Chasing Dreams, Taking Risks, and Growing – Plus New Call for Contributors and a THE WRATH AND THE DAWN Giveaway

by Martina Boone

Last Thursday, I was honored to give a keynote for the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia at their annual recognition event. The Literacy Council is an amazing group of volunteers who provide basic reading, writing, speaking and English comprehension to empower people to participate more fully in their neighborhoods and larger communities. In addition to the speech I was privileged to give, I got to hear some of the award-winning essays written by the program’s participants, and read more in the event program. And it was truly humbling and uplifting.

The event meant a lot to me, because I came to this country unable to speak English. My parents learned English at night while working and trying to raise a family, and they did it for the same reason that moved me in the essays the students shared at LCNV–because they wanted freedom, opportunity, and the hope for a better life for their children.

Working Harder

When you hear that someone who was a nurse, or a teacher for 22 years, and they give that up to start all over again, you realize the value of what we have here. It makes me count the many blessings I have, and want to dig in even harder with my writing. And it makes me want to pay it forward, because I’ve been so very, very lucky.

I never imagined getting to work on the Heirs of Watson Island series with Simon Pulse, and I never imagined how big this blog would get.

Paying it Forward

For five years now, Adventures blog has been a place where I’ve been able to share not only my thoughts about writing and insight about what I’m learning, but also insight and advice from many other authors. Because I believe you can’t be a writer without being a reader, we’ve shared new book releases each week, author interviews, and giveaways. We’ve launched the First Five Pages Workshop, and spun off a new writing contest site to help writers get agented and get their work polished for submission, and I’ve also been fortunate to work on a separate venture called YASeriesInsiders.com with a cast of amazing authors. As Adventures has grown, I’ve been lucky to find some amazing new contributors to bring in, and we now have an INCREDIBLE team.

Welcome New Arrivals

When we went hunting for one intern a few weeks ago, we received so many submissions that we ended up creating positions for a lot of people. As a result, AYAP has a brand new set of social media channels!

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/ayaplit/
Tumblr: http://adventuresinyapublishing.tumblr.com
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ayaplit/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ayaplit
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/adventuresinyapub

They’re all still brand-new works-in-progress, but stay tuned! There are wonderful things coming. Want to see who’s responsible for what? We’re thrilled to welcome our recent arrivals: Jen Fisher, Kristin Sandoval, Elizabeth Pagel-Hogan, Sandra Held, Lindsey Hodder, Sam Taylor, and Anisaa Denise. Check out their bios and job descriptions on our About Us page!

More Intern and Contributor Opportunities

In addition to adding new people here at Adventures, we’ve also added contributors for Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest at http://www.YASeriesInsiders.com, as well as a new Contributor and Interview Coordinator. And we’re still interested in adding people. We’re going to be tying in the content a bit more with Adventures, so that means even more great interviews and giveaways, but also lots of fun ways to express our love of books from the reader side of the equation.

If you’d like to be considered, please send your resume to yaseriesinsiders (at) gmail dot com.

This Week’s Giveaway

The Wrath and the Dawn
by Renée Ahdieh
Hardcover
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Released 5/12/2015

A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi’s wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.

Purchase The Wrath and the Dawn at Amazon
Purchase The Wrath and the Dawn at IndieBound
View The Wrath and the Dawn on Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Martina Boone

Martina Boone is the award-winning author of the romantic southern gothic Heirs of Watson Island series, starting with COMPULSION from Simon & Schuster, Simon Pulse and the Celtic Legends Collection of novels set in Scotland, Cornwall, and Ireland beginning with LAKE OF DESTINY. She’s passionate about improving lives through literacy and the love of books, and she runs the Compulsion For Reading program to distribute books to underserved schools and libraries.

She lives with her husband, children, Shetland Sheepdog Phinney, and Zoey the lopsided cat, and she enjoys writing contemporary romantic fiction with a hint of magic set in small towns and beautiful places. When she isn’t writing, she’s addicted to travel, horses, skiing, chocolate flavored tea, and anything with Nutella on it.

Post © Martina Boone and/or Adventures in YA Publishing. All rights reserved.

