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This evening, another snow storm is coming our way here in New Jersey. We appear to be located on the border between "major" and "crippling" snowfall, if our local forecast is to be believed. It will be a classic Nor'easter, with the snowstorm that's currently in Chicago joining forces with the storm tracking across the south, so that we'll end up with a very strong snowstorm that includes some blizzard conditions (which requires visibility of 1/4 mile or less and winds in excess of 30 m.p.h. for a period of 3 hours or more, as it turns out).
What is more appropriate on a day like today than a poem about a blizzard by one of New Jersey's native sons?
Blizzard by William Carlos Williams
Snow: years of anger following hours that float idly down — the blizzard drifts its weight deeper and deeper for three days or sixty years, eh? Then the sun! a clutter of yellow and blue flakes — Hairy looking trees stand out in long alleys over a wild solitude. The man turns and there — his solitary track stretched out upon the world.
The poem is written in free verse. Given his use of the word "anger" and his time period extending to 60 years, I have to note that Williams was not restricting himself to writing about a snowstorm, but is also speaking about the accumulation of a life, and he compares looking back at his footsteps in the snow to looking back at the course of his life.
0 Comments on Blizzard by William Carlos Williams as of 2/9/2010 8:34:00 AM
Neil Gaiman, author of Sandman, American Gods, The Graveyard Book, and too many other great things to list here, coyly let slip that he had penned a Doctor Who episode, which will air not this season, but next season, sometime in early 2011. Said @neilhimself:
"As anyone who’s read my blog knows, I’m a big fan of a certain long-running British SF TV series. One that I started watching -- from behind the sofa -- when I was three. And while I know it’s cruel to make you wait for things, in about 14 months from now, which is to say, NOT in the upcoming season but early in the one after that, it’s quite possible that I might have written an episode. And if I had, it would originally have been called 'The House of Nothing.' But it definitely isn’t called that any more.
Countdown. You’ve got about 14 months."
As we're fond of saying around here lately, "Oh, my giddy aunt!" We can't wait!
And has anyone else wondered if the bow tie Matt Smith is wearing as the new Doctor is more than just an homage to the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton? Personally, I'd love to see a fair bit of the Second Doctor channeled into this new incarnation...
We now interrupt this snowfall for a VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!
THE DARK DAYS OF HAMBURGER HALPIN by Josh Berk releases TODAY!!! Go and get it. Just about every major review source in the world thinks it's the best book ever, and I believe you will, too.
While you are at it, view this, Josh's wacky release day song, which will be forever embedded in brain:
IT IS AWESOME! (I am the anonymous bookstore stranger).
(Goes back to digging and shaking fist at the sky).
My favorite song played in the background while I'm sitting in a restaurant. The thought of cookie dough cupcakes. Flipping through channels and catching a movie I forgot I loved. Long phone calls with good friends about nothing in particular. Getting an email from someone who has read my books. Writing a sentence that says exactly what I meant in my head. New Twitter followers. An unseasonably warm day in the middle of winter. When my suitcase is one of the first ones out on the carousel at the airport. Finding a couple dollars in a coat I haven't worn since last season. This photo from New Year's Day, when my nephew and nieces attacked me with silly string.
I'm working on a short story about an 11-year-old gymnast who has aspirations for the gold at the Olympic games (several years away). So, I picked up a dozen few books on gymnastics, and it's so interesting to me how much they emphasize the mental side of becoming a champion athlete. Mentally, it requires great discipline, courage, and control of competition anxiety. Then there's the time they invest when less than 1% ever make it to the elite level. What drives them? They love gymnastics. They love the feel of power and flipping through the air, of improving from daily practice. When they make it to a higher level meet, where they have a chance to advance to state, regional, national competitions, all that practice comes into play and they have to give 100% mentally, 100% physically.
Many of the gymnastics books advise the aspiring athletes to set goals, enjoy gymnastics regardless of their score from the judges, and to celebrate the small victories. Now doesn't that sound like good advice for the aspiring writer?
