- How do I get a reviewing gig at a professional journal?
- What are the elements of a great professional book review?
- What are the words and phrases I should avoid when writing reviews?
Board Books: Halloween
6 hours ago
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Read my advice in the Summer YALS
Young Adult Library Services (YALS) is the quarterly print journal of YALSA, and it's sent to all members of YALSA in good standing. One of the features YALS runs every issue is the "YA Q&A: Expert advice on tough teen services questions." I answered those tough questions for the Summer 2009 YALS on the subject of reviewing. I was inspired to submit an idea for this section because so many of my newer librarian colleagues and the library students I've lectured ask how I got the jobs I have reviewing for Kirkus and VOYA. This month, I spill it all. The questions I answer include:
Monday, February 9, 2009
Mike Mulligan, myself, and I
In the not too distant past, I was lurking on a listserv that was hosting a discussion of The Hunger Games. The most interesting part of the conversation, to me, were the complaints that centered around how little the reader really knows about Katniss's world. All the questions raised were perfectly legitimate: How did she know where the cameras were during the Games? What kind of technology is the Capitol really capable of? What's Haymitch's deal? Etc. What I didn't understand was how the discussion could continue when all the questions had the same answer:
Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel.
I know that doesn't sound like much of an answer on its own, but let me explain.
In my favorite Ramona book, Ramona the Pest, there's a scene where Ramona's kindergarten teacher reads Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel aloud to the class. After storytime, Ramona has a burning question for Miss Binney: How did Mike Mulligan go to the bathroom when he was digging the basement of the town hall?" Then, of course, everyone else in Ramona's kindergarten class wanted to know the same thing. Miss Binney's response, one all of us can afford to remember:
The reason The Hunger Games does not tell us how Katniss knows where the cameras are, or the deep and detailed history of Panem, or how Haymitch won the Hunger Games other than Peeta's observation that Haymitch must have outwitted all his opponents, is because they are not important parts of the story. The story is about Katniss participating in the Hunger Games, and that is what the book tells us. It's not that I discourage debate and exploration of books, but you know, my fellow readers, we can't always get what we want (and if we did, would we want it anyway?). Most importantly, we can't always get what we want from a first-person novel. This is something I wish more writers as well as readers would realize. Katniss is too busy trying to get through the next five minutes to take the time to explain to the reader how Panem came to be. Is it important to the reader? Yes, and believe me, I'm dying to know all the background, too. But this is a first-person novel, and it's Katniss's story. If I haven't been paying attention to the last 75 years of the Hunger Games, that is my problem and not hers. Sometimes, the things we want to know as readers simply don't matter to the story the character is telling. I think this is something that too often gets neglected in first-person books. The Hunger Games is a great first-person novel because Katniss doesn't break the fourth wall, just like Inexcusable is a great first-person novel because it knowingly and deliberately breaks the fourth wall. Many of the first-person books I read last year would have been much better done in third because the author could not put his Mike Mulligans aside. Instead, I got books where I thought the main character knew I was there but I couldn't be too sure, and just to be sure I understood him (or her), he would take lots of aside time to explain the workings of his world to me. Nothing kills a promising first-person book like a data dump. Or a dirt dump, since we're talking steam shovels here.
Mike Mulligan, by the way, is also my answer to the question of "Why didn't J.K. Rowling reveal that Dumbledore is gay during the course of the HP series?" It works. Try it!
Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel.
I know that doesn't sound like much of an answer on its own, but let me explain.
In my favorite Ramona book, Ramona the Pest, there's a scene where Ramona's kindergarten teacher reads Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel aloud to the class. After storytime, Ramona has a burning question for Miss Binney: How did Mike Mulligan go to the bathroom when he was digging the basement of the town hall?" Then, of course, everyone else in Ramona's kindergarten class wanted to know the same thing. Miss Binney's response, one all of us can afford to remember:
"The reason the book does not tell us how Mike Mulligan went to the bathroom is that it is not an important part of the story. The story is about digging the basement of the town hall, and that is what the book tells us."
