Category: Favorite YA Authors

More Matter, Plus Art

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First there was a podcast of David Tennant in Twelfth Night; now his Hamlet is available to watch online? What an awesome week for Shakespeare (and fans of the Tenth Doctor)!

You can also check out this video on the making of this version of Hamlet. English teachers, take note.

Side note: the scene with Hamlet holding Yorick’s skull is probably one of the best-known images in theater, so it’s easy to forget what’s going on in the scene. I took a Shakespeare class in grad school, and our professor reminded us that Hamlet is holding the skull of probably the only person who ever really cared about him. The skull isn’t just a prop–it’s what’s left of the head of someone he loved. That scene suddenly became so sad for me! Shakespeare knew what he was doing, guys.

(image: The Guardian)

Doing the Voices: Reader as Orchestra

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From this interview with awesome children’s book writer/illustrator Mo Willems:

MONTAGNE: You have a long relationship with writing for television. You’ve won six Emmys for your work at “Sesame Street.” And that kind of writing shows up in your books, it seems, not just funny but also really works and it’s very possible to read it out loud. Do you read out loud as you’re writing?

WILLEMS: I think it’s really important. I mean here’s the weird thing is. I write for illiterates.

MONTAGNE: Three year olds.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

WILLEMS: Right? So what that means is I am dependent on my orchestra. And my orchestra can be a parent, it can be a teacher, it can be a librarian. But I have to make sure that my orchestra is engaged. That they are, you know, maybe being sillier than they normally are; that they are yelling and jumping around, so that that’s what’s going to make the book work better. It’s very, very important. Also, because it’s a time to be together. You know, I want parents to be engaged and I want them to laugh, because then it’s cool. I think that sometimes parents forget that they are the coolest people in the world to kids. They’re just awesome. So if they’re enjoying reading books, suddenly the kid is going to say, wow, reading books is awesome.

I love the idea of the reader as the “orchestra” of a picture book. Willems does a great job capturing voice and making his characters really dynamic for the reader and the listener. You need to do the voices!

Toads, TED talks, and Magical Landscapes: the 2012 NESCBWI Conference

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Sara Zarr giving her keynote. Somehow my only picture from the weekend.

Last Saturday I woke up before sunrise, grabbed my bags, and drove a couple hours to Springfield, MA. Why put so much effort into what would otherwise have been a sleepy Saturday morning? Because I had to get to the NESCBWI conference!

I attended the international SCBWI conference in January, but this was my first regional conference. As with the larger SCBWI conference, there was a fantastic writerly vibe at NESCBWI. Fellow attendees were friendly and enthusiastic; presentations were informative and invigorating; and I left excited to get to work.

It’s a smart idea to have a regional conference. While I loved going to SCBWI in New York, I’m not sure I could make the trip out every year. The New England version is a little more manageable. Also, the workshops I attended felt much more focused on a particular topic. I’m sure regional conferences allow a little more tailoring to what particular attendees want to work on, as opposed to a much larger conference. A few workshops I attended were about setting expectations for your writing career, creating magical worlds, and navigating book contracts. Again, really interesting and helpful stuff.

A few highlights/thoughts/fun moments from NESCBWI:

  • In her keynote speech, Sara Zarr (one of my favorite YA authors) talked about what characters care about. So often we’re asked “What does your character want?” but Sara mentioned that sometimes what you want can just be a symbol for what you care about. I hate the “what does X want?” question; the “what does X care about” makes so much more sense to me. (She also related the writing life to Frog and Toad stories. Loved it!)
  • Also from Sara Zarr: “Let your writing actions speak to your commitment.”
  • Cynthia Lord mentioned there are peaks and valleys in a writing career; it’s not always an upward trajectory. She suggested thinking of the successes and rewards as “gifts” from readers. If someone write a good review about you or wants to give you an award, it’s a gift. Gifts can’t be expected, and as a result there’s way less pressure on you to hit those peaks.
  • Kate Messner shared her TED talk with us (so cool!) and reminded us that sometimes fear lets us know we’re exceeding the artificial limitations we set for ourselves.
  • A behind-the-scenes look at New Yorker covers and comics from Harry Bliss. His keynote made me wish I could illustrate.
  • When creating magical worlds, ask yourself questions like “How would geography affect class structure?” and “What kind of medicine or drugs do they have?” Cinda Williams Chima gave such a great workshop; I felt with major fantasy invigoration.
  • The Apocalypsies/Class of 2012 debut novelists are awesome people. It was great to hear about how weird the first novel experience can be. Special thanks to AC Gaughen and Diana Renn for chatting with me afterward.
  • On a more personal note, I was invited to join a fabulous YA/MG critique group. So excited to start workshopping with such wonderful writers!

If you want even more on NESCBWI, make sure to check out these posts by other attendees/presenters. And if you attended, please share your thoughts/links to blog posts about your NESCBWI experience in the comments.

 

Links Galore

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A few more links for Thursday:

http://paperandsalt.org

Owl Development

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Another poem for National Poetry Month. I couldn’t resist one with owls:

How To Build an Owl
By Kathleen Lynch

1. Decide you must.

2. Develop deep respect
for feather, bone, claw.

3. Place your trembling thumb
where the heart will be:
for one hundred hours watch
so you will know
where to put the first feather.

