Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha M Clark
Hi Samantha M, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Stories have always been very important to me. As a shy and introverted only child, I spent a lot of time alone. My family moved around a lot, and stories were my constant. My parents taught me how to read before I was in school, and no matter which country or town we moved to, the first place they took me was the library. My friends were the Pevensie children of the Narnia Chronicles, Winnie the Pooh and everyone else in the Hundred Acre Woods and Charlie Bucket and his family from the Willy Wonka books. I could visit them in book shelves across the world. I also loved movies, TV shows, comics and videogames–anywhere that I could find a story, I wanted to be there.
I loved telling my own stories as well, but I never thought that I could be an author. Now I speak to kids in schools all the time and tell them they can be authors. But where I grew up in the Caribbean, I never met an author, and it didn’t feel achievable to me. Instead, I became a journalist, writing other people’s stories. But I never let go of my dream of telling my own stories. I would wake up at 4 every morning, write for an hour, then go to my day-job. I often wrote in my lunch hour and on the weekends.
All my reading gave me a good instinct for story, but I had a lot to learn. I had a degree and a lot of experience as a journalist and editor, but there are different skills needed for writing novels. So I joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and attended as many workshops and conferences as I could afford.
Every author’s journey is different. It took me 6 novels and more than 100 rejections before I signed with my agent. My insecurity told me that no one would ever care about my stories, but the characters would not let me quit. I put that insecurity into the book that eventually became my first published novel, THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST. I proved my insecurity wrong because the book got two offers, was sold to Simon & Schuster, and translated into 3 languages.
Now I feel like I’ve found my place in the world–creating stories that hopefully inspire as much as they entertainment. I also love teaching and mentoring others to tell their own stories too. I volunteered as the head of the Austin chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators for 10 years, and it was so rewarding to help other creatives build their careers. Now, as well as writing and mentoring, I also volunteer as a leader for the Texas region of Authors Against Book Bans, to stop the limiting of access to books that is happening across the nation. People have used stories to connect, communicate and learn throughout history. Today, we need each other’s stories more than ever to bring us together in an increasingly divided world. I’m excited to be a small part of that.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Struggles… yes, I had lots! There were many times I thought of giving up. Publishing is not an easy business. As an author, you spend a lot of time perfecting a story with no guarantee that your work will pay off with a publishing deal. Authors face rejection at every step of the way, and my journey was no different.
I started writing novels seriously around 13 years before my debut novel was published. I had more than 100 rejections and had written 6 novels before I signed with my agent. When my debut novel went out to editors, it was rejected around 13 times before it got two offers and ultimately sold to Simon & Schuster. Even after a book is published, authors face rejections in the form of reviews. One day I read a reader review that said the reader couldn’t understand why my book had such great reviews because the reviewer didn’t understand the story. That same day, I got an email from a school librarian saying my book had been chosen by one of their students as his favorite book from that year. Those good reviews and hearing from readers what your story means to them is what makes all the rejections worth it.
This career is one of passion because of all the struggles authors go through, especially now when we are facing unprecedented book challenges and bans, so many that it’s affecting every part of the publishing industry. It’s not an attack on a book or two — it’s an attack on our industry as a whole. Since I write books for children, my work is directly affected even though none of my own books have been challenged. Because of the fears librarians are facing from laws that could put them in prison just for sharing a book, many libraries are no longer even purchasing books, and one library blocked access to its children’s section altogether just to avoid the conflict. Not only does this affect book sales, it also means that children won’t have the access to books that help them become life-long readers, and that is tragic and will have real consequences for the future.
Studies have shown that reading, especially reading fiction, helps children grow up to be happy, successful and innovative, which is good for a thriving society. This is why as well as being an author, I’m proud of the work I’m doing with Authors Against Book Bans to show how important books and stories are to humans and our futures. While parents have the right to decide which books their own children read, they do not have the right to silence voices just because they’re different from their own, and they don’t have the right to decide which books are available to other people’s kids. All children deserve to see themselves in books, and reading about each other in stories helps build up our communities. I learned the importance of this with my book ARROW, which features a protagonist with one hand. The limb difference expert readers who read the book for authenticity when it was being published by Simon & Schuster were excited to see someone like them in books. Books like ARROW show readers that no matter our differences, we also have similarities, and that’s what brings our world together.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m the author of 7 novels for young readers: THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST and ARROW, published by Simon & Schuster; AMERICAN HORSE TALES: HOLLYWOOD, published by Penguin Random House; and the GEMSTONE DRAGONS series, published by Bloomsbury. The GEMSTONE DRAGONS books are for ages 6 and up and the other books are for ages 8 and up. This age range is currently my writing sweet spot. I feel like I’m a 10-year-old at heart.
I’m also known for writing lyrical contemporary fantasies that play with point of view, language and story structure. I love twisting the rules of storytelling, and whenever a reader tells me they dissolved into a puddle of tears at the end of one of my books, I inwardly cheer.
As well as writing my own stories, I ghostwrite for others, but I’m more passionate about helping other writers develop their own skills and voice as an author. I truly believe the world is a better place when people are sharing their stories.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
I love mentoring writers because this career can be so difficult to navigate, emotionally as well as logistically. There are so many things I tell writers I work with, but here are three pieces of advice that come up over and over again:
1. Read as much as you can and as widely as you can. Read things you wouldn’t ordinarily read because you never know where you’re going to find inspiration. I get story ideas from non-fiction and have used elements of mystery books in environmental stories.
2. Don’t judge your first, second or even fifth draft with the published books you’re reading. It’s so easy to get discouraged if you think that what you’re working on isn’t as good as the latest bestseller, but THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST went through around 25 revisions before it was published. Writing is re-writing and your manuscripts will get deeper and better with each pass.
3. Focus on craft rather publishing. I talk to many writers who are researching agents to query before they’ve finished the first draft of their manuscript. While it’s good to learn about the industry they’re going into, the work writers do on their writing skills is what makes the difference in getting an offer of representation from an agent and a publishing deal from a publishing house.
Story is king, and that’s what writers should focus on. That’s also the part of this industry that’s the most fun.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.samanthamclark.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthamclarkbooks/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samanthamclarkauthor/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-clark/
- Other: https://bsky.app/profile/samanthamclark.bsky.social
