April 25-28: Constellate

I’m co-hosting this one with the YA novelist Andee Hannah and featuring talks by A.S. King, Elana K. Arnold, and Kristin Dwyer, and you’re definitely going to want to go. We’ll welcome you with a cocktail party on Thursday evening and spend the weekend in an absolutely gorgeous setting talking about new and ancient ways of seeing yourself and the stories you want to write. You’ll come home bursting with inspiration and new storytelling tools you won’t get anyplace else. The single-room rate is $1,500. If you want to share a room with a pal, the rate is $1,000 each. For more information: Constellate

NEED TIME TO WRITE WHILE SOMEONE FEEDS YOU BREAKFAST, LUNCH, AND DINNER? HERE’S YOUR CHANCE

March 13-15: Rooms are either $650 or $750 for the retreat (more gets you a private bathroom). This includes all of your food and beverages, quiet time for writing, and craft-based conversation to help you get unstuck. Email me to inquire.

May 5-8: Rooms are either $650 or $750 for the retreat (more gets you a private bathroom). This includes all of your food and beverages, quiet time for writing, and craft-based conversation to help you get unstuck. Email me to inquire.

Contact me to reserve your space.

Photo by Emerald England

Stuck? Try Novel Therapy

There’s no easy way to write a book. But there are easier ways—and one is in the company of a trusted listener who will help you understand the story you want to tell—and help you discover the way to do it.

In a series of sessions timed to support you as you draft your book, we’ll talk things through so that you can get clarity on your project and the choices it demands. In my experience, it’s rare that ideas come all at once or in chronological order. This makes the process of drafting challenging and sometimes overwhelming. With me by your side, you can keep focused, keep motivated, and keep writing knowing that you’re doing the thinking necessary to writing a novel.

I’ll help you understand:

  • Where to start

  • How to raise the stakes

  • How to make it through the muddy middle

  • How to envision your ending

This is different from a critique service. Rather than focusing on what’s on the page, I’ll help you focus on what’s in your head and heart. Very often, those things aren’t making it to the page—and any critique and revision you’ll do will be disappointing. This process is meant to make sure the book you’re dreaming of writing is what you’re producing. From there, you can revise knowing your best work is on the page.

I can help at every stage of the process:

  • Refining the initial vision

  • Helping you get unstuck

  • Figuring out the key scenes of the book and the work they require

  • Making sure the ending is as resonant as it can be.

This works for high-concept books, and it works for quiet books (and can help them transcend their relative quietness). It’s all about understanding your ideas deeply and finding the best expression of of them. At the end of the process, you’ll have a solid handle on your story and some useful tools for thinking and drafting that you can use on every project afterward.

Why hire me? I’m the author of four novels, including the award-winning Game of Love and Death, and I teach at the nation’s leading MFA program for writers of children’s literature, Vermont College of Fine Arts, so I have years of experience both as a novelist and as a teacher.

Packages:

  • A single 45-minute session: $150

  • A package of three 45-minute sessions: $350

  • A package of five 45-minute sessions: $500

You don’t have to use all of your sessions on the same project, but you might find that you want to continue through the revision process.

Please contact me if you’d like to get started! (martha AT marthabee.com), or purchase one of the packages below.

Novel Therapy: single session
$150.00
Quantity:
Add To Cart
Novel Therapy: three pack
$350.00
Quantity:
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Novel Therapy: 5-pack
$500.00
Quantity:
Add To Cart

Writing a novel is not for the faint of heart. It might not even be for the sound of mind. But it's good, clean fun. Or dirty fun, if that's more your thing. Wherever you are in the process, we offer personalized, expert support.

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Martha Brockenbrough

Martha Brockenbrough teaches at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in their Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA program. She is the author of eight books for young readers, including The Game of Love and Death, a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, winner of the Washington State Book Award and Pacific Northwest Bookseller Association Award and other accolades. Out now: Love, Santa; Alexander Hamilton; Revolutionary; Shark Week; Finding Bigfoot, Back to School with Bigfoot, The Dinosaur Tooth Fairy; and the YA novel Devine Intervention, one of Kirkus Reviews' Top 100 books for teens in 2012. She's the founder of National Grammar Day, a former educational humor columnist for Encarta, and has written game questions for Cranium and Trivial Pursuit. (For more, see marthabrockenbrough.com.)

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Lish McBride

Lish McBride holds an MFA in fiction from the University of New Orleans. She's taught workshops both internationally and locally on a variety of writing topics on levels reaching anywhere from post MFA graduate level to writing workshops for kids and teens at 826 Seattle. Lish also sits on thesis committees for the University of New Orleans MFA program. Her works include the Morris Award finalist Hold Me Closer, Necromancer--which also won the Scanduzzi award. Both HMC,N and its sequel, Necromancing the Stone, were YALSA picks. Her latest, Firebug, has received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews. Other works include the upcoming Firebug sequel as well as several short stories. (For a complete list, see www.lishmcbride.com.)

Jolie Stekly

Jolie Stekly teaches the year-long Writing for Children program at the University of Washington. Over the past ten years she has worked with numerous editors, agents, authors, and illustrators to develop programing for conference, retreats, and classes. She was recognized as SCBWI’s 2009 Member of the Year and now welcomes hundreds of first-time conference attendees to the international conference in Los Angeles, helping them make the most of their experience. She holds a master's degree in education, is on the blog team for the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, and is represented by the literary agent Rosemary Stimola. She writes young adult novels, middle grade, and picture books. (For more, see joliestekly.com)