Cue booming announcer voice: I am the WRITER ATHLETE.
( 1 ) You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming. -- Alan, age 10 --
( 2 ) No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you're stuck with. -- Kirsten, age 10 --
WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?
( 1 ) Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then. -- Camille, age 10 --
( 2 ) No age is good to get married at. You got to be a fool to get married. -- Freddie, age 6 (very wise for his age)
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?
( 1 ) Both don't want any more kids. -- Lori, age 8
WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE
( 1 ) Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough. -- Lynnette, age 8 (isn't she a treasure)
( 2 ) On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date. -- Martin, age 10 (wise beyond his years)
WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?
( 1 ) I'd run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns. -- Craig, age 9
WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
( 1 ) When they're rich -- Pam, age 7
( 2 ) The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to mess with that. -- Curt, age 7
( 3 ) The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do. -- Howard, age 8 (this one has very good morals!)
IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?
( 1 ) I don't know which is better, but I'll tell you one thing. I'm never going to have sex with my wife. I don't want to be all grossed out. -- Theodore, age 8
( 2 ) It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them. -- Anita, age 9 (bless you child)
HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?
( 1 ) There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't there? -- Kelvin, age 8
HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?
( 1 ) Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a truck. -- Ricky, age 10
William Henry Harrison, U.S. President Feb. 9, 1773-Apr. 4, 1841
Lives of the Presidents: Fame, Shame (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt (Harcourt, 1998)
Harrison, Number 9, served the shortest term—one month.
The POTUS (Presidents of the United States) section of the IPL (The Internet Public Library) gives an overview of Harrison’s life with plenty of links to take you beyond the basic facts.
0 Comments on February 9 Birthday: William Henry Harrison as of 2/9/2010 8:46:00 AM
As a boy, snowflakes captured William Bentley’s attention. But it was a microscope with a camera that led to his life’s work: photographing snowflakes. This Caldecott Medal Winner is cool!
The Official page of Snowflake Bentley.com has articles by Bentley, snowflake links, current Jericho weather conditions, and more.
0 Comments on February 9 Birthday: W.A. Bentley as of 2/9/2010 8:46:00 AM
At last, Miranda is the life of the party: all she had to do was die.
Elevated and adopted by none other than the reigning King of the Mantle of Dracul, Miranda goes from high-school theater wannabe to glamorous royal fiend overnight.
Meanwhile, her reckless and adoring guardian angel, Zachary, demoted to human guise as the princess’s personal assistant, has his work cut out for him trying to save his girl’s soul and plan the Master’s fast-approaching Death Day gala.
In alternating points of view, Miranda and Zachary navigate a cut-throat eternal aristocracy as they play out a dangerous and darkly hilarious love story for the ages.
"Fanpires will not be disappointed with the newest addition to the genre, and the mythology is subtle enough for general fiction readers." —VOYA
"A true page-turner, I can't imagine any fan of Gothic suspense/romance not thoroughly enjoying this - and not just young adult readers either." —The Dallas Morning News
To enter, email me (scroll and click envelope) with your name and snail/street mail address and type "Eternal" in the subject line (Facebook, JacketFlap, MySpace, and Twitter readers are welcome to comment or message me with the title in the header; if you win, I'll write you for contact information).
You will receive an extra entry for posting news of these new editions and this giveaway on your blog and/or any social networks; one extra chance for each post/tweet/link. (Include posting information and URLs with your entry).
About the book A couple on the brink of divorce struggles to keep their family alive as a deadly pandemic sweeps across the world, food grows scarce, and neighbor turns against neighbor in grocery stores and at gas pumps. Orion in the UK and Wunderlich in Germany pre-empted rights to The Things That Keep Us Here and Buckley's next book, and Random House has purchased audio rights.
