Author Guest Post: “What Would It Take to Love a Snake” by Sunya Mara, Author of Embrace the Serpent

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“What Would It Take to Love a Snake”

.I’ve always been afraid of snakes. They give me the primordial heebie-jeebies—a fear so deep in my blood that I’m sure my ancestors are recoiling, too. But, one day, I saw this king snake in my backyard — an enormous, black-and-white striped, insanely long creature — and for some reason, a little voice in my head said: what would it take to love a snake?

I had been tinkering with this idea of a girl who made magic jewelry, but it was at that moment that Embrace the Serpent really had a spark. Jewels and snakes go together often in fairytales—there are too many examples to name, but I’m particularly fond of “The Snake Prince” and “Muchie-Lal”—and I started wondering why. Why do fairytale serpents have bejeweled palaces? Why does a queen’s ruby necklace turn into a snake, and the snake into a prince? Why does a bride have to embrace a hundred-headed snake for an entire night without letting go, to save her bridegroom? Why do they go together, the things we covet and the things we fear?

One thought kept nagging at me. It’s a simple one: both snakes and jewels are found deep in the earth, hidden from sight.

That idea inspired me. That something could be lurking just beneath your feet—something that could be wonderful, or dangerous. And you can’t know which it is unless you’re brave enough to seek it out, to reach into the dark, the unknown, and take hold of it.

Saphira, the main character in Embrace the Serpent, is a girl who’s so afraid of the world that she lets someone else take the credit for the magical jewelry she makes. But, she doesn’t realize that her work is so extraordinary that powerful people are paying attention, including the Serpent King. That idea, of being afraid to claim your work as your own, and therefore limiting yourself to a cage of your own making—that became the crux of Saphira’s character.

She’s tested when the Serpent King sends his cleverest huntsman to find the best jewelsmith in the world, and he realizes that the unassuming little apprentice is the true genius behind these extraordinary works. Unfortunately, his scrutiny leads others to discover her, and sets of a chain of events that leads to Saphira making a dangerous deal with the Serpent King: she’ll help him, if he’ll give her the means to hide forever.

And that’s where the unlikely romance begins. As they journey together, pretending to be newlyweds, they begin to see each other as more than a means to an end. Both Saphira and the Serpent King have something to hide, and I wanted to capture the feeling of guarded people slowly opening up to each other, and finding that under the fear, there’s something to love.

Who we love shows us who we are. And sometimes who we really are is a surprise to ourselves—in a good way. Sometimes being loved changes the beloved.

That feeling of transformation—of becoming stronger because you have something or someone to be strong for—was the thing I most wanted to explore with this story.

Some of the books and movies that have been a touchstone for this story include Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen—all these have one thing in common, which is that the main character undergoes a radical transformation because they found a reason to be braver in loving someone else. I found those stories powerful, especially in the context of a world that seems increasingly self-centered and fearful.

Fear can be good, because it keeps us alive, but it also can keep us stagnant. You can only be sure no one will hurt you if you’re all alone, that you’ll never say something wrong if you never speak at all, and that nothing horrible can happen to you if you never leave the house—but centering fear seems like such a shame, when there are so many wonderful things to embrace instead.

That, I think, is what Embrace the Serpent is about. It came out of me as an antidote to fear. It reminded me of the power of delight, of choosing to be strong enough to care. I hope that if you choose to give Embrace the Serpent a chance, that Saphira and the Serpent King’s love story will take care of you the way it took care of me.

And, the funny thing is, I still think about that king snake. In a way, it gave me this book, and the adventure of writing it. It changed me for the better, and I’m grateful to it.

And I wonder, what would it take for you to love a snake?

Published June 24th, 2025 by HarperCollins

About the Book: “An exquisite jewel of a book.” —Ava Reid, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Study in Drowning

In this sweeping romantic fantasy, a dangerous deal binds a young jeweler’s apprentice to the mysterious Serpent King in a marriage of convenience, thrusting her into a deadly game between the cunning, fearsome ruler and his rebellious huntsman. Perfect for fans of The Wrath & the Dawn and Once Upon a Broken Heart!

The Serpent King is the most eligible bachelor in the land: a monster with dark and terrible magic and the ruler of the last free kingdom. Riches and power await his future bride—but so does a life forever trapped in the games of court.

That fate is eighteen-year-old Saphira’s worst nightmare. Ever since the Empire made her an orphan, she’s found freedom in being invisible. So despite her rare gift for harnessing the magic in gemstones, she lets an unscrupulous jewelsmith take credit for her increasingly sought-after work.

But when the king sends his most clever huntsman to find the best jewelsmith of all, the spotlight lands on Saphira. Faced with choosing between falling into the Empire’s grasp or marrying a monster, she chooses the latter — even if it means getting increasingly caught between her cold, serpentine husband and his cunning, handsome huntsman.

About the Author: Sunya Mara grew up in six different cities across five different states and now calls Los Angeles home. She studied film and business at the University of Southern California and went on to write and illustrate at Kobe Bryant’s Granity Studios. When not telling stories, she spends her time haunting old movie theaters and staring at museum walls.

Thank you, Sunya, for sharing your fear that became power in this post!

