Writing in a Teen's World

"Why can't I wear that to school? Can I take the car? Why can't I see my boyfriend instead of study for the test? Clean my room?" These and many other questions are posed by my target audience almost everyday. Teens live in a world of questions, even though they want you to think they know all the answers. I love writing for teens because they are like adults only more open to new ideas. Most of them haven't made any major life decisions yet. Failure is possible but, they still have time to change. Teens are on the verge of everything. They are like a ball rolling uphill, but are building momentum as they near the precipice.

From the time kids leave junior high to the time they go off to college is only four years. Four years is nothing! They change dramatically in that time. Those four years make an indelible impact on who they are as an adult. Thinking of this makes me want to take every kid this age, and give them a big hug now to tell them they are worthwhile. As I try to give advice on growing up to the young people in my life, I just end up saying things like "Boys are stupid, that's why." or "Girls are mean." or "You are very lucky, you just don't realize it." It's a wonder they make it through the maze of puberty and into adulthood.

I think about my 16 year old daughter, her friends, and my old 16 year old self when I'm writing. That was a long time ago but some things don't change. Friends are still important; the feeling of wanting to belong is still strong, and any small thing that happens seems insurmountable. They swing on a pendulum from happy to sad. When my daughter is happy and having fun with her friends, I remember how care-free and exciting those days were for me. When she's not having a good day, I remember how I took things hard and sometimes didn't know how to cope. The teenage years are a complex web of emotions. Teens today have more pressure on them to succeed. They need the enjoyment and escape that reading can give. They need time to explore and feel the rush of knowing anything is possible. If I can give them a world to escape to when their boyfriend breaks up with them or their parents fly off the handle, then I've succeeded.

Come one Come all

Hmmm....I picture my readers as kids from 8 to 92 and above 92 not to exclude the life marathoners. (That's right I said marathoners) I picture that age range being able to follow the slam bang action and wonderment I hope to provide the world with my writing. Nestled around a bright Christmas tree wrapped up in a blanket immersed in the world I have created, is where I picture my reader.

Of course it would be an absolute joy to watch someone read my stories to see if they have an intense look, a crumpled forehead, or wide eyes. I just want to evoke emotion and provide the brain with scintillating prose. My hope is that when the readers have finished one of my books that they feel that there time was well spent. I hope that they would want more.

In conclusion, I don't write books just for kids, I write books for the kid in all of us. So the more the merrier.

Take me to your reader!

I find it helps when I am stuck to imagine who will be eventually reading the book I am writing. Inevitably the Book as Bedtime Story image flashes by, but I find more often I think in terms of a teacher or librarian with a group of children. That’s why I like to include funny noises, images that go beyond the pictures, and familiar feelings of the preschool or early grade school child. As I move into a new writing interest – the Story as Impetus for Learning – my mental image is the classroom corner where the book is the starting point for a unit, a taste of new information with imagination that I hope will spark a young learner to know more.

Since my first publications were written on assignment, I wrote mostly with the editor in mind. She set me the word count and specifics of the story, and I filled in the creative blanks. Imagine my surprise when it started to sell and I found out who was reading the Baby Bible Storybook! Babies loved the thick pages and grandmas loved the exceedingly cute art. I assumed someone read the words, as well. It sold a whole lot of copies (and the words “on assignment” mean I did not make a “whole lot” of money) and spent time on the Best Seller list in its particular category. I wrote variations like Baby Bible Animals and Baby Bible ABC without a lot of further thought for the chubby little hands that would hold it.

My awakening came when some books in the series were translated into other languages: French, Portuguese, Indonesian.



The picture shows a Spanish copy I hand delivered to a mission in Costa Rica.




Then I had a letter with the Arabic version (printed, of course, back to front!) stating that this particular translation would be used to teach reading to rural Egyptian children who would have no other books or schooling. It took my breath away!

So I hold one image of my reader, but wait to be delighted by where the words end up.