The reason The Hunger Games does not tell us how Katniss knows where the cameras are, or the deep and detailed history of Panem, or how Haymitch won the Hunger Games other than Peeta's observation that Haymitch must have outwitted all his opponents, is because they are not important parts of the story. The story is about Katniss participating in the Hunger Games, and that is what the book tells us. It's not that I discourage debate and exploration of books, but you know, my fellow readers, we can't always get what we want (and if we did, would we want it anyway?). Most importantly, we can't always get what we want from a first-person novel. This is something I wish more writers as well as readers would realize. Katniss is too busy trying to get through the next five minutes to take the time to explain to the reader how Panem came to be. Is it important to the reader? Yes, and believe me, I'm dying to know all the background, too. But this is a first-person novel, and it's Katniss's story. If I haven't been paying attention to the last 75 years of the Hunger Games, that is my problem and not hers. Sometimes, the things we want to know as readers simply don't matter to the story the character is telling. I think this is something that too often gets neglected in first-person books. The Hunger Games is a great first-person novel because Katniss doesn't break the fourth wall, just like Inexcusable is a great first-person novel because it knowingly and deliberately breaks the fourth wall. Many of the first-person books I read last year would have been much better done in third because the author could not put his Mike Mulligans aside. Instead, I got books where I thought the main character knew I was there but I couldn't be too sure, and just to be sure I understood him (or her), he would take lots of aside time to explain the workings of his world to me. Nothing kills a promising first-person book like a data dump. Or a dirt dump, since we're talking steam shovels here.
Mike Mulligan, by the way, is also my answer to the question of "Why didn't J.K. Rowling reveal that Dumbledore is gay during the course of the HP series?" It works. Try it!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Susan Juby talks dialogue
A 2008 book I loved to death but didn't write about here (because I ended up writing about it elsewhere) was Getting the Girl: A Guide to Private Investigation, Surveillance, and Cookery by Susan Juby. In short, it's about a boy (a nice boy! score one for more nice guys in YA literature!) named Sherman. Sherman is kind of a geek, but he's a good-hearted geek, and he's got a crush on a girl named Dina. He's worried that Dina is about to become a victim of D-listing, in which a girl's picture appears on the guy's bathroom wall with a letter "D" inscribed in the corner. Girls who are D-listed drop into nonexistence almost instantly. Not wanting this to happen, Sherman takes it upon himself to investigate who's behind the D-listings, an act that wins him both respect and hatred.
In her MySpace blog today, Susan Juby (who is made of awesome, btw) talks about the challenges and realities of writing good dialogue. Since the quality of dialogue is always a huge factor in whether or not I think a book is any good, I read what she had to say with interest. See her entry here: What's that you said?
In her MySpace blog today, Susan Juby (who is made of awesome, btw) talks about the challenges and realities of writing good dialogue. Since the quality of dialogue is always a huge factor in whether or not I think a book is any good, I read what she had to say with interest. See her entry here: What's that you said?
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Death and the Magic
From today's Guardian, J.K. Rowling on writing her favorite Harry Potter scene:
But when Harry takes his last, long walk into the heart of the Dark Forest, he is choosing to accept a burden that fell on him when still a tiny child, in spite of the fact that he never sought the role for which he has been cast, never wanted the scar with which he has been marked. As his mentor, Albus Dumbledore, has tried to make clear to Harry, he could have refused to follow the path marked out for him. In spite of the weight of opinion and expectation that singles him out as the "Chosen One", it is Harry's own will that takes him into the Forest to meet Voldemort, prepared to suffer the fate that he escaped sixteen years before.
J.K. Rowling, you are truly a queen among women.
(Been absent much of this week due to being miserably sick. But I'm on the mend now and entries are coming.)
But when Harry takes his last, long walk into the heart of the Dark Forest, he is choosing to accept a burden that fell on him when still a tiny child, in spite of the fact that he never sought the role for which he has been cast, never wanted the scar with which he has been marked. As his mentor, Albus Dumbledore, has tried to make clear to Harry, he could have refused to follow the path marked out for him. In spite of the weight of opinion and expectation that singles him out as the "Chosen One", it is Harry's own will that takes him into the Forest to meet Voldemort, prepared to suffer the fate that he escaped sixteen years before.
J.K. Rowling, you are truly a queen among women.
(Been absent much of this week due to being miserably sick. But I'm on the mend now and entries are coming.)
Saturday, September 27, 2008
In the Guardian: How to Write
Even though I have no interesting in writing a novel of my own, I love to read writers' boards and publishing blogs. I guess it's the same thing in my head that makes me love Project Runway even though I can't thread a needle. I like seeing what goes into works of art, and how industry trends shape. Today's Guardian has an essay series everyone who loves children's an YA books will want to read, titled How to Write.