Author Guest Post: “Scared Safe: How Horror Literature Can Comfort Young Readers” by Ann Dávila Cardinal, Author of You’ve Awoken Her

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“Scared Safe: How Horror Literature Can Comfort Young Readers”

When people learn what kind of young adult novels I write, I often get the comment, “Oh, I can’t read horror. I’m too scared!” I always respond with, “Oh, me too! I’m so afraid, I’m medicated!” I usually get a confused look in reply, “But . . .you write horror?”

I know, it doesn’t make a lot of sense at first glance, but I’ve always loved scary stories, even when I was quite young. My three older brothers usually had Creature Features on, a weekly television broadcast of cult horror movies, and my mother was always reading some gothic horror novel or another, so I was right there asking them all my questions, peeking at the screen from between my fingers. Yes, these things gave me nightmares, but no, that didn’t stop me. After many years of being a horror fan, I began my writing career with a young adult novel about the Latine boogeyman entitled Five Midnights. From that point on, I was hooked. After writing in this genre for over ten years and meeting a lot of other writers and readers, I’ve come to realize that a lot of us are like this: these stories scare us too, but we also find comfort from reading, watching, or listening to tales of the macabre. I have a theory why, at least in my own case.

Like many childhoods of that time, mine had its traumas. I was the fifth of five children, with sixteen years between me and my eldest sibling, and for five of my first eight years my father was dying of ALS. As you can imagine with all that was going on for my fairly large family, I often went unnoticed, quietly sitting in the background as my brother George watched Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or listening in on conversations about my father’s disease that were not appropriate for my young years. After my father passed, with only two of us kids left at home, my mother turned to alcohol for comfort. Me? I started buying horror comics, reading about dolls that came alive at night and killed their owners, corpses that rose from the grave to exact revenge. I was drawn to these dark tales because they made my difficult life seem bearable, particularly those that featured kids who, like me, had no autonomy, no voice, but when faced with the most unimaginable horrors they managed to triumph in the end. Weird as it was, those stories made me believe that there was hope, because though my young life sucked, at least there weren’t zombies breaking down the front door of our home. I am clearly not alone in this response; in fact, I came to find that it is supported by studies as well.

In his paper entitled, “Scaring away anxiety: Therapeutic avenues for horror fiction to enhance treatment for anxiety symptoms, behavioral scientist Coltan Scrivner, PhD states, “Horror media may provide a unique avenue for individuals to manage anxiety by offering controlled exposure to fear, opportunities for cognitive engagement, and experiences of mastery over negative emotions.” He goes on to talk about the benefits of “scary play” for juveniles, “Much of human play takes place in the cognitive playground of a fictional world. Through fictional play, people can learn what a particular situation looks like and imagine how they would react and deal with it. As with more physical types of play, cognitive play with fiction can also serve as a rehearsal for negative emotions and how to manage them.” So, horror stories give young readers an opportunity to practice their responses to trauma in a safe and fictional environment.

During a recent interview I was asked how writing horror for teens differs from writing horror for adults. My answer is always the same: hope. When you’re writing for young people, you’re writing for a vulnerable population. You have responsibility toward your readers. With adults, you don’t have to consider audience at all, you just write. And in the case of adult horror, it can be as dark, violent, or disturbing as you’d like. But with young people, I feel that even the darkest stories should end with a certain amount of hope, and, perhaps, agency for the young protagonists. But along the way, the road can be pretty dark: today’s youth can take it.

In any young adult novel, it is partially our job as writers to throw as many roadblocks at our main characters as possible, sometimes in the form of trauma or truly horrific things, because, put simply: conflict makes for a more interesting story. The more conflict, the better. No one wants to read about someone’s perfect life, because I don’t believe anyone actually has one. It would seem empty. I often think about the first time I read the Lord of the Rings. I couldn’t stand the fact that Frodo and Sam continued to encounter unspeakable evil for thousands of pages, and I gnashed my teeth for hours at a time. I was like, “Just let them throw the damn ring into the fire already!” But it kept me turning pages. No one wants to read a version where they’re magically flown to Mount Doom, Frodo doesn’t have an internal battle with evil but rather just tossed it into the lava, middle earth is saved in the first fifteen minutes, and there was much rejoicing. Rather, it is the act of overcoming that elevates a tale to one that we love and reread over and over. And it is these kinds of stories that almost always end with hope.

So, whether or not you are someone who enjoys horror, you will probably encounter a student or other young person who expresses interest in books of the scary persuasion. What I’d like to ask of you, is this: don’t assume about the child is drawn to these kinds of stories because they are receding into darkness, but rather consider that they might be trying to claw their way out of it, and books of this kind help them do just that. Because in the darkness of horror, young readers often find the light they need to face the real world.

I certainly did. And I turned out alright. (Well, more or less. 😉

Published June 17th, 2025 by HarperCollins

About the Book: Fans of You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight and Your Lonely Nights Are Over will love this thrilling YA horror about a string of disappearances and “accidental” drownings in the Hamptons, the changing relationship between two best friends, and their desperate attempt to not be the next victims of a Lovecraftian monster terrorizing the coastline.

Gabi should be thrilled to be visiting his best friend for the summer. But with its mansions, country clubs, and Ruth’s terrible new boyfriend, Frost Thurston, the Hamptons is the last place he wants to be. And then Gabi witnesses a woman being dragged under the ocean by what looks like a tentacle . . .

When no one—not the police or anyone else—seems to care, Gabi starts to wonder if maybe the beachside town’s bad vibes are more real than he thought. As the number of “accidental” deaths begins to climb, the Thurston family name keeps rising to the top. And what’s worse is that all the signs point to something lurking beneath the water—something with a hunger for blood.

