Emotional Recharge and TWO Book Deals for Sarah Glenn Marsh

by Martina Boone

I’m just back from the Southern Kentucky Book Festival, which was amazingly fun. In conjunction with their Children’s Day on Friday, they had a teen writer workshop with over 500 teen writers signed up from the local high schools. In addition to panels on fantasy and romance, I had a chance to do a workshop on world building, which is one of my most favorite things of all time. But the weekend got me thinking.

Great Teen Writers in the Worldbuiding Workshop at SOKY

As writers, many of us are introverts. We are in our heads with our characters and our story worlds, and that can be a comfort zone, a safe place. But it’s also a lonely place where self-doubt can too easily take root.

Going out to festivals and events is exhausting. I don’t sleep well in hotels, and then I had a TV interview before the festival started, so basically, by the time that I crawled home from the airport on Saturday night, I’d been “on” for three days, and predictably, I ended up with a migraine the next day. But you know what? I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.

With Victoria Devon on the SOKY Sunrise set at WNKY

Getting the chance to talk to other authors, writers, and fans refills the well. It reconnects us with our creativity and reminds us why write. So if you’re writing in a bubble, especially if you’re feeling in need of an emotional or creative recharge, let me highly recommend getting yourself out to a place where there are a lot of other writers talking about craft.

Here Are a Few Ways to Re-Charge and Level-Up Your Writing:

Go to writer’s conferences. SCBWI and RWA have some amazing conferences both on the national and regional level.
Go to writer’s retreats. I’ll be doing one later this year at the beach in North Carolina, and a lot of other authors also help to host retreats for aspiring or published authors. They’re a great chance to network and work on craft one on one or in small groups.
Go to writer’s workshops. Google the term, and you’ll come up with a zillion options anywhere in the world from Kauia to the Swiss Alps and anywhere in between. Big Sur is a good one, and Margie Lawson offers some unique and focused options for serious writers. Free-Expressions offer my personal favorites.
Find a critique group. Chances are, if you go to any of the above, you’ll come away with lifelong friends and critique partners. But if you need more sources, try this list at The Write Life. Our monthly First Five Pages writing workshop has also resulted in a bunch of longterm match ups, since each participant gets critique from the other four participants in addition to the three author mentors and the agent.

Okay, and now on to the fun stuff. The reward for doing a lot of workshopping and networking and working on your craft really hard, along with a phenomenal amount of talent, is a career that takes off like our very own Sarah Glenn Marsh’s.

HUGE Congrats to Sarah Glenn Marsh!

In addition to yet another new picture book deal, Sarah has just recently sold two YA novels!

To recap Sarah’s meteoric sales trajectory, here’s a list of things you’ll see coming out from her in the near future:

Fear the Drowning Deep, my YA historical fantasy, publishes with Sky Pony Press on 10/4/16!
A Campfire Tail, a picture book, publishes with Sterling Children’s in Spring 2017!
Selfie Sebastian, a picture book, publishes with Sterling Children’s in Fall 2017!
Anna Strong: Daughter of the American Revolution, a nonfiction picture book biography, is forthcoming from Abrams Kids!
Reign of the Fallen, a dark YA fantasy, and its sequel, are forthcoming from Razorbill/Penguin!

Amazing, right?

And To Celebrate, How about a Fantasy Giveaway?

All four books will go to the same winner, so jump in and enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author

Martina Boone is the author of Compulsion and Persuasion, out now in the romantic Southern Gothic Heirs of Watson Island trilogy from Simon & Schuster, Simon Pulse. Illusion, the final book, will be out in October of 2016. Martina is also the founder of AdventuresInYAPublishing.com, a three-time Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers Site, and YASeriesInsiders.com, a site dedicated to encouraging literacy and reader engagement through a celebration of series literature. She’s on the Board of the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia and runs the CompulsionForReading.com program to distribute books to underfunded schools and libraries.

What About You?

Have a favorite writing conference, workshop, retreat, or tip for recharging? Please share in the comments below!

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: Apr 26, 2016

Category: Imported from AYAP

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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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