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Since 2008, SCBWI has hosted an invaluable LGBTQ&A at their national conferences. Hosted by Lee Wind (I’m here. I’m queer. What the hell do I read?), the LGBTQ&A is a great place for writers and illustrators to talk with editors, agents, and authors about issues and the current market for stories with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming or questioning youth characters and themes.
This year the panel was honored to welcome Jane Yolen, (author of over 300 books for children and teens), Bruce Coville, Ellen Hopkins, and editor Michael Strother. In the opening remarks, Jane was asked about her book SISTER LIGHT, SISTER DARK where she offered insights into the matriarchal society in the story. She was followed by Bruce Coville who when talking about AM I BLUE? said that some people didn’t think humor had a place in LGBTQ. But Bruce pointed out that laughter could be an entry point on the topic.
It was a great segue into Ellen Hopkins’s comments about normalizing through books. There was a heart wrenching moment when she talked about the struggle of some kids and teens, about suicide and depression because of bullying or confusion or lack of acceptance. And Ellen said that until we get to a place where kids are no longer killing themselves, we as authors need to keep writing about LGBTQ topics. Normalizing through books.
The panel got into a discussion on craft, and Jane told the attendees that their characters should come about organically. Let them tell you their story. Michael, an editor at Simon Pulse, told the group that it’s important that their characters have other attributes, and that they’re not just gay. Make them real, fleshed-out people.
Towards the end, a great Q&A session helped the large group of attendees get specific answers to their writing questions. It was comfortable and exciting, and writers and illustrators were able to stay after to talk privately with the panel.
For more information and book recommendations, visit:
By:
Betsy Bird,
on 1/12/2013
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Now this is really neat. There’s a series called BOOKD through THINKR (apparently E’s are considered gauche these days) that will take a topic and really go into it with a panel of experts. In this particular case the question is whether or not you should re-read Charlotte’s Web. Author Bruce Coville and teacher/blogger/author Monica Edinger (amongst others) give their two cents. Really nicely edited and shot, don’t you think?
In other news, I had no idea that the Royal Shakespeare Company had created a staged adaptation of The Mouse and His Child by Russell Hoban. Hoban died just last year in 2012. I feel a bit miffed that he didn’t get to see this. Maybe he got a sneaky peak in some way. At any rate, it look fantastic (love the ending on the second video). I just wonder how they pulled off The Caws of Art. I’ve two videos here for the same production. Love them both for very different reasons.
Thanks to Stefan for the links!
Sometimes I like to step into an alternate universe where I grew up in the USSR and watched television like this version of The Hobbit. Instead I grew up on the old Rankin & Bass version. Which was better? Um . . .
Thanks to Educating Alice for the link!
And kudos to The New York Times for this lovely Christoph Neimann illustrated video of an interview Sendak conducted with NPR.
When I die, let’s do that. That would be fun. Make a note of it.
And finally, for the off-topic part, gold gold goldy gold. I don’t even know if you could label it “Off-Topic” since it involves a child reading. Or rather, a three-year-old child “reading”. I know it’s three minutes but I seriously sat down and watched the whole thing because it’s a fascinating case study in what words kids pick up on when they hear stories. The “but then” particularly amuses.
Many thanks to Stephany Aulenback for sharing that.
Browsing my Google Reader subscriptions the other day, I realized that the majority of the author blogs I follow are by young adult authors. And, although I love those blogs, as I write middle-grade fiction, I figured it was time I broaden my scope. So, I started looking around for blogs by middle-grade authors and found this great group entry, From the Mixed-Up Files.
It’s written by a group of nearly 30 authors of middle-grade books and offers news, information, insight, interviews and fun. Oh, and book give-aways! It’s good for everyone interested in middle-grade books, from writers to readers to parents of readers.
For writers, posts like this Reading Through Middle-Grade one is awesome. In it, author Joanne Prushing Johnson relates her conversations about books with her own middle-grade children. It’s interesting to see their answers.
The blog also have a starting page for writers, as well as many areas for parents.
In my search, I also found the website of middle-grade-book author Bruce Coville. Although his website is more for fans, it’s a great example of what authors can do to connect with children in this age group.
For example, he has a guest page where fans write in and he posts replies. The fans must be so thrilled to get that kind of conversation … if you will … going with one of their favorite authors.