Can Gabi figure out how the two are intertwined and put an end to the string of deaths . . . before becoming the water’s next victim?

About the Author: Ann Dávila Cardinal is a writer and part-time bookseller with an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her young adult horror novels include You’ve Awoken Her, Breakup from Hell, and Five Midnights and its sequel, Category Five. Ann lives with her husband in a little house with a creepy basement and is always on the lookout for parts of monstrous creatures floating in the Vermont rivers as Lovecraft wrote about. Visit her online at anndavilacardinal.com. 

Thank you, Ann, for sharing the research behind the need for horror!

Author Guest Post: “Not If But When” by Madeleine Roux, Author of A Girl Walks Into a Forest

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“Not If But When”

If you haven’t heard of Sarah Wynn-Williams, she’s the Meta whistleblower who dropped bombshell after bombshell about the harmful practices of social media titans like Facebook and Instagram. In April of this year, she detailed to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee how these sites would target vulnerable teens, sending them ads for beauty products after they deleted a selfie or made posts indicating they were sad or depressed. I’ve understood for a long time that companies are not our friends, and that social media has become unbelievably toxic, but still, these revelations filled me with a special kind of anger.

Even at our lowest, even when we’re expressing self-doubt, fear, or vulnerability, the message is obvious: if you were a little bit more beautiful, would this still be happening? Maybe you wouldn’t feel so rejected if your skin texture was gone. Don’t you think he would still be your boyfriend if you had fuller lips? You won’t delete selfies after slathering your face in blah, blah, blah… It’s exactly this kind of pressure to be beautiful, presentable, consumable—even at our lowest points—that inspired Valla’s story in A Girl Walks Into the Forest.

I shouldn’t say it’s the only inspiration, because that’s just one of hundreds. This book is the natural outcome of someone born a woman just trying to exist in culture steeped in patriarchal ideas about what it means to be feminine. Valla’s journey started when I was picked on in middle school for not shaving my legs, when I went to an anticipated dinner at a date’s house and was immediately criticized, put down, then told menacingly there was a gun in the cabinet. This book began when I shared these experiences with other women, and heard either agreement or their far worse, far more damaging memories. I don’t have the word count to list out the rest, but I’m sure you get the idea.

At the beginning of A Girl Walks Into the Forest, Valla is a girl who believes that her beauty will protect her. She is traded to a wealthy Count living in a dangerous forest; their marriage will mean prosperity for her village. The deal is very simple—Valla will be a lovely, compliant bride and the Count will lavish her people with enough supplies to survive in an unforgiving place. Things fall apart quickly for Valla, who is grievously wounded and scarred on the trip to the Count’s castle. (I’m sure Facebook would gleefully inform her that this new exfoliating scrub could make those scars fade overnight!!!) Because she is no longer perfect, the Count no longer wants her in the same way, and we watch Valla discover her strength, her power, and how her pain and struggle are connected to that of other women and girls.

I hope the message of this book is clear by the time you reach the end of it—your beauty and compliance will protect you until they don’t, and it’s not a matter of if you become a Valla but when.

Published June 10th, 2025 by Quill Books

About the Book: For as long as she can remember, Valla’s been told her beauty would give her a life most people only dreamed of. So when the mysterious Count Leonid calls on her to be his betrothed, Valla jumps at the chance to leave her small, bleak village. The only thing standing in her way? The journey through the dangerous Gottyar Wood that many don’t survive.

Filled with deadly and cunning creatures, the Gottyar immediately delivers on its reputation with an attack that leaves Valla injured; her face torn to shreds. Barely making it to the castle in one piece, Valla is relieved to finally be safe. But things have changed. Valla’s face is no longer beautiful. And the Count is not happy…Valla thought making it through the Gottyar was a victory, but when she sees what awaits beyond the palace walls, the true battle begins. In this ruthlessly female-forward narrative that borrows from the best of horror, fairy tales, and folklore, a chewed-up-and-spit-out heroine must lean on the brutality of nature and her biggest fears in order to win back what’s she’s been robbed of: her life.

Madeleine Roux profile image

About the Author: MADELEINE ROUX is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Asylum series, which has sold over a million copies worldwide. She is also the author of the House of Furies series, and several titles for adults, including Salvaged and Reclaimed. She has written for Star Wars, World of Warcraft, Critical Role, and Dungeons & Dragons. Madeleine lives in Seattle, Washington with her partner and beloved pups.

Thank you, Madeleine, for this thought piece!

Author Guest Post: “A Writing Process, Possessed!” by Jessica Lewis, Author of Nav’s Foolproof Guide to Falling in Love

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“A Writing Process, Possessed!”

I’m a pretty simple person: I get up around the same time every day, play the same game on my phone while I eat breakfast, chat and laugh with my grandmother before I go upstairs to work. I come back briefly for lunch, sometimes take a nap, then cook dinner and write for a bit after Grandma goes to bed. On Mondays, I meet with my writing friend to write at a local coffee shop. On Saturdays (if the weather’s nice), I’ll have a water and read outside with my stray cat buddy, Butter. Every day is roughly the same for me, for better or worse. However, that consistency in routine doesn’t extend to my writing! I’m chaotic, impulsive, indecisive, and at times, infuriating to myself. It’ll be hard to quantify, but I can try to wrestle my writing routine into something other than nonsense. Let’s try!

