Happy Monday Everyone! Today, I’m excited to have Lynne Kelly here to share about her MG Three Blue Hearts. It sounds like a contemporary story that tugs at your heart, and I’m looking forward to reading it.
Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:
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From the bestselling author
of Song for a Whale comes a moving tale about the
life-changing bond between a boy and the octopus he rescues.
Max can’t seem to escape the big, looming shadow of his politician dad. But for
the next few months, Max and his mom are going away to a quiet Texas beach town
where Max can be someone else. Someone who doesn’t make dumb mistakes that
embarrass his father—someone who knows how to be strong.
He stumbles on his fresh start right away, when he finds an injured octopus washed
up onshore after a storm. With the help of a local wildlife center and a couple
of new friends, Max rescues the octopus—who they name Ursula—and vows to take
care of her until she’s ready to return to the sea.
But as their bond deepens and Max makes unexpected discoveries that turn his
summer upside down, Max’s true strength will be put to the test. Can he keep
his promise after all?
Hi Lynne! Thanks so much for joining us.
1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a writer.
Thanks for having me! I’ve always loved books, but it wasn’t until I was in my late 30s that I thought about writing one. I’ve been a sign language interpreter for a long time, and for a few years I also taught in a special ed resource room. Our classroom had bookshelves along three walls, so I was quite literally surrounded by children’s literature. I enjoyed introducing the students to some of my favorite books and I discovered some new favorites. One day during those teaching years, I heard during a presentation that an elephant will struggle to break free after being captured, then give up forever when it realizes it can’t escape. Decades later, the same rope or chain still contains that full-grown elephant, because it doesn’t know it’s now strong enough to break free. The speaker used this story as a metaphor about success and failure, but I started thinking about creating a story around this to tell my students at school. It grew from there, and I wondered if it might be a story for a larger audience. Eventually that became my first published novel, Chained. It was a six-year journey from idea to publication, but I found that I liked taking an idea and turning it into a story, so I kept going!
2. That is such a cool way to get into writing. It shows how ideas are everywhere. Where did you get the idea for Three Blue Hearts?
I had Max’s character in mind for a long time, as a compassionate kid who has a parent who’s very much his opposite, but it took a while to figure out what animal he’d connect to. I’d also been working on a book about a girl whose family took care of an orphaned chimpanzee before releasing her to a sanctuary. In 2019 I was talking to my agent about both stories, working out what each one needed and which to focus on. At one point she said, “Wait, maybe these kids are friends, and they need to be in the same story.” So that’s when Ollie Mae became a strong secondary character in Max’s story, and the chimp release took place a month before the current story begins.
Your Writing Process
3. It’s great that your agent helped you make your story idea better. I noticed a theme in all your books: kids helping animals. What draws you to write these stories, and why did you pick an octopus for Three Blue Hearts?
I’m fascinated by animals and love thinking about their behaviors and communication. I’d knocked around different ideas while working on Three Blue Hearts, and had octopuses on my mind after reading Sy Montgomery’s Soul of an Octopus. They’re such interesting and intelligent creatures, and about as different from humans as can be. Later, a picture of an octopus in a Miami parking garage was making the rounds online. That image of an out-of-place octopus really stuck with me, and I decided to give a sighting like that to Max, though of course the octopus in the story will fare better than the one in the parking garage.
4. How funny you saw the picture of the octopus in the parking garage. Share about your process of writing your first draft after you got the idea for Three Blue Hearts? How long did it take to write and revise before you felt ready to submit it? How do you know when a manuscript is finished enough to submit?
This book has been on a long journey, since it’s made up of different projects I’d been working on before they were squished together to create Max’s story. I had the setting and some of the characters in mind for about ten years, and I went on behind-the-scenes tours at a couple of public aquariums to meet their octopuses. In 2021 I had a good draft of the story written, but it still needed a lot of revision. I set it aside to work on last year’s book, The Secret Language of Birds, before getting back to Three Blue Hearts, which I finally submitted in the summer of ’23.
As for knowing when it’s time to submit, I revise as much as I can, on my own and using feedback from my critique group, before asking a few beta readers to read the whole thing so I can get big-picture feedback. When I can’t think of anything more to do to it and I’m just tinkering with it, making small edits, it’s time to send it in.
5. Max is a very sympathetic
character struggling to deal with an overbearing dad. Tell us a bit about who
he is as a character and your techniques for showing his character development
throughout Three Blue Hearts.
Max came up when I was wondering
what it must be like to be a compassionate kid with a parent who doesn’t value
that compassion or the other things he’s interested in—in Max’s case, books and
animals. Max and his dad are quite different, though they look alike and have
the same name. While he's at the beach town with his mom for the summer, Max
will meet people who care about animals like he does, and he’ll see that the
things he cares about are valuable. Through his journey of caring for Ursula
and interacting with his new friends, Max will find the strength to stand up to
his dad. He’s still the same sweet kid he always was, but he knows that it’s
important to speak up and keep his promise to a friend who needs his support.
He also starts questioning some things his dad believes, like about apologizing
being a sign of weakness.
Your Road to Publication
6. Molly O’Neil is your agent. Share about how she became your agent and how you got your publishing contract for your debut book, Chained.
I started working on Chained in 2006, and took about three years to write the draft and revise it before it was strong enough to submit. In the summer of 2009, an interested agent gave me a substantial revision letter, and I spent a few months working on that. She ultimately turned it down since something still wasn’t working for her and she wasn’t able to pinpoint what it was. So that was an especially disappointing rejection after getting so close, but all of that work meant that the draft was much stronger than it had been. I started sending out more queries that day, and within a few months, I did have an agent, and the manuscript sold pretty quickly to Macmillan at auction.