What the critics are saying "A very credible premise . . . operating both as a psychological profile of a family under duress and as a scary, gripping look at the effects of a pandemic." —Booklist
"With crisp writing and taut pacing, Buckley spins a convincing apocalyptic vision that's both frightening and claustrophobic." —Library Journal
"Utterly engrossing." —New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner
"A brilliant debut." —New York Times bestselling author James Rollins About the author Carla Buckley was born in Washington, D.C. and has worked in a variety of jobs, including a stint as an assistant press secretary for a U.S. senator, an analyst with the Smithsonian Institution, and a technical writer for a defense contractor. Carla is the Chair of the International Thriller Writers Debut Program and currently lives in Ohio with her husband and children.
I asked, Carla answered A. What's the scariest thing that's ever happened to you? Bonus question: have you ever used it in a book?
C. When my youngest child was a toddler, she and I accompanied my older daughter to a pool party. One of the girls offered to take my little one into the pool, which was surrounded by a big iron fence, so that I could join the adults on the patio. I agreed. As I was standing there, chatting with the other mothers, I glanced toward the pool and saw the older girl in the deep end, playing with her friends. I didn’t see my daughter. I glanced toward the shallow end and there she was, fully immersed, her arms raised and just the tips of her fingers poking through the surface of the water. Seeing her frozen and helpless like that, and knowing I had to get around the fence in order to save her, was the most paralyzing moment of my life. She was easily rescued and has no lingering phobias, but I did not stop trembling for twenty-four hours.
I have not yet written about this event but the helplessness of a mother unable to save her child is a theme in my work.
A. Mystery writers often give their characters an unreasoning fear - and then make them face it. Do you have any phobias, like fear of spiders or enclosed spaces? C. Although I’m not physically fearless, my biggest fear has more to do with being unable to take care of my children. I constantly dream about forgetting one of them somewhere, or letting one of them wander off into danger. My main character in The Things That Keep Us Here is driven by this fear, and forced to face it as society crumbles around her. Having lost a baby early in her marriage, she’s terrified she’ll lose one of her daughters, and that panic propels her through the story.
After this week’s impassioned responses to Scribbler Andrew Smith’s articles at The Scribblers Gazette, I thought we’d open the discussion to a wider audience by making it the focus of the first official chat of 2010. What are the pros and cons of age categorizations in children’s literature? Does it promote or hinder reading habits?
Across the pond, English authors have been in an uproar for some time over the controversial introduction there of age guidance for children’s books. The guidelines were introduced by leading publishers but more than 80 authors, illustrators, librarians, teachers and booksellers joined together in protest. An online petition was started at www.notoagebanding.org stating “our passionately-held conviction that everything about a book should seek to welcome readers in, and not keep them out.” But this was no low-key protest by a few disconsolate authors with nothing better to do. The names heading the vanguard are stellar: Michael Rosen, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson, Terry Pratchett and that infamously outspoken author of His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman, who stated for The Daily Telegraph:
“I don’t mind anybody having an opinion about my books. I don’t mind a bookseller deciding they are for this age group or that, or a teacher giving one of my books to a child because they think it is appropriate.
“But I don’t want to see the book itself declaring officially, as if with my approval, that it is for readers of 11 and upwards or whatever. I write books for whoever is interested. When I write a book I don’t have an age group in mind.
“I have had letters from children of seven who say they have read all the way through His Dark Materials and they have an astonishing knowledge of it. But not every child is the same. A child of nine might be tentative and unsure about reading, and to give them a book that says 9+ will reinforce their sense of failure. The book should be suited to the individual child.”
Mr. Pullman’s own publisher, Scholastic, has agreed not to put age banding on his books. He made it clear that he wouldn’t sanction it and, being Pullman, he was in a position to be listened to. But as he himself admits “talking to other authors, I discovered that not everybody was in my position.”
For myself, as a mother, a reader and a writer, I don’t like seeing books pushed too early on young readers so parents can boast how advanced their children are. And I don’t like those who aren’t so advanced to feel stigmatized, or even shy away from reading completely, because they can’t bear to be seen reading a book labeled below their actual age.