First, I do my best writing in the mornings. If I’m on deadline for something like line/copy edits, or marketing, I make sure I crank those out in the morning while my brain is fresh. For simpler tasks that require an analytical brain and not creative, I can usually get quite a bit done in a short amount of time. I put on some music and lose myself to the task at hand until I remember I haven’t moved for four hours! I can also be a bit obsessive here, but Grandma usually keeps me grounded. When I’m editing, life is regimented and structured.

When I’m not editing…all bets are off. If I’m drafting, or thinking up a new story idea, or even thinking about substantial developmental edits, I turn into a pure goblin. I will listen to a single song on repeat and choreograph fight scenes, often before I even have a solid plot. I’ll take lots of walks and bubble baths, just ruminating on themes and characters. During this time, I don’t sleep well. One night, I’ll stay up until four am, obsessing over some minor detail. The next night, I’ll sleep for hours, in fits and starts, feverishly writing down my scraps of dreams or dialogue I thought of in the half-light of dawn. If I’m drafting, I have a bad habit of writing until my fingers and wrists ache, sometimes up to 5,000 words in a day. But then the next few days I might not write a word and just stare at the wall.

I don’t recommend my process to anyone! It feels a bit like being possessed, if I’m honest. But as much as I bellyache about the lack of sleep, or the times when I’m stuck and listless for weeks, there’s truly no better feeling than nailing a scene or coming up with a pitch-perfect piece of dialogue. I feel this way when I’m enjoying a new game I love, or a new movie or TV series I’m obsessed with. But instead of becoming obsessed with someone else’s work, it’s mine! I’m my first fan, and I think that’s wonderful. I put all my love and passion into all my books, whether that’s romance, science fiction, horror, or fantasy. It gets all of me, and I like to think that shows in the writing.

A few more fun facts about my process:

  • I write on my phone! Not just quick notes on dialogue or character traits, but the actual first draft. It’s a habit born from my college days when I’d write on my phone on the bus to school, and that just stuck. My phone is always with me, so I think it’s convenient to jot down half a chapter while I’m waiting at a doctor’s office or hair appointment.
  • Brainstorming is a huge part of my process—I like to have almost everything planned out before I start, because once the train is rolling, it doesn’t stop until I’m done. If I have to stop and think about what comes next, the momentum is gone and my wild brain will wander off to another book.
  • Grandma helps me brainstorm, but she hates it! She doesn’t like horror at all, so she’s always complaining about my scary stories. She doesn’t like romance for teens either, so she’s constantly rolling her eyes. But she valiantly listens, and she’s given me great feedback and ideas over the years!
  • My favorite part of the process is the idea before it’s fully solidified, even if my sleep schedule suffers greatly. I specifically love choosing what dog will be in this book (there’s always a dog!) because I get to look at pictures of puppies and call it work!

That’s all from me! Like my many genres, I can’t stick to one thing; sometimes I’m consistent and diligent. Other times, I’m staring at the wall for three hours, trying to figure out how to get two characters to kiss. Or escape zombies! Just depends on the day with me! Though it’s a chaotic job, I love it. Writing is where I can truly be free, and for that I’m grateful.

Published April 29th, 2025 by HarperCollins

About the Book: Nav knows how to flirt, but she also knows love is a messy losing proposition. As proof, her best friend, Hallie, is constantly getting her heart broken. And when Hallie goes to her boring academic camp this summer, Nav won’t be there to protect her for the first time in their lives.

So when shy new girl Gia asks Nav for help getting Hallie’s attention, Nav finds a way to make it work for her. In exchange for lessons in romance, Gia, whose mom runs the camp, will help get Nav a spot there. And if her coaching works, maybe Hallie can date someone who will treat her right for a change.

Except…Gia’s not just bad at flirting, she’s terrible. She’s too anxious to even speak to Hallie, never mind date her. Training Gia quickly becomes a disaster. Worse, Gia’s every awkward joke and catastrophic fake date makes Nav like Gia a little bit more…and not in a friend way. Which puts a really, really big wrench in Nav’s plans. As Nav’s feelings change, she’ll have to decide what’s more important: sticking to her plan for the perfect summer or taking a chance on learning more about love than she ever expected.

About the Author: Jessica Lewis has a degree in English literature and animal science (the veterinarian plan did not work out). She began her publishing career in horror with Bad Witch Burning, a Bram Stoker nominee for Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel, and Monstrous. She also writes cute middle grade rom-coms under the pseudonym Jazz Taylor, which include Cool Cat, Meow or Never, and Starting from Scratch. Jessica is from Alabama, where she writes full-time and lives with her hilarious grandmother. You can learn more at authorjessicalewis.com.

Thank you, Jessica, for sharing your writing process!

Author Guest Post: “Inspiring Students to Write about their own Complex Identities” by Marcella Pixley, Author of Neshama

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Inspiring Students to Write about their own Complex Identities

In my eighth-grade classroom, I have stopped referring to the idea of “identity” in the singular and whenever possible, I have begun to speak of our “identities” in the plural to help students think about themselves as being made up of many different interconnected facets, like the tiny, sparkling edges of a diamond that gleam when you turn them to the light. In our novels in verse project, I use Neshama, my forthcoming novel in verse, as a mentor text to help students explore their own complex identities and create their own powerful poetry about what it means to be human.