Child's play: Writing for children means thinking about your own past, while staying in touch with young people now by Michael Rosen
Genre in Children's Writing by Linda Newbery and Meg Rosoff
Characters and Viewpoint by Linda Newbery, Michael Lawrence and Lauren Child
There are many more essays in the series. My favorite essay of the bunch is David Fickling's (he's the man behind books like Before I Die and A Swift Pure Cry): What next? Don't want to end up on publishers' slush piles? Read out loud before you get read. It begins:
Not everyone can sing. Not everyone can write. Even fewer people can sing professionally. Even fewer can write professionally. Do not be like those poor deluded souls who audition for the X Factor and clearly can't sing for toffee. There are far too many hopelessly written typescripts sloshing about on publisher's slush piles. They clog up the system and are a waste of everybody's time, particularly if you are a good writer yourself. There is a mistaken view that writing for children is easy. It isn't. There is another view that children's books today are of generally poor quality. They aren't.
Someday I want to meet this man just so I can shake his hand. The truth is, not everyone can do everything no matter how badly they want to. We all have talents, and we all have things that we will never do well no matter how much we practice or how good we think we are. For some people, that thing they will never do well is writing. But I'll let you decide on the rest of it for yourself.
Child's play: Writing for children means thinking about your own past, while staying in touch with young people now by Michael Rosen
Genre in Children's Writing by Linda Newbery and Meg Rosoff
Characters and Viewpoint by Linda Newbery, Michael Lawrence and Lauren Child
There are many more essays in the series. My favorite essay of the bunch is David Fickling's (he's the man behind books like Before I Die and A Swift Pure Cry): What next? Don't want to end up on publishers' slush piles? Read out loud before you get read. It begins:
Not everyone can sing. Not everyone can write. Even fewer people can sing professionally. Even fewer can write professionally. Do not be like those poor deluded souls who audition for the X Factor and clearly can't sing for toffee. There are far too many hopelessly written typescripts sloshing about on publisher's slush piles. They clog up the system and are a waste of everybody's time, particularly if you are a good writer yourself. There is a mistaken view that writing for children is easy. It isn't. There is another view that children's books today are of generally poor quality. They aren't.
Someday I want to meet this man just so I can shake his hand. The truth is, not everyone can do everything no matter how badly they want to. We all have talents, and we all have things that we will never do well no matter how much we practice or how good we think we are. For some people, that thing they will never do well is writing. But I'll let you decide on the rest of it for yourself.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
YA authors and their messages
One of today's entries at BuzzSugar is "Should Young Adult Authors Be Careful With Their Messages?" which stems from a discussion on Jezebel about the anti-feminist messages in the Twilight series. There's a poll included with the BuzzSugar entry, and as of the writing of this post it stands at 30% yes, 60% no, and 10% other.
My answer is "no." Not because I think teens shouldn't be exposed to a wide variety of ideas, but because I don't believe YA should be held to a different standard than adult literature. An author's job is to tell a story, not to send a message. If an author wants to send a message, I say go for it, but believe me, reviewers will notice and teen readers will notice even more if the book is didactic and meant to teach a lesson rather than to tell the main character's story. If we don't hold adult lit to the It Must Teach A Lesson standard, then YA and children's lit should be treated the same way. Fact is, not everyone needs the same lessons, or wants them. And what if those YA books teach teens a lesson their parents don't want them learning? Would that change a person's answer in BuzzSugar's poll from "yes" to no?" Also, the "teach a lesson" idea assumes that all readers would take the same lesson away from a book, but we all know that no two people ever read the same book.
This message brought to you by the incredibly preachy book I read yesterday. I got done with it and threw it in the trash. Yes, it was that awful.
My answer is "no." Not because I think teens shouldn't be exposed to a wide variety of ideas, but because I don't believe YA should be held to a different standard than adult literature. An author's job is to tell a story, not to send a message. If an author wants to send a message, I say go for it, but believe me, reviewers will notice and teen readers will notice even more if the book is didactic and meant to teach a lesson rather than to tell the main character's story. If we don't hold adult lit to the It Must Teach A Lesson standard, then YA and children's lit should be treated the same way. Fact is, not everyone needs the same lessons, or wants them. And what if those YA books teach teens a lesson their parents don't want them learning? Would that change a person's answer in BuzzSugar's poll from "yes" to no?" Also, the "teach a lesson" idea assumes that all readers would take the same lesson away from a book, but we all know that no two people ever read the same book.