Why not let children roam at will through the wonderland of story, but be there for them if they need to discuss what they discover there? As my own children grew up I always read in tandem with them, which made for entertaining talk over dinner about what might happen next, or whether a character made a good or bad decision in this or that chapter.
We often complain that teenagers are insular and self-involved, yet while we age-band are we inadvertently providing an intellectual bubble that further ‘protects’ them from realities of life that they’ll shortly have to navigate alone?
Looking along the shelves of YA literature the book covers are predominantly geared towards girls, who are the most likely readers of YA fiction. The boys are either still reading series for younger readers or have moved on to adult literature, depressed by the lack of suitable material for them on the YA shelves they feel they should be browsing in.
So what does that actually mean? That boys are obliged to move on and grow, while girls remain infantilized by the very literary category which claims to meet their tastes
0 Comments on Topic: Should There Even BE a YA Literature Category? as of 1/1/1900
You remember all those times your mom told you the old if-all-your-friends-jumped-off-a-cliff-would-you-do-it-too line? You know what I told my mom when she tried that one on me?
Um… no. I’d go down to the bottom and start looking for wallets and jewelry.
So, there’s this assumption that “young adults” make some kind of moral and ethical connection between choices made by fictional characters they empathize with and the REAL-WORLD decisions and actions they assume themselves.
Again, I’m not making this up, this comes straight from the Thought-Police sites of the Wonder(bread)blog I mentioned yesterday.
I think we’ve all known some particularly dumb kid at one point in our lives who jumped off his roof wearing a red blanket clothespinned to his neck after he watched an episode of Superman.
Yeah… broken femurs are actually pretty damned funny sometimes.
Everyone loves observing idiocy from a safe distance, but give kids… er… Young Adults credit that their B.S. filters are functional. For those whose filters are a little “glitchy,” like the red blanket boy mentioned above, we have one great hope: please do not attempt to breed.
One more bit about why I hate YA. I’ve been accused — multiple times, and by different “adults” — of being a bad father, because of what I write about.
First, allow me to fully confess and lay it all on the table: My first two books, Ghost Medicine, and in the path of falling objects have the words “damn” and “hell” in them (this is a hint that my next book,The Marbury Lens has quite an “expanded” vocabulary). They also include on- and off-screen references to underage sex, drinking, smoking, getting tattoos, chewing tobacco, suicide, driving without a license, and marijuana use.
So I’m a bad father. I made those things happen in my teenage kids’ world, didn’t I? I should have shielded their eyes and ears from such goings-on, and hope and pray that they remain untainted by reality, so they can live with me and their mother until well into their forties. As untattooed virgins.
Shoot me now.
You see, the clean-YA bloggers insist that you should never write anything if the prospect of your own kids reading it makes you feel “uncomfortable.”
Sometimes, dealing with things with your kids that make you feel a little uncomfortable is a preferential strategy to burying their heads in the sand and hoping they don’t catch passing glimpses of what the rest of the world is like.
So, yeah… I honestly do not feel uncomfortable at the thought of my fifteen-year-old son or my soon-to-be-thirteen daughter reading my stuff, because I know who they are, and I am there to talk about things with them (my son was devastated by something that a character did inGhost Medicine, which he read at thirteen).
Sometimes kids do have to make tough choices, and we can always count on the fact that fledgling, “Young” adults are definitely going to make mistakes — and, unlike red-blanket-boy, hopefully learn from them.
The bottom line, though, is that when we do let our “Young Adults” out into the world (as we do every single day — at school, at malls, hanging out with their buddies) and they get confronted with difficult choices, the voice in their head that tells them which course to take is not going to be that of a character in the most recent book they enjoyed.
If you’re worried about that, you better round up and hide all your red blankets, clothespins, and step-ladders.
Coming up tomorrow: My BIGGEST reasons why I hate YA.
