Whole Novel Workshop: FOWC

Highlights Foundation and magazine

I recently learned I was chosen to participate in a Whole Novel Workshop hosted by the Highlights Foundation. Some of you may be familiar with Highlights magazine for children. Libraries, schools, and doctors’ and dentists’ offices always had copies of this magazine. The magazine was created in 1946 by spouses, Garry Cleveland Myers and Caroline Clark Myers.

The dark hills in Darkness of Hills, Lightness of Wings

In 1985, the Highlights Foundation began positively impacting “children by amplifying the voices of storytellers who inform, educate, and inspire children to become their best selves.” They began offering workshops and retreats for writers and artists at their retreat center in Milanville, Pennsylvania.

Here’s a beautiful video of the center. I’ll be there for six days in October, during the time when fall foliage reaches its peak colors.

Whole Novel Workshop entry process

To apply, you must submit 10–15 pages of a manuscript, fill out an application, and include a short bio. I submitted part of my work-in-progress novel, Darkness of Hills, Lightness of Wings. It’s for kids in the 9- to 12-year-old age range.

I was inspired to write the book after a visit to Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site. I knew I also wanted to include the Painted Hills, pictured near the beginning of this post.

Where the main character in Darkness of Hills, Lightness of Wings lives with her grandfather

Here’s a blurb about the book. These paragraphs might appear on the back cover or in a query letter. Writers send query letters to prospective agents or editors, hoping they will want to collaborate with them.

Darkness of Hills, Lightness of Wings blurb

Forced out of her home in China, Jīnsè sets out on a long journey, filled with peril. Along the way, Jīnsè heals Rěnshòu, an injured gull, and several passengers on their ship. On the trip across the Pacific Ocean to Oregon, they encounter storms, poachers, and pirates. At a stop in Hawaii, Jīnsè meets Koa, a local boy who shares her love of birds. Together, they overcome a life-threatening situation.

Jīnsè continues her journey to Oregon to work with her grandfather, a local doctor skilled in the techniques of Traditional Chinese Medicine. While out collecting herbs, they find an orphaned magpie and name it Liáng. Her cousin, Feng, who works with Grandfather, becomes jealous of Jīnsè and traps her in an abandoned mine. When she escapes, she finds she has gained the ability to speak to animals and to see words written on the slopes of dark hills. Rěnshòu and Liáng help Jīnsè learn about local plants to use in herbal cures. Feng must work in the mines for a month as punishment for what he did to Jīnsè. Meanwhile, there are rumors of a distant wagon train full of settlers suffering from a terrible illness. Will Jīnsè be able to use her newfound abilities to help them in time? Will Feng help her or stand in her way?

Does that make you curious about the rest of the book? That’s the point of blurbs like this.

Two of the light-winged characters in the book

A sick gull I nursed back to health also inspired me to write this book. He had avian botulism, and as his health improved, he became more and more ornery. In the book, I change the type of gull, but he still has an attitude.

The gull I nursed back to health at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon

Darkness of Hills, Lightness of Wings also features a Black-billed Magpie character. Here’s a drawing I did of one. They have a lot of personality.

Black-billed magpie pen and ink by Siobhan Sullivan

More about the workshop

The Whole Novel Workshop accepts twenty-one or fewer students. Students attend lectures, receive one on one guidance from faculty, and participate in small writing groups. It sounds like just what I need right now with my 57,000-word draft novel. I don’t normally brag about my accomplishments, but I’m so glad I was chosen to participate. I can’t wait! 😀

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