Coville also has a fan art page, which I thought was wonderful. Again, young fans must be tickled pink to see their work on their favorite author’s website. Check out the awesome pictures.
What are your favorite blogs or websites by middle-grade authors?
Write On!
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Keeping up with middle-grade as of 1/1/1900
So I’m reading through my weekly edition of AL Direct and I notice that no matter what worldwide occurrence takes place, librarians are always there. Whether it’s damage to two libraries in Egypt, stories from the librarians in Christchurch, New Zealand, or how the Wisconsin Library Association delayed Library Legislative Day due to the protests, the profession is there. That last story was of particular interest to me, since I had wondered whether any school librarians were amongst the protesters in Wisconsin lately. According to the article, they most certainly are. You go, guys!! Seriously, I want to hear more about it. If any of you know any school librarians marching in WI, send them my way. I’d love to do a full post on them.
- Speaking of folks in the news, I have to give full credit to author/illustrator Katie Davis for consistently locating the hotspots in children’s literature and convincing folks to talk to her about them on her fabulous podcast. In the past she’s managed to finagle everyone from the editor who wanted to replace the n-word in Huckleberry Finn to James Kennedy on the 90-Second Newbery. Now she’s managed to get Bruce Coville to talk about what went down when he and fellow children’s author Liz Levy got stuck in Egypt during the protest period. That Katie. She’s got a nose for news.
- I’m having a lot of fun reading How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely these days, and I can’t help but see echoes of the plot in this story about the man behind the Hardy Boys novels. We hear about the various Carolyn Keenes all the time, but why not the Dixons? After reading this old piece in the Washington Post from 1998 (The Hardy Boys The Final Chapter) I feel vindicated. I reread some of my old Three Investigators novels not too long ago and they STILL held up! I always knew they were better than The Hardy Boys. Now I have proof. I was going to save the link to this essay until the end of the Fusenews today, but it’s so amusing and so delightfully written that I just have to encourage you, first thing, to give it a look. Thanks to The Infomancer for the link.
- Fun Fact About Newbery Winning Author Robin McKinley: She’s learning to knit. Related Sidenote: She also has a blog. Did you know this? I did not know this. And look at the meticulous use of footnotes. McKinley should write the next Pale Fire. I would
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| Bruce Coville |
Bruce Coville, author of too many books to count, launched our conference with a speech about the ripple effect our writing can have in the lives of children. He helped wrap it up with a talk about plot and character, two elements that work together to create a story.
"You need to discuss them both interweaving with each other," he said.
There is a literary divide between plot writing and character writing, and Bruce has a theory of male and female storytelling energy. Male energy is about action, adventure, incident. "You blow stuff up and boys love it." Female storytelling energy is about character, relationship and beauty of language. "Many girls will sit still for a story with that kind of energy."
The best stories partake equally of both male and female energy, he said, "in that sweet spot in the center where you have incredible characters engaged in fascinating situations."
Some useful nuggets: - Plot imposes discipline on the disorder of life.
- A perfect ending is both a surprise and inevitable.
- Fiction is held to a much higher standard of believability than life is.
- On coincidence: it can start a story, but not end one.
What is a good story? Bruce loves to find three things in a story when he's reading: the Ha, Waah, Yikes! formula.
Ha is a belly laugh.
Waah is a tear.
Yikes! is a gasp of surprise.
"It's hard to get somebody to gasp when they're reading a story, but it can happen," Bruce said.
The ha: Bruce loves jokes, but this isn't a belly laugh in a story. It's one that grows out of the story itself. When a bully gets his comeuppance, for example.
The waah: It's easy to get the tear. You just kill the dog. If you wake up one morning and you're a dog on the pages of a children's book, run for your life. Your pages are numbered.
What he prefers are the tears or joy of relief, because of what happened that was so true.
There's a third kind of tear that you can't plan for, but can happen: the tears of personal connection. They will ring true for the right person, who needs to hear that thing at that time. "The right story for the right person is like an arrow to the heart."
The yikes!: When the world of the story changes on us and we see the story in a new light.
Some story and writing fundamentals "The recipe for story is very simple: Take somebody you like and get them into trouble. The better the character, the worse the trouble, the better the story," Bruce said.