This message brought to you by the incredibly preachy book I read yesterday. I got done with it and threw it in the trash. Yes, it was that awful.
Happy 20th birthday, Teen Ink!
When people ask me what made me decide to become a librarian, I always tell the story of my first trip to the local public library. At least, it's the first one I can remember. I walked into the children's room and thought, "This is home."
In the twenty years that passed between the first time I checked out Dorrie and the Birthday Eggs and the time I received my MLIS, I went through a few other career ponderances. When I was five, I wanted to be a ballerina and a bus driver. I can't dance and I hate to drive, so I'm sure you can imagine how that turned out. When I was a freshman in high school, I wanted to be a writer. I'm sure if I'd known about Teen Ink then, I'd have tried my hand at submitting something. In my librarian years (which followed my professional musician years), I've encouraged my aspiring writer teen patrons to submit to this magazine, which has 100% teen-written content.
Although my passion was fiction when I was in high school, Teen Ink prints essays, poetry, short stories, visual art, and book reviews, so there's something in there for most creative teens. They also offer blogs on a variety of subjects, and teen readers can friend them via MySpace and Facebook. Most importantly -- and this IS important in an age where anyone can put up a website about anything -- Teen Ink will never charge a teen money to get published. Their content is diverse; they've published essays ranging to "Why I'm Not on Facebook" to "The Final Exam." If you haven't read it yet, pick up a copy. I think you'll be surprised in a good way.
In the twenty years that passed between the first time I checked out Dorrie and the Birthday Eggs and the time I received my MLIS, I went through a few other career ponderances. When I was five, I wanted to be a ballerina and a bus driver. I can't dance and I hate to drive, so I'm sure you can imagine how that turned out. When I was a freshman in high school, I wanted to be a writer. I'm sure if I'd known about Teen Ink then, I'd have tried my hand at submitting something. In my librarian years (which followed my professional musician years), I've encouraged my aspiring writer teen patrons to submit to this magazine, which has 100% teen-written content.
Although my passion was fiction when I was in high school, Teen Ink prints essays, poetry, short stories, visual art, and book reviews, so there's something in there for most creative teens. They also offer blogs on a variety of subjects, and teen readers can friend them via MySpace and Facebook. Most importantly -- and this IS important in an age where anyone can put up a website about anything -- Teen Ink will never charge a teen money to get published. Their content is diverse; they've published essays ranging to "Why I'm Not on Facebook" to "The Final Exam." If you haven't read it yet, pick up a copy. I think you'll be surprised in a good way.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Fanfiction: The future of literacy
In today's NYTimes there's an article, the first in a series, called Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading? The awesome Linda Braun will talk about just this topic (and more) at the YALSA YA Lit Symposium, so if you haven't registered yet, do so! There are many, many good questions raised by this article: What is reading? Is it better, worse, or the same to read online as it is to read a book? Are today's teens doomed because many of them would rather spend time online than reading books? The point in the article I want to talk about, though, is fanfiction.
Liz B. and I will present on this topic at the YA Lit Symposium. We have an hour and a half to present and let me tell you, it is not enough. I bring up fanfiction because one of the teen subjects of this NYTimes article, 15-year-old Nadia Konyk, is a mostly reluctant reader who loves fanfiction.net. Now, FF.net has many, many flaws, but I will say this about it: It's relatively easy, easier than many fandom-specific archives, to use. Anyone can create an account for free. Anyone can upload stories in a huge variety of fandoms. Anyone can comment, or leave a review on a story. Of course, it's easy to see the flaws in this system. Anyone can upload badly written stories full of grammar errors, and they often do. Anyone can flame another person's story, and they often do. But what the NYTimes article doesn't address is that Nadia is expanding her literacy by reading fanfiction.
Fanfiction forces you to look at characters in new ways and think differently about their actions and motivations. When you write fanfiction, you think of characters beyond the way they appear on the page. You think of all the things a character might be capable of but isn't seen doing in the series. For example, would Ron Weasley ever use an Unforgivable Curse? What if Tally Youngblood hadn't thrown her necklace into the fire and chose instead to rat on David? With fanfic, the possibilities are endless. You can write fanfic in prose or poetry or word art. You can write about any character in just about any book or TV series or movie out there. Fanfic does not have to stick to the point of view of the series of the book, and it doesn't have to be about the main character. One of my favorite Harry Potter fanfics of all time is mostly made up of original characters and the only recognizable name from the series is Albus Dumbledore. The writing and the author's attention to detail and characterization are truly spectacular. One of the things I personally like about fanfic is that it gives writers the chance to develop one particular writing skill, such as first-person point of view or past perfect tense, without worrying about building an entire world and its characters.