0 Comments on Part Two: Andrew Smith: Why I Hate YA as of 1/1/1900
James Tipton lives in the tropical mountains of central Mexico where he writes short poems and short fiction. He is also Associate Editor of the monthly magazine in English, published in Mexico, El Ojo del Lago (The Eye of the Lake) and Book Review Editor for the on-line magazine, Mexico Connect. He has published more than 1,000 short stories, poems, articles and reviews in North American magazines, including Esquire, The Nation, Christian Science Monitor, American Literary Review, and Field.
His book of poems, "Letters from a Stranger" (with a Foreword by Isabel Allende), won the Colorado Book Award in 1999.
His most recent collections of short poetry are published in bilingual (Spanish and English) editions: "Washing Dishes in the Ancient Village" (Lavando platos en el antiguo pueblo) and "All the Horses of Heaven" (Todos los Caballos del Paraíso). He is currently completing a collection of short stories set in Mexico.
Washing Dishes in the Ancient Village is available through Bread and Butter Press/1150 S. Glencoe/Denver, CO 80246, $10.95 plus $3.00 shipping & handling. All the Horses of Heaven is available through http://www.themetpress.com/, $12.95 plus $4.00 shipping & handling.
He is currently completing a collection of short stories set in Mexico.
Check out his entry, “And To Think That Only Yesterday”, then grab your favorite hot drink and come on back for our latest interview with James.
Interview by Jill Earl
WOW: First of all, congratulations on placing again in WOW’s Flash Fiction Contest! What do you think has helped you in producing winning contest entries?
James: I think I was initially helped by reading lots of the past winners on the WOW site. I liked some of those stories and I thought, WOW!, maybe I can write stories like that as well. I like short forms of literature, whether fiction or poetry, and I have published hundreds of short poems, many of them as haiku or tanka, including two collections in 2009: “Washing Dishes in the Ancient Village”, and “All the Horses of Heaven”, both in bi-lingual editions (English and Spanish) incidentally.
WOW: Studying the entries of past winners is a great way to get a feel for what judges are looking for, not just for our competition, but for others as well. Great advice for future contestants to follow.
Speaking of entries, I thoroughly enjoyed reading “And To Think That Only Yesterday”. The imagery was so vivid and rich. What was the inspiration behind it?
James: I like vivid imagery and living here in Mexico life often seems to me to be more vivid, or perhaps I simply have more awareness of how vivid it is.Reading lots of Latin American literature, novelists like my dear friend Isabel Allende (who wrote the introduction to my book, Letters from a Stranger) and Gabriel García Marquez, opened me up to images, including unusual ones, that seemed to penetrate more deeply into reality, so that reality itself shifts, becomes something very fascinating.
WOW: Lo
0 Comments on Interview with James Tipton, Summer '09 Flash Fiction Contest Runner Up as of 1/1/1900
1. Today I've got a brief review of a book called Quicksand: HIV/AIDS in Our Lives up over at Guys Lit Wire. The book is written by a woman who prefers to remain anonymous, given that she shares some information about her brother-in-law, who was diagnosed with HIV, developed AIDS and, eventually, died from related illnesses. Having lost a dear friend to this illness several years ago, I was eager to read the book, which provides concise, clearly presented factual information about the HIV virus, how it is (and is not) spread, what the treatment is like, and what it feels like to receive word that someone you know has HIV or AIDS. I hope you'll check out my review and, more importantly, that those of you in the library field will be sure to get this one for your libraries. The book says it's suitable for ages 10 and up, and that felt about right to me, given the content.
2. This month, I've got an article up at Kid Magazine Writers about the clerihew: what it is and how to go about writing one. It includes two original poems I wrote to illustrate my point: one about Edmund Clerihew Bentley and another about, well, Derek Zoolander.
Derek Zoolander, Model grand-stander, Excellent eugoogolizer And terrorist neutralizer.
