I adored my editor Frances Foster for many reasons. Her humor, her smarts, her genteel manner. She also had a lovely way with words...always eloquent, tactful, and respectful.
In my ongoing quest to purge my office of STUFF, I came across some correspondence that showcased her way with words perfectly.
Back in 2000 (FIFTEEN YEARS AGO!!! How can that be?),
Frances received a letter from an elementary school media specialist about the use of the word "hell" in my book Me and Rupert Goody.
It reads, in part:
I am faced with a real problem. Several times in the book, the character of Uncle Beau uses language that parents of elementary age children would find offensive. More and more, I am finding that this is an issue with well-written books for children this age. If the inclusion of such language were an integral part of the story, that would be at least justifiable. In this book, it is gratuitous and could easily have been deleted.
What will I do with the book? I cannot recommend it to students at my schools. The language is unacceptable - and it occurs only a few times! I am passing the book on to the middle school where students - and their parents - might not be offended. I regret having to do this as the story is appropriate for fourth and fifth graders.
What can you do? I would suggest that, when you edit books in the future, you become aware of such gratuitous language and suggest to authors that they, too, become sensitive to the inclusion of such language. No one is opposed to freedom of expression but let us be more sensitive to what language is necessary and what is not.Frances responded in the most perfect way. Her letter reads, in part:I can certainly appreciate the sensitivity of your position as a media specialist. We may, however, disagree on whether or not certain language is integral to a story. I don't think it's so easy to separate language from characterization, and in my opinion, there is nothing gratuitous in O'Connor's depiction of Uncle Beau. His every word and gesture make him totally believable. I suppose the occasional "hell" could have been edited out, but it seemed so utterly true to Uncle Beau's voice and character.Are you aware that School Library Journal gave Me and Rupert Goody a starred review and a Best Book of the Year ranking? It was also named an ALA Notable Children's Book. Those recommendations, of course may not carry any weight with parents, but they do suggest that not everyone has found the language unacceptable to fourth and fifth grade audiences. I couldn't have said it better myself.P.S. If it had been an e-book, the librarian could have used this Clean Reader App (eye-yi-yi) .
Gung Hay Fat Choi! Xin Nian Kuai Le! Happy Year of the Sheep/Ram/Goat!
So how are you celebrating? Here are some of my favourite children’s books for Chinese New Year:
The Year of … Continue reading ... →
Ever since I sold my first book a million trillion years ago (okay, okay...1991), I've kept scrapbooks of book-related stuff.
I call them my Ego Books because during those times when I'm feeling insecure and inadequate, like a has-been and a loser (You know you've been there, right?), I can whip one out and thumb through it and I sometimes feel better about myself. (Saves me a ton of money on therapy.)
I read the nice letters folks wrote and see how blessed I am to have lovely, supportive friends and to have achieved some wonderful goals, I'm back in my groove.
So I recently decided to look through them.
Here are some of the highlights from the first one, which is 1991 to 2000.
This is my very first acceptance letter. It was for a biography of Maria Montessori. I remember that day so well. I was over the moon excited:
This is a letter from David Freaking Small, y'all!! He did the cover art for my first novel, Beethoven in Paradise. I wrote him a note thanking him, and he wrote me back. I love that he told me how lucky I was to have "that great lady, Frances Foster" as my editor and FSG as my publisher.
This is my very first review of my very first novel (Beethoven in Paradise). It's a little hard to read because it was faxed to me. (Remember fax machines?) It's a Kirkus POINTERED review, which back in the day, was their version of a starred review. (Anybody remember those pointered reviews?):
This is a note from my son telling me I did a good job. Awwww. Better than a starred review!
This is a letter from Cynthia Freaking Rylant, y'all!!! We corresponded after I sent her a copy of my second book, Me and Rupert Goody:
This is Cynthia Freaking Rylant telling me that my novel "was lovely." Swoon. (I cropped out her signature cause I don't like to post that on the internet, but trust me, it's her. In fact, she signed it CYNDI RYLANT.
And this is from School Library Journal. Me and Rupert Goody was named a Best Book of 1999. I was beyond thrilled for that!
So, those were good years and I am blessed.
As part of Operation Purge (i.e., getting rid of stuff), I'm sending all of my old drafts and manuscripts off to the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota.
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| LOTS of stuff in my closet |
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| Sorting, sorting, sorting |
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| Organizing |
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| Packed and ready to go |
I confess to feeling a wee bit sad because most of those manuscripts have Frances Foster's handwriting on them.But now, hopefully, others can read and enjoy her amazing wit and wisdom.And that's a good thing.And now I have much more room in my closets, so maybe I should go shopping!