Another rule: The character has to solve the problem. Usually they're making a tough choice.
"Writing is, in many ways, the art of choosing details" Bruce said. "By choosing the right details, you can crank up the emotional drama and make the story more compelling... By asking questions and inventing scenes that answer them, you end up with a story."
For your major scenes, try to engage three of the five senses. Don't do it for all your scenes; that's too much.
* * * * *
JOKE INTERLUDE
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My son asked me to do this week’s post on the same book he’s doing his book report on, so, for his 7th birthday*, I’m taking on a middle-grade pick.
Sixth-grader Susan Simmons is immediately put-off by substitute teacher Mr. Smith because he’s replacing her favorite teacher, Ms. Schwartz, for the rest of the year. He doesn’t win any points with her when he announces he intends to straighten the class out, either, because, as Susan points out: you know how boring a straight line is. And the fact that he hates music so much that he literally shivers every time picks up her piccolo to leave for her lesson completely solidifies her feelings.
Yet, none of those are the reason she follows him home after class…all the way into his house. She’s actually there to stealthily retrieve a note he confiscated from her in class, and only opens his door when she hears an inexplicable but horrible shrieking inside. Turns out, Mr. Smith isn’t being tortured (or torturing someone else) as Susan feared; he’s only enjoying the “music” of his mother planet. That’s right; Susan even watches him peel off his fake human face to “call home” on his special monitor.
It takes little convincing for her friend Peter to declare the need for a return visit/further investigation, and that’s where my favorite part comes in:
Looking for evidence that Mr. Smith is indeed an alien, Peter goes straight to…the kitchen! “Who knows what they eat on the planet he comes from?” he asks.
Exactly what I would’ve thought and done!
They scope out Mr. Smith’s fridge and find (typical of the bachelor he is…or pretends to be): cold cuts, a half-empty carton of milk, a bottle of catsup, and two six-packs of beer. Peter astutely notes, “He sure doesn’t eat like an alien.”
But even though everything looks innocent enough, Peter’s not done; he insist[s] on checking the cupboards. He even open[s] the peanut butter jar to see if it really ha[s] peanut butter in it, and not some kind of extraterrestrial goo.
Atta boy, Peter; way to teach readers to leave no stone unturned and no jar unopened! And also for showing any aliens who read this book that their worthiest human adversaries may not be the biggest and tallest ones. ;)
*Who’m I kidding? His birthday has nothing to do with it; I’d do anything for that kid, anytime. <3
Michael Bourret: The Long Haul...
Michael Bourret, an agent with Dystel & Goderich Literary Management, offered this session in the Published Author Track on how to maintain and build a career over the long term. He feels the career writers need three things: focus, diversity and openness.
In terms of focus, he suggests one's goal as an author is to establish a brand--think Sarah Dessen or Bruce Coville--so buyers and librarians will know how to position your books, and, ultimately, readers will know what to expect from an author. His rule for the authors he represents when they are starting out is that they must publish three books of the same type before they can branch out into other areas.
In terms of diversity, Michael is a believer in writers keeping their day jobs and being involved in other things. It's unhealthy to only talk to other writers, he says. He also cautions against telling anyone the terms of your book deal and details about contracts. He advised keeping up with networking. He told writers to be open to doing revision. And he warned against over-publishing, suggesting no more than one book a year in most cases (talking about trade books).
It takes time to build a career in children's publishing, he said, and publishers are willing to stick with you, even if you don't have stellar sales the first time out if they believe in you as an author.
What's he want in terms of submissions? He'd love a fantastic YA memoir. He loves great middle grade novels and says there's a real market for MG fiction--it's the one place in the children's market that is growing and continues to grow. He's desperate for literary writing for teens. And he wants more books for boys.
And here's more from cyber kid 303!
First of all, I am a Tomas, and One False Note was sweet! They talked a lot about Mozart which was cool to me since I play piano. Gordon Korman wrote this instead of Rick Riordon. Dan and Amy break into the Janus base, too! It is better than the first!
I haven't read The Tales of Beedle the Bard yet, but I want them for Christmas. I heard Hermione Grainger and Albus Dumbledore are part of it. Right now I'm reading The Skull of Truth by Bruce Coville. I met Bruce Coville one year at Novello. He was really nice. After Skull of Truth, I'll read Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, if I can get it away from my mom. Have you seen the movie previews?