I begin by giving students a list of identity markers and asking them to reflect upon which aspects of these identities are most important to them and to the people they love. We take notes in the margins and write in our journals and talk in pairs, and share around the circle and finally, when we are ready, we create a fictional character based on the identity markers that feel the most important to explore. The character they create for their own novels in verse becomes a safe way to explore some aspect of themselves that feels important.

Ability
Accent
Appearance
Beliefs
Body Image
Confidence
Creativity
Culture
Family
Friendship
Food Security
Gender
Health
Hopes
Immigration
Insecurities
Interests
Language
Memories
Mental Health
Nationality
Neighborhood
Neurodiversity
Parents
Passion
Personality
Phobias
Politics
Popularity
Race
Religion
Sexuality
Social Class
Social Style
Strength
Struggles
Trauma
Vocabulary

The next step is for students to interview their characters, allowing the writer to talk to themselves before writing. In this exercise, they learn more about who their characters are and what they need most. I use a series of questions based on Uta Hagen’s method-acting technique. These questions are designed to help actors create three-dimensional human beings on the stage, and they are perfect for writers because they allow us to begin our stories with a deep, complex, and realistic character that already reflects some aspect of the writer’s own identity. At the end of their interview, the writer is ready to bring their character to the page.

What aspects of your character’s identity are most important?
Which aspects do they struggle with?
In what ways do your different identities intersect?
What do they need to learn about themselves in order to be happy and whole?
What does your character want and what will they do to achieve their dreams?
What is getting in your character’s way?
What stops them from getting what they want?
What are your character’s weaknesses or flaws?
In what ways are they fearful or inhibited?
How do these aspects of your character’s personality get in their way?
What are your character’s strengths?
In what ways are they brave and resilient?
How will these aspects of your character’s psychology develop through the story

After the interview, the student is ready to create the first poem in their own project. In this first scene, their character will struggle with some aspect of their identity that sets them apart. I show them a poem from Neshama as an exemplar that demonstrates a scene where Anna’s identity is called into question. I tell the students that this scene does not have to take place in the very beginning of their novel. It just has to be a moment when the character is struggling with their identity and this struggle provides a catalyst for the story to deepen. Now we have a character who has a problem and the story must bring the character deeper into the conflict before they are able to heal.

Once you have created your character, and you have chosen an aspect of human identity for them to grappling with, it is time to begin writing. Please write a short scene where your character realizes that they are different from other kids in some way. Pick any one prompt from the menu below or combine prompts as an inspiration for this first scene.

  • Your character is being teased because of some aspect of their identity that makes them special.
  • Your character looks in the mirror and all they can see is what sets them apart.
  • Your character tries to hide some aspect of who they are in order to fit in.
  • Your character recalls a moment in preschool or kindergarten when they first realized they were not like the other kids.
  • Your character gets in trouble at home or at school because of who they are.
  • Your character looks out the window and describes the landscape, but everything they see is clouded by how they feel and what they have been going through.
  • Your character writes in a journal or composes letter to a grandparent or an imaginary friend telling them what they have been going through.
  • Your character looks at a photograph and recalls a time in their life where they felt different.
  • Your character looks at an object that is somehow a symbol for who they are.

 Example from Neshama: 

Parade
I spend the morning
sitting on a bench
in front
of Principal Moroni’s
office.
The kids march by,
snickering.
One boy calls me creepy
Another pretends
to be a ghost
He moans
and wiggles his fingers.

The popular girls
walk arm in arm
on their way
to the bathroom
They flip their hair
and laugh.
When Eden sees me
she stops to stare,
takes a deep breath
through her tiny nose
and makes a face
like she smells
something rotten.

Come along girls,
she says,
there’s nothing here
but trash.

We repeat this process several more times, so that students can have the experience of rising action. The character must move deeper and deeper into their struggle in order to face the world that does not respect them. I read them more poems from Neshama and ask them to push their own character to the breaking point, creating poems where the character’s identities are questioned, attacked, violated, disrespected or invalidated by the other characters in their story. In each of these poems, I use Neshama as a mentor text so that we have a common anchor for discussion. We talk about the pain that comes from writing these poems and discuss how the purpose of this painful process is to lead their character (and ultimately ourselves) to a more enlightened place where we can celebrate the very parts of ourselves that seem most different from others.

Parent Conference
As I mentioned earlier,
I am concerned about Anna,
says Ms. Garland,
sliding my journal
across the desk.
She doesn’t seem
to have any friends,
she pinched a classmate
and said a ghost did it.
She is frightening people,
Pretending to play
with children who died.
It is very disturbing.
We would like Anna to learn
to talk about topics
that don’t scare other kids.

Mom takes the journal
and hands it to me
Anna has always had
a vivid imagination,
she says in a voice
that sounds like an apology.
Her grandmother
is very special to her.
she gave Anna
this journal as a gift.
Dad scoffs,
swipes the beautiful journal
from my arms
the leather binding
tooled with vines and flowers
a garden of invisible ghosts
blossoming inside.

In the final poem, I ask my students to finally bring their character to a place where they can heal from their trauma. The purpose of this last poem is to demonstrate to ourselves and our readers that there is the possibility of redemption and it is possible to live in a world where all the parts of who we are can be celebrated, respected, and protected. This final poem is a triumphant expression of the very aspects of identity we called into question in the beginning of this project. In the end of the story, the character has learned that the parts of themselves that feel the most different are also the most beautiful. These aspects of create the most important stories. These are the stories that will help writers feel empowered to express themselves and for readers to know, maybe for the first time, that they are not alone. In this way, the writing process can be an act of defiance and celebration. As writers, we can create stories of redemption and beauty that heal this broken world that so badly needs more examples of bravery and humanity.

