Who's Reading Your Book?

This month has been Skype month. 
No, not an officially designated celebration, it just happened that way in my world. 

I love talking to kids about writing, reading, history, genres, characters, the truth or not the truth. So many great questions. Skyping has given me the chance to spread book love to places I've never been.  
(In my flipflops.)

But I got a question yesterday that truly stumped me.

Sixth Grade Boy in Wisconsin, to me: 
"Who would you recommend your book to?"

Now see, the librarian in me should be all over that.

But I stammered and hemmed and hawed.
Finally I mentioned a few authors I love, as in "If you liked THIS book, you'll like THAT book."

I think I mentioned kids who like books that take place in the past. 
But that's so not true. 

(True confession: My first draft of THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY wasn't even set in the past!)

Maybe I mumbled something about Books With Heart.

Because really and truly, one of my favorite tweets in the whole world had recently taken my breath away:

And just like that, my book had become

#heartprintbook

Be still my heart.

But the librarian in me still wasn't happy with my answer to that boy in Wisconsin.

And the writer in me didn't want to leave it at that.

There's been a lot of discussion recently about Boy Books v. Girl Books.
And judging a book by its cover.

What does the cover say to a reader about to choose a book?

Is that old adage about boys not reading books about girls while girls will always be okay with reading boy main characters hold?
 I doubt it. I've had tons of boys who love GLORY BE.

At a recent Book Fair, a student told me he'd read DESTINY five times already. He wasn't a baseball fan and he can't play the piano. 
Had some wise librarian or teacher had handed him that book because she knew his reading taste?

Do we need to stop pigeonholing books and kids' book choices?
Will all young readers eventually find those HeartPrint books for their own hearts?

Are kids' books just for kids anymore?

Based on this guy who has discovered and loved a few middle-grade novels, I'd say no.

I'm still thinking of a good answer to the question that sparked this blogpost. Who WOULD I recommend my own books to?

Writers- Have you been asked that question? 
Do you have a perfect answer?

I used to think I was pretty good at Readers Advisory. 
But when it's your own book, something feels different.


You might also like these posts about Skype:

Fun Skype in Georgia

Skype 101: the View from Here

And these about some of my own Heartprint books:

Kwame Alexander's Crossover

An Abundance of BOOKS

Hound Dog True

Slow Writing.

Is it like Slow Cooking? 

Is it something we've given up on in our hurry to get things on paper?

CLICK HERE for a very interesting blogpost from Kristi Holl.

I'm also following Linda Urban's blog and her posts on writing every day. 
For a few minutes. 

I got a late start, so I'll go a little beyond the allotted time. But today was Linda's last day of writing for just 15 minutes.  

I highly recommend this if you're busy or have no clue what to write about.
So much to do, writing-wise, when you're not actually writing. If you know what I mean. 

On to a new year! Lots to do in January. But 15 minutes, early in the morning, really isn't that difficult. We can do this, people.

 

Writing Notebooks

I still remember Carolyn Coman at one of the earlier HIGHLIGHTS Whole Novel workshops showing us her writing notebook. The one she scribbled ideas in when she was gardening- or doing all sorts of things that didn't seem like writing. 

That was a while ago (okay, it was early fall, 2005). I was just beginning the story that would eventually become THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY (Coming January, 2015. Don't do the math. It takes me a while.)

 

To this day, I've never used just one notebook for my pre-writing scribbles. And that's a problem. I have notes everywhere! 

Including in a Scrivener document. Which is where I always end up. But you can't drag your computer to some of the places where you do your best thinking, right? And you never know when an idea or a thought will need writing down.

It would be helpful if all those brilliant thoughts ended up in the same notebook.



 
So I'll steal some of Linda Urban's excellent ideas.

Have you been following her "notebook" posts about writing? I love how she shares details about what's in those notebooks. Here's a LINK.  There are several. Follow them all!

And just before we departed New Jersey, I popped in on Elizabeth Eulberg et al. and their "YA Romance" panel at the Morristown Festival of the Book. Elizabeth held up a notebook, complete with tabs. That's the look I'm going for!

Aside: Elizabeth has a very good post on her blog about what authors have control over and what they have NO control over. Mostly I agree with her. It's worth reading if you've wondered about things like book jacket art, festivals and promotions, etc. Read it HERE. 

What kind of notebook do you use for your important pre-writing scribbles? Or do you start right up sitting in front of your computer? 
Is it different for each project?
Do you love a certain type of paper, a beautiful notebook, a regular 3-ring binder?
Inspire me with your ideas, please!