3. Those of you who've written poetry and are interested in free verse, and who happen to be interested in attending the New England SCBWI Conference come May might be interested in the workshop I'll be leading on Sunday, May 16th: "Tactics and Techniques to Fix Up Your Free Verse". Here's the official write-up on it:
Whether you write individual poems or entire novels in free verse, this workshop is for you. It will focus on improving free verse poetry using devices such as alliteration and assonance, refined imagery, improved use of line breaks, fine-tuned similes and metaphors, and more. The workshop is suitable for experienced poets working in free verse who are interested in taking their work to the next level, and will include a folder with handouts and exercises for reference and use at home.
*Note to self: get those folders and handouts together!
And here are three things I hope people will take home from the workshop:
1. Enhanced understanding of the importance of structural components such as line breaks and stress patterns. 2. Knowledge of specific strategies, devices and poetic techniques to improve the quality of free verse poems. 3. Revision pointers and tactics to polish your work, with take-home exercises.
A Weekly Column from children’s writer, photographer, and dancer Grier Cooper
It was a bright and sunny day this morning, even though this was exactly the opposite of the weather forecast. Blue skies and sunshine bring on good feelings, and the urge to get outside… and move. Watching the movement of the clouds overhead gives us something to think about when we move. Clouds don’t look or move just one way; they can be light, wispy and slow-moving, or dark, dense and swift. These are qualities to explore with your dance.
For instance, we’ll begin with the light, wispy ones. What do light and wispy movements look like, and what can we do to create lightness in a dance? We can rise on the balls of our feet in a releve, or jump, leap and skip. What are some other ways to be light and wispy?
Next, try the contrast, the dark, dense, swift ones. Quick, heavy movements include sweeping across the floor, taking large strides with bent knees, or one could roll along the ground. What are some other ways to put this feeling into play?
Nature is both our support system, and our backdrop. We interact with it all the time, either consciously or unconsciously. Clouds are both a constant source of wonder and entertainment. It’s a pleasure to imagine we are a cloud; even if just for a few minutes.
0 Comments on MOVE & GROOVE – Move with the Clouds as of 1/1/1900
I've been perusing and reading some great notes from the NYC conference. I thought I would lists out a summary of what I have found. Some of this is on the SCBWI Team Blog, but a lot of these I found on Twitter/ random blogs.
Visual StoryTelling - Laurent Linn Art Director, S&S Books for Young Readers SCBWI Laurent Linn
0 Comments on 2010 SCBWI New York Notes from across the Net as of 1/1/1900
This past weekend was our town's annual Film Festival. I love indie films, and it is so much fun to hang around with all of the great people involved with the film festival from the organizers to the filmmakers. Unfortunately, my children do not allow us to go "whole hog" and watch every minute of the festival (you know, twelve hours straight sitting in a darkened room with sprees and popcorn--ah, woulda been bliss!). But, the kiddos need things like food and water and they have soccer practice and birthday parties. And, a babysitter for the ENTIRE weekend would just be nuts.
So, we asked some people in the know which films were ones not to miss and we watched those; plus, we took our children to some kid friendly screenings that our public library hosted in conjunction with the festival.
I think next year, we need to send our children to their grandmother's and do the WHOLE festival--hubby and I will both wear all black and stand outside the theatre smoking little cigarettes. You know, just so we can fit in.
Speaking of cigarettes . . .
The Vicious Kind was our favorite movie of the weekend. It was gritty, funny, and beautifully shot. And, the cigs in the movie made for some super cool camera shots. I'm not a smoker, but I have to say that I miss smoking in movies--watching the smoke trail up and off the screen. Remember Bogie in Casablanca?? Yum.
And, how about our buddy Bill Cochran's Super Bowl Ad? Too funny!!
Happy Tuesday!
sf
2 Comments on Vicious Film Festival, last added: 2/9/2010
I hate YA for many of the same reasons I hated being a teenager: there are all these external expectations on who you are “supposed” to be, and, simultaneously, you’re trying to figure that out on your own.
Okay. Try this experiment. Close your eyes.
Wait. First, get someone to read this to you aloud. Or else, just pretend to close your eyes.