Morning Song
The sky opens its curtains
little by little.
We hold Bubbie’s arms,
me on one side,
Daddy on the other
Mom and Evie trailing behind
and we walk with her
easy now, slow and steady,
up the hill to the house,
where Mom, sighing
puts a kettle on the stove,
and drapes a faded quilt
around Bubbie’s shoulders.

Evie climbs into Bubbie’s lap
and closes her eyes.
Outside the window, the sky
unfurls from ink to silver,
each pine tree more defined
as the morning spreads
its pink brush
across the shivering page.

Published May 13, 2025 by Candlewick

About the Book: Neshama is a haunting story about eleven-year-old Anna Fleischman who has the ability to communicate with the spirits of her ancestors. The problem is, no one believes her. Kids at school tease her and the adults are worried about her strange behavior. Everyone, that is, except Bubbe, who has always treasured Anna’s shayna neshama, her beautiful soul. But when Anna visits Bubbe in her house by the sea, and a restless ghost steps out of the shadows to ask for help, Anna will have to learn how to take matters into her own hands before it is too late. This is a story about family secrets, forgiveness, and the courage it takes to embrace your own complex identity. 

About the Author: Marcella Pixley is the award winning author of  four acclaimed young adult novels: FreakWithout TessReady To Fall, and Trowbridge Road, which was a Junior Library Guild Selection. Trowbridge Road was also long listed for the National Book Award and was a finalist in the Massachusetts Book Award and the Golden Dome Award. It was named a best book of 2020 by Shelf Awareness, Reading Group Choices and Mighty Girls. Neshama, Marcella’s upcoming ghost story in verse comes out from Candlewick Press on May 13th. It was recently named a Junior Library Guild Selection for 2025.

Thank you, Marcella, for sharing this writing exercise!

Author Guest Post: “The Whole Family: Story’s Ability to Connect Young Readers to Second Culture Heritage” by Mima Tipper, Author of Kat’s Greek Summer

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“The Whole Family: Story’s Ability to Connect Young Readers to Second Culture Heritage”

When I started writing my YA novel Kat’s Greek Summer, the idea was to write a story loosely based on summers I spent as a young teen in a tiny Greek fishing village visiting the Greek side of my family. What surfaced immediately in my process was a blaze of memories full of sun-soaked locales and colorful Greeks. Strangely though, as soon as I put a “character” into those memories, other memories surfaced—ones that were not so sun-soaked or all that colorful. My 14 yro character began asking questions about her experiences and her family that had my adult/writer mind asking questions about my own murky connection to my Greek heritage. Questions that my younger self didn’t have the foresight, or maybe the courage, to ask.

As I asked myself these questions, my writer-self wondered about kids and teens coming from a similar background: not one of tangible trauma or overt and brutal racism, but one where mixed heritage was invisible and perhaps ignored. How that invisibility could result in a lack of connection to the larger family, and maybe even a deep-seated sense of confusion, isolation and shame about that larger family. Children, young teens especially, have a strong need to belong, to be part of the group, so when that sense of belonging is challenged, isolation, shame and hiding are a likely byproduct. Growing up half American half Greek, I often found myself in that liminal space of not belonging in either of my family worlds, and feelings of isolation, shame and hiding were certainly a big part of my childhood.

A little background: my mother is a full-blooded—born and raised in Athens—Greek who married an American, and moved with him to America to live and raise a family. In the early days of their marriage, they didn’t spend much time in Greece or with the Greek side of the family. My dad didn’t speak Greek and none of my mother’s family spoke English. Travel was expensive and Greece was a long, long way from our Connecticut home. My mom spoke fluent English and became an American citizen, quickly diving deeply into her life as an American.

After my parents divorced, she did seek Greek community where we lived in Connecticut, but by then the dye was cast for pre-teen me. I didn’t speak Greek and we didn’t live anywhere close to a Greek-American neighborhood. Sure, we went to the Greek church, only it was about 30 minutes from our house and none of my school friends went to that church because none of them were Greek. I spent Sunday after Sunday sitting in a pew not understanding a word the priest said. And there lies one of the main disconnects.

Even though my mom started taking me to Greece during the summer holidays to spend time with my yiayiá and some other relatives, by then I was old enough to feel the full weight of how different I was from my Greek cousins, and how I didn’t belong. I never got a feel for the Greek language—the different alphabet didn’t help—and looks-wise I took after my dad’s mostly Dutch heritage. When we went to Greece no one really looked like me. The food was different, the smells were different, and all around me was a cacophony of Greek conversation that I didn’t understand. Everything was foreign to me and none of the grownups, my mom included, thought to take time to make anything understandable to me. Sure, I had a bunch of fun/happy times with my Greek relatives, but mostly I was along for a ride where, I suppose, somehow, I was expected to “fit in with the Greeks” by osmosis. Long story short, I didn’t.

