The Story Behind Alien Kid: Guest post by Kristen Otte

Today marks the long-awaited release of Alien Kid, the first book in Kristen Otte’s new series for middle-grade readers. I’ve invited Kristen (who also happens to be one of my favorite clients), to share a bit about how she came to write a series about an alien teenager.

Learn more about Kristen and her book at the end of the post.

I stumbled into writing kids’ books a few years ago, and I discovered a love for creating books that made kids laugh.

When I published the final book in The Adventures of Zelda series, I knew I wanted to write another kids’ book series, but I didn’t know what.

In the fall of 2016, amid a job transition with my husband and caring for a new little guy in our house, I felt the itch to start a new writing project. Without the time or bandwidth to write quite yet, I decided to do some research on the kids’ book market. I went to the local library, talked with the children’s librarian, and checked out the books she said were the most popular. For the most part, I knew many of those books and series.

Over the next few weeks, I read through the books and found myself disappointed in what I was reading. The books were funny, but often at the expense of a kid in the story. I often didn’t like the main characters in these books because of their bad attitudes or disrespect toward teachers, siblings, and even parents. After reading several of these books, along with a few great ones, I began to brainstorm what would become Alien Kid.

I created Alien Kid to be a series for middle-grade readers (think 9-12 year olds) that makes kids laugh, but not at the expense of others.

Charlie Baker, the main character in Alien Kid, is not perfect. He makes mistakes, but he learns and grows from those mistakes. Alien Kid is a book parents and grandparents can hand to their kids and not worry that they will learn a bad habit or idea from the story. Instead, he or she can laugh at Charlie’s funny sayings while getting transported into a story about a kid who is trying to find his place in the world, like every one of us.

Charlie Baker is a sixth-grade student at Silver Lake Middle School. It’s tough being the new kid. He has to make friends, learn geometry, and try not to embarrass himself in gym class. Oh, and he’s also not supposed to tell anyone that he’s an alien. Too bad he broke that rule the very first day. Now he has to convince his new friend Maya to help him fit in, keep his parents from discovering that he shared their secret, and deal with Caden, the school bully. Oh pug! This is going to be tough. 

Alien Kid is the new middle grade series (ages 9-12) from author Kristen Otte, who writes funny books that parents can trust. Learn more about Kristen and her books at her website at kristenotte.com or buy Alien Kid at Amazon. 

Thank you, Kristen, for this introduction to Alien Kid. I invite everyone to check out Kristen’s other books for teens and children too—she’s a wonderful storyteller!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Candace Johnson is a professional freelance editor, proofreader, writer, ghostwriter, and writing coach who has worked with traditional publishers, self-published authors, and independent book packagers on nonfiction subjects ranging from memoirs to alternative medical treatments to self-help and on fiction ranging from romance to paranormal. As an editorial specialist, Candace is passionate about offering her clients the opportunity to take their work to the next level. She believes in maintaining an author’s unique voice while helping him or her create and polish every sentence to make it the best it can be. Learn more here, and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.