The Way We Write

I so love this:

"We prewrite. We unwrite.  It’s messy."

from Linda Urban's blog about writing THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING. 

Here's the post: Click right on over- http://lindaurbanbooks.com/2014/08/01/892/

There's more, here: http://lindaurbanbooks.com/2014/08/04/beginnings-another-notebook-post/

And be sure to check back. Linda promises she's going to tell us more about her writing process. Every writer is different, but what fun to watch those wheels turn, right?






One of my favorite books ever is HOUND DOG TRUE by Linda Urban. Here's a short review, plus more: http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2011/1128/5-great-books-about-friendship-for-tween-readers/Hound-Dog-True-by-Linda-Urban

The Meaning of Maggie

Here are some of the things I love about this book.

The cover.

(and not just because it has a library card and date stamper on it. But that's part of it.)

Maggie's attitude toward her sisters. How it changes and is so very true to real sisters.

The wisdom she develops as the story progresses.

And certainly not least of all. The book trailer. Wow.

Click HERE to see what Mr. Schu has to say and to read Megan Jean Sovern's interview. 

Click HERE to read my thoughts on whether something that takes place so recently is truly historical fiction. 

Linda Urban just wrote the greatest blogpost about The Meaning of Maggie. CLICK HERE to go there. 

(My copy was from the library. I was lucky. I understand there's a long reserve list now. If you've read it, do let the rest of us know what you think. If you haven't read it, get thee to a library or a bookstore asap!)


Here's Maggie's amazing trailer. Enjoy!

Giving Thanks

 

Today seems like a good day to think about all the things we're grateful for. 

And what better place to begin than the Acknowledgments in some of your favorite books.

The Acknowledgments of one of my top-ten books, HOUND DOG TRUE, begins

"This novel, like my first, began as a picture book..." 

And then Linda Urban goes on to thank the real friends who steered her in the right direction.

If you love a book and are yourself searching for an agent, check to see for whom that author's most thankful. 

(I can bet, we all thank our agents, big time.)

Click here for a few funny, poignant, interesting acknowledgments. 

Including this one:

Franny & Zooey, by J.D. Salinger
“As nearly as possible in the spirit of Matthew Salinger, age one, urging a luncheon companion to accept a cool lima bean, I urge my editor, mentor and (heaven help him) closest friend, William Shawn, genius domus of The New Yorker, lover of the long shot, protector of the unprolific, defender of the hopelessly flamboyant, most unreasonably modest of born great artist-editors to accept this pretty skimpy-looking book.”

And sometimes, it's worth reading the comments on posts. 

That's where I found this:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

"The dedication of this book is split in seven ways: to Jessica, to David, to Kenzie, to Di, to Anne, and to you, if you have stuck with Harry until the very end."

Counting by 7s, POV

I wrote about this book in a Christian Science Monitor Middle-Grade Roundup. You can see my short review HERE.

But I want to say a few things about it from a writer's perspective.

And especially that dratted multi-character POV thing.

In this book, I love it and think it works perfectly.

Willow Chase tells most of the story, in first person chapters. She's the "highly gifted" --she says this herself-- multi-racial, adopted child of somewhat older parents who don't really appear except as Willow shares her memories of them. That's no spoiler. It's obvious from the very beginning of this novel. We're shown the tragic event that sets the story in motion and upsets Willow's world.

I loved everything about this young woman. From her name, to her outsider-ish personality and that she knows she's not the average middle-schooler surrounded by friends. Her attempts to fit in at the new school her parents have chosen are failures. Despite someone (Mom, for sure) leaving a Teen Vogue magazine on her bed, featuring a teenager with "hair the color of a banana" and a wide smile, Willow chooses her gardening outfit for her first day at Sequoia Middle School. Without the binoculars around her neck. She does wear her new glasses, with "frames that looked like what Gandhi wore." They were perfect "because I was going forward in the brave new world in peace."
Or so Willow believes.

Then there's her school counselor. Dell Duke, whose chapters are 3rd person, and I think mostly past tense. Chapters often shared with Willow's new friend Mai. A few chapters are in the voice of the cab driver, Jairo Hernandez, who thinks Willow must be some kind of shaman, not to mention an Alberta Einstein.

Can you see how complicated this sounds? You know what- it's not!
The writing flows seamlessly and beautifully. The story moves quickly.