Cut to many years later as Kat’s Greek Summer percolated in my brain. Here’s a brief description of the book: soon to be high school freshman Kat Baker is all about training for the cross-country team this summer. Then her Greek mom knocks her off-course by dragging her to Greece. To meet the family. How can a girl train in ninety-billion degrees? And with a sharp-eyed yiayiá watching her every move? Determined to keep her running dream alive, Kat embarks on a risk-filled odyssey, discovering that self-truth is at the heart of dreams, first love—even family—and that it is up to her to speak up and claim the heritage that is uniquely hers.

Though the basic premise of my book tells a lot of my own story, fictionalizing my youth helped me explore the sense of disconnection and confusion about my identity that I experienced as a child and teen, much of which was the result of perceived differences born from a tenuous connection to my mother’s Greek heritage. Writing Kat’s Greek Summer helped me face long-held childhood feelings of shame and hiding about my family, because Kat, my main character, was different enough from childhood-me to ask the questions and make the observations that I never had the courage to ask or make. Her fictional experiences and conversations with her mother, her yiayiá and other Greeks brought adult-me a lot of deep reflection and self-forgiveness. From there sprang a sense of pride about my mixed heritage. Pride I wished I’d had, and been encouraged to develop, as a teen.

I think young readers in particular need to have access to stories about unclear or second heritage and uncertain identity because I believe that—darker, more tangible issues of race and mixed heritage aside—there are many young readers who feel isolated, disconnected and confused about their mixed families, and have no clearcut tools to address their isolation and confusion. That’s where fictional characters become essential, because they are able to spark thoughts, empathy, questions and feelings that may help the reader interrogate their own story. And do so in a way that may ignite genuine conversation with family members that could result ultimately in a stronger sense of family connection and pride, as well as an ability to make healthy decisions around exploring self and family identity.

Published May 13th, 2025 by SparkPress

About the Book: Almost-freshman Kat Baker has big plans to train all summer long so she can become the running goddess of her high school. But when she learns her summer will instead be spent exploring her roots in a rustic Greek village, Kat’s sure her popularity plan is toast. In Greece, punishing heat and cultural clashes force Kat to launch a risky and covert training strategy to keep her running-star dreams alive. During her late-night runs, Kat is swept into encounters with Theofilus Zafirakis, a dreamy but off-limits Greek boy. Soon, Kat’s secret odyssey spirals out of control, putting one of her cousins in danger. In the end, it takes the unexpected meddling of an entire Greek village for her to discover that the key to belonging anywhere is belonging first to herself.

About the Author: Half-Greek, half-American, Mima Tipper and her writing reflect her heritage—a little bit old-country, a little bit rock and roll: one foot wandering through the dreamy realms of myths and faerie tales, the other running on the solid ground of fast-paced, contemporary story. She earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and has published YA fiction in Hunger Mountain and Sucker Literary magazine. Her YA short story “A Cut-out Face” received an honorable mention from Hunger Mountain’s Katherine Paterson Prize, her work-in-progress “Chasing a Blue So Wild” was a top ten finalist in Voyage YA’s first chapter contest, and her work-in-progress “Channeling Marilyn” came in second place for Paranormal Romance in the Chesapeake Romance Writer’s annual Rudy contest. “Kat’s Greek Summer” will be her first published novel. Beyond devoting most of her time to writing, Mima volunteers at her local library and is committed to promoting literacy. Mima lives in Vermont with her family. Learn more at: www.mimatipper.com.

Thank you, Mima, for sharing how your book connects to your life!

Author Guest Post: “Bringing History to Life” by k.m. Huber, Author of Call of the Owl Woman

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“Bringing History to Life: Call of the Owl Woman–A Novel of Ancient Nasca”

To better navigate a world where differences abound and yet everything is ultimately connected, we need tools like empathy, understanding, and respect for other beings. As a former teacher who has lived in many countries, and as the mother of bicultural children, I am often struck by how many students are unfamiliar with the world outside their own neighborhoods, let alone outside their country. Those who tend to have greater awareness of the wider world have either lived in other places, or are avid readers. But even as an avid reader myself, I’m the first to admit how little I knew about South America before I met my Peruvian husband. When we moved to his homeland, I discovered things that would change my life.

More than a decade later, after my extended family celebrated a three-generation reunion in South Dakota, my then 13-year-old daughter and I embarked on an epic mother-daughter road trip to Atlanta via the Great Lakes. Along the way, she asked me to write something that she and her friends would want to read—preferably a novel that that would include a little romance, bring to life some history from her native Peru, and would include characters from different cultures trying to get to know each other despite language barriers. I accepted her challenge and we proceeded to outline what the book could look like.

We decided that the heroine should come from the earth-honoring Nasca culture that had thrived on the arid southern coast of Peru for almost a thousand years, long before the Inca empire was established. The Nasca people did not have written language, but we were both fascinated by the vast array of stunning ceramics, textiles and mysterious landscape art, as well as their ingenious water systems and evidence of the largest adobe ceremonial center in the world. We added another character who would arrive as a wounded exile from the Moche culture, much further north and chose to set the story in the sixth century, the period shortly before the Nasca people would completely disappear. We wanted to learn about what happened, and imagine how young people at that time might have faced the prospect of environmental and cultural collapse.

By PsamatheM - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92300677

We spent a summer working together at an archaeological site in Lima before she dove back into school while I dove into research. The questions I started with were: 1) What lead to the demise of the Nasca culture?  2) How and why did they create the giant lines and animal shapes that can only be seen from the air? 3) How would an earth-honoring culture interpret the environmental crises that plagued the region? and 4) what lessons can we apply to our current environmental challenges?

