The Blog Post of ALL the Gratitude

by Martina Boone

WARNING: THERE WILL BE GUSHING. And tears. (Although hopefully, you won’t see them.)

One of the things that happens when you publish a book is that you run out of synonyms for THANK YOU! Seriously. There simply aren’t enough ways to say it.

Another things that happens is that you embark on a book tour before your book launch and you actually run out of TIME to say THANK YOU.

I am sitting here in a hotel room in Ashville, NC at 2:10 am, after an evening where I got to spend time laughing with other authors and looking at the beautiful Stephanie Perkins in the audience at Malaprops and wondering how on earth this happened to me.

Want to know how it happened? We’re right back to the THANK YOUs.

I already wrote a book-length acknowledgements section for COMPULSION, so I won’t go into any more THANK YOUs for editors, agents, critique partners, publishers, publicists, beta readers, and so forth. Although I want to, because they TOTALLY deserve it. Let me make it crystal clear: Simon Pulse flat out rocks. From Mara Anastas, the Publisher, to Mary Marotta, the Deputy Publisher, to Sara Sergeant, my editor, to Carolyn Swerdloff, the Director of Marketing, and her entire team, especially Teresa Ronquillo, and SO MANY more people — the team is utterly fabulous. I can’t express my gratitude enough.

So instead, I’m going to focus on people who don’t necessarily get thanked often enough or publicly enough. The bloggers and readers who spread the word and love about our books.

I’m going to start by thanking EVERYONE who spread the word about this book by tweeting, telling their friends, blogging about it, requesting it at bookstores and libraries, leaving reviews on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, IndieBound, and elsewhere. That makes an enormous different. Really. It’s HUGE.

THANK YOU to my fellow bloggers here at AYAP. Jan, Alyssa, Erin, Susan, Becca, Shelly, and Jocelyn, you ladies are beyond phenomenal, and for you along with my incredible street team, you GUYS, so much love! Truly. I can’t BEGIN to thank you. You have been such a joy from start to finish, and I LOVE that I got to spend my launch “eve” with you guys on Facebook. I love how much you have done for this book–and how much you believe in it. I love your suggestions for PERSUASION, and your insight in beta reading. I love your ideas and enthusiasm for spreading the word. At this point, I honestly can’t imagine what it would have been like to launch COMPULSION without you. SO MUCH LOVE!

Next, I need to thank the following AMAZING bloggers who have been so incredible to me. I’m putting you in alphabetical order, because there’s just no other way. But I need to single out Katie at Mundie Mom Blog Tours and Jaime at Rockstar Book Tours for special thanks, because they TRULY went above and beyond my wildest dreams.

Alice at YA Buzz
Alyssa at Swept Away by Books
Alyssa at The Eater of Books
Amanda at Of Spectacles and Books
Amber at Page Turners Blog
Andye at Reading Teen
April at Good Books and Good Wine
Becca at Pivot Book Reviews
Beth at Curling Up with a Good Book
Brit at Please Feed the Bookworm

Candace at Candace’s Book Blog

Christopher at Caenus

Erica at The Book Cellar

Erin at Fangirlish

Giselle at Xpresso Reads

Hafsah at Icey Books

Hannah at Perspective of a Drama Queen

Jaime at Two Chicks on Books
Jaime and Erin at Fiction Fare
Jan at Author Sidekick
Jen at A Book and a Latte
Jen at Jenuine Cupcakes
Jen at Hypable
Jennifer at YA Sisterhood
Jenny at Supernatural Snark
Karina at Watcha Reading
Kassiah at Swoony Boys Podcast
Kate Tilton at KateTilton.com
Katie at Katie’s Book Blog
Katie at Mundie Moms
Kristen at Seeing Night Reviews
Leydy at Once Upon a Twilight
Lyanna at Book Beasties
Mandy at YA Book Central
Mary at Bookhounds YA
MaryAnn at Chapter by Chapter
Michelle at Book Briefs
Natalie at Literary Rambles
Paula at Reading Lark
Rachel at Fiktshun/Reading YA Rocks
Raffy at Eccentric Everything
Sara at Novel Novice
Stacy at Girls in the Stacks
Stephanie at Her Reviews of Books, Movies, and Everything
Steph, Kat, and Meg at Cuddlebuggery
Valerie at Reading with ABC

I need to call out a special THANK YOU to Katie from Mundie Moms Blog Tours who put together the Compulsion for Magic tour and made it spectacular! And Jaime Arnold from Rockstar Book Tours who created a tour that constantly made me walk around with a big smile. Again, SO much love. If there weren’t a big author/stalker thing going on, I’d send you roses. Instead, you get virtual hugs.

There are also all the amazing authors I need to thank. Those who blurbed COMPULSION and said kind things, those who are in YASeriesInsiders.com with me, those who contributed to the Compulsion for Magic tour, those who are with me here on the Compelling Reads Tour, and so many more:

Gigi Amateau
Jennifer Armentrout
Nina Berry
Anne Blankman
Kendare Blake
Tracy Clark
Leah Cypess
Bree Despain
Kimberly Derting
Amy Ewing
Kami Garcia
Claudia Gray
S. E. Green
Joy N. Hensley
Wendy Higgins
Kimberley Griffiths Little
Kristen-Paige Madonia
Melissa Marr
Jodi Meadows
Diana Peterfreund
Beth Revis
Megan Shepherd
Meagan Spooner
Jessica Spotswood
Paula Stokes
Kat Zhang

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: Nov 4, 2014

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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