Of making many books there is no end.*

Each week stacks of shiny covers are unloaded and stand proudly on top of the shelves. Like a gourmet chef in a world of food, I am surrounded at the library everyday with the picture books that have made it past the slush pile, off the press and onto the shelf. I certainly view them with a writer eye as well as a purveyor-of-story-times view!

I consume critically, pictures first. Then I read the opening line. In the picture books world that one line is a substantial percentage of the story and has to be perfect. If it not good, the “reader” will not have the patience to go on.
Virtually all pictures books are the same number of pages so the amount of text, the interplay of text and pictures is key. Are the pictures an integral part or only decoration? More than two paragraphs on a page and it is suspect.
If it gets past those stages, I go to the ending. Only grandmas like “sweet” stories. Kids want to laugh and they want to be surprised. The bigger the twist, the better.

Most time the books get a “satisfactory.” As a tax based institution we buy only well reviewed books form the biggest publishers. Once in awhile I find one – usually on a particular niche theme like explaining mommy’s tattoo – that I cringe to share. How did this get published and my great story of a frog lies deep in slush!
And there is about one book a month over which I totally swoon – as a librarian, a writer, a nana, a human. At those moments I despair of getting Victor Javalina into print. Why, why, why didn’t I think of that storyline or play on words?

Well at least I know the competition is good and publishing, for all the bad economic news, is still turning out wonderful beautiful picture books.

* from Ecclesiastes 12:12

The Way We Read

If you’re writing your own stuff, I think it changes how you read others’ work both consciously and subconsciously. In novels I would deliberately be looking for how an author uses transitions, her choice of words, how the characters are given distinctive voices, use of dialogue. I think it’s very helpful to look at how an author shows instead of just tells--like showing a character’s emotions versus just telling the reader “he felt sad,” or showing how a couple falls in love versus just telling the reader that they have and expecting it to be accepted. I am also interested in how an author gets the reader to root for the characters. One thing I did appreciate about the Twilight books is how believable it would be (at least for the first couple books) that readers would strongly cheer for Edward and also strongly cheer for Jacob. Interestingly, I found it sort of difficult to ever really root for Bella, the alleged protagonist. Oh! And a great thing for me to look at in novels--the very first sentence and the very first paragraph. So important to hook the reader (or editor to whom you submitted) right away. I attended a workshop Ophelia Julien did on writing supernatural themes, and she did a great job of addressing the first sentence/first paragraph.

Harry Potter--there are just so many things I liked about the series as a reader (talk about a character for whom to cheer--where is my ‘I heart Snape’ shirt?) but reflecting on it from a writing standpoint causes me to marvel all the more. People were SO invested in Harry! People will never forget him. Quite an accomplishment for Jo Rowlings, especially considering how much the series changed as it went on. The first book was so enchanting, painting such a detailed picture of Hogwarts and the world of magic. The books got darker and darker as Harry got older. I really liked the fifth book, but I did feel like I actually missed Hogwarts because much of the action took place at the ministry of magic or the headquarters of the order of the phoenix. A more specific aspect that I noticed is that Harry is present in almost every scene throughout the series. The story is through Harry’s eyes. Yet there are instances where Harry is not present, but the author still wanted the reader to be privy to the action. I am thinking of a scene (I think in the sixth book) in which Snape has an important conversation with Narcissa and Bellatrix. How did the author present this so that it didn’t jolt the reader out of the story?

I had a fairly strong reaction when reading a recent popular book about temporal displacement and a spousal relationship. As a reader I felt like I didn’t quite believe in the characters’ motivations, I was bored by all the tedious detail spent on surroundings that ultimately lent nothing to the story, and I found the death scene, while emotional, to be quite confusing as to what actually happened. From a writing standpoint, I thought “this is an interesting idea that could have been much better, where was the editor?”