Fast forward a few years, I was in the query trenches again after having parted ways with my first agent. I had a lot of full or partial requests for a fun mystery I’d written, but no takers. I set it aside to start working on something else, and then I saw that Molly O’Neill had started agenting, after many years as an editor. I’d known her for a long time and really liked her (she actually gave me a wonderful critique of Chained at my first SCBWI conference!), so I sent one more query on that manuscript. I mentioned in the query letter that I was also working on a story about the “lonely whale” who sings a weird song that other whales probably can’t understand. When Molly replied, she said that the story I’d subbed wasn’t piquing her interest, but she wanted to see the whale story if I was still unagented by the time it was ready. I did send it to her after I finished revising the manuscript, and within a couple of weeks, she was my agent!
7. Your publisher for Chained is Macmillan. Delacorte is the publisher for your subsequent books—Song for a Whale, The Secret Language of Birds, and Three Blue Hearts. How have you gotten your Delacorte publishing contracts and grown your career as an author?
After writing Chained and having a few years without a new published book, Molly sent Song For a Whale to several editors once it was ready to go. There ended up being five interested editors, so the book went to auction. We went with editor Kate Sullivan, who was with Delacorte at the time. She had a wonderful vision for what the story needed, and later sent a revision letter that had such helpful big-picture feedback that helped me strengthen the story in my next round of revisions. I was sad to see Kate leave Delacorte shortly before Song For a Whale was released, but I was fortunate that the book had some good in-house support by then. Song For a Whale was a two-book deal, so Delacorte published The Secret Language of Birds as the second part of that deal. I was hoping to continue working with them, so when Three Blue Hearts was ready to go, we subbed to them first to see if they wanted to take it on. Thankfully, they said yes to that story too!
Marketing Your Book
8. How are you planning to market Three Blue Hearts? How has your approach to marketing your books changed since you were a debut author?
It’s so hard to know what we can do as authors to really move the sales needle. With my first book, I joined a couple of debut groups—those were wonderful for support and for cross-promotion.
I’m really fortunate to have some good marketing support from my publisher, and I’ll be going on a book tour for a few days and visit with schools. That’s my favorite thing to do as an author—meet and talk to readers. I’ve also been running a preorder campaign, offering a free Zoom Q&A for people who preordered the book. (That’s an idea from Kate Messner). One thing I’ve done for Three Blue Hearts is reach out to octopus fan groups like Tonmo and OctoNation to get the book in front of people who would be interested in the subject.
Other than that, I send out the occasional newsletter and post book updates on social media. I think the best thing we can do to market our books is to keep writing! Fans of one book will look to see what else the author has written.
9. Connecting with octopus fan groups. I noticed you’re an author with Authors Unbound. Tell us about this organization and how it’s helped you promote your books?
Authors Unbound is a booking agency that coordinates author visits for schools and book events. They arrange the travel and send the contracts and invoices to the hosts. It’s so convenient to have all that handled! One thing they did last year was suggest Song For a Whale as a companion book to a community that was reading Shelby van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures. In addition to having the book added as a community-wide read, I got to visit the city for school visits and an evening presentation that was open to the public.
10. It sounds like a great booking agency. What are you working on now?
A few different things, which is unusual for me! I’m figuring out the next middle grade novel and I also have ideas for nonfiction books I’d like to write—also about fascinating animals!
Thanks for sharing all your advice, Lynne. You can find Lynne at lynnekellybooks.com, on Instagram @lynnekkelly, and Bluesky @lynnekelly.bsky.social
Giveaway
Details
Lynne’s publisher is generously offering an ARC of Three Blue Hearts for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower of my blog (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment by October 25th. If I do not have your email (I can no longer get it from your Google Profile), you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest. Please be sure I have your email address.
If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or other social media sites and/or follow me on Twitter or Bluesky or follow Lynne on her social media sites, mention this in the comments, and I'll give you an extra entry for each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. This ARC giveaway is U.S.
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is hosted by Greg Pattridge. You can find the participating blogs on his blog.
Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops
Wednesday, October 15th I have an agent spotlight interview with Sophie Sheumaker and a query critique giveaway
Thursday, October 16th I’m participating in the Silly Pumpkin Giveaway Hop
Monday, October 20th I have a guest post by author Claudia Mills and a giveaway of her MG The Last Apple Tree
Monday, October 27th I have an interview with author Dusti Bowling and a giveaway of her MG Holding on for Dear Life
Saturday, November 1st, I’m participating in the Thanks a Latte Giveaway Hop
Wednesday, November 5th, I have an interview with Pamela N. Harris and a giveaway of her YA Through Our Teeth and my IWSG post
Monday, November 10th, I have a guest post by Darlene P. Compos and a giveaway of her MG The Center of the Earth
Wednesday, November 12th, I have an agent spotlight interview with Mara Cobb and a query critique giveaway
Sunday, November 16th, I’m participating in the In All Things Give Thanks Giveaway Hop
Monday, November 17th, I have a guest post by Mike Steel and a giveaway of his MG Not Lucille
Wednesday, November 19th, I have an agent spotlight interview with Carter Hasegawa and a query critique giveaway
Monday, November 24th, I have a guest post by R.M. Romero and a giveaway of her MG The Tear Collector
I hope to see you on Wednesday!
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