Having recently read quite a few books told by different characters, I'm beginning to zero in on the difficulty of reading and of writing one. I agree with a reviewer of a different book who they can take on a drive-by quality. The literary equivalent of speed-dating. You just get settled in with one character and another begins telling a completely different, though usually interwoven side of the story.

In the case of Counting by 7s, this just isn't the case. You hardly notice that it's not Willow's story to tell because every character has something to say about her, some connection, an emotional bond being forged.

If you google Multi POV or some such, you'll find a lot of hates. Dreads and drats.
But I think it's being used a lot more in kids' books. Some work. Some don't.

I happen to think COUNTING BY 7s works in all the right ways.

If you're still reading and hope to go away with some helpful writing info re: POV, a few links--

Linda Urban's discussion, via her NESCBWI presentation-
http://lindaurbanbooks.com/2013/05/05/point-of-view-handout-nescbwi/ 

Janice Hardy spells it out HERE: http://blog.janicehardy.com/2010/02/first-through-third.html

Darcy Pattison. Always trustworthy. Especially like that Seedfolk comment, re: community-
http://www.darcypattison.com/revision/multiple-pov-2/

Not specifically about writing for Middle Graders or Young Adults, here are some big Do's and Don'ts (Dos and/or Don't's just didn't look right...)-

http://maybegenius.blogspot.com/2011/08/dreaded-multiple-pov-novel.html

Learning from the Best: POV

Here is a post by Linda Urban that I come back to often. 
With each re-reading, I pick up another, finer point.

http://lindaurbanbooks.com/2013/01/22/point-of-view-one-authors-perspective/

My favorite book by Linda Urban is HOUND DOG TRUE. I've also read that middle-grade novel more than once. I sped through it the first time and if you'd asked me what "person" she'd written in, I would have answered, without a beat, First Person. Mattie's voice is so strong, it had to be. Right?

Wrong. 

But it's very close Third Person. And it works.

Now that I'm noodling around a new story idea, the first thing that needs struggling with:  
Who the heck is telling this story anyhow? 
At first, I had two POV characters. Struggle, struggle! Hard work!
Not succeeding too well.

So I switched to the young girl, whose voice I heard clearly.
But now I'm vacillating. Maybe that other character needs to be heard. 
He sure is trying to tell me something.

So, what did I do? I reread Linda's fantastic post. And I'm going to really think about what she says about THEMES and narrator's voice influencing POV.

Her most recent novel is told by more than one character. I've only read it once. I didn't love it like I loved HOUND DOG TRUE, but it intrigued me. (And truthfully, there aren't a lot of books I loved as much as that one.)
Having read her writing process, I have the book out to reread. Because I'm interested in thinking more about how those characters tell the same story, from different perspectives. 

Here's a bit of Linda's post on POV, about this multi-POV book, THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING:

In the next chapter, we experience that same moment through Ruby’s eyes.  We see her draw conclusions about the banker’s actions that are completely different from the motivations we have been privy to pages earlier.  I could not have made this work in a first person novel, or even one told in close third, but these overlapping moments were useful in the exploration of another of the book’s themes: the question of whether or not things happen as they are “supposed to” or whether there is a “supposed to” at all (and if so, can we ever know what that “supposed to” is?).

Check out the blog post by Linda.
Here's the link, again, in case you forgot to click on it up there.
😄
http://lindaurbanbooks.com/2013/01/22/point-of-view-one-authors-perspective/

Writing Thought for the Day

 


"The only way I can write is to shut out all those guide book suggestions about through-lines and character arcs and theme and let my subconscious do its wild, unpredictable thing. Rules are for revisions."

from Linda Urban, whose new book HOUND DOG TRUE sounds like just my kind of story.

(Related Post: Practicing to Be Perfect)

Practicing To Be Perfect

Over the past few days I've been offered lots of pats on the back, much appreciated. And the most notable congrats coming my way seem to agree: One thing it takes to move your writing along the road to publication, besides that whole 'butt in chair" thing, is perseverance. Blame my parents who disapproved of throwing in the towel till you'd exhausted all possibilities, blame my writing groups who kept pushing me, whatever. This quote keeps rolling around in my head so I had to share.

Thanks to one of my favorite kids' writers Linda Urban, writing about revising, for the Malcolm Gladwell quote, from an interview he gave about his book Outliers:

"Talent is the desire to practice, right? It is that you love something so much that you are willing to sacrifice and commit to that -- whatever it is -- task, game, sport, etc."