Tag: meaningful

Pain and Possiblity: Why We Need YA

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Patrick Ness totally gets why YA is necessary:

“I think to be a teenager is to yearn. I yearned for someone to tell me I was all right, that everything was going to be all right…I look back on that teenage me with real tenderness, real affection. I so want to be able to tell him that he’s going to be OK…

In a real way, I think this is what my books for teenagers have all ended up being about. Being heard. Being taken seriously. Being treated as a complex being who doesn’t always get things right but who also doesn’t always get things wrong. And being told that there’s hope, there’s life, there’s laughter and love, that hurt is real, that pain is real, yes – but so is possibility, so is a liveable, wondrous future, despite what anyone may tell you. And the response to that has been amazing, and sometimes heartbreaking.”

Yes yes yes. I wish I had more to add, but Ness beautifully sums up why this is a genre I love.

Make sure to read the whole article, too.

Quote of the Day

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“Novels are never about what they are about; that is, there is always deeper, or more general, significance. The author may not be aware of this till she is pretty far along with it. A novel’s whole pattern is rarely apparent at the outset of writing, or even at the end; that is when the writer finds out what a novel is about, and the job becomes one of understanding and deepening or sharpening what is already written. That is finding the theme.”–Diane Johnson

Very much agree with that. I don’t think many writers sit down to write about a particular theme and end up with a compelling story. Themes have to emerge naturally and with layers of complication.

(H/T Advice to Writers)

A Fairer House Than Prose: Emily Dickinson and The Little White House Project

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This is way cooler than my high school English projects. Deerfield Academy student Peter Krasznekewic has constructed 34 small houses, all made from sustainable materials and all bearing a line from an Emily Dickinson poem. His “Little White House Project” is featured on the grounds of the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst.

Jane Wald, executive director of the Dickinson museum, says:

“When Peter first came to me, it was clear he was thinking about the wider Pioneer Valley. Part of the concept was integrating it with the bigger landscape…The museum has been working to figure out how to connect Emily’s poetry to other art forms and artists, and maybe find an edgy way to do that.”

So excited to hear that teens like Peter and looking for ways to both appreciate art and create their own, while also connecting to their communities. The exhibit will be up until June 30; it’s free and open to the public. Good excuse to make the trip out to Amherst!

Read the rest of the article for more info on Peter and his project.

(H/T: NCBLA)(image: Emily Dickinson Museum)

Be Fearless in Your Writing

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From this interview with Judy Blume:

Q: What do you do to fight censorship?

Well, I’m on the board of the National Coalition Against Censorship and I’m talking more and more with newer, younger writers now about there’s no such thing as a safe book.

If you think you can go into a little room and write a book that no one will ever challenge—I don’t care if it’s a picture book—if somebody wants to find something in a book, they will find something in any book.

So, write with passion and write what’s deep inside and kick that censor off your shoulder, just the way you have to kick your critics off your shoulder when you go into that room.  You can’t worry about things.

I guess that’s what I mean by being fearless in your writing.  That doesn’t mean that you’re not trying to write the very best books that you can write because especially when you’re writing for young people, they deserve the very best stories, books, characters.

In fact, the younger they are, the better it should be.

Love all of the above. Make sure to read the rest of the interview for more about Blume’s writing, New Jersey, and the upcoming Tiger Eyes movie.

A YA Room of One’s Own

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From Callie’s “Why YA?” post at Teen Librarian’s Toolbox:

“I’ve realized teenagers are, quite possibly, the most forgotten group among libraries. And this fact is infinitely sad. And we, as adults, aren’t fooling anyone. Teens know they’re forgotten. It can be seen simply in the size of so many library YA departments. YA departments are tiny and, unless you’re in a large city, usually don’t actually have their own librarian. A teenager comes in with a question and is referred to a children’s librarian. And, come on folks, you remember what it was like. No teenager wants to be called a child. Teenagers aren’t children.”

I remember having this exact experience when I was in middle/high school. We had a small local library which had a children’s section but nothing like that for teens. Similarly, at Barnes and Noble I felt caught between the children’s section and the adult section. There was a small collection of YA books, but it was incorporated into the children’s section–not where I wanted to be at 13. Fortunately, libraries and bookstores are offering a lot more for teens these days, including their own sections and programming, but as Callie says in her post, it’s essential adults remember what it felt like to be caught between the world of kids and the world of adults.

Race and Responsibility in YA

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Sarah Ockler has an excellent post up about the issue of race in YA. Like most other genres, the characters are predominantly white, and so are the authors. Sarah looks at the problems associated with this and what YA authors themselves can do to fix these problems. One part I especially liked:

Actively diversifying our fiction does not mean any of the following:

  • Giving a character almond-shaped eyes or coffee-mocha-latte-chocolate-hazelnut-caramel-cappuccino-colored skin. In fact, as a general rule, writers seeking inspiration solely from Starbucks menus probably need to dial down the caffeine.
  • Including a non-white character whose only real difference from the white characters is the color of his skin and/or his snappy catch phrases. Word!
  • Putting a sushi or taco bar in the school cafeteria. Which is one of those things that sounds like a good idea at the time, but usually isn’t.

Oh my lord, I remember so many almond-shaped eyes and caramel-colored skin from books I read as a preteen/teen, it was ridiculous. Obviously Sarah adds a good dose of humor here, but her points are still valid. You can’t just throw in stereotypical details and assume your non-white character is covered. Or include a non-white character just to fill in your racial gap. It reminds me of how sitcoms about white families always feature a kid with a non-white best friend, whose job it is to show up and be sassy/awkward/etc.

It's a small world, after all.

Sarah also takes on the excuse of “I’m not black/Asian/Mexican-American so I can’t write about those people.” She says:

“I don’t buy it. We’re writers. Storytellers. Weavers of tales great and small. It’s our job to make things up, to imagine, to explore different perspectives through the eyes of our characters. This isn’t to say we can plug-n-play a few multicultural characters into our work or rely on stereotypes or assumptions for crafting our fictional friends (see aforementioned anti-starbucks advice), but that’s writer 101 stuff. Cardboard, one-dimensional people have no place in a story, whether they’re white, black, brown, purple, or invisible. Authenticity is important, but thanks to the library, the internet, and, you know, other human beings, it’s possible to learn about something we’ve never personally experienced. Sometimes all it takes is a simple question: Hey, people who’ve been there, what’s your take on this? People want their voices heard. They want to share. They want to help.”

This is something we don’t see very often. It can feel like you’re overstepping boundaries to write about, say, a Muslim girl living in Chicago if you don’t have that background. There’s pressure to capture her cultural and religious background accurately, and it can be overwhelming for someone who hasn’t experienced that. But, as Sarah says, how is that different from creating any other character? If you’re only writing about characters who have had your exact experiences, you’re going to run out of stories pretty quickly.

At NESCBWI, I took a creating magical worlds workshop with Cinda Williams Chima. One thing she mentioned was that, in creating your magical world, think about what different races/religions/backgrounds might be represented. She encouraged us to look for opportunities to make our worlds diverse. Fantasy novels don’t get off easy, either!

There’s a lot more in Sarah’s post, so make sure to check it out. As she mentions, we’re the ones who can bring so many other voices to YA.

(image: NASA)(H/T bookshelves of doom)

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.

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.