Posted: Jun 22, 2015

Category: Imported from AYAP

Tags: Inspiration for Writers | Martina Boone | YA Fiction Giveaways

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The first slide is an animation of a science/magic room in a castle. A cartoon character of a mad-scientist looking man in in the foreground says: “Hello! Dr. Frankenstein here to say, Well Done on kid lit zombie week! I’m an expert at reviving the dead, and let me assure you, with a little spark, you can bring dead projects to life. Especially if you dig up parts from other dead things. I’ll even let you have a sneak peek at my laboratory’s store room to consider potential parts for your dead project. If you see something with a yellow glow, that means you should click it. Have fun!”

He points to the right side of the screen and a new scene slides in of a castle science/magic storage room. There are various cartoon Frankenstein body parts scattered around. Some of them have a yellow glow. If you click on them, the images below appear (I’ve added alt text to them, so I hope it works).

The Heart of your story is the main character. The protagonist is the beating core that truly brings your story to life. If your MC doesn't make kids (and their grown-ups) care within the first few pages, your story will flatline. </p>
<p>Your main character needs to be:<br />
• Relatable enough for kids to see themselves<br />
• Unique enough to stand out in the slush pile<br />
• Active enough to drive the story<br />
• Memorable enough to survive multiple readings at bedtime</p>
<p>Where do you find this amazing donor heart? It might be the very thing you loved so much about the manuscript you want to revive. It might be the younger sister from your shelved YA novel. Or maybe it’s the hilarious kid you blogged about meeting at a school visit. Find a character beating with potential and place it in the center of your story.<br />

The Brain of your story is the theme or central message. The theme is the big idea that controls everything else. Picture books are more than stories - they're tiny life lessons disguised with humor and heart.</p>
<p>But your theme needs to be:<br />
• Subtle enough not to trigger the dreaded "didactic" rejection<br />
• Clear enough for a four-year-old to grasp<br />
• Universal enough to speak to both kids and adults<br />
• Fresh enough to prevent agents and editors from responding with "Not another sharing/bedtime/first-day story!"</p>
<p>Check your other dead manuscripts to see if there is a recurring theme, something that really seems to be speaking to you. Find the bit of poetry you scribbled on the back of a receipt to see what theme inspired it. Reread the pep talk you texted your critique partner at 1am. Pick the theme that will drive your story, giving it purpose, direction, and deeper meaning.<br />

The Legs of your story is the plot. Not to be confused with a grave plot.🤪 The plot is what keeps everything upright and moving, as well as providing support for all the other elements. You have very few words to use in a picture book, so you need to do a lot with each plot point.</p>
<p>In general, your plot should:<br />
• Hook readers fast<br />
• Build tension that a child can follow<br />
• Create page turns that feel natural<br />
• Wrap up in a way that satisfies</p>
<p>You can borrow a plot twist (a leg) from one manuscript and the opening (the other leg) from a different manuscript. Consider if the subplot of the middle grade novel you trunked would work better as a picture book. Or maybe your Facebook post about a disastrous camping trip could become a story for kids. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other until you have your storyline.

The Arms of your story are the side characters.

The Torso of your story is the setting. Setting helps a story breathe and connects all the elements of the story. It isn't just where your story lives, it's what makes your story ALIVE. It's the difference between "this happened in a park" and "this happened in that park, the one with the twisty slide that burns your legs and the creaky swing that sounds like a baby crying.”</p>
<p>Your setting should:<br />
• Make your character's world feel real<br />
• Contain your story in a way that makes sense to young readers<br />
• Connect different scenes and moments organically<br />
• Give your illustrator enough room to add visual subplots</p>
<p>Half-finished manuscripts are a great place to dig up settings, since you worked out the place details before the plot petered out. Or maybe you had to cut a second fantastic location from your chapter book. You can also revisit the detailed caption from your Instagram carousel documenting your tour of that delish candy shop. Disinter a robust setting that can house all of your story's vital organs.

After you press the Click When Done circle button, the lights flash with the sound of electricity buzzing. Then the screen goes black and lightning zaps across the screen with the sound of thunder.

The screen then lights up to show the storage room, and all the Frankenstein pieces have been assembled into the whole monster. An upbeat song plays in the background. Then a speech bubble pops up with the words, “I’m alive! I’M ALIVE!” Then the screen goes to black.

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