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Book: Heartland by Warren Bull

categories: Book, Young Adult, Mystery, Boy's Fiction, Western, Adventure

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Warren Bull

about this book: I started writing HEARTLAND in 2004, but I didn't know it at the time. I thought I was only writing a short story for the Great Manhattan Mystery Conclave short story contest. I was fortunately enough to be one of the winners. I thought I was done but the characters in the story were not through with me. Over the course of the next couple of years members of the family I wrote about popped up in my mind telling other stories about their lives. I wrote about the brother and sister, the mother and the father. Those stories got published in different venues. (Fortunately for me none of the family members knew how to type.) It took some time for me to realize that if I put all the stories together I had the basis for a novel.

Although I had written other novels, this was my first Young Adult work. In various versions I tried altering the timeline, ages of the character and the gender of the protagonist to see if I could get the book to fit into the Young Adult universe.

HEARTLAND was a finalist in the 2010 Young Adult Novel Discovery Contest sponsored by the Gotham Writers Workshop. I won feedback from the contest judges and agent Regina Brooks. They offered excellent feedback that helped me develop a much more marketable version. I first published the book myself on Smashwords and Kindle. Then a small publisher offered to bring out a paperback version. I was delighted to accept.

• "Heartland offers a wealth of exceptionally well-drawn characters, demonstrating that Warren Bull is a most talented storyteller."
— Chris Roerden, author of award-winning books for writers.