The one big caveat with fanfic is that good fic is hard to find. I would say that 85% of what's on Fanfiction.net is utter dreck. Another ten percent is readable but mediocre. Four of the remaining five percent are good stories with solid writing, but nothing special, and one percent is outstanding. I don't have one set formula for finding good fic, but try these tips:
1. Do an interest search on LiveJournal. LiveJournal is a place where fanfic and fanfic communities thrive.
2. Find an author you like, and see who this author has favorited on ff.net and/or on LiveJournal.
3. Many fandoms have their own fan boards and discussion sites. Harry Potter, for example, has FictionAlley, which houses fanfics and recommendations forums.
4. If you're a romance fan, you're in luck. Fanfiction is FILLED with romance. On ff.net, you can limit the characters in the story and read about your favorite characters to your heart's content.
5. Pay attention to the story's summary. If the summary is enticing, chances are you'll like the author's work.
A lot of finding good fic is trial and error. Mostly error. I've read a lot of bad fanfic in my time and chances are, you will too. The time spent reading the bad stuff, though, is worth it when you find the good stuff.
Liz B. and I will present on this topic at the YA Lit Symposium. We have an hour and a half to present and let me tell you, it is not enough. I bring up fanfiction because one of the teen subjects of this NYTimes article, 15-year-old Nadia Konyk, is a mostly reluctant reader who loves fanfiction.net. Now, FF.net has many, many flaws, but I will say this about it: It's relatively easy, easier than many fandom-specific archives, to use. Anyone can create an account for free. Anyone can upload stories in a huge variety of fandoms. Anyone can comment, or leave a review on a story. Of course, it's easy to see the flaws in this system. Anyone can upload badly written stories full of grammar errors, and they often do. Anyone can flame another person's story, and they often do. But what the NYTimes article doesn't address is that Nadia is expanding her literacy by reading fanfiction.
Fanfiction forces you to look at characters in new ways and think differently about their actions and motivations. When you write fanfiction, you think of characters beyond the way they appear on the page. You think of all the things a character might be capable of but isn't seen doing in the series. For example, would Ron Weasley ever use an Unforgivable Curse? What if Tally Youngblood hadn't thrown her necklace into the fire and chose instead to rat on David? With fanfic, the possibilities are endless. You can write fanfic in prose or poetry or word art. You can write about any character in just about any book or TV series or movie out there. Fanfic does not have to stick to the point of view of the series of the book, and it doesn't have to be about the main character. One of my favorite Harry Potter fanfics of all time is mostly made up of original characters and the only recognizable name from the series is Albus Dumbledore. The writing and the author's attention to detail and characterization are truly spectacular. One of the things I personally like about fanfic is that it gives writers the chance to develop one particular writing skill, such as first-person point of view or past perfect tense, without worrying about building an entire world and its characters.
The one big caveat with fanfic is that good fic is hard to find. I would say that 85% of what's on Fanfiction.net is utter dreck. Another ten percent is readable but mediocre. Four of the remaining five percent are good stories with solid writing, but nothing special, and one percent is outstanding. I don't have one set formula for finding good fic, but try these tips:
1. Do an interest search on LiveJournal. LiveJournal is a place where fanfic and fanfic communities thrive.
2. Find an author you like, and see who this author has favorited on ff.net and/or on LiveJournal.
3. Many fandoms have their own fan boards and discussion sites. Harry Potter, for example, has FictionAlley, which houses fanfics and recommendations forums.
4. If you're a romance fan, you're in luck. Fanfiction is FILLED with romance. On ff.net, you can limit the characters in the story and read about your favorite characters to your heart's content.
5. Pay attention to the story's summary. If the summary is enticing, chances are you'll like the author's work.
A lot of finding good fic is trial and error. Mostly error. I've read a lot of bad fanfic in my time and chances are, you will too. The time spent reading the bad stuff, though, is worth it when you find the good stuff.
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