Breakout Session 4: How Tension and Conflict Drive Storytelling with Krista Marino

Krista Marino is a VP & Senior Executive Editor at Delacorte Press where she acquires and edits Young Adult and Middle Grade fiction. Among her list are bestselling series, like the Maze Runner; literary gems, like Kathleen Glasgow’s Girl in Pieces; genre-bending classics, like Rory Power’s Wilder Girls; trendsetters, like Karen M. McManus’s One of Us Is Lying; and masterful works of fantasy, like Amélie Wen Zhao’s Song of Silver, Flame like Night. Whether it’s an original voice, a unique world, or a compelling plot, she’s looking for stories you can’t stop thinking about.

How Tension and Conflict Drive Storytelling

The basics:

• Conflict is the engine of plot.
• Tension is the emotional strain that keeps readers hooked. 

How Conflict Drives Tension:

1. Conflict sets opposing forces in motion--it is "a problem with resistance"

2. Tension lives in the place between want and outcome--between a character and a character's desire and whether they'll achieve it

3. Conflict raises stakes, which amplifies tension

4. Unresolved conflict sustains suspense

So...

• conflict creates friction
• friction produces uncertainty
• uncertainty + stakes = tension

Tools for building tension:

• layer conflict (external and internal)
• use secrets and silence
• raises the stakes 
• mix fast-faced conflict with slow-burn emotional tension

Now, make it more tense:

1. withhold key information (peel back in layers)

2. Use time pressure

3. Layer internal and external conflict

4. Raise the stakes in every scene

5. Exploit secrets and lies

6. Shorten scenes in high moments (pacing)

7. Trap characters together

8. End chapters on uncertainty 

Krista takes this breakout group through all of these many aspects of conflict in tension in story, uses the books above, and more. Check out the greater depth of exploration and conversation in the replays.

If you are not registered and want to view this session to hear the full content, along with the rest of the conference, register at https://www.scbwi.org/events/virtual-summer-conference-2025. Replays of the conferences will be available until September 14th, 2025.

Writers Intensive Panel--The Process of Revision: Challenges & Rewards

l to r: Aaron Hartler, Nancy Conescu, Rachel Griffiths, Michelle Poploff

SCBWI's own Aaron Hartzler moderates a panel of editors offering post-critiqe advice. Here are some highlights.

Nancy Consescu (Dial): Revision is a process. Post critique, you have to consider the various comments, decide how to address things, and try different things until you get to what works. She asks her authors to start with making big changes that will resonate through the manuscript. She suggests really looking at your chapter endings and be sure you're giving readers a reason to turn the page. Also really look at the dialogue specific to each character to be sure what they say rings true to each character. She stresses, as you work with an editor, that there's a period of digesting the suggestion that must take place.

Rachel Griffiths (Scholastic): She hopes that a manuscript has been revised maybe ten times by the time it gets to her. She suggest that writers pay attention to what you're feeling as you read it--does your mind wander, is something is confusing? If you're ever stuck on a revision, you just work on it, go over things over and over again, and it eventually it can turn into something magical. She reads through and looks for one flash of greatness in a mediocre manuscript, and suggests her authors revise the rest of the pages to get to that level. She hopes that's authors take about 50% of her revision suggestions and that they don't work with the suggestions that don't feel true to them. She stresses the importance of working on your craft because that's what makes you get better and better and grow as a writer.

Michelle Poploff (Delacorte): (Note: She was the editor for this year's Newbery winner MOON OVER MANIFEST by Clare Vanderpool, the first debut author to win the award in 30 years. Also note: She's found four authors at SCBWI conference over the past few years.) The revision process between writer and editor varies depending on authors preferences and working style. She always tells authors to read out loud and she's a big fan of writers groups, saying that if you belong to a writing group, they can be very helpful advocates. She also suggests writers let things percoloate for a while as you revise. Revision is like redecorating, and sometimes you rearrange all the furniture in the room, and still there's still a lamp that's in the wrong place. She wants authors she works with to take their time to do the very very best they can on revising.

WENDY LOGGIA, "I Wanted to Love This: 7 Reasons Why Your Manuscript Gets Declined"

WENDY LOGGIA, "I Wanted to Love This: 7 Reasons Why Your Manuscript Gets Declined"

Delacorte editor Wendy Loggia's panel focused on the manuscripts that ALMOST were accepted but were not quite ready for primetime. (She was not focusing on manuscripts that were obviously not ready at all, she was focusing on the manuscripts that are ALMOST ready to go.) She felt these 7 tips would help SCBWI members and aspiring writers as they revised their manuscripts.

WENDY LOGGIA BIO: Executive editor of Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's books; the focus at Delacorte is almost exclusively on middle grade and YA novels. She is the editor of THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS series by Ann Brashares, the GEMMA DOYLE trilogy by Libba Bray, as well as several debut novels by SCBWI members including Kristin O'Donnell Tubb's AUTUMN WINIFRED OLIVER DOES THINGS DIFFERENT and Georgia Bragg's MATISSE ON THE LOOSE.

Wendy looks for a strong narrative voice, great stories, and for writers that display a clear authorial hand. She joked about spending "nine years crushing people's dreams" but then discussed the real reasons as to why she will pass on book submissions.

Some highlights from Wendy Loggia's panel:

-- She tells aspiring writers always to think about WHY someone will want to buy your book. They are going to pull out their wallet and spend 18 dollars or more, so make your book worth it.

-- She will pass on a manuscript that is "too similar to other novels I've worked on." Examples included writers who love THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS series which she had edited, so they submit a novel just like it. She also says she will pass on books that are too similar to other books already in the marketplace. She says they have received a flood of similar Twilight vampire books, books about werewolves, etc.. "Instead of jumping on a trend, write what feels true to you."

-- Voice, voice voice. "I may love the concept, but I can't connect to the voice. The voice wasn't special enough, I don't see teens/tweens connecting to the voice, I think the voice is meant for adult readers. It may have great moments but if there's too much telling or not a compelling voice, I will pass on it."

-- Sometimes she will pass on a book if the author seems to be too much trouble to work with. "Working on a book is like a marriage," she says. "Editors and authors spend a lot of time together sharing ideas. It's not all fun and games. If person feels like trouble before process has even started, I don't want to get involved." She will google people who have submitted their work and read their blogs as part of her research to make her decision. She said "it's like a job interview."

These are just some of the tips she offered. All of Wendy's seven tips were all very helpful and telling to the standing-room only crowd at the main ballroom for both aspiring writers and published veteran writers. Again, another reason why this conference is so great - you get exclusive information that can really help you improve your writing and help you on your journey towards publication. 

Posted by Paula Yoo