Thanks again,cyber kid! Or should I say, my fellow Tomas brother!! Let's go out and pump some weights or push around an Ekat!! I've met Bruce Coville at Novello also and he is a great guy! I even got to drive him to his school visits! Hve any of you other guys read his books? He seems like a really good guy writer. No, I haven't read Inkheart but I do have the official trailer to show you all. Take a look!
Looks like a good one!
Carl
Hey, guys in blogland, it's Carl. First off, let me give an ENORMOUS shout-out to Nicholas, who recited the Gettysburg Address at the Matthews library for Master Jedi Zack. (Look at the post beneath this one) That took a lot of guts, Nicholas--and brains too!! That speech is short, but it's in that old-style language that can be hard to memorize. To be fair and honest, I was in the 5th grade before I had to memeorize it (and, yes, back in my day, EVERYONE had to memorize it in the 5th grade). But you did it, Nicholas, and we are all very proud of you!! This speech is important, guys!!! If you undrstand this speech, you'll understand why this country isn't ruled by some two-bit dictator, like so many countires are in this world. Therefore, the CARLMAN has decided to extend the offer of coupons for 2 free slices at the Fuel Pizza at 6th and College Streets for any guy who' ll recite the Address. The offer is good until the end of December. Call Zack (704-416-5000 ) or Bill or me (704-973-2720) to set up a time before December 31.
BUT--if you don't think you're up to this, well, we have another offer for you. On 12-9, we posted a note from Ms. Yingling, a middle-school librarian, who told us about being made an Honorary Guy:
I'll let my students know about my Honorary Guyhood. As long as I don't have to burp the alphabet or wield a light saber, I think I will not disappoint you.
To which I said:
Well, we are so glad that you like being an Honorary Guy and our blog and will spread the word about us. Say---CAN any of you guys burp the alphabet??? Or wield a light saber??? Come down to Imaginon or Matthews and let me or Bill or Zack video you!! I'll put it on the blog!!!! (But call first at 704-973-2720 or 704-416-5000 so we'll be ready!!!)
So, if you can burp the alphabet
or wield a light saber, call Zack or Bill or me and set up a time to
let us video you! For performing such an amazing feat, we'll give you a
free book! If you can do both, you'll get a
free book and a
coupon for 2 free slices! If you can do all 3, (burp the
alphabet, wield a light saber, and recite the Address) you'll get a coupon, a free book, and a Camp Half-Blood T-shirt!!And here's a new review from cyber kid 303:
THE SKULL OF TRUTH by Bruce Coville is all about Charlie Eggleston who cuts through a swamp to avoid getting beaten up. He walks into a magic shop and then steals a skull. He finds out this is the Skull of Truth and while he has it, he can only tell the truth. A lot of different things happen because of this. The skull is Yorick's skull from Shakespeare's play, Hamlet. You would be best off knowing about the play Hamlet before you read this book. I liked the book because it had lots of adventure in it.
Thanks, cyber kid! You're the first one to review a Bruce Coville book. He's a great guy writer. I hope we hear about more of his books. I got to talk with him when he came to Novello and he told me about bringing Stan Lee to Duke when Bruce was in college there!
(PS--Did you read Shakespeare's play, cyber kid, or seen a movie of it? If you guys haven't, go out and read a summary of the play. The language takes some getting used to. But, once you do,
wow, is it good!!!! I'll tell you this much--Hamlet and his friend Horatio see a couple of gravediggers at work. One of the gravediggers hands a skull up to Hamlet; Hamlet recognizes it as Yorick, his old court jester. Hamlet says, "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him well, Horatio.")
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This was a great event! I would love to see more smallish group discussions like this--ideally for people interested in writing all kinds of diverse characters. It feels like we're at a point where everyone agrees more diversity in kidlit is needed, but a lot of people are apprehensive or uncertain about writing characters who are different from them. Thanks for this fun, safe, warm gathering. I look forward to more in the future!
I would have loved to have gone to this social event as well, but I was at the Illustrator Social. Thank you so much for blogging about this special intimate event, that now I get to read and reflect on what I want to say through my own work. Again, thank you!!