Since there is no evidence of written language in ancient Peru, to recreate a plausible setting and story, I started by reading everything I could get my hands on and visiting area museums. I interviewed archaeologists, anthropologists, archaeoastronomers, archaeobotanists, geologists, hydrologists and local historians. I immersed myself in the landscape and climbed the dune-covered mountain sacred to the Nasca, spending a night there under a full moon. I visited thousand-year-old guarango trees and explored hidden valleys. I walked the Nazca lines in my head, etched replicas across wide stretches of beach, and doodled my own.  I kept adding more questions.

Nasca pottery is known for its rich colors and imaginative designs. Above is the art from a ceramic vase depicting a tangle of flying anthropomorphic supernatural beings  wearing headdresses and nose ornaments, carrying severed heads, knives, slings for weapons, and sprouting cactus-like snakes. The  rich mythological world of the Nasca was very much part of their living landscape, and ceremonial offerings were an integral part of their community.

How did the Nasca manage to harness the underground waters that turned their desert valleys into productive fields? Why were there so many severed heads in their art and in their ritual offerings? What was the meaning behind the orcas (killer whales) and cacti that are so common in their ceramics? Of all the many theories about the Nazca Lines which was closest to the truth of how they were actually used?

The process led me down some unexpected paths. Researching orcas, the ocean’s top predator, opened up a new world of understanding about the intelligence and social aspects of the species and also raised questions about interspecies communication.  Investigating the role of the San Pedro cactus in Nasca art linked it to the earlier Chavin culture, but also led me to explore contemporary cultures where healers still use the cactus ceremonially for “visionary medicine” and consider plants to be teachers of wisdom and guides for healing.

The novel project became much more than a novel. The discovery that there were once great forests in the desert valleys led me to make a documentary with Peruvian filmmaker Delia Ackerman to raise awareness about deforestation and the critical role of the guarango tree. Known by some as the Tree of Life, by others as the King of the Desert, or as the One Tree that unites the three worlds—the heavens above, the world below, and the place we inhabit in between—the guarango also provides food, shelter and fuel, as well as drawing water to the surface from deep underground sources. And in the process of learning about contemporary earth-honoring communities in Peru, from the highest mountains to the deepest jungles, I reconnected to my own gratitude for the planet we call home and renewed my commitment to honoring the earth.

Many of the lines created on the desert plains were paths for ritual walking. Pictured above is a spiral reproduced in 1997 near Palpa, part of the Nazca region, by the students of Jose Lancho Rojas, one of Nazca’s best known historians.

The resulting novel became Call of the Owl Woman – A Novel of Ancient Peru, the story of 15-year-old Patya whose journey from healing to heroine includes wrestling with what is expected of her versus what inspires her. Her beloved grandmother, a renowned healer, has just died and a powerful, corrupt priest is undermining her father’s role as the region’s Water-Guardian. After the priest’s secret attempt to sacrifice her little brother to sharks is foiled by an orca and a Moche sailor, Patya dares to challenge his interpretation of “the will of the gods” and becomes a target as well.

Publishing May 13th, 2025

About the Book: In sixth-century Peru, the Nasca people have flourished for centuries, their faith and ingenuity keeping the desert valleys green in a land where water is scarce. But a prolonged drought now fuels dangerous unrest. Cunning sorcerers and brutal priests vie for control, and Water Guardians like Patya’s father, who refuse to favor the powerful, are under attack.

Devastated by her grandmother’s sudden death, fifteen-year-old Patya retreats into dance and music. She does not want to become a healer like the long lineage of women in her family before her. Even her grandmother had hinted she was born for something else. But, in the wake of a deadly earthquake, Patya must not only help the healers, she must do things she never thought possible. As she begins to conquer her self-doubts and trust her own sense of justice, she will also have to outwit men of power to keep her little brother from being sacrificed by religious extremists at the coming solstice.

As Patya begins to realize and grow into her own power, she also discovers her grandmother’s secret legacy and prepares to step into an unexpected destiny.

“This book is so rich! The story is so compelling I couldn’t put it down. I loved the visceral sensation of movement in the words, felt myself floating, swooping, transforming, transmuting as I read them! It also offers a way know the Nasca and the rhythms of ceremony in Andean pre-history, both its gifts and misuses.”—Bonnie Glass-Coffin, Professor of Anthropology, Utah State University, author of The Gift of Life: Female Spirituality and Healing in Northern Peru

About the Author: k.m. huber grew up in the Pacific Northwest climbing trees, wandering in the mountains, wondering about the world, and writing poems. Unforeseen winds carried her to a new life in New York City, chance introduced her to her future husband, and before long another wind blew them together to the stark desert coast of his homeland, Peru. There, she fell under the enchantment of mystical inland Andean peaks, magical valleys, timeless tales and colorful traditions. 

While living in Lima, she dove into research about the Nasca, interviewed experts, walked its landscapes, climbed sacred hills, met some thousand-year-old guarango trees, and collaborated on a documentary about deforestation.

Huber’s writing can be found in Vice-Versa, Earth Island Journal, Post Road, Rougarou, The McGuffin, and Latin America Press, among others. Her fiction includes Patya y los Misterios de Nasca (La Nave, Peru 2023). She currently resides in Maryville, Tennessee with her husband and dog, still zooms with her Lima writer’s group, and enjoys being close to mountains again.

Thank you, k.m., for your post about your inspiration!