4. Stay awake forever.
When the bird takes shape
gently pry open its beak
and whisper into it: mouse.

5. Let it go.

(via swissmiss)

The Explosion of Plot

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When I was in high school, I was really into writing stories without plot. Plot was old, I thought; existential angst was in! I wish I had seen this quote back then:

“Plot is people. Human emotions and desires founded on the realities of life, working at cross purposes, getting hotter and fiercer as they strike against each other until finally there’s an explosion—that’s Plot.”—Leigh Brackett

I love that description. Plot isn’t just action; it’s people getting in each other’s way and confronting each other.

Also, I hadn’t heard of Leigh Brackett before, but apparently she co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back. Awesomeness!

(via Writer’s Digest)

Books for Our Boys: Armed Service Editions

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My friend Caitlin wrote a fantastic article about a little-known aspect of WWII history: Armed Services Editions. Pocket-sized versions of popular novels like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn were given to soldiers to boost morale.

The history of how the books came to be published is fascinating. One part in particular I liked:

“The concept of issuing pocket-sized books to the military didn’t come to the government immediately, nor was the idea of sending books to those overseas new. Book drives for the military had occurred regularly at libraries across the country during World War I. But after the outbreak of World War II, Americans began raiding their personal libraries for books to send to troops overseas with a vigor that far outstripped their previous efforts—motivated this time by nearly a decade of exposure to news stories about Nazi book bans and photographs of towering infernos built to consume “un-German” tomes. The first Nazi book burnings, organized across 34 college towns by the German Students Association on May 10, 1933, reduced some 25,000 books to ash; by 1938, the Nazi government had outright banned 18 categories of books—4,175 titles in all—and the works of 565 authors, many of them Jewish. Now that the United States was officially at war, what better way to strike back at the enemy than by allowing soldiers to read exactly what they wished? Books were no longer simple diversions for fighting men—they had become totems signifying what those men were fighting for.”

I love this idea. Books aren’t just a form of entertainment–they signify intellectual freedom and an appreciation for humanity as a whole.

Make sure to read the whole article; it’s really moving.

Defining YA

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From the Atlantic, surprisingly thorough look at the definition and history of YA. One part I liked:

“One thing Y.A. is not is a genre; it’s a category, as with adult literature, containing all sorts of types of writing, from fiction to nonfiction. As Tracy van Straaten, VP at Scholastic, reminded us, “Something people tend to forget is that YA is a category not a genre, and within it is every possible genre: fantasy, sci-fi, contemporary, non-fiction. There’s so much richness within the category.””

This is rarely stated in other articles about YA. Just as in literature for adult readers, YA has a lot of variety in genre and in depth.

Even for those involved in the world of YA, it can be a hard category to define. So often writers try to figure out who their reader might be, and the divisions can be tricky. Even though readers could only be separated by a grade (say, 8th and 9th), the divisions in their worlds are vast. (Middle and high school are very different animals.)

I’m encouraged to see the Atlantic take on the question of YA without the immediate tone of condescension. (“I don’t tend to read YA, but…”) I hope this article helps readers who are curious about the category but are afraid to dive in because they don’t know much about it.

Writer as Curator of Life: E.B White and Writerly Responsibility

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I love this article about E.B. White and the responsibility of an author. A quote from White:

“The writer’s role is what it has always been: he is a custodian, a secretary. Science and technology have perhaps deepened his responsibility but not changed it. In ‘The Ring of Time,’ I wrote: ‘As a writing man, or secretary, I have always felt charged with the safekeeping of all unexpected items of worldly or unworldly enchantment, as though I might be held personally responsible if even a small one were to be lost. But it is not easy to communicate anything of this nature.’

A writer must reflect and interpret his society, his world; he must also provide inspiration and guidance and challenge. Much writing today strikes me as deprecating, destructive, and angry. There are good reasons for anger, and I have nothing against anger. But I think some writers have lost their sense of proportion, their sense of humor, and their sense of appreciation. I am often mad, but I would hate to be nothing but mad: and I think I would lose what little value I may have as a writer if I were to refuse, as a matter of principle, to accept the warming rays of the sun, and to report them, whenever, and if ever, they happen to strike me. One role of the writer today is to sound the alarm. The environment is disintegrating, the hour is late, and not much is being done. Instead of carting rocks from the moon, we should be carting the feces out of Lake Erie.”

I think this is particular interesting when paired with E.B. White as a writer of early middle grade novels. I wish I could remember who said this, but within the last year or so I came across a blog post about how middle grade novels are often so full of heart and hope. It sounds like White’s views reflect that. And it’s part of why I like writing for teens–even if there’s a fair amount of anger in a YA novel, it’s not without hope. (Trying to think of a YA novel that doesn’t end with total despair, even if things aren’t perfect or even resolved.)

And I like that White balances out with the idea of “sounding the alarm.” Writing isn’t just meant to convey happy thoughts. We need to be aware of the bad stuff in the world, while also recognizing the good.