Now, let’s make a Venn diagram (I know… Venn Diagrams are the new black). The paper the diagram is on is “People.” Now, draw a circle for “Children,” and another for “Adults.”
Unless you’re a moron, those circles won’t be touching at all.
Now, draw a circle for “Young Adults.”
Again… moron test: that circle should be entirely enclosed within “Adults.”
If you’re a writer, you have to realize that there are certain mile markers we pass in order to become adult. It doesn’t necessarily happen at a predetermined chronological age, either. But it does happen. Bam! You’re an adult.
Young adults are inexperienced (because — duh! they’re “young”) at dealing with certain things, so they make mistakes. It’s forgivable in most cases.
Okay, now here’s a reason why I hate YA: A lot of people have this notion that YA literature should steer away from certain “adult” concepts. Those people wouldn’t pass the moron test described above.
I’ll confess that I read a certain “book blogger” who really emphasizes cleanliness as being an overarching responsibility in YA. I read that particular blogger because the person is actually a fairly decent writer, as opposed to so many illiterate dimwits who blog about YA. And, I’m not going to ID the blogger for two reasons: 1) I don’t want to get into a pissing match, and 2) I don’t want to increase the traffic on that particular blog… because it’s wrong.
A couple points this blogger makes about YA (and, by the way, I am an author who has two teens at home — one of each gender):
1. We, as authors, have a duty to raise strong, responsible adults who make strong, responsible decisions.
2. If there’s underage sex in a book, you are acting irresponsibly if you allow a teen to read it. Allowing a teen to read such a book is equivalent to endorsing irresponsible sexual behavior.
Okay, that’s the gist of this particular blogger’s theory on YA and the duty of authors and parents.
As to the first point, I agree that parents do have a responsibility to raise their kids to make ethical decisions. But it doesn’t always happen, and a great deal of what we learn as we pass those milestones toward “adulthood” comes at the expense of making mistakes. (A great line from Elvis Costello: “Some people can’t be told, you know, they have to learn the hard way.”)
Where I depart from the first point is that as an author, I feel a responsibility to tell as much as I can about WHAT IT IS REALLY LIKE OUT THERE… without necessarily condoning anything.
As far as point 2 goes (and — seriously — I am not making this up about this particular blogger), I suppose the blogger believes there is some magical moment, like the age of eighteen, when sex becomes okay. Now… a couple points. First, I realize I grew up in what truly was “The Greatest Generation,” and, no, it wasn’t WW2 (as I talked about with my friends Wendel and Yvonne a few weeks ago), it was the “Generation that used up the next 100 years’ worth of fun.”
And, really, I don’t think I knew anyone from that particular generation who waited for a specific number to show up on their driver’s license before having sex — whether underage or not.
Furthermore, in my own experience, and having seen a lot of the world, if we really could make people wait until they were sufficiently responsible, ethical, and psychologically strong before allowing them to so much as read about sex, then half the world would never be “of age,”
0 Comments on Part One: YA Author Andrew Smith on Why He Hates the Young Adult Category as of 1/1/1900
“Casie! Sharon! It’s time for Bible study, get in here!”
Lauren leaned over to place the children’s bibles at their respective places at the dining room table. Her husband entered the room and playfully slapped her on the rear-end.
“Hey!” She laughed and twisted around to receive his kiss. “Stop that. Somehow, it feels wrong to be swatted on the butt right before we honor God.”
Her husband chuckled, gave her a playful wink and took his seat at the head of the table.
The two girls scampered into the room giggling. They gave each other a playful shove before settling into their seats; they squirmed with pent-up energy.
“Okay girls, settle down. Sharon, you’ve got food on your mouth, wipe it off, please.”
The seven-year old girl lifted a pudgy hand up to her mouth and neatly wiped it across her mouth. She then ran the back of her hand down the side of her jeans to clean off her hand.