I read The Notebook a long time ago, before I started taking writing classes. A sappy book but people loved it. Upon reflection, I think it would be useful to see how the author went back and forth between the present timeline and the story of the past (the story the elderly husband was telling his wife about how they fell in love in their youth). I think readers were invested in both timelines, wanting to see what happened and wanting to see if love does conquer all.

The way I read has changed the most regarding picture books. I have taken the suggestion passed on by Carmela Martino to type out the text of a picture book and study it that way, without the pictures. This has helped me see how a story can be told in well under the word count limit, how they effectively use sound effects words and repetition, where to let the illustrations elaborate on the words. But even in just reading to my son, I can’t help but notice many more details in picture books than I previously did. Sometimes I am excited to discover a book I hadn’t known before (The Dark, Dark Night or Jez Alborough and his crazy duck or a simple book about a little boy picking up all his trucks in his room). Other times I am just appalled and can’t believe something that seems so sloppy got published. When you read a picture book, you think it just came out of the author the way it is, it’s so simple, so few words, but the good ones take a LOT of work!

Obviously, as part of a critique group, the point is to critically evaluate someone else’s work. What a pleasure to actually enjoy reading all the works brought to be critiqued! And although they are all written for children--they have been so varied: picture books and poems, novels written for middle grades, YA novels, holiday themes, historical themes, adventure, educational, and pure fantasy. While I strive to be helpful in my comments, I know that seeing the choices the authors make and the elements with which they struggle is beneficial to my own writing as well.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I've always liked Young Adult novels but now I'm reading even more just to learn from them. I'm reading supernatural thrillers to learn how to give the dream sequences in my novel a mysterious feeling and I'm looking at contemporary chic lit to know how to handle teen relationships. I'm constantly thinking about how other authors handle character's voice, plot, dialogue, setting, etc.

A perfect example of great character voice is The Help. I know it's not considered a YA novel, but it does have a broad appeal. The author makes each character shine and it's obvious by the dialogue, who's speaking.

Beautiful Creatures and Wicked Lovely give wonderful details, putting you in a world where the impossible is possible. I especially love when an author can do this with ease, giving me something to strive for. I love the Harry Potter series for the interesting interwoven subplots and wonderful characters.

I'm also finding some books that I believe are not worth publishing, one of which is totally disappointing because it's about a boy who doesn't know he's an angel, at least that's what I think it's about; I didn't get far before putting it down. The main character doesn't seem genuine and the dialogue is very awkward at times. I hate to say it, but it makes me feel good when I read a book I dislike, because I know I can do better. Is that wrong? I think I can almost learn more in seeing what not to do. It's also amusing to me to find typos in books; misspellings make me jump and say "Aha!". In Beautiful Creatures the author references a Victorian house that was built before or early in the Civil War, but the Victorian era really wasn't until after the war. I guess I'm discovering the importance of watching the details and being thirow. Oops! Spell check, I still have a lot to learn.

Reading as a Writer

Unlike some of my blog-mates, I haven't been writing fiction all that long, but in the past year and a half or so, I have found that reading isn't just for pleasure anymore (although it still is very pleasurable).

In my quest for a perfect first chapter for my own manuscript, I tend to browse stacks of YA books in the Borders, just reading the opening sentences. I also like downloading free chapter samples to my Kindle (Yes, I confess I have one and love it.) for the same reason. Of course, if the first page is very engaging, I end up hitting "buy now" and my research costs me money. I guess that is a sign the author did a good job with his or her opening paragraphs and is worth studying.

Carmela Martino encouraged us in a writing seminar to pick an aspect of writing, like back story, and track all instances of it in a novel. I do mentally make note of style, setting, things I like/dislike, but I admit that I haven't yet made my first attempt at this. I intend to try it because it makes sense. If one can see how back story is woven throughout the whole narrative, it might not be as tempting to get all the detail out up front, for example.

I also really enjoy reading what my critique group writes for our discussions. I find that I am learning a tremendous deal from their writing choices and the comments other people make.