know what Russian border patrol was called during the 1950's, so I would have to search for this, and that would lead down a rabbit hole of reading and documentaries.
What surprised you the most?
As I said, I have a bunch of ideas, but being the master procrastinator that I am; when I finished the book, I thought all of the hard work was finished. Boy, was I wrong!
Have you ever killed off a character your readers loved?
Not in The Lost Journals of Bud Wiper, and with it being middle-grade fiction, I doubt I could get away with that. But in my half-finished YA or adult fiction, absolutely! I have no problem "George R.R. Martin" things.
What do you do to get inside your character's heads?
I don't have character sheets or anything of that stuff. I let characters fester inside my head, and then that is that. By the time I am ready to start plotting, I have a good idea of how that character works. Character arches and flaws are important aspects figured out during plotting. The rest comes easy.
About the Author
S.M. Morgan is the author of The Lost Journals of Bud Wiper — A Middle Grade Adventure. He lives in East Texas with his wife, daughter, and son, and when not writing potty humor for kids, he is trying to get alone to read more mystery adventure stories.
When the real world calls him to be social, he can be found canoeing with his family or trying to convince his wife to watch action movies.
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