Catching up with 2019 Editor-Writer Mentee Rosario Martinez

We are excited to catch up with our 2019 Young Adult Fiction Mentee Rosario Martinez, who worked with Editor Nikki Garcia over the past year. Rosario started as a quasi plotter and pantser, and in the Editor-Writer Mentorship Program, she dived into learning how to be more of a plotter. Read more about the sage advice she received from her mentor and watch her 60-seconds questions video:

1) Which fictional mentor did your Editor-Mentor most channel?  

Hands down Aslan, she’s wise, good-hearted, and mysterious.  2) What surprised you about your writing or yourself during your mentorship?  

I started out as a quasi plotter and pantser and dived into learning how to be more of a plotter and I like it so much better. I also learned that I can revise ruthlessly.  3) On a long day of writing or querying, what sage advice from your Editor-Mentor will be floating around in your mind? 

Be prepared, be working on the next thing, and the next things next thing. Have a plan! I learned that it’s okay to have a plan even if right now I’m unagented.  4) Will you share with us what you’ve been working on? Give us the one-line pitch of your manuscript. Currently working on a new YA fantasy as well as the follow up to my book baby, On the Edge of Darkness.  On the Edge of Darkness is about Iris de Luna, a seventeen yr. old girl who learns she hails from an alternate earth that's in trouble and must use her dark powers and team up with powerful and mysterious rivals to protect the kingdom that is rightfully hers. 5) What’s next for you and your writing career? Since the mentorship started I took Nina LaCour’s online class the Slow Novel Lab. This class has taught me to experience writing in new ways. Through the writing exercises, I heavily drafted my current project and am applying what I’ve learned to my writing life.  Up next continue working on my current SNL work-in-progress, book # 2, and querying!