Lauren sighed. “I actually meant for you to use a napkin, but since I wasn’t specific,” she rolled her eyes at her husband. “I suppose I asked for that one.”
Casie chuckled in appreciation of her sister’s actions.
“So,” Lauren’s eyes locked onto Casie as she took her seat. “Did you read the Ten Commandants like I asked you to?”
“Yep.”
“And did you note the part about honoring your mother and father?”
Casie snorted. “You said to learn it. You didn’t say I had to do it!”
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Want to play? All you have to do is write 250 words (no MORE) about any scene you heard, witnessed or imagined. You can either post your own flash fiction on your blog, or post it in the comment section!
Either way – do it now. Don’t wait. Don’t make excuses.
I’m letting all the big reasons out today, so hang on.
First, a little backstory. I was e-talking with Lia Keyes the other day, and she mentioned to me about another author who thought that YA as a category should be done away with. She thought it would be interesting — fiery — to have me participate in this debate.
And, I’m, like, what debate? I totally agree.
I hate YA.
Here are my three biggest reasons:
1. YA has no definition. You may just as well call it “fiction.” And, because of this ill-defined super-categorization of what I believe to be a non-existent genre, people carry too many pre-conceived expectations about constraints on content and embedded curriculum (see point 2).
The thing is — and why YA is a pointless label — is that YA contains every genre of the broader category of fiction, from contemporary literary, to science fiction, paranormal romance, chick-lit, fantasy, humor, and so on. But the YA section in a bookstore is the vampire section.
It’s kind of like putting all adult fiction in the “Dan Brown” section. Remember, “YA” didn’t exist when Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, or even when Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. I don’t think there was such a category when Stephen King wrote Carrie or ‘Salem’s Lot, both of which would definitely be stamped with the big Y and A if they were published for the first time today.
All those titles up there (and I’m sure you could think of many others) were just novels.
Let’s revisit the Venn Diagram from two days ago:
They’re still “adults,” right? Just “young” ones.
2. The Expectation and the Blues. (That’s the title of a really great song from Corb Lund)
(The Blues)… best “back-at-ya” comment I received from someone on the “Part 1″ installment:
“As a writer you can write for any age group you want, can’t you?
If you hated being a teenager why write for and about an age that made you unhappy?”
Okay. Now, I am definitely NOT speaking on behalf of all authors here, so don’t give me any superpowers I don’t already possess.
First, question one: I don’t write for an age group. Not ever. Nope. Totally wrong assumption. I write to tell a story. The only target in my mind is a story, NOT a demographic.
As far as question two goes: ouch. huh?
What a downer.
So, the expectation part: See, when people pre-suppose a work of fiction is only for a particular age group (and that age group happens to be… let’s say, high school kids), then they frequently get all caught up in the thought that what you write must contain some kind of curriculum geared toward the elevation or the insulation of the fragile “young adult” soul.
It’s pretty much what I’ve been railing against for two days now. And for those people who want to put the cart up front of the horse, and pre-plan a target demographic and constraints on content, that’s all totally fine with me.
Do you hear me? It’s fine with me.
Just don’t expect me to do it.
I just write stories. If people want to get all caught up in the debate about a writer’s lack of responsibility for including certain content elements, then they can’t possibly be talking about books for “adults,” whether they’re young, old, or anything else.
My readers are adults. Young ones and old ones. It’s a disservice, in my opinion, to treat them like children.
3. Back to Taxonomy: (And I know this will likely tick off a lot of my author friends, so, for that, let me apologize in advance)
Take a look at the Venn Diagram above, one more time. Now, where it says “People,” imagine the word “Literature.”
One of the things I’ve struggled with most — and, given
0 Comments on Part Three: Andrew Smith: Why I Hate YA as of 1/1/1900
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2. This month, I've got an article up at 
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I LOVED the whale commercial! It was one of my favorites, right behind Betty White playing football and the Denny's chicken commercials. :-)
I can already tell that I'm going to love this movie, although I'd likely want to punch Caleb in the nose if he were real life.