Tomorrow I'm heading to New York for the memorial service for my editor of 18 years, Frances Foster.
She was the best of the best.
I was blessed.
So today I'm reposting this Macmillan blog about:
I love my brilliant editor, Frances Foster.
18 years
10 books
Am I lucky or what?
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| Frances Foster (left) and me |
You can read about
The Fantastic Partnership of Barbara and Frances
You can read more about Frances
Introduced first in 2007, debut children’s authors have formed a cooperative effort to market their books. I featured Revision Stories from the Classes of 2k8 and 2k9 and this feature returns this year with the Class of 2k11.
On Revisions and The Pull of Gravity
Guest post by Gae Polisner
I have revised The Pull of Gravity (Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus Giroux, May 2011) at least four times, including two major overhauls and two significant clean-up revisions. As for the two major overhauls, during those, I rewrote, added, removed, and, um, then restored, scenes and changed the entire chronology (as further described below), and yet, ultimately, it remains the original book I shopped to my publisher on Day One. Only – I’m pretty sure – better.
Revision Struggle Invisible to Readers
I think maybe that is the key to revision – that the hours of sweaty frustration, doubt, exhausted temper tantrums and sometimes tears cannot be tangibly seen – or picked out – in the final version, only viscerally felt as you read a more cohesive, engaging story.
At any rate, here’s the shaggy-dog tale of revisions in my case.
Through serendipity, my editor (the eponymous Frances Foster) got her hands on a very early version of my manuscript (then called, Steinbeck, The Scoot, and the Pull of Gravity). She loved and adored it (while I’m sure feeling it needed some good hard work), and so passed it around “the house” in anticipation of resounding agreement. Which it did not get. Instead, one well-regarded editor in particular had some harsh criticism and strong reservations, and, as a result, my editor reluctantly passed on it.
Battered but not deterred, I set to work revising so we could send it out wide to other publishers, bearing in mind the harsh, yes, but at times insightful, criticism of the Editor-Who-Did-Not-Love. At that time, at my then-agent’s recommendation (and despite my own concerns), I also monkeyed with the chronology of the story.
As my agent and I were about to shop it wide, Frances came back asking if revisions had been made and if she might see it again. From there, it passed muster house-wide.
A book deal was made (hooray!) and then I sat down with Frances.
She loved some of the revisions that had been made, some fleshing out of the story, some fixes of you-know-who’s issues, BUT she missed the original chronology and wanted it restored. Easier said than done, to keep the new but restore the old and seamlessly weave it together.
I’m guessing that one revision back took a hundred hours. But without the full exercise, I wouldn’t have had some of the great new scenes and fleshing out, and, moreover, I wouldn’t have had a book deal.
The thing with revisions is you have to breathe, and you have to be patient and painstaking. And you have to be willing to put in the time. Because, for most of us, the first draft is just that: drafty. It’s the revisions that make the book.
Benjamin Franklin from Scientist to Diplomatby Joan Dashpictures by Dusan PetricicFrancis Foster / FSG 2006It seems impossible to make any part of Franklin's life as dull and lifeless as it is here. But I liked the pictures.You don't tend to find newer biographies among the books available at library sales, especially about characters from history who seem to be evergreen for younger readers.
Last week I took the train down to New York.
I visited the office of my publisher, Farrar, Straus & Giroux:
Which is very conveniently located next to this!
With the most amazing cupcakes I've ever seen. (Take note, Grace Lin.)
And this is pretty handy located next to a children's book publisher:
I loved snooping around my editor's office. This is an amazing painting by the brilliant Peter Sis, who thought she needed a window (back when she had a windowless office):
I loved seeing all of the books in various stages of production, tucked away on a shelf, waiting to become
real books and fly out into the real world.
Of course, I was particularly interested in these two:
Here I am (
right) with my brilliant editor, Frances Foster.
And I finally got to meet
Lisa Graff (
left), associate editor, author, and blogger
(Longstockings). (See how much fun Lisa is having?)
Frances and Lisa and I had a wonderful lunch. First we debated the possible shape of
cavatappi. Then we had some great conversations about writing, books, and the importance of dressing well when taking airplane trips.
After saying goodbye to Frances and Lisa, I went to
my son's senior thesis
photography show (Parsons School of Design). It was wonderful. (Those art school kids work
hard!)
And I was very proud.
A lovely little piece in Publishers Weekly about my amazing editor, Frances Foster (FSG), among others.
So glad you posted both of these articles. I love the way you two work together -- and so many echoes of my own ed/author relationship. Thanks for letting me get to know Ms. Foster better through your blog.