By Stephi Smith

Special to the Reporter

When Ann Marie Stewart’s first book, “Stars in the Grass,” was announced as the 2017 Christy Award’s Best Debut Novel, she didn’t initially react.

Mostly because she didn’t know it was her book. The winning book for each category had its first passage read aloud and the announcers read from the book’s first chapter, not the prologue like Stewart had expected.

Once the Kenmore native recognized the book, she said she was beyond honored to have won the award. Being one of three nominated was already a privilege, especially among the other writers, she said.

Ann Marie Stewart with her Best Debut Novel award. Courtesy of Ann Marie Stewart

“Stars in the Grass” tells the story of how 9-year-old Abby McAndrews and her family handle life after the tragic death of her younger brother. Her father, a reverend, begins to question his own faith.

Stewart said her main questions for the book’s storyline centered a lot on what faith means for certain people and how inescapable tragedy plays a role.

Her biggest fear at the time of writing the book was losing a child, even though she was not married nor had any plans of children in the future.

She wanted to write a story with this theme because experiencing something like that on paper would help her manage this fear, she said while sitting among her daughter’s blankets and pillows.

“There’s this element among writers that if you write your biggest fear, it won’t happen,” she said.

The novel began as a short story for a creative writing class Stewart took in 1991 at the University of Michigan, where she was enrolled in graduate school.

She’s written other stories since, but this one “always lingered,” she said and she decided to expand it into a full novel.

Much of the main story stayed the same. “Stars in the Grass” just had a more enhanced plot and conflict and more characters added. Stewart said she really wanted readers to be able to grasp and understand the main character’s conflict just before it was resolved.

Many of the characters in the book are people Stewart knows and interacts with in some way. One of the male characters looks visually very similar to her own brother and a character named Patty is based one one of her close friends, Stewart said.

Some of the scenes in the book are based on real events as well. Stewart described her younger self as very “mischievous” in church and said she and her friends would sometimes play hide-and-go-seek during service as her characters do in the novel.

“I think it’s fun to take anecdotes from real life and add to them, make them into something,” she said.

The cover of Ann Marie Stewart’s debut novel, “Stars in the Grass.” Courtesy of Ann Marie Stewart

While the novel is set in a fictional Midwestern town, the story’s setting also mimics some of Stewart’s own life. The family takes a vacation to Birch Bay, Washington, where Stewart had vacationed with her own family many times growing up. In addition, one of the parks in the novel is based on Pop Keeney Stadium in Bothell.

Stewart wanted her fictional Midwest town to be like “everyman’s town,” one that most Americans could identify with or relate to. If it had been a major city like Boston, much of the setting in the novel would be more important and pronounced and she might even have had to visit the city for a more accurate feel of the story. Because the town was fictional, Stewart was able to name much of the places in the book, such as the football field and local hospital.

Stewart said she has “a lot of jobs” right now. When she’s not writing, she’s either substitute teaching middle school or helping direct local musicals in Virginia, where she now lives.

After graduation from Inglemoor High School, she received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington and later her master’s degree from the University of Michigan. After she graduated from UW, she taught at Leota Junior High School (now a middle school) in Woodinville for five years.

While she loved teaching, she also loved learning.

“I wanted to improve my writing and my own knowledge,” Stewart said.

Going back to school helped her to grow as a writer, she said, and she was able to use what she learned there to further her novel.

Stewart has also worked on other projects. At 19, she began working on a nonfiction book about her grandparents’ escape from Russia to the United States. When she was teaching at Leota, she read the book to her students chapter by chapter.

She said they found it very interesting to hear from a “real writer” and have the experience to learn from someone who may have their work published soon.

Stewart also brought her grandparents into her class so her students could meet them and ask questions.

Since “Stars in the Grass” has been published, Stewart said she’s spent time reading reviews about the novel. She checks online reviews at Amazon.com when she can to see how people react to her work.

Much of the reviews have been positive, she said. A lot of people comment that the book is “inspiring” and “motivational” and have helped in their own grieving process.

One of the top Amazon customer reviews describes the book as “an unexpected delight” and the commentor said they would recommend the book for “a glimpse of how grief and struggle can turn into peace and assurance.”

Stewart said it gives her hope to know that her book has helped people.

She also doesn’t ignore the negative reviews. She said she even reads the comments from people who rated her novel as one or two stars. She reads these to gain a better understanding of why her book may not have touched some readers the way it has others, she said. Much of the comments she’s read from those reviews have described her book as “too depressing,” she said.

With her writing, Stewart said she mainly wants to make people feel things — both happy and sad emotions.

“I hope that my words stir readers,” she said.

Stewart doesn’t know what her next published work will be and she doesn’t want to churn something out for the sake of writing. She’d rather write from the heart than write something “formulaic,” she said.

Stewart wants her book to answer questions that some people may have, as she said her goal was with “Stars in the Grass.”

“After all, that’s what communication is all about,” Stewart said.

Stephi Smith is a Western Washington native attending the University of Missouri, where she is studying print and digital journalism and Spanish.